Belfast Giants 3 - 1

Manchester Phoenix Giants win 6-5 on aggregate

A SHORTHANDED goal from Mike Burgoyne with just over three minutes to play denied the Manchester Phoenix a chance to lift their first trophy as the Giants ran out 3-1 winners on the night, 6-5 over the two legged final to lift the Challenge Cup for the first time.

Phoenix travelled to the Dundonald Ice Rink for the second leg of the Challenge Cup Final holding a narrow one-goal advantage from the home leg in Altrincham.

Belfast killed an early Slashing penalty against Evan Cheverie and when referee Boniface penalised first Alex Dunn and Nathan Ward to give the home side a two-man powerplay, things began to look ominous.

Giants Bobby Robins quickly joined them, but still on a one-man advantage, the Giants tied the aggregate score in the seventh minute, Paul Deniset netting from close range.

Phoenix killed a penalty against Brett Clouthier only for Giants player coach to fire them into a two-nil lead on the night in the 17th minute lifting a short range shot past Stephen Murphy into the top corner.

Both sides attacked in the third period. As the clock ticked away, both sides were fully committed to winning the game with no thoughts of overtime or penalties to decide the outcome.

It was Burgoyne who pounced as a Tony Hand shot was blocked and cleared, and he raced away to somehow squeeze the puck underneath Murphy for the cup-winning goal.

Phoenix face the Hull Stingrays at 7.15pm on Thursday evening in Altrincham before travelling to Edinburgh on Saturday for their penultimate Elite League fixture.

Sunday sees Phoenix take on Belfast again, this time in a game that doubles as both a league fixture and the first leg of the Knockout Cup Final. Face-off time on Sunday in Altrincham is 5.30pm.