Phoenix’s Anthony Booth receiving the Planet Ice MVP award.
Saturday July 12th saw the Cardiff Devils make the journey up to Altrincham for what would turn out to be an epic grudge match in the 7th game of the BSHA Planet Ice League 2014.
The previous weekend, the Manchester Phoenix travelled down to Cardiff, full of confidence after a win over the Peterborough Phantoms, but were beaten 5-2 by a physical, disciplined and skilled Devils team. The loss really hurt the Phoenix and just a week later they had the chance, in their eyes, to put that right.
With that loss still hurting and Cardiff full of confidence and momentum….the puck dropped on the first period!
The first few minutes picked up where the previous meeting left off, with Cardiff controlling the game, both teams using their physical qualities, much to the delight of the crowd, and with 4 mins on the clock, Cardiff’s Stephen Thomas took a quick shot, but Phoenix D man Steve Bradley threw his body in front of it. Phoenix took momentum from that and started to push forward, with a sweet pass from behind the net from Karl Nicholson to Anthony Booth, but was stopped point blank by the Cardiff net minder! The period ended scoreless, with little in the way of shots, but hits galore, including some great work by Graham “Pain Train” Wilson on the Phoenix blue line.
The second started with the Phoenix determined to make use of the momentum gained from the tail end of the first, and 18 seconds in a giveaway by Cardiff to Nicholson gave Phoenix a golden opportunity, but the shot was deflected wide by some quick Cardiff defensive play. However before the first minute was over it was 1-0 to the Phoenix! Nicholson banked a breakaway pass to Booth, who collected and made no mistake! Phoenix controlled the next several minutes with some great passes and moved the game into the Cardiff zone. Phoenix pounced on loose pucks, with shots raining down on Cardiff throughout the period, but Cardiff goalie Han O’Connor kept the puck out!
This caused the physical game to pick up, with both teams hitting hard and giving no quarter. Just before the 10 minute mark, Phoenix’s Nicholson and Cardiff’s Thomas battled 1 on 1 on a breakaway, with Thomas doing just enough to put Nicholson off, as he shot high. As the clock ticks down, Cardiff’s Russ Willey took a speculative shot, that somehow sneaked under Phoenix goalie Steve Midghall to make it 1-1, timed at 14:59!
The third started with the scores tied, meaning it was a 1 period game! Cardiff were obviously boosted by that late goal and looked to take the momentum, but how would Phoenix handle that late blow!?!? It took 9 seconds to find out! Booth collected the loose puck off the face off and banked a pass off the boards to Nicholson, who drove wide and then cut to the middle and unleashed a quick wrister….no mistake, 2-1 Phoenix! Just over a minute later Thomas evaded the Phoenix D and shot, but it rang off the crossbar….much to the home supports delight! The period was evenly contested by both teams and 5 minutes in to the third it was all tied again, as Cardiff’s Paul Furber took aim from the left circle and got the puck just over Midghall’s glove! With another equaliser, Cardiff looked to get a stranglehold of the game, however penalty trouble disrupted any momentum and handed Phoenix the advantage, as Tim James went for T-ing at 6:50 and then Thomas for elbows at 7:36, giving Phoenix a short 5 on 3 Powerplay. Some resolute defending by Cardiff kept the Phoenix at bay, with a point blank stop from Booth at 8:25….but it could only postpone the Phoenix for so long. Rob Allen on a 1-0 breakaway made it 3-2 Phoenix on the Powerplay at 8.55.
With just over 6 minutes left, Cardiff threw everything - including the kitchen sink! - at the Phoenix, while the home team kept pushing forward themselves, playing sound defensively, with the crowd watching every hit, shot and save nervously, the seconds slowly ticked down. The Phoenix kept possession and forechecked hard to run the clock down and take the win, 3-2!
Anthony Booth took MVP honours, but several candidates from both teams could have taken it too in a great advertisement for the sport. Looking at the games so far and the current league table shows how close all the teams are.
The Phoenix have 2 games left in the league, next up is a home game vs. Kingston Kestrels on August 9th at Altrincham, followed by an away game in Peterborough on August 23rd. Can Phoenix keep their home win record going? Get down to the Ice Dome on August 9th to find out!
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