Peterborough Phantoms start a new year with a whimper rather than a bang

The city team have slumped to three NIHL National Division defeats in the space of five days.

They were beaten 8-6 by table-topping Telford at Planet Ice last night (January 5) after a 3-1 defeat on the road in Basingstoke the previous evening (January 4).

Those two setbacks meant a first blank weekend of the season for Slava Koulikov’s men as they still await their first points of 2020 – a year which began with a 6-3 New Year’s Day derby defeat at the hands of big rivals Milton Keynes.

Phantoms could count themselves lucky not to have been on the receiving end of a much heavier loss against leaders Telford after being blown away in the opening two periods.

They trailed 6-0 at two-thirds distance, but salvaged pride with a rousing showing in a frantic final period in which they lit the lamp six times themselves.

Koulikov admitted: “There is no doubt Telford were the better team for the first two periods.

“They played like the number one team in the league but I still felt the scoreline was harsh on us as it wasn’t one-way traffic.

“But we were determined to play an honest third period of hockey and that really pleased me for two reasons.

“I was happy that we could give the fans a few goals to cheer and that the players showed their character to keep going even though the game had already slipped away.

“It’s not often that a team will score six goals against the team at the top of the table and we did that in a very short space of time so that’s a positive we can take.

Phantoms were soon behind as Telford captain Jason Silverthorn tipped in a Nick Oliver shot and their deficit doubled when Finn Howells struck on a powerplay.

The second Tigers arrived only seconds after Phantoms import Petr Stepanek had clearly been impeded when bearing down on goal – an offence missed by the two match referees.

The irate Czech forward then picked up a 2+10 penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and could only sit and watch as Telford import Dominik Florian struck a third goal in the opening session before Scott McKenzie further stretched the visitors’ advantage only 12 seconds into the middle period.

Stepanek’s return to the ice had little effect on a woeful Phantoms side who allowed Florian to help himself to his second goal before Silverthorn followed suit as Telford opened up a six-goal lead before the mid-point of the contest.

Phantoms began the process of restoring pride when Jarvis Hunt’s shot from the boards caught Tigers netminder Brad Day by surprise early in the third period.

The remaining seven goals all arrived in a breathless closing 10 minutes with Florian next to strike as he completed his hat-trick in a short-handed situation.

Will Weldon, Ales Padelek and Glenn Billing ensured Phantoms ate into their arrears before Padelek struck again on a powerplay after netminder Jordan Marr was pulled.

The rapid revival meant an unlikely and utterly incredible comeback was briefly plausible, but such thoughts didn’t last long.

When Phantoms sacrificed their goaltender in favour of an extra skater again seconds later it backfired as Brandon Whistle fired into the empty net to calm the Telford nerves.

Phantoms responded with a final goal as James Ferrara finished smartly as they emerged with positives from a night which had been miserable in the most part.

It was a very different contest on Saturday night when Phantoms’ trip to Basingstoke featured only four goals.

The Hampshire hosts hit the front in the opening session as Adam Harding pounced on a powerplay, but Padelek levelled as Phantoms made the most of a numerical advantage of their own in the middle stanza.

The city men failed to capitalise on a host of other powerplay situations and paid the price as Bison earned the points in the final session.

Youngster Bayley Harewood restored their advantage before import Richard Bordowski struck the decisive blow in the closing minute.

Koulikov added: “It was frustrating to come away with nothing.

“The guys battled hard but we couldn’t get the powerplay to work for us.

“It has bailed us out for a lot of the season but we can’t always rely on it for goals and that’s something we need to address.”

Phantoms have slipped to fourth place during their mini-slump and will aim to get back on track this weekend when facing two of the bottom three teams in the standings.

They host Raiders at Planet Ice on Saturday (January 11, 7pm) before going to Bracknell on Sunday (January 12, 5.30pm).

SATURDAY MATCH DETAILS

Goals

BASINGSTOKE

14.43 Harding (PP) ass: Tait/Ralph

48.29 Harewood ass: Harding

59.08 Bordowski ass: Norris/Tait

PHANTOMS

29.03 Padelek (PP) ass: J. Ferrara/Weldon

Men-of-the-match

BASINGSTOKE – Adam Harding

PHANTOMS – Ales Padelek

SUNDAY MATCH DETAILS

Goals

PHANTOMS

42.47 Hunt ass: N. Pollard/R. Ferrara

51.52 Weldon ass: R. Ferrara

55.33 Padelek ass: J. Ferrara/R. Ferrara

56.36 Billing ass: Buglass/Stepanek

58.15 Padelek (PP) ass: Norton/Susters

59.20 J. Ferrara ass: Norton/Padelek

TELFORD

2.37 Silverthorn ass: Oliver

10.52 Howells (PP) ass: Goodison/Whistle

13.58 Florian ass: Silverthorn

20.12 McKenzie ass: Whistle/Rose

22.17 Florian ass: Taylor

27.25 Silverthorn ass: McKinney/Whistle

50.07 Florian (SH) ass: Silverthorn/Rose

59.07 Whistle (EN) unassisted

Men-of-the-match

PHANTOMS – Robbie Ferrara

TELFORD – Dominik Florian