Saturday, February 23, 2008 Elite League: Mobilx Newcastle Vipers 4-2 Manchester Phoenix
Sunday, February 24, 2008 Elite League: Mobilx Newcastle Vipers 1-3 Sheffield Steelers

ROB Wilson restored his first line of Colin Shields, Derek Campbell and Todd Jackson and saw that partnership involved in all four goals against Manchester Phoenix as they continued their resurgent form in the run-up to the play-offs.

Having scored hat-tricks in each of the previous two weekends, Shields continued his rich vein of form, netting once and assisting on the other three of the Vipers' goals in the 4-2 win.

It was Campbell who netted the first on 5.15, Shields' pass across the face of the goal leaving a huge space into which to fire from the right hand side.

However, Brett Clouthier pulled the visiting Manchester side level on 12.09, a weak wrist shot somehow evading the defence and goalie Ryan MacDonald.

Phoenix took the lead early in the second through Tony Hand tight finish, somehow beating MacDonald at the near post after he found himself in alone in the 24th minute.

Vipers managed to kill a five-on-three power play shortly after, when Campbell and Mark Gouett took penalties, but the home side started to pile on the pressure as the middle frame continued.

Eventually, that paid off and it was a superb strike from young defenceman Jez Lundin which levelled the scores on 35.23. With the Vipers working the puck around the Phoenix net, Lundin's move forward down the left was untracked and when Campbell's pass out found his stick, the puck flew into the roof of the net.

A late scare for the Vipers saw MacDonald touch Adam Walker's shot onto the bar, but when the third period opened, it was all Newcastle.

Shields netted his 29th of the season on 46.03, Ben Storey's diagonal pass met with a first-time shot from the Scot to make it 3-2.

The fourth and final goal came from another in-form Viper, Jeff Hutchins, who netted on the delayed penalty at 55.45, with assists from Shields and Jackson.

Despite putting on one of their best performances of the season on Sunday night, however, the Vipers could not finish the chances necessary to earn a victory over the Sheffield Steelers.

This time, it was a miss from Shields 1.20 from the end which saw the last hopes slip away with the visitors a goal ahead.

The best chance of the first period fell to Hutchins, who found himself alone in front of Jody Lehman's goal, only to be slashed by Dan Tessier.

Instead, it was Sheffield who struck first, through Jeff Legue, when Joey Talbot's cross-ice pass made it easy to score at 26.12.

Jonathan Phillips made it 0-2 on 35.04, Jez Lundin's stick-first slide could only cause the puck to evade MacDonald as he attempted to make the save.

A power play strike early in the final period from Ben Storey found the top corner and set the game up for a dramatic last 20 minutes and with the clock counting down, Shields' inability to connect with the cross ice pass saw the Vipers' final chance go begging.

Doug Sheppard rounded off the scoring with five seconds to go, assisted by Phillips, but the game was already over by the time the lamp was lit for 1-3.

10:45am Tuesday 26th February 2008

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