Seahawks Seal Narrow Victory to Pick Up Valuable Cup Points Against the Phantoms
Hull Reckitt Seahawks v Peterborough Phantoms – 02/11/24
“Sometimes you have to win games in different ways. Last season, I’m not sure we were capable of what we achieved in this game.”
That was the candid assessment of Hull Reckitt Seahawks Head Coach, Matty Davies, following his team’s decisive 1-0 victory against the Peterborough Phantoms in the NIHL Cup.
How valuable that result was could not be overstated, as it means qualification for the next stage of the competition remains in the Seahawks’ own hands – as they head into two crucial fixtures against the Swindon Wildcats and the Milton Keynes Lightning this weekend.
The win at home on Saturday in front of another bumper crowd was sandwiched by two defeats. Yet further proof that the NIHL is treating fans to a highly competitive standard of hockey this season and that teams can ill-afford a night off.
The first of last week’s three fixtures was a midweek away game against the Steeldogs.
Despite briefly leading the match, thanks to a goal from Emil Svec and a penalty shot goal from Bobby Chamberlain, the points would ultimately elude the Seahawks, with a 5-2 defeat confirmed by braces from Walker Sommer and Elmeri Hallfors as well as an effort from Ivan Bjorkly Nordstrom.
“We deserved more from the game, but unfortunately we saw breakdowns at the wrong times,” said Davies as he reflected on what might have been on Tuesday night.
If momentary lapses of concentration were the reason for the defeat at Ice Sheffield, they had certainly learnt from those mistakes on Saturday when the Phantoms visited Hull Ice Arena.
What would unfold over 60 minutes would infuriate and delight fans in equal measure, as the crowd witnessed some of the best goaltending in the NIHL with both Dimitri Zimzodra, for the Seahawks, and Hayden Lavigne, for the Phantoms, refusing to give an inch for large swathes of the match.
The first period would see effort after effort rain down on Lavigne, who was comfortably the busier of the two goalies.
The Canadian stopper would save several close-range efforts from Chamberlain and Svec as well as from Lee Bonner and Johnny Corneil and when he wasn’t there to make the stop, the frame of his goal did, with Owen Sobchak denied by the post.
A frustrating first period for the Seahawks was compounded further, when Chamberlain was given a 2+2 penalty for boarding and interference, much to the displeasure of his teammates and the fans who felt that several earlier decisions had been missed by the officials, contributing to tensions boiling over.
The second period, like the first, would end scoreless, but it did see the Phantoms grow into the match and become more of a goalscoring threat.
Zimzodra denied breakaway efforts from both Barnabas Sari and Nathan Salem with glove saves.
Chamberlain, having returned to the ice from the penalty box, was denied by the crossbar with one of his efforts and a pad save from Lavigne for another.
In the third period frustration finally gave way to elation for Seahawks fans when, on the breakaway, Corneil finally beat Lavigne thanks to a wrist shot that flew into the top corner, beating the goalie on his glove side, assisted by Bonner and Lee Haywood, to make it 1-0 at 44:18.
As the Phantoms went in search of an equaliser, space kept being left open for the Seahawks to exploit.
At 51:25, Bonner thought he had got in behind the Peterborough defence only to be brought down by Thomas Norton who was called for tripping and a penalty shot was awarded.
With the chance to double the Seahawks’ lead, Bonner picked himself up and took the shot himself.
However, Lavigne saved the subsequent effort to keep the deficit to a single goal.
Penalties late in the period set up a grandstand finish as Norton was given a two-minute penalty for slashing (57:14) followed by Sobchak who was also called for slashing (58:08).
With the game now 4v4, Peterborough called a timeout and made the decision to pull Lavigne for the extra skater.
A 5v4 advantage soon became 6v4 when Norton’s penalty expired. But despite throwing everything at the Hull goal they just couldn’t find a way past Zimzodra who was determined to preserve his shutout.
The fiercely contested game ended 1-0.
“There are no easy nights in this league. It has been a tough week,” said Davies in his post-match interview.
“Tonight, we were solid, we didn’t give them anything.
“If it wasn’t for their goalie, we could have scored five or six.
“When we stick to our process, we are difficult to beat. Sometimes it isn’t going to be a free-flowing game and you need to grind out a result. It is the win that matters.
“We could’ve easily got stressed out by how he (Lavigne) was playing, but we didn’t, and I was especially delighted for Johnny (Corneil) for scoring the winner.
“Johnny does a lot of things well. He knows, more than anyone, that his production in front of goal needs to be better but he’ll get his points. Don’t worry about that!”
With two important cup points secured, the Seahawks made the reverse trip down south to Peterborough for a league game.
Unlike the night before, goals were easy to come by in this match, as the Seahawks took a 2-0 lead into the first period intermission thanks to goals from Chamberlain (assisted by Sobchak and Bonner) and Corneil (assisted by Bonner and Chilcot).
Corneil added a third early in the second period, assisted by Bonner, before the Phantoms decided to get in on the act with goals from Luke
Ferrara and a powerplay effort by Norton, as Sobchak sat a five-minute penalty for boarding, to end the period 3-2.
As the match entered its final five minutes, the Phantoms completed the comeback through an equaliser from Austin Mitchell-King and then went ahead with a powerplay goal from Jarvis Hunt before adding an empty net goal by Cameron Hough to turn the game around, 5-3.
By Mark Bateman
