MATCH REPORT | PHANTOMS BITTEN BY STEELDOGS

The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms fell to a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Sheffield Steeldogs in a close game on Saturday in the steel city.

Phantoms made a strong start at Ice Sheffield when Cam Hough glided the Phantoms’ first goal through Steeldogs’ goalie Ben Norton’s five-hole within the first twelve seconds of the game. The goal lead to end to end action and Walker Sommer broke away from his zone and into the Phantoms’ zone to shoot at Phantoms’ goalie Hayden Lavigne, who saved well to keep the Phantoms lead intact.

Despite an early penalty on Phantoms’ defenceman Brad Bowering for tripping Steeldogs Sam Tremblay, the Peterborough Phantoms created an immense amount of pressure on the Steeldogs zone for the half of the period.

Steeldogs evened up the game thanks to Elmeri Hällfors who after seeing Lavigne block an initial shot, pounced on the rebound to make it 1-1. Within minutes of the Steeldogs’ goal, Nathan Salem gave the Phantoms the lead once more as he fired the puck past Ben Norton, hitting the goal post and angling into Norton’s net.

Fuelled on by their second goal the Phantoms pressured the Steeldogs in their zone, peppering Nortons goal. A cross ice pass was picked up by Steeldogs young Fin Ulrick who broke down the ice, but the Phantoms defence were there to steal the puck before he could get his final shot off.

Sheffield Steeldogs found themselves on a penalty kill after Thomas Barry was put in the penalty box for tripping. Unbothered by this setback, the Steeldogs found their equaliser thanks to former GB Captain Jonathon Phillips to make it a 2-2 game at the first interval.

The second period started quietly as both teams looked to gain some pressure in the opponent’s zone. It was the Steeldogs who took the lead and sparked the period into life as Sam Tremblay found the net to give the homeside a 3-2 advantage. The goal saw the Steeldogs pin the Phantoms ionto their own half of the ice but despite efforts from Walker Sommer, Morgan Clarke-Pizzo and Fin Ulrick the Phantoms defence and Hayden Lavigne held the onslaught at bay.

Phantoms equalised through Captain Luke Ferrara with a fake that drew Ben Norton out of poistion in the Steeldogs goal, and allowed Ferrara to fire into the space left by the Steeldogs netty.

Ollie Turner couldn’t contain his frustrations and after putting a puckless Tom Palmer into the boards received a two-minute penalty for interference putting the Phantoms on the Powerplay. Brad Bowering’s came close to giving the Phantoms the lead as he broke away but could only watch on as his shot flew just over the top of the Steeldogs net.

Just as Phantoms had scored early on P1, the Steeldogs took the lead early in P3 when within the first 46 seconds Tremblay fired the puck into Lavigne’s net. The Phantoms’ faced another chance to level the scoreboard again when Steeldogs’ forward Jack Brammer was penalised by the officials for holding a Phantoms player, but the Phantoms were unable to make the numerical advantage count. The Phantoms continued to have the better possession of the period with Ferrara coming close to leveling the scrores again, only to be denied by Ben BNorton on the Steeldogs goal.

Phantoms pulled Lavigne in the final minutes but with 3 seconbds of the game remaining Sam Tremblay broke down the ice and put the puck into the empty net for his hatrick goal and to make it a 5-3 Steeldogs victory.