The Waldeck sponsored Peterborough Phantoms were crowned Play-Off Champions on Sunday evening after a 4-3 Penalty Shot victory over the Leeds Knights. The victory saw Phantoms Captain, Will Weldon, lift the trophy on his final appearance before his retirement.
An edgy opening period saw both netminders tested as the teams looked to take an early advantage. Keiran Brown and Mac Howlett tested Jordan Mar in the Phantoms net, whilst at the other end of the rink Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom and Lukas Sladkovsky both brought big saves out of Sam Gospel.
Leeds opened the scoring on 13.38 when Matt Haywood's shot trickled under Jordan Marr and despite Tom Nortons efforts, the puck crossed the line before Norton had a chance to clear the puck.
Phantoms levelled the scoring 3 minutes into the middle period when Jarvis Hunt ripped the puck past Sam Gospel to make it a 1-1 game (23.18). On 26.47 it was advantage Phantoms when Luke Ferrara set Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom through on goal and after a small fake Bjorkly-Nordstrom sent a rocket of a shot into the Leeds goal.
Leeds kept the pressure on the Phantoms goal and were rewarded on 37.30 when Dylan Hehir saw his shot fly past Marr. Two minutes later Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom picked up the puck and sent it to Lukas Sladkovsky on the breakawy and the Czech master gave Gospel no chance as he made it a 3-2 game.
Knights once again tied the game on 42.39 when Noah McMullin's shot from distance found the top corner of the Phantoms goal. Both teams played out a cagey final period, with both looking for a goal, but not at the expense of leaving gaps for the opposition to exploit. On the buzzer it was off to Overtime once again for the Phantoms.
Phantoms started OT controlling the puck and cycling the lines, looking for the shooting opportunity. A goalmouth scramble in front of the Leeds net on 63.34 saw Austin Mitchell-King called for a harsh Hooking Penalty, leaving the Phantoms on a 4-on-3 penalty kill for the final 1min 26sec of the game.
Phantoms once again restricted the Knights shooting opportunities and with under 10 seconds on the clock the Phantoms broke clear through Brad Bowering and Billy Thorpe. Bowering got the puck across to Thorpe who shot just wide on the buzzer.
Both teams missed their opening couple of penalties, before Matt Barron fired over Jordan Marrr's catcher to give the Knights the advantage. Brad Bowering then cooly fired past Gospel with a highlight reel goal.
Into Sudden Death and Barron went again for the Knights, only to see his shot go wide of the Phantoms net. Luke Ferrara, having missed an earlier penalty shot, made no mistake second time around to take the victory for the Phantoms.
Man of the Match Awards went to Noah McMullin and Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom.
