Bretton hockey fans are starting to get what Phantoms hockey 2018/19 season is all about …… tight defence, frantic but largely ineffective offence leading to low scoring and nailbiting finishes. Tonight whatever nails were left were chewed down to the elbows as Phantoms served up the ultimate in white-knuckle rollercoaster rides !
The opening period was totally dominated by Phantoms who spent much of it camped in front of Damien King’s goal but we all know how much Damo loves to come “home” and play the roll of spoiling bad boy and tonight he was in the groove right from the opening minute. Everything Phantoms fired at their former nettie, whether in close or from distance, was handled with nonchalant ease and while Streatham could only muster six shots on goal at the other end, a powerplay opportunity saw Adam Wood tip one home from close range at 10:25 to secure an unlikely lead at the first break.
Period two and Phantoms played one of their “special reserve” cards, upping the tempo and hammering King’s goal with a mighty 24 shots. The big breakthrough came on 31:23 as Corey McEwen cycled behind King’s net before firing out to Petr Stepanek who beat the Streatham nettie with a relatively tame but very accurate wristshot. The visitors looked a little rattled with first Ranson and then Siagris taking minor calls. Nothing doing on the first advantage but the second needed just 2 seconds for the face-off to be pulled back to Petr Stepanek who, again, beat King with the wristshot ……. 2-1 and the floodgates showing signs of opening.
Into period three and Phantoms needed the game killing third but, once again, King and his very disciplined and hard working defensive unit kept Phantoms at bay. As the period passed the midpoint, Streatham started to make a push for a result and on more than one occasion threatened with odd-man rushes that nearly punished Phantoms for over-adventurous and out of position D-men. The big moment of the period came at 52:44 when Harry Ferguson attempted to poke free a loose puck under Siagris of Streatham and was called on a Game misconduct for a cross checking offence that few in the rink saw or could believe.
The resulting five minute powerplay looked all the more decisive when Adam Carr crashed one through Jordan Marr with only 15 seconds of the powerplay used up. Phantoms then had to survive 4:45 of penalty killing just to stay in the game, a task they performed superbly well to return the game to even-handed with 2:16 still to play. Phantoms dominated the final exchanges and came desperately close to squeezing the puck home with one second left but that man King fittingly made the final play in blocking on the post.
Sudden death overtime and Phantoms struck on their first meaningful attack with James Ferrara powering down the boards, drawing King before firing over to Glenn Billing who just had time to finish on the back post before King threw himself across …… game over and huge relief all round !
Man of the Match awards went to Damien King and match winner Glenn Billing who not only deserved it for his goal but for celebrating with the fans afterwards ….. just need to get his teammates to latch on and we could develop a little something out there !!!
Respect to Streatham for playing their part in an entertaining game. Their defensive play deserves credit and their pace up front was enough to keep Phantoms from getting too cavalier and it is hard to begrudge them something from the game for their efforts.
For Phantoms, two tough fixtures and four hard earned points. Still a side who are failing to convert offensive play into enough end product but, once again, the defensive side of their game remains bang on plan with an average of less than two goals conceded over the weekend and, for now at least, that will do very nicely thank you !
Game stats HERE
Post game with Slava Koulikov HERE
Post game with Glenn Billing HERE