Phoenix All-Star Game

This past Sunday saw the annual Manchester Phoenix All-Star Game, an evening of skills and fun on the ice, this time done in conjunction with the Trafford Metros. It comes at a high pressure part of the season, so in a way it's an ideal avenue for the players to let off some steam, have a laugh, and put the title race to one side for the night.

The shooting of the night was thrown into doubt before the doors had even opened, as my friend Helena was taken ill upon arrival at the rink. After scaring the bejesus out of us all, Helena was taken off to hospital, accompanied by my better half Yol, and myself and Vicki were under strict instructions to stay at the rink and shoot the game as normal. So that's what we did. I'll cut to the chase and say that Helena was kept in overnight, but is now back home and well on the way to recovery. Naturally, the photos that I took are dedicated to Helena and Yol, who had to miss seeing the event in person. I hope you can get a sense of the evening from the shots!

Other than the off-ice drama, the evening was very entertaining. The Phoenix and Metros players were mixed up by the two team Managers, who were the two winners of the recent Fantasy Phoenix contest. One of whom was my very good friend Adam McArdle, who took command of the white team and oversaw his squad's efforts from the bench:



The game was played and the challenges contested in the spirit of the evening, with the players taking the opportunity to have some fun. At the start of the season, James Neil had promised to have a fight by the end of the year, and so he fulfilled his dream by taking on team enforcer Andrew Sharp:




The evening also gave me a chance to go where few photographers have gone before, into the locker room, and capture a lovely moment between Marcus Kristoffersson and his two year old daughter Selma. Selma had been playing with an adult-sized stick, so Marcus sawed it down to her size and handed it over:



Back on the ice, and the Skills Contests saw me shooting from the scoreboard end of the rink, and it let me get some shots that I wouldn't normally be able to get, a new angle on the events on the ice:





But the most memorable moments came late in the game, when the goal celebrations got more and more outlandish, with Joe Miller and Andrew Sharp quite literally taking the hot-dog with their goal celebration!



The full set of photos from the event can be seen here: Phoenix All-Star Game