MATCH REPORT | FULL WEEKEND ROUNDUP

The Phantoms took on the Berkshire Bees in the Phantoms’ home barn in a tense and skilful game. Both teams started strong with the Phantoms and Bees making shots at Phantoms goalie Hayden Lavigne and Bees goalie Max Wight respectively. Despite both goalies best efforts, period one ended with the Peterborough Phantoms leading the scoreboard with two goals and the Berkshire Bees adding one goal.

After seeing the lead the Phantoms had, the Bees were determined to level the scoreboard. Adam Rosbottom became the first Bees’ player to attempt to score in the second period, this pursuit was shut down by Lavigne, but just over halfway through the second period, Vanya Antonov got the better of Lavigne and scored the Bees’ second goal. Encouraged by their teammate Marcel Balaz and Liam Morris tried to put one more puck in the back of Lavigne’s net, but neither player was successful.

Period three was full of tension as both teams battled hard to get the dominant goal on their side. With the Phantoms suffering three penalties against them, the odds weren’t in their favour, regardless of this the Phantoms shut down any opportunity the Bees made for themselves.

Whilst the Bees had possession in the Phantom zone, Nathan Salem broke free with Jarvis Hunt and skated to the Bees goal, Salem passed the puck to Hunt and he shot the puck passed Wright and into his net. Dominik Gabaj used the two Phantom penalties to his advantage and levelled the scoreboard.

As period three ended the scoreboard was equal, PP 3 - 3 BB, the game went into overtime, and the Phantoms held possession of the puck for the majority of the overtime, despite their best efforts to win the game, the Bees weren’t ready to give up and overtime ended with no new goals, so the game went to shootouts.

Shootout results:
PP Cam Hough - scored
BB Dominik Gabaj - missed
PP Luke Ferrara - scored
BB Vanya Antonov - saved
PP Brad Bowering - missed
BB Marcek Balaz - missed
PP Janne Laakkonen - scored

Final score Peterborough Phantoms 4 - 3 Berkshire Bees

Phantoms MOM: #91 Nathan Salem
Bees MOM: #9 Vanya Antonov

Phantom Goals:
13:15 (PP 1 - 1 BB) #91 Nathan Salem / #24 Austin Mitchell-King (EHG)
13:40 (PP 2 - 1 BB) #62 Janne Laakkonen / #29 Cameron Hough / #19 Luke Ferrara (EHG)
53:52 (PP 3 - 2 BB) #96 Jarvis Hunt / #91 Nathan Salem (EHG)
65:00 (PP 4 - 3 BB) #29 Cameron Hough (SO)

Bees Goals:
10:09 (PP 0 - 1 BB) #19 William Stead / #94 Stuart Mogg / #2 Adam Rosbottom (EHG)
31:14 (PP 2 - 2 BB) #9 Vanya Antonov (EHG)
55:09 (PP 3 - 3 BB) #23 Dominik Gabaj / #9 Vanya Antonov / #21 Marcel Balaz (PPG)

When the Peterborough Phantoms battled against the Romford Raiders in Romford’s home rink the following night, both teams wanted to add more points to their league and cup totals. It was the Raiders who started strong and raised the roof when Adam Laishram knocked the first puck in the back of Lavigne’s net within the first two minutes of the game. This adrenaline seemed to be too much for Raiders’ forward Tommy Huggett as he received a slashing penalty.

Phantoms Luke Ferrara, Janne Laakkonen and Nathan Salem didn’t want to waste the power play they had been provided, so they pressed hard on any oncoming Raiders and their goalie Ethan James as they fired multiple shots at his net, James batted all attempts away.

With the wind behind the Raiders, they pushed hard to score another goal and held possession for the majority of the period, making it hard for the Phantoms to make their first goal, although undeterred by the Raiders advantage, the Phantoms fought well to defend their goalie Hayden Lavigne and manage to level the scoreboard when Brad Bowering went top corner in James’ net. As the period came to an end, Luke Ferrara and Aiden Wilson made their attempts to put another puck behind Lavigne and James respectively, but no further goals came to fruition.

The Romford Raiders became frantic to become the front runners of the game in their home barn, Lavigne saw oncoming shots from Brandon Ayliffe, Adam Laishram and Tyler Nixon but none of these attempts were successful. However the Phantoms took the Raiders’ desperation to their advantage and reversed the pressure the Raiders had previously held in the last period, this allowed Canadian Forward Cam Hough to score the second goal for the Phantoms.

As both Raiders and Phantoms enter the third period, the Phantoms lost their winning streak within the first six minutes of the period as Brandon Ayliffe, Andrew Shewfelt and Sean Barry each collect a gaol for their team. After gaining the lead on the game, the Raiders found the energy they lost in the second period and were determined not to lose the energy again, although this did come at a cost as the Raiders faced another four penalties against them, while the Phantoms only sat for two penalties.

During the Raiders’ last two penalties, the Phantoms gained a massive advantage as only three Raiders remained on the ice, Phantoms’ Head Coach Slava Koulikov decided to pull Lavigne from his goal to provide an additional skater. This risk did pay off as Janne Laakonen scored the third goal for the Phantoms in the last three minutes of the game. Now only requiring one more goal to get the Phantoms to overtime, Lavigne remained off the ice so the Phantoms could remain with six skaters, unfortunately, neither luck nor time was on the Phantoms side as the game ended with a Raiders win.

Final Score: Romford Raiders 4 - 3 Peterborough Phantoms

Phantom MOM: Cam Hough
Raiders MOM: Joe Tomalin

Raiders Goals:
01:05 (RR 1 - 0 PP) #83 Adam Laishram / #13 Elliott Dewey / #98 Tjay Anderson (EHG)
42:15 (RR 2 - 2 PP) #10 Brandon Ayliffe / #91 Andrew Shewfelt (EHG)
42:54 (RR 3 -2 PP) #91 Andrew Shewfelt / #95 Shaun Miller / #13 Elliott Dewey (EHG)
45:26 (RR 4 - 2 PP) #55 Sean Barry / #98 Tjay Anderson / #18 Marco Pascale (EHG)

Phantoms Goals:
14:26 (RR 1 - 1 PP) #23 Bradley Bowering / #96 Jarvis Hunt / #13 Connor Glossop (EHG)
22:20 (RR 1 - 2 PP) #29 Cameron Hough / #45 Callum Buglass / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
​57:30 (RR 4 - 3 PP) #62 Janne Laakkonen / #2 Thomas Norton / #91 Nathan Salem (PPG)