Phoenix v Bees - Monday 2nd January 2012

After a 4-1 win over MK on Friday night which denied Fone his second shut out of the season, Phoenix had started the train rolling with three victories on the bounce. Bracknell haven't had the greatest start to the season which is a shame because they have some really good players including Masa and Smital who played for Guildford last season. Phoenix were still without Hand (ankle) and Duggan (shoulder) and Jake Nurse got another call up from the Metros to make up the numbers on the bench.

First Period

The first period didn't start as planned for Phoenix when an early penalty on Faith for holding the stick gave Bracknell the chance on the powerplay. Luckily Phoenix managed to kill the powerplay and Bracknell were unable to get off the mark. At 7:57 Kouilkov had a great chance to give Phoenix the lead, but Ambler made himself big and denied him hitting the back of the net. At 8:50, Spearing took a seat for holding and Phoenix went on the powerplay. Phoenix had shot after shot on the powerplay including Harabin hitting the post with a slap shot, but the other shots were either wide, high or right at Ambler. With just over 3 minutes left in the period, Phoenix had the best chance of the period. Ambler came out of his net to try and stop the puck on the boards, but missed, Wood shot the puck and Ambler somehow managed to get himself back in the crease and made a scissor kick type save, which I don't think he meant to do and I don't think he had any idea where the puck was! At 18:08 Smital was called for hooking but Phoenix were unable to take advantage of the situation and the period came to an end. 

So a goalless period to to start the game off. Phoenix had dominated and kept the pressure on but didn't seem to be able to finish (again!) We had shot after shot on the powerplays but we couldn't muster a goal from them. We seemed to be shooting a lot more which is great, as it has been very frustrating recently that we never seem to shoot. It won't go in the back of the net if you don't shoot the damn thing! Anyway...Ambler was keeping Bracknell in the game and was looking quiet strong in goal, I think he must have had his Weetabix this morning! 

Second Period

The second period started with a goal, unfortunately it was Bracknell that got off the mark first when a loose bouncing puck found Spearing who shot from the left circle. The puck flew over Fone's head and into the back of the net. At 32:38, Phoenix finally gave us fans something to cheer about when Koulikov managed to get the puck over the line after a lot of digging at the crease, not really sure how it went in but the red light came on and I don't really care how it happened, a goal is a goal. Just under 4 minutes later Phoenix took the lead, following some great passing, the puck found Spelda and he fired the puck home. The last 4 minutes of the period were reasonably uneventful but Phoenix had plenty of chances to extend the lead. 

At the end of the second it was 2-1 to Phoenix. Bracknell started the period well and had started to dominate, but Phoenix found a spark after the Bracknell goal and started to take control of the game. The Bracknell defence was starting to break and the skill and speed that Phoenix were showing wasn't helping them. The Bees seemed to be swarming (excuse the pun) around the puck and Phoenix took advantage of the space. The atmosphere had been awful up until the first Phoenix goal but hopefully we can spur the lads on in the third. 

Goals - Bracknell 21:06 - Spearing (unassisted), Phoenix 32:38 - Koulikov, Assists - Faith, Cingel, Phoenix 36:28 - Spelda, Assist - Archer

Third Period

The first play of the period saw Faith took a puck to the face, the referee didn't blow the whistle even though he had gone down, luckily he managed to return to the bench and carried on playing for the rest of the period. Following this Ward found himself sitting in the box for two minutes but Phoenix managed to defend the powerplay well and started to create chance after chance. The first came from Ward after he had finished sitting out his penalty, the puck was passed straight to him and he broke away, unfortunately his shot ricocheted off the metal work and a massive sigh echoed round the Ice Dome from the crowd! Just under a minute later it was Koulikov's turn to find the iron when his shot found the post. Despite the great attempts from Phoenix to extend their lead, Bracknell managed to break away and a good goal from Smital saw the game tied at 2-2. At 59:25 Bracknell picked up a late penalty for delay of the game. With just over 30 seconds left, Phoenix called a time out but the time was against us and the game made it's way into overtime...again!

Goals - Bracknell 55:10 - Smital, Assists - Louskins, Masa

Overtime 
With Phoenix on the powerplay for the start of overtime the Phoenix fans didn't have to wait long for the game to be over, just over a minute to be precise. Koulikov shot a rocket from the blue line which Ambler didn't have a chance of stopping and Phoenix won the game 3-2.

Goals - Phoenix 61:06 - Koulikov, Assist - Cingel (powerplay) 


At the end of the game Phoenix managed their fourth consecutive win and were finally getting some confidence. I mentioned that this team had potential at the beginning of the season (granted I didn't think it would take me this long to say that it is starting to show!) I personally didn't think that the game should have gone into overtime as Phoenix were the better team but couldn't quite capitalise on the chances they created. Granted if those shots from Ward and Koulikov had managed to find the net rather then the metal work then overtime wouldn't have happened and given the Phoenix the comfortable win they perhaps deserved. However, Bracknell managed to keep the pressure on and Ambler had possibly one of his best performances I have seen him play, he thoroughly deserved man of the match.

Final Score - Phoenix 3 - Bracknell 2


MOM - Phoenix - Archer, Bracknell - Ambler