Pre Game
Aching limbs plus tired minds take on hard skating Thunder with a netminder who is allergic to leaking goals. The ultimate banana skin fixture as Phantoms look to secure a weekend haul of one trophy and three league points !
Period One
Goals: 17:53 1-0 Padalek
Phantoms moved the puck neatly throughout but shots on Lawday have been limited probably because they know that quality rather than quantity is needed.
Phantoms should have gone ahead on 14 minutes when Will Weldon found himself unmarked in front but his top corner wristshot was high and wide. Tom Norton took the paint off the post with a powerplay blue liner before Ales Padalek at last made the breakthrough on 17:53 with a sublime screened wristshot from out wide that really was in the very corner of the top corner !
Whilst Phantoms dominated play 80/20, Thunder have crafted chances with Jordan Marr having to make three big saves to keep them out.
Period Two
Goals: 38:32 2-0 Stepanek
A very entertaining period which was probably edged by Thunder who created numerous chances, most of which were foiled by the impressive Jordan Marr who has been by far the busier of the two netminder.
Phantoms were coasting until the 26th minute when Tom Norton launched a raging attack on Grinell-Parke to earn himself a 2+10 Check to the head penalty. Norton’s absence seemed to destabilise Phantoms who were on the back foot for most of his 12 minutes away. With the period running down however, a loose puck in the Thunder zone was pounced on by Pete Stepanek who crashed home an unstoppable shot for 2-0.
Some serious and impressive old-skool hitting in the period from both sides and the on going Norton v Grinell-Parke feud, which reignited as soon as Norton returned to the game, is also proving an interesting sideshow !
On this form, Marr looks capable of keeping Thunder off the scoreboard which is a good job as the visitors are proving very lively opposition !
Period Three
Goals: 51:36 3-0 J Ferrara
Scary start to the period as Thunder went 5on3 bot the Phantoms penalty kill was superb. The visitors stayed the more likely for the first ten minutes but Marr remained in superb form to keep them at bay before James Ferrara killed the game on a 3on1 break at 51:36.
After the third goal, Phantoms dominated and should have added more goals but the final score was well deserved and was certainly demanding of plenty of effort thanks to the lively and tenacious Thunder.
Big up to the MK fans who were superb and far more lively than Friday’s visiting fans !
Phantoms MOM went quite rightly to Jordan Marr.
Game Stats
SOG: 27-22 (13-3, 7-7, 7-12)
PIMs: 22-18