Tigers beat English visitors
By Chris Simon

A player from the Manchester Phoenix hockey club takes a shot at the Thornton Tiger goaltender, during an exhibition game last week. The Manchester team competed in several games against local clubs, since arriving from England last week. Thornton defeated Manchester 5-4.

Sam Heyes has been playing hockey on his native English soil for the last few years.

Even though the 14-yearold member of the Manchester Phoenix hockey club is surrounded by more popular British field sports like soccer and rugby, he loves the sound of scraping skate blades along the ice, the hard bodychecks and fast-paced puck movement.

And his teammates seem to agree.

The team spent the last week in the Simcoe County region, playing teams in Innisfil, New Tecumseth and Orillia. They played their final game against the Thornton Tigers minor midget team Friday, before flying back home to England.

Thornton defeated Manchester 5-4.

"I don't support football (soccer), it's the worst sport in the world," he said, getting dressed before Friday's game.

Heyes says the team enjoyed playing the hard hitting style of the Canadian game.

"I like the style of game played over here," he said.

The Phoenix did well during their stint, finishing with a near .500 winning percentage.

Tigers coach Chris Noonan says the game provided a break for his team, which is in the midst of playoffs.

"We're in the playoffs now, so this is a little break for them," he said. "This should be pretty relaxing, no pressure."

Both the Phoenix and Tigers players also get an opportunity to gauge international competition, said Noonan.

"We can control our score, we can't control theirs," he said. "(We're) excited."

Before the game, 15- year-old Tigers goaltender Ben Thorne predicted the match-up would be tough but fun.

Since neither side had previous played each other, an outcome is usually tough to predict.

"I've never played anybody (from) overseas," he said.

"They're pretty good, but you don't know how they're going to react."

However, Thorne was playing to win.

"You definitely do not want to get beat by a team that comes over from England," he said. "But it's pretty cool that they're here. It's not an everyday thing ... we just want to have fun with these guys."