Peterborough Phantoms in good spirits ahead of Bill Glover Memorial Trophy weekend

The city side take on second-tier rivals Basingstoke in the annual Billy Glover Memorial Trophy clashes.

They travel to Hampshire tomorrow before welcoming Bison to Planet Ice on Sunday (both 5.30pm starts).

Phantoms were involved in two pulsating clashes with Hull last weekend when suffering overtime losses on both nights, but netminder Jordan Marr believes plenty was gained from those games against the Pirates.

And the treble-winning goaltender is now hopeful of lifting another piece of silverware as they complete their preparations for the new season which begins the following weekend.

“It felt pretty good to be back on the ice,” said Marr.

“I’d only been out there twice with the team since I got back to Peterborough before the Hull games.

“There was a little bit of rust that needed to be worked off on Saturday, but I felt a lot more comfortable on Sunday when I felt we clicked a lot better as a team offensively. We felt we made some good progress towards our goals over the weekend and also saw some of the things we need to work on more.

“Basingstoke are a well-coached and hard-working team who we know will push us right to the last minute on both nights this weekend.

“With three games behind us and another week of practice, we will have hopefully worked out the kinks.

“If we play to our best and stick to the system we have in place, we have a great chance of getting our hands on our first silverware of the season.”

And Marr has sung the praises of fellow netminder Ryan Bainborough. The pair are reunited for a second season at Planet Ice after back-stopping the club to NIHL Autumn Cup, NIHL South Cup and NIHL Division One South play-offs glory last term.

He added: “Ryan earns every minute of ice-time he is given. I felt he progressed so much last season – especially after a few years out of hockey.

“I know he has worked hard on and off the ice this summer with Euan King to raise his game.

“Teams need two goalies who are able to play and give us the chance to win and I feel both myself and Ryan can do that on any given night.”