Twelve hundred hockey fans passed up the Sunday afternoon sunshine to watch the Manchester Phoenix and the Sheffield Scimitars do battle in the second leg of this War of the Roses Challenge series, and they were not disappointed. A see-saw game was well worthy of the title as both sides gave and asked for no quarter, and in a nail-biting finale, it was the Phoenix who held firm to claim their first silverware of the new ice hockey season.
Phoenix had to kill off two early penalties before opening the scoring themselves on their first man advantage, defenceman Andre Mattsson firing home assisted by Robert Lachowicz in the sixth minute.
the game being played at a frenetic pace and with plenty of physical contact from both sides, Phoenix lost Adam Walker with a face injury before the Scimitars drew level on the night through James Archer.
The second period saw Sheffield race out of the blocks to tie the aggregate score with less than a minute played, captain Peter Slamiar beating Fone from a tight angle off the right wing.
The Sheffield Scimitars set about imposing their greater squad numbers on the Phoenix and enjoying more of the possession they kept Phoenix netminder Steve Fone busy. Phoenix re-grouped and regained the lead just before the half-hour mark as Iain Bowie scored from close range assisted by Andre Payette
Seven minutes later and the home side appeared to take a stranglehold on the game as Greg Wood fired home with assists to Jaakko Hagelberg and player coach Tony Hand.
The start of the final period again saw the Scimitars explode out of the traps with Slamiar claiming his second goal of the game to again tie the score on the night. It was now all to play for and the pace of the game barely relented as the Scimitars strove for the goal that would tie the aggregate score while the Phoenix defended doggedly and always looked dangerous on the break. With time running out, Sheffield pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker, but the Phoenix held firm and came close to scoring the insurance empty-netter as Greg Woods' long range clearance missed the target by inches.
Manchester Phoenix 3 - 3 Sheffield Scimitars
Phoenix win 6-5 on aggregate