Phantoms welcomed the Solway Sharks to Planet Ice Peterborough for the Sunday night of hockey after the Phantoms previously faced the Hull Seahawks where they secured the 2 points and the Sharks faced the Pitbulls where they also secured the 2 points.
The Sharks skated away with the opening face-off and straight off the back of this Cam Hough and Janne Laakkonen had a great opportunity but Cam Hough’s shot went wide of the goal. A great defensive play from Phantoms to maintain possession of the puck allowed Brad Bowering a chance in front of Marr in goal but was denied but this gave both Duncan Speris and Nathan Salem another chance at getting the first goal on the scoreboard but were denied as well by Jordan Marr. Solway managed to break into the Phantoms’ defensive zone and Nolan Gardiner was able to get a chance close to Hayden Lavigne but was pushed to the side of the side of Lavigne to clear his zone. Not long after this chance, Nolan Gardiner managed to slot the puck to the back of the net from a pass from Kell Beatie at 12:58 to see Sharks take the lead. After this the Phantoms charged their way into the Sharks’ defensive zone and Stenton pushed Cam Hough into Jordan Marr, which led to Luke Ferrara and the rest of the Solway players on the ice exchanging words. A chance for Nathan Salem with 5 seconds left in the period saw the first period end 0-1 with the Sharks entering the second period in the lead.
The Phantoms came out in the second period looking determined to close the gap on the scoreboard and this was proven through a chance only 20 seconds in as Luke Ferrara found his way to the Solway net but was denied again by Marr and another chance not long after in front of the net for Phantoms but was unable to get the puck to the back of the net. Some great work from Barnabas Sari as he maintains possession of the puck to force it into the Sharks’ defensive zone that gave Hunt and Norton chances of goal. Solway battled back and got the puck to the otherside of the ice to challenge Lavigne in net but an excellent save saw the Sharks denied from extending their lead. More chances offensively went in favor of the Phantoms from Salem and Laakkkonen but were both stopped by some great defensive plays from Solway and a further chance stopped by Marr. A penalty called against John Dunbar form the Sharks for Tripping saw the Phantoms balled their way towards Jordan Marr and Cam Hough managed to poke the puck into the goal in front of Marr after a pass from Janne Laakkonen from the side of Marr’s net to equalise the game. This saw the second period end 1-1 and all to play for going into the third period.
Not the best start to the period for Phantoms as Cam Hough found himself being hit by a high stick to the face that saw him forced to receive medical but later returned back to the game. Shortly after, the Sharks found themselves with an extra skater due to a Phantoms penalty on Norton, which gave Scott Henderson a chance to regain the lead for the Sharks but was shut down by Hayden Lavigne. After the Phantoms returned to full strength, the Sharks made their way onto the penalty kill and a shot from Luke Ferrara to five hole saw the Phantoms take the lead for the first time on the night with assists awarded to Janne Laakkonen and Cam Hough. Some chances went in favour of both teams during the next 5 minutes of play but the Sharks’ found themselves struck by another penalty served by Kell Beatie that gave Cam Hough his chance at a power play goal and a shot from just in front of the blueline found its way into the back of Marr’s net as it just goes past his blocker with assists awarded to Janne Laakkonen and Callum Buglass. With just under 2 minutes left the Sharks opted for an empty net approach to try close the 2 goal gap but the puck finds its way into the Sharks’ defensive zone and Cam Hough secured his hat trick on the night with an empty net goal to secure the 2 points for the Phantoms and a 4 point weekend for Peterborough.
After 60 minutes of play the final score stood at 4-1 in favor of the Phantoms after a strong effort for the Sharks to defend their lead that was obtained in the first period. For the sharks, Jordan Marr skated away with the man of the match and Cam Hough received the man of the match award for the Phantoms.