Peterborough Phantoms coach thrilled with the courage and belief his players showed to win the Cup Final

Phantoms took a 6-0 lead from the first leg into the second game at National League champions Leeds Knights, but with influential netminder Jordan Marr among several senior absentees because of injury, the destination of the trophy was far from a foregone conclusion.

And the city side survived some nervous moments before accepting a 6-2 defeat on the night, but celebrating an 8-2 win on aggregate.

Emergency netminder signing Calum Hepburn was named man-of-the-match on his debut for the team.​

“With six senior players and both senior netminders injured, it seemed an impossible task,” Koulikov said. “But when you see players cutting casts off, playing with broken bones & dislocated collarbones, and all are willing to throw themselves in the way of the puck to block shots, you know you’re on to a winner.

"The players showed a lot of courage, bravery, mental strength and belief to get the job done against the league champions.

"I’m really proud of every single one of them and I’m really proud to be part of this team.

"A special mention to Calum Hepburn who got the call from us on Wednesday and agreed to come down from Solway to help us out.

"He was so calm and came up with some big saves when we needed them.

“We’ve had a good season so far. We’ve already exceeded what many people expected we would achieve this year with a good league position and a trophy.

"But there’s still one more to go for and our aim now is to get guys back healthy in time for the play-offs.”

Phantoms look destined to finish third in the final standings with just two matches to go at Bristol on Saturday and at home to Hull on Sunday (5.30pm) before the fun and ferocity of play-off hockey begins.