The Peterborough Phantoms Para Ice Hockey team returned to the ice on Saturday evening, when they hosted the Sheffield SteelStings at the Planet Ice Arena in Peterborough.
After winning their opening 2 games of their 2025 British Para Ice Hockey League campaign, the Phantoms were keen to claim another victory to keep their title challege on track.
The Phantoms got off to a strong start, with the Kings being held in their own zone. The Phantoms pressure paid off and on 2.59 they crashed the net and as the puck rebounded out it was Phantoms Captain, Callum Shakespeare, who was the first to it and shot high over Damien Barker inthe Stings goal to make it 1-0.
Despite lacking a strong attacking presence, the Stings were strong defensively and it took another 5 minutes before the Phantoms would find the net again. This time it was Gary Farmer who picked up a pass from Callum Shakespeare and saw his shot from the boards fly into the far corner of the Stings net to double the hometeams lead on 8.04.
In hockey one goal can quickly lead to a second and just 16 seconds later this was the case. Lucy Smith won the face-off at the restart and found Shakespeare. He set Farmer free to break into the Stings zone and from the tightest of angles on the goal line his shot squeaked past Barker and into the back of the goal.
Farmer secured his hatrick with just 1.44 left in the opening period. Some good battling for the puck on the boards by Stacey Quirk allowed her to pick out Farmer who skated in on goal before firing high into the top corner from the enge of the goalie crease to make it a 4-0 game.
The second period started with Damien Barker making a number of saves from the Phantoms forward line as they looked to extend their lead. He was finally beaten on 16.20 when some good build-up play in the Stings zone saw Shakespeare bearing down on goal, before a deft backhand pass found Stacey Quirk on the backpost with the simplest of redirects into the empty goal (5-0).
Phantoms made it 6-0 on 19.33 when Lucy Smith won a face-off in the Stings defensive zone. She fed the puck to Gary Farmer and his one-timer left Barker no chance in the Stings goal. The goal was followed by another quick goal when on 19.47 D-Jay Hall found himself on the scoresheet. Hall won the opening face-off and found Farmer who broke into the zone before looking for a passing option. His pass picked out the oncoming Hall who’se low shot deceived everyone and bobbled under the screened Kings netty. The goal signalled a goalie change for the Stings with Bryan Hackworth replacing Damien Barker between the pipes.
Phantoms final goal of the period came on 21.41 when Gary Farmer picked up the puck on his own blueline before skating through the Stings defence and firing high over Hackworth. The goal signalled a timemout by the Stings bench as they looked to regroup.
The final period saw the Stings defence thwart the Phantoms for long periods. Despite being 8-0 up, the Phantoms kept up the pace, knowing they had another game in 24 hours and couldn’t afford to slow their game down.
It took the Phantoms over 10 minutes before they finally found the net, as the Stings players started to tire as the clock ran down.
On 40.49 Gary Farmer netted the Phantoms 9th goal of the game when he and Shakespeare broke into the zone before Farmer waited for the netminder to commit before directing the puck into the net. A minute later and as Shakespeare bore down on the Stings goal, their defence managed to get the puck off him, only to watch as the puck dropped to Stacey Quirk who shot low into the net to make it 10-0 on 41.30.
The final goal of the game came on 42.22 when the Phantoms veteran pairing of Callum Shakespeare and Graham Kimber combined. Kimber picked up the puck in the neutral zone and his inch perfect pass allowed Shakespeare to attack and with SteelStings players surrounding him he battled through before firing the puck off the crossbar and into the goal.
Man of the Match Awards went to Bryan Hackworth for the Sheffield SteelStings and Stacey Quirk for the Peterborough Phantoms.