The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms picked up both points in their only game of the weekend as they defeated the Solway Sharks on Sunday night.
Phantoms welcomed back a crucial part of their roster in Duncan Speirs after several weeks out through injury, whilst Billy Thorpe took the warm up to provide further promising signs as we head towards the middle of the season.
On the other side of the red line, Jordan Marr was welcomed back to Planet Ice Peterborough for the first time since he departed the club for the Solway Sharks in the summer - a good reception was always guaranteed for the multi-trophy winning goalie.
The Sharks came into the game off the back of a good win over the Romford Raiders on Saturday night and almost took the lead when Kell Beattie tried his luck from the blue line and Nolan Gardiner pounced on the follow up, but Hayden Lavigne was equal to both efforts.
Phantoms hit the front with 7:56 played when good work by Cam Hough and Janne Laakkonen resulted in the puck popping out to Callum Buglass, who ripped his shot beyond Marr and into the net.
They almost doubled their advantage when Nathan Salem got in on a breakaway, but Marr held firm to deny Phantoms’ #91.
Laakkonen then went close to a Phantoms’ second goal, but his one timer went just wide off Marr’s right post.
The Sharks seemed to up their offensive output after the first intermission and levelled the scores through Gardiner. The chance came about when John Dunbar played a neat give-and-go with Caly Robertson, allowing the import forward to break 2-on-1 and find the pass for Gardiner, the NIHL National’s top goal scorer, to one time an effort into the back of the net.
The Phantoms’ lead was almost restored when Jarvis Hunt lobbed the puck into the zone and Tom Palmer settled it down, only to see his shot denied by Marr - who was having a solid game on his return to Peterborough ice.
But they did get back in front a couple of minutes after the mid-way point, when Scott Robson threw a point shot through the traffic, through the five hole of Marr and into the net.
They held their lead until the fourth minute of the third period when they were undone by a fine goal by the Sharks. Dunbar pulled a lovely reverse pass back from behind the goal for the onrushing Gardiner to smash into the net.
But it remained level for less than a minute as Luke Ferrara found Hough in the right circle and the Canadian forward picked, and found, his spot with a peach of a finish past Marr.
Tom Norton and Beattie traded blue line efforts at each end, both of which were saved by goalies having strong evenings at either end of the ice.
Solway called a timeout and pulled the goalie with 57 seconds to play, but Phantoms held out to secure victory in their sole game of the weekend.
FINAL SCORE: Peterborough Phantoms 3-2 Solway Sharks
Phantoms goals:
7:56 (PP 1-0 SS): #45 Callum Buglass / #29 Cam Hough / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
32:46 (PP 2-1 SS): #11 Scott Robson / #26 Tom Palmer / #35 Joe Gretton (EHG)
43:54 (PP 3-2 SS): #29 Cam Hough / #19 Luke Ferrara / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
Sharks goals:
24:13 (PP 1-1 SS): #43 Nolan Gardiner / #22 John Dunbar / #92 Caly Robertson (EHG)
43:09 (PP 2-2 SS): #43 Nolan Gardiner / #22 John Dunbar / #5 Olivier Arseneau (EHG)
Phantoms man of the match: #29 Cam Hough
Sharks man of the match: #33 Jordan Marr