Cup run ends but Phoenix salvage pride (From This Is Lancashire)

Cup run ends but Phoenix salvage pride

10:48pm Thursday 25th February 2010 in

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EPL ICE HOCKEY: EPL Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

Milton Keynes Lightning 3 Phoenix 3

(Lightning win 11-5 on aggregate)

Milton Keynes Lightning will contest the EPL Cup Final following a 3-3 tie in the second leg of the semi-final on Wednesday and an 11-5 aggregate victory over the Manchester Phoenix.

For Tony Hand and his Phoenix squad, it was a case of salvaging some pride after the first leg mauling and they did that, outshooting their hosts 37-33 and twice recovering from two goal deficits to earn a respectable draw.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand said: "“It was always going to be an uphill task, but I told the boys we needed to go out and play for the supporters who had made the trip and who support us through thick and thin, and to let Milton Keynes know they couldn’t showboat their way to the final.

"They got the early initiative and it would have been easy for our guys to let their heads drop, but they didn’'t. We dug in, battled back and despite the obvious disappointment of not making the final over the course of the two games, I'’m a lot happier tonight than I was last week."”

Hand, in a rare moment of singling out of a player, heaped praise on defenceman Ben Wood.

He said: "Ben is a great kid, he shows up for practice, always gives his best and tonight played a tremendous game. He battled hard every time he was out there on the ice and I was delighted for him.

"Recently, he'’s not had as much ice time as I'’d like to give him, because the game situations have meant I'’ve had to try and rely on the more experienced players, but tonight he showed a work ethic and battling spirit that cannot be bought. He'’s never complained once, and I thought he was excellent tonight."

With a six-goal deficit to try and overhaul, Phoenix got off to the worst possible start on Wednesday night as the Lightning opened the scoring through Adam Carr with less than ninety seconds played. However, they didn’'t panic and began to hit back with some excellent pressure on the home goal with Ed Courtenay, Andre Mattsson and Robert Lachowicz all denied.

A Charging penalty on Andre Payette saw the Lightning extend their lead with a powerplay goal in the tenth minute from Bowers. With the aggregate lead up to eight goals, the Lightning seemed content to play puck possession hockey, trying to lure Phoenix into over-committing and then looking to catch the visitors on the break, and with Andre Payette seemingly a target for plenty of verbal goading, Phoenix did well not to fall into any of the home side's traps.

The second period again saw Phoenix taking the game to the home side, who understandably were in no desperate need to get forward. Alex Mettam in the home goal was seeing more of the puck and the Phoenix pressure eventually earned its reward as Greg Wood and Lachowicz combined for Iain Bowie to score in the 29th minute. Milton Keynes bounced back inside two minutes with an unassisted scored from Wales to restore a two-goal lead on the night. Phoenix continued their hard work and ahead on the shots on goal count, netted a second with just over two minutes left in the session - Joe Graham and Stephen Wallace with the assists as Ed Courtenay plundered his 45th goal of the season.

A similar pattern to the first two periods opened the final session with Phoenix enjoying more possession and applying lots of pressure, but Milton Keynes defending strongly. Andre Mattsson and Luke Boothroyd both saw good efforts on goal thwarted. Into the final ten minutes and a disappointing call saw Phoenix go shorthanded with Courtenay in the sin-bin, but they worked hard to kill off the Lightning powerplay and went back on offence with intent, and it paid dividends. The 54th minute saw Courtenay and Tony Hand combine for Robert Lachowicz to tie the score on the night at 3-3.

Manchester Phoenix are at home to Slough Jets on Sunday February 28th at the Altrincham Ice Dome, starting at 5.30pm. For details visit www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk