The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms had a rare Sunday road trip to Romford, where they battled to complete a point-heavy weekend.
Both teams started the game strong and had a desire to score, it was Austin Mitchell-King who lit the lamp for the Phantoms after he took advantage of a Zach Yokoyama turnover; less than a minute later Andrew Shewfelt got the better of goalie Hayden Lavigne.
Still in the scoring mood, Tom Norton extended the Phantom lead by completing his trademark blue line shot, sweeping past Raiders’ goalie Ethan James.
Not willing to give up, Marco Pascale, Tom Relf and Tommy Huggett all took shots at Lavigne, but he stood strong and denied the Romford trio of their plans. Left feeling robbed, Pascale became upset and took his anger out on Cam Hough - throwing him to the ice, Pascale was handed a 2-minute penalty for tripping. The Phantoms’ top line took advantage of this, it was Luke Ferrara who scored the third for the Phantoms
The Raiders weren’t able to score any more goals in the first period, with Jake Sylvester and Ash Jackson winding their sticks up, but ultimately Lavigne saved these attempts.
Zach Yokoyama capitalised on a Raiders’ powerplay and scored their second; this didn’t deter the Phantoms with: Jarvis Hunt, Duncan Speirs and Brad Bowering amongst others, all making chances at James’ net.
Tjay Anderson made the first out of two goals for the Raiders, with Ayliffe making the second and taking the lead on the scoreboard - the Raiders were able to hold onto this title for 62 seconds; as Ferrara scored the equalising goal for the Phantoms.
The young Yokoyama found himself frustrated when entering the third period, this was displayed when he checked Bowering to the head - the Romford youngster was penalised with a 5+ game penalty. The Phantoms battled well to score during the powerplay but the Romford penalty kill unit had other plans; just as the Phantoms’ powerplay ended Norton fired the leading goal into James’ net.
Due to being a player down, the remaining Raiders had to work harder to provide the equaliser - Joe Tomalin tried to make chances but Norton had other plans; Scott Robson also blocked Sylvester’s shooting lane.
As the period went on, the Raiders’ became more volatile towards the Phantoms; with Ferrara, Hough, and Nathan Salem becoming the victims of the Raiders’ attacks. Whilst trying desperately to get an equalising goal Romford’s Bench Coach Adam Laishram came up with a plan, this included pulling James to provide them with six skaters - with less than 2 minutes to go, Salem was given an interference penalty; giving the Raiders’ the man advantage of two men - this advantage wasn’t enough as the period ended with a Phantom win.
Final Score: Romford Raiders 4-5 Peterborough Phantoms
After the game, we spoke to Head Coach Slava Koulikov about his thoughts on the game: "Look it was a tough game. There is no doubt about it; we got two nil up and then three- one up. They’re in the second leg of the semi final of the cup and maybe because they have a very bad result and they wanted to respond, so they were always pushing back and pushing back and they made a really good game out of it.
"The ending of the game again shows the character of the players to dig deep in the last couple of minutes and then kill the penalty and obviously they pull the goalie four on six and it was a great ending and proud to have a four-point weekend."
He went on to talk about the upcoming away game in Sheffield: "It'll be tough, mid-week games always tough, but we have the momentum. I believe we’re three and all, obviously we want to make it four and all; for the first time this year. I think we had a couple of three game win runs and I'm sure the players will be motivated."
Man Of The Match:
Raiders: #10 Brandon Ayliffe
Phantoms: #2 Tom Norton
Raiders Goals:
02:37 (RR 1-1 PP) #91 Andrew Shewfelt / #23 Harvey Briggs / #86 Tommy Huggett (EHG)
21:00 (RR 2-3 PP) #85 Zachary Yokoyama / #95 Shaun Miller / #91 Andrew Shewfelt (PPG)
31:01 (RR 3-3 PP) #98 Tjay Anderson / #85 Zachary Yokoyama (EHG)
35:30 (RR 4-3 PP) #10 Brandon Ayliffe / #23 Harvey Briggs / #18 Marco Pascale (EHG)
Phantoms Goals:
01:41 (RR 0-1 PP) #24 Austin Mitchell-King / #91 Nathan Salem / #23 Bradley Bowering (EHG)
03:02 (RR 1-2 PP) #2 Thomas Norton / #26 Thomas Palmer / #35 Joseph Gretton (EHG)
13:57 (RR 1-3 PP) #19 Luke Ferrara / #29 Cameron Hough / #62 Janne Laakkonen (PPG)
36:32 (RR 4-4 PP) #19 Luke Ferrara / #23 Bradley Bowering / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
46:37 (RR 4-5 PP) #2 Thomas Norton / #96 Jarvis Hunt / #91 Nathan Salem (EHG)