Phoenix embarrassed as team psychology takes a hit

Starring Kurt Russell, it tells the true story of how Herb Brooks coached a team of college kids to Olympic Gold glory in 1980, beating the previously all-conquering USSR side.

The title comes from a famous TV sports commentator yelling "do you believe in miracles? Yes!" as the game finished. Good job he wasn't at the Manchester Arena last night. Based on this game, a miracle would just be the starting point for what Manchester will need to reach the playoffs later this month.

The secret of Brooks' success was the way he instilled a dominant mental edge into young players who should have been terrified to even step onto the same ice as the Russian machine. It was the abstract, not the concrete, that did the damage here.

Having not beaten Nottingham all season, Phoenix had a score to settle. Not only that, but with Basingstoke losing 4-0 to basement club London on Tuesday, this was a golden opportunity to leapfrog Bison and put their playoff destiny firmly in their own hands.

Nottingham, with one eye on a Challenge Cup final against bitter rivals Sheffield this weekend, could surely be relied upon to take their collective foot off the gas and do Manchester a favour.

Nice notion, but Nottingham don't do 'favours'. "I told them that this was a warm-up for the cup final," said Panthers coach Paul Adey afterwards. "They knew they had to keep up the intensity and hunger for the game."

Well, they did. Catching Phoenix out cold at the start, they were ahead inside 75 seconds, as Lee Jinman finished a sweet move by slotting home a pass from John Craighead. It wasn't quite the worst possible start, however. The worst possible start would have been to concede another quickly. This they duly did just 26 seconds later, as David Struch swept a second past Jayme Platt straight from a faceoff.

At 2-0 down after 90 seconds, this was going to be a game about character. And Manchester showed plenty of character. They quickly regrouped, and imposed themselves onto the game.

Attacking ferociously, David Kozier pulled a goal back after just 3 minutes, combining neatly with Darcy Anderson and Mike Morin. Kozier has been a revitalised presence for Phoenix in the last few games,and was a driving force again here

A further blow came when David Clarke restored Panthers' two goal lead on 4.43, but again Phoenix responded, with Chad Brandimore scoring after a good effort from Manchester MoM Petteri Lotila had been kept out.

In truth, Manchester were equalling Nottingham throughout the first period, and there was a good feeling about the way they had taken the game to Panthers.

The first of two killer punches, though, came with 4 seconds of the first remaining, when Mark Cadotte glided through a sleepy Phoenix defence with puck glued to his stick, to thrash a fourth past Platt. It was a stunning goal, and it knocked some players for six.

The second period was a fairly flat affair. Cadotte's marker had taken the wind out of Manchester's sails at a crucial moment, and the psychological edge was with Nottingham. When the ever-stylish Panthers MoM Kim Ahlroos tucked away a fifth on 30 minutes, Phoenix drooped.

Awada, Kozier, Bultje and Lotila were carrying the fight, and Lotila's goal on 35 minutes breathed a little fresh life into a tired-looking Phoenix side. It was hard to watch at times, but at 5-3 going into the third, there was still hope.

That evaporated just 20 seconds into the final period when Ahlroos popped up again for Nottingham's sixth. It was a goal that looked too easy, and it finally knocked the stuffing out of Manchester's limited revival. With a few exceptions, Phoenix heads dropped and it was now simply a case of trying to stop Panthers getting any more.

But they weren't finished.

John Craighead, who suffered an unfair (and, after the sixth repetition, unfunny) amount of ribbing from the match night presentation, gave his reply by slotting in a pass from Jinman on 44 minutes, and was on hand again to show just how hard a joke can backfire hen he calmly slid in Nottingham's eighth on 58.51.

To his immense credit, Craighead takes such jibes in good spirit, but after a night like this, Manchester's laughter fades, leaving just sad admiration.

Phoenix coach Paul Heavey said later: "We have four games left and the guys have to play to a very basic system now of defence first. We cannot afford to get scored on and we have to commit to that like we've never done before.

If we tighten up at the back and in the neutral zone, our forwards will create their own chances, and we can win these remaining games. We have to get the job done this weekend on the road, before our last two games here against Cardiff and London."

Only sport can outshine Hollywood when it comes to fairytale endings. If the Phoenix players can regain some belief in themselves, then this hard, tiring, harsh first season for the north west's ice hockey team really can end with something to shout about.

By Nigel McFarlane