NIHL2 champions elect Chelmsford Chieftains took more than forty minutes to back up their title favourites tag after Phantoms held them goalless in the first and only conceded a single powerplay marker early in the second but Phantoms collapsed in the third soon after Chieftains scored their second goal.
Phantoms opened the game brightly and took the game to the hosts, outshooting them 14-11 but were unable to beat Sonny Phillips in goal. An early Grant Bartlett goal just twenty six seconds into the second period threatened to open the floodgates but with Dan Lane turning away the remaining fifteen shots on his goal, Phantoms stayed in the game and continued to keep the home D and netminder on their toes.
Whatever was said in the home locker room at the second break had the desired effect however, as Terry Fillery struck for Chieftains at 42:22 despite Phantoms being on a powerplay for an illegal equipment call. After that, a wheel very much fell off the Phantoms bus as Chieftains pounded their net with an impressive 37 shots to chalk up a 7-0 scoreline that seemed very unlikely at the end of the second period !
Beers went to Craig Ellis and Phantoms will be back in action on home ice at Bretton next Sunday, face off 5:30pm with Solent the visitors.
Game stats HERE