WOMEN'S DIVISION 1 NORTH

The Phoenix roster looks a little different this season and everyone knew it would take time to gel and get things moving, however the Squaws were in no mood to give  it much chance. The pressure was immediate and telling with the scoring opening in less than 30 seconds. Another goal mouth scramble saw GB player Ashleigh Holland thrown out of the game for punching Phoenix Katie Wiggins in the head. As on of the most influential players in the Whitley squad you might be mistaken for thinking it might blunt their attack, however two more quick and perhaps fortunate goals in less than a minute saw the Phoenix 3 down in less than 4 minutes! The rest of the period saw the Phoenix settle and they started to bring out saves from the Whitley Net Minder. The second period saw the Phoenix again settled and despite a goal being scored 30 seconds before the second break honours were pretty even. Ceri Powell in her Phoenix debut showed her experience whilst debutante Ami Cunningham and returnee Jenny Mabey made a good first impression. Break outs from regulars Hannah Southam, Nicki Blower and Rosie Adey could have come to something but the Squaws NM (MOM) put up a wall.

The third period saw further goals from the Squaws with the Phoenix still unable to break the resolve of the Squaws defence a further 4 goals in the last half of the third period sealed the game however the Phoenix bench was a remarkably happy place to be, given that everyone recognised each others contribution to a mostly enjoyable and challenging game. There might have been a few other moments that kept the smiles on peoples faces that helped.

Which one ranks the best its hard to say but the favourites have to come from the referee losing his edge and falling over with Katie Higgins in turn falling over him. Or the  Whitley player falling over and beginning to wail, something of a trait on the day, followed by Tam Donoghue and Hannah Southam, nowhere near the incident, comically throwing themselves to the ice.......however my favourite came in the third period when a Phoenix forward forgot which way we were playing and after skating half the length of the ice wondered why the only players in front of her, were her own defence, needless to say a sound pass to her D allowed a re-group opportunity and the shot was never made.

MOM - Defence No 88 Katie Higgins with another sterling performance.

A quick run up the M42 saw the Phoenix travel to the Nottingham Arena for their second game of the season. Old adversaries the Vipers boast a new looking roster and after their win against the Peterborough Penguins they were looking forward to another win.
 The first period saw some early pressure from the Phoenix who could have easily gone ahead from Ceri Powell. The rest of the period saw action at both ends with Donoghue creating a wall in between the Phoenix pipes. With just 2.32 to go in the period the Phoenix went ahead with a fine move by Powell - Adams - Cater giving the lead to the Phoenix. Coming out into the second period the Phoenix bench felt confident they could build on the success however just 9 seconds in a speculative move by the Vipers saw the puck bounce of Higgins stick leaving Donoghue with no chance. The rest of the period saw chances at both ends but ultimately the Vipers made the most of an out of position Phoenix defence leaving a chance for a well placed forward who left Donoghue again with little chance.
 A tense third period saw plenty of end to end action but few chances for either team. To and fro went the puck and to be honest most of the game seemed to be played between the blue lines, that is when the referee wasn’t giving some very odd calls against the Phoenix players. That said the officials had a decent game with the exception of the new icing rule seemingly calling it at every opportunity on the Phoenix, however warning the Vipers not to change in similar circumstances.
 With three minutes to go the Phoenix bench were getting ready to make changes throwing as many forwards onto the ice as possible hoping to put enough pressure to make a difference, but when a speculative shot/pass bounced off the stick of defence Alice Rothnie leaving Donoghue stranded all seemed lost.
 The line stayed on determined to pull one back however two more odd call saw the Phoenix almost finish the game the wrong side of a 5 on 3. A bit of a disappointing result but once again more positive thoughts than anything else with a team that just needs to gel a little more. With Telford visiting the SKYDOME in three weeks could they be on for the first win?
MOM - Centre No 60 Ceri Powell with another strong and influential performance