Eleven straight victories for Phantoms but few have demanded greater discipline and effort than tonight’s 3-1 victory over an impressive Basingstoke side.
The opening period suggested that things may prove a little easier than they were to turn out as Phantoms dominated from the start and created enough opportunities to have finished the game before Bison had chance to get involved. A 14-5 SOG advantage should probably serve up more than a one goal advantage, courtesy of yet another blue-line bullet from Tom “Goal Machine” Norton on 6:58, but the impressive manner in which Phantoms dominated Bison as soon as they crossed the half way line suggested that even one goal may prove enough to win the game.
Period Two and it was clear that player coach Ashley Tait had worked out a Plan B and even a Plan C to counter Phantoms dominance and it served up a more even period where Phantoms were often indebted to some razor sharp netminding from Jordan Marr but it was the home side who were to strike next when Petr Stepanek fired through a crowded zone to beat the unsighted Alex Mettam on 24:43.
After a string of sharp reflex saves from Marr, the game’s big controversial moment came on 32:54 when Nathan Pollard raced down the boards before whipping in a sharp low shot that sneaked between post and skate to beat Mettam but Bison played the “hole in the netting” card with great enthusiasm albeit an enthusiasm that didn’t seem to have much backing from their own netminder. After a long deliberation and intense study of the netting, the officials saw no other explanation for the puck being in the back of the net and it was 3-0 Phantoms.
The goal fired up Bison who poured forward in numbers but backed by Jordan Marr seeing it like a beach ball, Phantoms were impressively disciplined in defence and kept the score at 3-0 to the second break.
Period three was dominated by the visitors but Phantoms gave the impression they knew what was coming and simply shaped up to hold on to what they had. In the end, Jordan Marr lost his shut out with just 96 seconds left on the game when Michal Klejna whipped home a rebound off a superb Marr save seconds earlier but despite Bison pulling Mettam, Phantoms were in no mood to let Bison come close to another.
It may not have been swashbuckling end-to-end hockey but it was hard not to be impressed with the ruthlessly efficient and composed manner in which Phantoms handled a very good looking Bison side packed with some talented and hard working players that would have probably beaten every other team in the league with tonight’s performance. Although it was another great all round team effort, special mention should be made of netminder Jordan Marr who didn’t have the best of games by his high standards on Friday night but who was very impressive tonight and he needed to be as Bison would have needed little encouragement to turn this game on its head.
On to the return leg of the Autumn Cup Semi-Final at Swindon on Friday. Another tough challenge but it won’t be any tougher than the one they overcame tonight so more of the same will do the job for sure !
PS: Great to see Rob Carnegie back in the old barn after an absence of 35 years and having Ken Cross back where he belongs tonight too made it a very special evening for many of us. Huge credit to all those involved at the club for putting this double celebration together …… something we should all be very proud of !
Game stats HERE