Manchester Phoenix have de-registered Czech forward Ales Parez due to injury concerns. The 25-year old forward sustained a shoulder injury late in the 6-5 road victory over the Basingstoke Bison on February 3. Since then, he has received physiotherapy to help correct the injury, but the response has been slower than originally anticipated.

Coach Tony Hand said: "It's disappointing that Ales has not improved to a stage where he can play again. Whilst we're in need of bodies, we'll not risk any players' health unnecessarily and so we've taken the decision to de-register him."

Phoenix have moved quickly in signing forward Anthony Battaglia who has iced this season in the East Coast Hockey League with the Columbia Inferno, and are awaiting clearance of necessary paperwork to enable him to play this week.

Phoenix are in action on Wednesday night at the Altrincham Ice Dome against the league leading Coventry Blaze. The game also doubles as the second leg of the Knockout Cup semi-final with the Blaze leading 4-1 from the first tie. Phoenix then play again on Thursday night at the Ice Dome with the Hull Stingrays the opposition. Both games are due to face-off at 7.00pm and tickets will be available on the door.

Meanwhile Phoenix have announced that admission for all the Junior teams games to the end of the current season will be free-of-charge.

A Phoenix spokesman said: "we did a leaflet drop in Altrincham on Saturday ahead of the Under-19's game against Grimsby and the response was very encouraging indeed. So, we've taken the decision to allow free entry to all the remaining Junior games to offer the local public the opportunity to watch the youngsters and get a taste for Phoenix ice hockey for themselves."

The Under-16 team will also include a special Challenge Game on Saturday April 28th against a team from Bradford, Ontario in return for the hospitality offered recently to the Phoenix Under-15 squad who visited Canada.

The Phoenix juniors schedules in full can be viewed in the Fixture Section on the official club website at www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk