If there is one team you don’t really want to face the night before a title decider, it has to be the Raiders. Despite being short of several key players, they still served up a typical Raiders performance based on phenomenal workrate, intimidating physical presence, cutting edge from sniper Juraj Huska and, on his day, top netminding from Michael Gray ….. and this was certainly one of those days !
Phantoms would have hoped to have repeated last weekends game in London where they wrapped it up early and then freewheeled home but an early defensive mix up gifted Raiders the early goal and this time they were in no mood to give it up …… indeed Phantoms failed to get themselves ahead until the game winning goal in the 64th minute !
Despite the desperate battle to take this one, there were genuine positives on the Phantoms side. For starters, there was no lack of commitment and no lack of effort. They played at a high tempo from the start and you could actually see that passion ….. players were snarling at the opposition and they actually celebrated goals like they should. Nathan Salem was Mk1 Salem that we saw early season, not the sanitised Mk2 Salem of most of the season ….. he was everywhere, he was intense, he was angry and he really got into the faces of the Raiders D and that is the Nathan Salem fans want to see every week.
There were also negatives of course. Netminder Gray was genuinely outstanding but Phantoms shooting and finishing was truly woeful at times. The D failed to take good care of the puck, especially in the first half of the game where they threw away possession way too often and were lucky not to get punished more than they did …… we do not want to be doing that on Sunday night.
At the end of the evening, Phantoms secured the essential two points they needed even if many Phantoms fans will be struggling to get their heart rates back to normal after leaving it so late. If Phantoms achieve their ambitions over the next two games then few will remember how we secured the points tonight, only that we did !
Having gifted Raiders the early lead, an uncharacteristic error from Gray on a Raiders powerplay saw Glenn Billing intercept his stick clearance and fire into the empty net from the boards ….. which probably doesn’t do justice to what was actually a very composed and tidy finish.
A very tidy back post finish from Huska was the only goal of a middle period where Phantoms outshot Raiders 17-3 but Gray was seeing it like a beach ball and was making saves that even Phantoms fans were applauding ….. a 1-2 deficit at the second break had Phantoms fearing their worst nightmare. Were they going to choke on the aperitif without even making the main course ?
An early goal was needed in the third and it came after just 50 seconds when Tom Norton fired through the crowd to surely turn the tide but we said that last time Raiders came here and, as with that one, they were not playing ball. Just over a minute later, that man Huska was on the end of yet another odd-man rush to put Raiders back ahead and panic returned to the mass ranks of Phantoms fans.
Phantoms started to camp out in the Raiders zone but couldn’t beat Gray. Huska continued to threaten on the breakaways as Phantoms too often found D-men the wrong side of the play but it was Raiders who blinked first as Darius Pliskauskas fired on goal for James Ferrara to deflect in front for 3-3 at 51:53. The remainder of the period was truly frightening but hugely entertaining in equal amounts as both teams went for the winner and both sides could and should have found it but it stayed level into overtime.
An early 4on3 powerplay should have seen Phantoms take the sudden death win but Raiders stood firm to even up the play and it was Leigh Jamieson who sent the home fans into raptures and scenes of huge celebration with the winner at 64:37. The player celebrations were great to see and maybe looked over the top but there was a huge collective sense of relief both on and off the ice and the whole rink (bar the few Raiders fans) were as one and that was great to experience.
The Sunday night title showdown is now on and it comes down to Phantoms needing not only to win but to win by two clear goals …… anything less than a win by two clear goals will give Bison the title unless you believe in miracles and the idea that Cardiff or Invicta might beat them next weekend.
An amazing and gripping evening but we secured the points and Super Sunday is on ….. bring on the Bison !
Game stats HERE