The Wendy’s Peterborough Phantoms’ were beaten by the Swindon Wildcats in their final outing of 2025/26.
Before face off, Phantoms captain Luke Ferrara was recognised for his season as he was named as the NIHL National’s Player of the Year.
Both sides started well, which led to an end-to-end opening, as Janne Laakkonen dropped a pass for Ferrara to one time on net, well saved by Ben Clarke-Leach.
But it was the visitors who took the lead when Josh Shaw won the puck back in the neutral zone to create a two-on-one, but the young forward went alone and sent his shot in off the crossbar.
Their lead was doubled on 14 minutes when a shot was thrown on net with traffic in front, but after Will Bray saved the initial effort, Reed Sayers was there to slam into the empty net.
Phantoms continued to try and forge an opening and almost got on the board when the chance fell to Laakkonen out in front, but Clarke-Leach was equal to it.
Clarke-Leach was back in action shortly after, denying Jasper Foster a highlight reel goal after the Phantoms forward won the puck in a dangerous position and pulled a clever move to beat his man and work the shooting chance on the backhand.
Dillon Lawrence went close at the start of the second when he spun and shot for the near post, but his effort was gloved down.
And the Wildcats made it three just shy of the midway point when Tyler Plews ripped home from the middle of the zone.
The rest of the second period was relatively uneventful, but Phantoms went close again at the start of the third when Flynn Massie’s shot was blocked into the path of Connor Glossop, but Clarke-Leach was proving a tough nut to crack in the Cats’ net.
Aaron Nell’s side continued to show the offensive output which won them the league title, but import forward Caden Villegas was left red faced when his empty net shot from on the goal line somehow stayed out.
But they did notch a fourth when Jamie Smith played a cross crease pass to the back door, where Chris Jones was on hand to tap in.
The Phantoms crowd came in their numbers and made plenty of noise despite the circumstances, and were rewarded for their efforts when Phantoms lit the lamp. Zaine McKenzie was the scorer, ripping home a good shot to deny Clarke-Leach the shut out.
FINAL SCORE: Peterborough Phantoms 1-4 Swindon Wildcats
Phantoms goals:
57:19 (PP 1-4 SW): #24 Zaine McKenzie / #95 Jasper Foster / #25 Billy Thorpe (EHG)
Wildcats goals:
9:17 (PP 0-1 SW): #74 Josh Shaw (EHG)
14:00 (PP 0-2 SW): #16 Reed Sayers / #71 Eddie Bebris / #11 Chris Jones (EHG)
29:51 (PP 0-3 SW): #24 Tyler Plews (EHG)
55:34 (PP 0-4 SW): #11 Chris Jones / #78 Jamie Smith (EHG)
Phantoms man of the match: #4 Nojus Venskutonis
Wildcats man of the match: #20 Ben Clarke-Leach