Sheer dogged determination eventually saw off the visiting Steeldogs to secure the Autumn Cup in front of a big crowd at Bretton on Friday evening.
Phantoms started the game full of confidence and the speed at which they were moving the puck and feeding off one another had the Dogs chasing shadows at times but a combination of sharp netminding from Zimozdra and some wasteful finishing let the visitors off the hook and despite barely registering a shot of note on Jordan Marr’s goal, Dogs kept the game goalless through to the first break.
Nobody was quite sure what was coming next. Would either side move to a Plan B so early ? Whatever was said in the interval, the game suddenly took on a new form as both sides switched to expansive hockey with countless odd-man rushes on both sides and, at times, a woeful disregard for back-checking when plays broke down.
Milan Kolena was called on a tripping penalty just 39 seconds into the period but Petr Stepanek’s failure to control a pass on point left Cam Brownley to breakout and score shorthanded on the backhand. The powerplay ran down but seconds later will Weldon slipped one home to lift the home fans and get Phantoms back in the game …… but not for long !
Less than 90 seconds later a neat pass out from behind Marr’s goal found Duncan Spiers who lashed his finish home to restore Dogs lead but, again, not for long. This time it was exactly 90 seconds later for the scoreboard to move again as Petr Stepanek powered wide on a 2on1 break before firing through Zimozdra for 2-2 and we were still only just six minutes into the middle period !
With the scores tied, Phantoms struck again on the very next shift as James Ferrara and Ales Padelek combined to set up Glenn Billing on the back stick and he crashed home to put Phantoms ahead for the first time in the game but nobody was expecting it to last long given the crazy nature of the hockey before them. At this point, however, the game did settle and Phantoms were looking like holding their slender lead through to the break but, alas, it wasn’t to be as Brownley jumped on a loose puck in front of Marr to fire through the crowd and beat the unsighted Marr.
It was all even again going into a final period with just twenty minutes to determine who was to take the first silverware of the season. Ironically, it seemed that both camps had decided to revert to a more conservative style of play in the last twenty and the cavalier nature of the second was firmly locked away as clear cut chances became few and far between. There was tension not only on the ice but in the stands as it became evident that the next goal was likely to be the game and trophy winner.
The key moment of the period came at 47.27 as Liam Charnock was called for tripping to set up the only powerplay of the final twenty and Phantoms took their chance. James Ferrara and Glenn Billing combined to feed the puck to Tom Norton in acres of space and his trademark blue-line bullet was too hot for Zimozdra and Phantoms had the crucial go-ahead goal in the bag.
It’s been said many times before that no team is more adept at defending a narrow lead at the death than this season’s Phantoms and despite best endeavors and despite pulling their netminder for 54 seconds of 6on5 there was a calm expectation that the visitors were not going to rescue this one and so it proved with Phantoms in total control through to the final buzzer.
Man of the Match awards went to both netminders.
Full credit to Steeldogs for yet another hugely determined and hugely workmanlike performance. They don’t let up at any point and if you drop your concentration levels even for one moment then they will punish you as they did tonight but you sensed that whatever Dogs brought to the party tonight, there was never ever a chance that Phantoms were going to allow themselves to be beaten and they fully deserved their on-ice celebrations at the end.
Now comes the biggest challenge of the season to date as they have to find a way to climb down from the mental high of tonight before getting right back up to their very best to find a result in Basingstoke on Saturday evening with Bison now matching Swindon as Phantoms biggest title rivals …. that is one hell of an ask !
Game stats HERE