Phoenix take flight

Date published: 30 January 2009

Manchester Phoenix opened up a commanding 4-0 lead in the first leg of Ice Hockey’s British Knockout Cup last night.

They beat Hull Stingrays at Altrincham in the semi-finals to put themselves in pole position for the return leg on Humberside in two weeks time.

Captain Kenton Smith opened the scoring on a 17th minute powerplay before Brett Clouthier, player-coach Tony Hand and Kyle Bruce made the game safe.

Phoenix play back-to-back games with the Nottingham Panthers at the weekend, travelling to the East Midlands tomorrow (7pm) with the return on Sunday in Altrincham (5.30pm).