The Wendy’s Peterborough Phantoms began the 2025/26 pre-season with a penalty shot victory over Neuilly-sur-Marne.
It was the first time for the Phantoms fans to see Dillon Lawrence in a Phantoms jersey, whilst Corey McEwen, Ralfs Circenis and Morgan Clarke-Pizzo all featured after spells away from the Club.
The opening ten minutes of the game saw very little in the way of high quality chances for either side, as a new look Phantoms side started to shake the cobwebs off after the summer break.
Valentin Mallet went close when he found space in the offensive zone, but Hayden Lavigne was on hand to kick it to the corner.
Ralfs Circenis then almost broke in on goal, but lost an edge, allowing Pierre Pawelek to make a routine stop.
But Phantoms did take the lead before the intermission with their only recorded shot of the period, when Cam Hough gained the zone and ripped his effort into the top corner from the left circle.
Les Bisons came into the second period with more intensity and eventually drew level just before the mid-way point - Raphael Cacheux tapping home after Lavigne had done well to save Roman Nekludovs’ initial effort.
The sides continued to trade half chances as the third period wore on, but in the end, the game was settled on penalty shots.
Penalty Shots:
PP - Hough - GOAL
LB - Cacheux - SAVE
PP - Ferrara - GOAL
LB - Besson - SAVE
PP - Laakkonen - GOAL
LB - V.Mallet - MISS
FINAL SCORE: Peterborough Phantoms 2-1 Neuilly-sur-Marne (After Phantoms win 3-0 on penalty shots)
Phantoms goal:
17:51 (PP 1-0 LB): #29 Cam Hough / #33 Ralfs Circenis / #19 Luke Ferrara (EHG)
Les Bisons goal:
29:24 (PP 1-1 LB): #88 Raphael Cacheux / #36 Roman Nekludovs / #11 Derek Raposo (EHG)
Phantoms man of the match: #30 Hayden Lavigne
Les Bisons man of the match: #6 Sebastien Delemps