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Vychodil treble boost for Phoenix

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A hat-trick from Czech defenceman David Vychodil proved a massive part of a third straight win for the Manchester Phoenix on Saturday night as they edged an 11-goal nail-biter in Basingstoke.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand had seen his opening goal in the 4th minute cancelled out by Greg Chambers before Vychodil blasted home the first of his treble with the Bison fans still celebrating the equaliser. With Phoenix firing on all cylinders in a rampant first period display, Vychodil made it a two-goal advantage with his second in the 19th minute and sixty seconds later Slovak defenceman Radoslav Hecl too hit the score sheet as he blasted in a fourth Phoenix marker.

Basingstoke rallied in the second session allowing Ryan O’Keefe to reduce the arrears before Vychodil unleashed another long-range blast for his hat trick, the first by a Phoenix player this season. The home side picked themselves up again and Kevin Bergins’ strike sent a signal that the Bison were far from dead as they dominated the remainder of the second period only to still trail by two at the second interval.

A defensive mix-up in the 44th minute saw Basingstoke draw to within one goal as Greg Owen pounced to score with ease. Phoenix were rattled, but just over two minutes later on a powerplay, KC Timmons got a telling deflection to a shot from Scott Basiuk to restore the two-goal lead. The Bison began to throw everything at the Phoenix defence and set up a tense final ten minutes when Chambers bagged his second of the game. Playing their sixth consecutive game on the road, Phoenix were showing signs of fatigue, but once again in this remarkable season, they dug deep as the home side piled on the pressure and held on to not only take two more valuable points in the bmibaby Elite League, but to also secure a semi-final berth in the Knock-Out Cup.

Coach Tony Hand commented afterwards, “I told the guys at the end of the first period that Basingstoke would come back and they did – hard. We made a few mistakes tonight and in the end had to work extremely hard for the points. We were tired after two trips to Belfast in a week and then coming down here, so whilst, it was a bit ugly at times, we’ll take this result gladly.”