Winter Wonderland
It seemed that things were intent on conspiring against the Phantoms last Sunday for the match up against the Vipers at Sheffield. It began with the weather which had decided to put down about 6 inches of snow overnight and with the prospect of blocked roads over the Pennines there were several questions asked about the game being cancelled. But as there'd been no contact from the Vipers about cancellation everyone decided to set off and, thankfully without any major dramas, all the Phantoms arrived at Ice Seffield safely and more or less on time.Then, like the weather, the game produced a hard time for the Deesiders. It was pretty evenly matched for the first 10 minutes with the Phantoms playing well, then the Vipers managed to break through and get the first goal. Despite several good chances the Phantoms were unable to pull one back and 5 minutes after the first the Vipers slotted another to go 2 ahead. The Phantoms continued battling without reward for their efforts, when with only 2 minutes remaining in the period, the Vipers scored another.
During the break between periods the Phantoms were still in an upbeat mood despite the score and still felt that winning the game was a possibility. Unfortunately, that chance took a bit of a knock when the home team scored another to put them 4 - 0 up 35 seconds into the second period. The Phantoms were not discouraged though and continued to play with great heart. Eventually the efforts started to pay off, just over 3 minutes into the period Brian Chalmers picked up the Phantoms first marker, assisted by Gavin Austin, and the Deesider's bench went wild!!! There was a feeling that the balance of the game could be changing in favour of the Phantoms. This was confirmed a short while later when Gavin skated the full length of the pad, skillfully passing the Vipers defense then deking their netminder to score his first goal as a Phantom. The Deesiders grew in confidence, continuing to apply pressure to the home side which paid off after another few short minutes as Gavin, went the length of the ice again to get his second goal in a what was almost a replay of his first marker. It was now only 4 - 3 and the game was well and truly on. In the final minute of the second period, while the Phantoms swarmed around the Vipers net, Nathan Farington played a classy little one - two with Mark Roberts, took the return pass and burried the puck in the net. Hounours were even at 4 all, with everything to play for, but the Phantoms had come back from 4 - 0 down, won the period by 4 - 1 and had the advantage.
The third period was tough, both teams gave there all but neither could gain the lead. There was a certain amount of niggling and some "unsportsman like" behaviour going on from both sides due to frustration. There where also several questionable calls from the ref affecting both sides too. But despite this the hockey was good and it looked like the game would go to the wire and end as a draw. With less than a minute to go in the match the Phantoms pushed again and during a mele in front of the Vipers net Nathan got some good wood on the puck. The back rail of the goal rang like a bell and the Phantoms had gone ahead for the first time in the game. The Vipers pulled their goalie and put an extra man out for the restart but to no avail. The Phantoms defended well and as the game clock ran down the Deesiders bench shouted encouragement and counted of the last few seconds out aloud.
The final score of 5 - 4 was a great credit to the hard work, effort and team spirit of all the Phantoms. Forgetting the score, all the team members commented on what a great game it had been and how well everyone had gelled and worked for each other even when it looked as though all was lost. Lets hope this can be repeated any more times in the future!
Game Stats
The Winning Team
by: Peter Coulton
added on: 26 February 2010 at 16:39