The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms travelled up to Solway on Saturday night to battle the Sharks for cup points - and visit an old friend.
Peterborough Phantoms started strong from the opening face off with the first five minutes seeing end-to-end action.
Torran Anderson and Caly Robertson tested out Hayden Lavigne early on, whilst at the other end Austin Mitchell-King and Luke Ferrara both tested former Phantoms Jordan Marr in the Sharks goal.
The homeside opened the scoring on 7.23 when Lewis Young found Mason Alderson who fired home the puck.
Two quick goals turned the game at the end of the opening period. on 17.49 Joey Coulter doubled the home sides lead, and then less than a minute later it was a 3-0 game as Nolan Gardiner found the back of the Phantoms net.
Period two was one of high tension for both teams, the Phantoms looking to get on the scoreboard and reign in the Sharks, whilst the Sharks were looking to extend their winning streak.
Mitchell-King opened the scoring for the Phantoms during a powerplay after Liam Stenton sat two minutes for hooking Cam Hough. Shortly after, Phantoms’ center Jarvis Hunt was sent to the penalty box after an incident with Liam Danskin. The Sharks saw their advantage and attempted to capitalise on this but the Phantoms’ penalty kill unit stopped these plans.
Once back to full strength, Phantoms’ forwards, Janne Laakkonen, Nathan Salem, and Cam Hough all came close to scoring before Tom Palmer found a way past Marr at 35.22 to make it a 3-2 game.
With the clock running down the Phantoms conceded goal number 4 with just 10 seconds of the period remaining when Lewis Young slotted the puck home to make it 4-2 to the sharks after 40 minutes play.
The final period saw the Sharks start the stronger and two early goals killed off the game. John Dunbar netted on 44.10, before Nolan Gardiner scored his second of the game on 46.51.
Goal 6 also signalled the end of Hayden Lavignes game as he was replaced in the Phantoms goal by Luke Clark.
A flashpoint on 48.04 saw Cam Hough and Sharks’ Kyle Carruth dropping the gloves. Hough receiving two minutes for tripping and five minutes for fighting, whilst Carruth received the same but also a Game penalty for instigating the fight.
As the game restarted Nolan Gardiner netted his hattrick on 48.17 to make it a 7-2 game.
Final Score: Solway Sharks 7-2 Peterborough Phantoms
After the game Joe Gretton had this to say: "[It was] not good enough and obviously we want to apologise to the fans that gave up their money and time to come and watch us. I think the battle was there and the effort was there, but just ultimately not good enough and it’s a shame really, but some positives to take, you have to dust ourselves down on this one and get ready to go back at it tomorrow.
"You can say it was long travel, you can say we were missing boys, end of the day, you can only play with what you’ve got and it wasn't good enough so, no excuses from us like I say crack back on tomorrow"
Joe was also full of praise for young netminder Luke Clark’s performance: "He was really good actually, [he] did some good saves and he smashed it to be fair. That’s not an easy situation having to come in against a Solway team that were rolling, he did really well, and i'm so happy for him"
Man Of the Match:
Sharks: #43 Nolan Gardiner
Phantoms: #24 Austin Michell-King
Sharks Goals:
07:23 (SSh 1-0 PP) #9 Mason Alderson / #14 Lewis Young (EHG)
17:49 (SSh 2-0 PP) #63 Joey Coulter / #88 Kyle Carruth / #21 Torran Anderson (EHG)
18:37 (SSh 3-0 PP) #43 Nolan Gardiner / #22 John Dunbar (EHG)
39:50 (SSh 4-2 PP) #14 Lewis Young / #9 Mason Alderson / #5 Oliver Arseneau (EHG)
44:10 (SSh 5-2 PP) #22 John Dunbar / #10 Liam Stenton / #43 Nolan Gardiner (EHG)
46:51 (SSh 6-2 PP) #43 Nolan Gardiner / #92 Caly Robertson / #22 John Dunbar (EHG)
48:17 (SSh 7-2 PP) #43 Nolan Gardiner / #22 John Dunbar (EHG)
Phantoms Goals:
27:40 (SSh 3-1 PP) #24 Austin Mitchell-King (PPG)
35:22 (SSh 3-2 PP) #26 Thomas Palmer / #8 Louie Kynason / #2 Thomas Norton (EHG)