Newcastle Vipers 2, Mancheter Phoenix 6

Dec 28 2007 The Journal

IN front of the Sky TV cameras and a big holiday crowd, a tired and depleted Vipers side lost to the Phoenix for a second night in succession.

Beaten 2-1 on Boxing Day, the Vipers survived a three-on-one breakaway during their first powerplay last night, but conceded soon after the two-minute advantage ended.

A Phoenix counter-attack concluded with Sean Starke sending the puck through a defender’s legs to the edge of the crease, where Joe Tallari showed his finishing prowess on 10 minutes.

The lead lasted just 33 seconds with Ben Campbell arriving in the right place, in this instance the far post, at the right time to capitalise on a half-save by flicking the puck up high into the net.

But with two minutes of the period remaining, the Phoenix went ahead again. The Vipers had over-committed to attack and Tony Hand was set free with only goalie Ryan MacDonald to beat, which he did with ease, although there was a more than a hint of offside about the goal.

On 26 minutes, the Vipers found themselves two men short for one minute and 17 seconds, one of the offenders being their key defenceman Ben Storey, who had also picked up a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

Storey was missed. The Vipers saw off the two men disadvantage but the pressure finally told on 28 minutes when Scott Basiuk’s slapshot flew in to make it 3-1.

The defence, minus Storey, was again all at sea on 35 minutes and it couldn’t have been easier for Hand to set up Luke Stauffacher with a drop pass for 4-1.

Four minutes into the final period the Vipers conceded again. The puck was turned over in the Vipers zone and Stauffacher punished the mistake with a well placed first timer.

Reduced to three skaters again, the Vipers couldn’t clear or capture the puck as it ricocheted around their crease and it fell nicely for Tallari at the far post. With MacDonald grounded, Tallari had the whole goal to shoot at for his score on 48 minutes.

With both back-up netminders between the pipes, there was late consolation for the home side when top scorer Derek Campbell drove at the net to score on 58 minutes.

SCORERS – Vipers: B Campbell and D Campbell 1+0; Gouett, Johnson, Longstaff and Thornton 0+1. Phoenix: Tallari 2+1; Stauffacher 2+0; Hand 1+2; Starke 1+1; Ennaffati, MacMillan, Mangos and Passmore 0+1.