The first serious action of the season saw Telford Tigers skate into Bretton for an Autumn Cup tie. Tigers were without Doug Clarkson but on the plus side had a few extra games under their belt compared to Phantoms.
As with all games matching up old coaching adversaries Slava Koulikov and Tom Watkins, this one started in traditionally cagey style with so much respect from both sides that offensive forays were limited and very tentative leaving both sets of D-men and certainly both netminders well in command. Chances were limited and scrappy with neither side creating anything beyond half chances.
Period two saw Phantoms grow a little more confident, perhaps having seen that Tigers had little to concern them up front and the balance of play shifted towards the home side. Chances remained rather scratchy and scruffy with just the odd more guilt edged opportunity with Glen Billing’s one-on-one from a Buglass stretch pass probably being the one golden chance but netminder Bell made the save. The momentum was with Phantoms but odds on a first ever 0-0 result at Bretton were attracting quite a few backers in the second break !
The final twenty saw Phantoms pick up where they left off and the game soon became a contest between one team who wanted to win and one who simply didn’t want to lose. It was fairly one-way traffic but, again, Tigers were working hard and spoiling well with netminder Bell coming up big whenever Phantoms did break through.
At 47:43, Tigers were called on a tripping minor to leave Phantoms with their third third powerplay of the game and it proved to be the breakthrough moment when a rebound from a cross-ice feed found Corey McEwen and the ex-Tiger found the top corner with the loose puck. Petr Stepanek bounced one off the post straight from the resulting face-off but the second goal came soon after when Phantoms broke on a 3on1 against a tiring Tigers side and McEwen bagged his second with a neat bottom corner finish that left Bell motionless.
McEwen came desperately close to his hat-trick marker with a backhander on a breakaway but Tigers were the unlikely scorers of the next goal when McKenzie poked home from a Jordan Marr rebound on 54:12 but any concerns amongst the home fans were put to rest on 58:52 when a neat powerplay move involving Ferguson and Stepanek found Glen Billing and he wasn’t going to miss in close for 3-1. Despite Tigers throwing all they had left at Phantoms, the home D looked very comfortable and composed which no doubt contributed to the frustrated Andrew McKinney’s late 2+10 call that left Phantoms safe with just over a minute left. Tigers pulled Bell after a late time-out and Phantoms did net just short of the buzzer but the linesman rightly spotted a late retreating Phantom and called the play as offside.
Corey McEwen picked up the beers to the strains of “Corey is a Phantom” from the happy home fans !
Efficient and effective from Phantoms. It didn’t totally click up front and it tends not to at this early stage of the season but the important thing is that the D needs to be strong at these times and tonight they were very strong, very composed and had more than enough to nullify an enthusiastic, hard working but ultimately quite limited Tigers offense. Will be slightly tougher in the return tomorrow night but the team should be more than confident after tonight’s showing.
Game stats HERE.