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Time for Phantoms to roll up their sleeves
Ice Hockey action from Phantoms v Manchester Phoenix: Jeff Glowa. Photo: Alan Storer/Peterborough ET
PHANTOMS will have to win the battles if they hope to win the war with Guildford tonight.
Chris Allen’s side entertain the high-flying Flames at the Peterborough Arena (face-off 7.45pm) knowing victory will take them one step closer to a place in the English Premier League (EPL) Play-offs.
So far this season Phantoms have played the Surrey outfit twice, winning once and losing once against the EPL leaders.
And if Phantoms are to go ahead in the six-game series they will have to roll up their sleeves and take the game to the Flames tonight.
Allen said: “The Flames are top of the league for a reason and they certainly won’t be coming here and rolling over if we start to make things a bit tough for them.
“We need to make sure that we win the individual battles out there. It comes down to those one-on-one battles and we must win more than we lose if we are going to take the points from this game.
“We will be going out there and using the body like we have been doing in our recent home games and I am sure the Flames will not like that but if we let up for one second they have the players who can make you pay.
“But we have a win against them already this season and there is no reason we cannot take another couple of points off them tonight.
“We are a better team than we were last time we played them and if we do things right we will be confident of getting the right result.”
However, a lot will depend on how Phantoms cope without the services of their skipper Jeff Glowa and their joint leading scorer Luke Ferrra.
“Both are top line attacking players but the pair have been ruled out of the clash with knee injuries.
Their absence has forced Allen to shuffle his pack, but that’s something the Canadian player/coach admits he has become well-used to doing this season.
“It just seems to be our luck this season that when we get on a roll we lose two guys from our top line,” he added.
“But it’s not like we are not used to playing short-benched and we will certainly not be using that as an excuse.
“I will probably leave Ondrej Lauko, Tom Carlon and Jimmy Ferrara together and bring Bentham and Robbie Brown in to play alongside Ziedins on the other line.
“That means we will have Will Weldon floating about too but we will just have to make the best of it again.
“We made it work in Telford and they have beaten Guildford recently and we have to do the same.
“We have a chance to move level on points with the Bracknell Bees and that should give us every incentive to find that extra effort we need to get the win.”
Wednesday night’s opponenets: Guildford Flames
VENUE: Peterborough Arena (face-off 7.45pm).
COACH: Paul Dixon.
FORM: Flames ended 2011 in a blaze of glory with a 13-game winning streak propelling them to the top of the league table. Form in the new year has been less impressive, however, with the Flames losing five of their last 10 games - including reverses against the Telford Tigers and Swindon Wildcats.
DANGERMAN: In a team of stars former Phantoms Nathan Rempel stands out as the biggest threat. Curtis Huppe will also be one to watch but Rempel is once again averaging almost a goal a game for the Surrey outfit. And playing in the confined spaces of the Peterborough Arena holds no fears for the peerless Canadian sniper who helped Phantoms lift the treble in 2009.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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