Banners On The Road – Bees IHC vs Peterborough Phantoms 6/4/24

NIHL National Division Playoffs, Group A

Bees IHC 3-5 Peterborough Phantoms

Bees: Antonov pp, Doughty, Vitali pp

Phantoms: Sladkovsky x2 (1pp), Björkly-Nordström x2, Susters

Reset the counter: The drive to Slough felt slower than normal. There wasn’t any real build up of traffic but for some reason, the time just dragged. It might have been because I was playing over a variety of scenarios for the Basingstoke Buffalo the following day but I mostly think it was because I didn’t really know what I was going to see in Slough.

I did, but I didn’t. I’ve watched enough of the Bees this season to know how they’ll play and I’ve watched, and complained about, enough of Peterborough to have a rough idea of what was going to come but given this was the first playoff game for both sides, you can’t really predict what’s going to happen. The cliches of “playoff hockey” get wheeled out but is it a cliché if it’s true?

A healthy contingent of Phantoms fans had made the journey down, as had a certain player now banned for 6 months, but the main talking point was the return to the line up of Martins Susters. Having stepped away from hockey earlier in the season, his addition back into the line up was met with a mixture of cynicism (they’ve done this because of the ban), concern, (hope he’s fit) and excitement (he’s really very good).

From the off, the Bees seemed to be wanting to inject some pace into the game. This was a sensible enough idea, early goals would force the Phantoms to come out of their shell and open up some space. They were met with what could be almost be called Phantoms brand stoicism, calm as you like defending.

A hooking call on Will Weldon sent the Bees powerplay to work and it was an immediate impact. A Stuart Mogg shot rebounded off of Jordan Marr and sat up for Vanya Antonov to barrel his way past everyone and bundle the puck over the line before anyone could react.

The favour was pretty sharply returned however as a Harvey Stead slashing penalty gave the Phantoms special teams unit a go and they grasped the opportunity. It was a textbook move as the puck was worked across to the hashmarks for Lukas Sladkovsky to blast past Brython Preece and tie the game.

The game was a bit scrappy and messy one the scores were tied. The teams had ideas but the execution was failing them. Passes were not connecting or were being broken up. Then, out of nowhere, one was too loose from the Phantoms. Aidan Doughty raced away with the defenders left for dust and fired past Marr to give the Bees a 2-1 lead.

The Phantoms were almost immediately back on the powerplay thanks to some clumsy stick work from Gianni Vitali but the Phantoms couldn’t get a single thing going, mostly denied by some excellent Antonov penalty killing.

Both teams were having their chances as the period wandered towards the end, the Bees were edging the balance of play as the first buzzer sounded. They then started the second with a similar intentional attitude and the visitors were just seemingly a bit stuck.

Then, because it’s the Peterborough Phantoms, the switch flicked. They had done what they always do and nobody finds a way to stop them. They had waited, then the trap was spring. The Bees pushed too high, the space opened up and they broke down the ice. Again, Susters was the provider for Sladkovsky to beat Preece sliding to his left.

In just around 90 odd seconds, it was 3-2. A Connor Glossop shot was poked towards the goal by Ivan Björkly-Nordström and it somehow squeezed its way through Preece and over the line.

From there, the Phantoms were doing what the Phantoms do well. It was sitting back, absorbing the pressure and waiting. The Bees started to apply pressure but just couldn’t find a way through. Then they were further behind and it was a comedy of error from the Bees. Balaz, Harvey Stead and Preece all scrambling to keep the puck out, seemingly conspired to instead bundle it over their own goal line for 4-2.

The third was classic Phantoms. The Bees appeared to have something of an answer where they upped their physicality without going over the top which was fine in defence but in attack, the slick passing of the first had given way to long, winding solo rushes that were easily snuffed out.

Eventually, the Bees were exposed pushing high again and it was back to the old routine. Fast break, smooth pass to smooth pass to a second of the night for Björkly-Nordström with just over 10 minutes to go.

That was the game effectively done. The Phantoms were finding it too easy to clog the passing lanes as the Bees became more and more desperate. A late altercation between Liam Morris and Joe Gretton saw the later sent to the box having earned an extra two minutes. The Bees got another powerplay goal, a nice simple move setting up Vitali to slam the puck home but with 12 seconds to play, the Phantoms could take that one on the chin and the two points back home.

Playoff hockey is meant to be tight and tense and this game was for the most of it. I have to credit the Phantoms here though for ultimately trusting their system. They genuinely were not very good through the first twenty minutes, looking devoid of ideas and as a watcher, I wasn’t sure what they were trying to do. Some tweaks in the first period break and it was like swapping from Diet Phantoms to Phantoms full fat. This was Slava Kouilkov hockey at its zenith and the Bees had no answer to it. Whilst Luke Ferrara and Ales Padelek were kept quiet, the third line of Weldon, Glossop and Hunt were solid all night with Ivan Björkly-Nordström showing how much of a threat he was and the returning Martins Susters looking like he’s never been away. It’s hard to tell how this it will turn out for them across the playoffs, the games with Hull will be crucial here but this combined with Sunday’s win over the Bees, offside goal or not, was the perfect start.

The Bees were solid in this game. They weren’t bad by any stretch but after starting well, they got exposed, were punished and then fell into the Phantoms trap. The premise was sound, score early and force the Phantoms to open up but in an attempt to force the issue and get more goals that just allowed the visitors to do what they do best, strike and retreat to wait for the next chance.

The Bees aren’t dead, the Phantoms aren’t clear. We’ll get more of a idea after this weekend.

Lowlight of the night: The game just wasn’t the best of games. There wasn’t a lot wrong with the game to be honest.

Highlight of the night: Some of the goals were very well taken.

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