The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
How Phantoms rocked the world!
Peterborough Phantoms rocked the ice hockey world by winning the National League play-offs last weekend.
Few could look beyond league champions Leeds Knights completing a famous double, but a Phantoms side bedevilled by injuries and suspensions for most of the season had other ideas.
They beat Leeds 2-1 in a dramatic penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw in the ‘Grand Final’ at the Coventry Skydome.
Phantoms had also required overtime before beating Telford Tigers 5-4 in their semi-final.
It was a first National League play-off success for nine years for Phantoms. Koulikov was in charge back in 2015, while skipper Will Weldon, who played his last game in the 2024 Final before retirement, and top scorer Luke Ferrara, who hit the winning penalty shot against Leeds, were also at the club.
No wonder Koulikov was a happy man when Tom Lea from the Phantoms backroom staff caught up with him.
"I’m so proud of everyone connected to the Phantoms organisation, my players, the staff and the fans.” Koulikov said. “For this to be achieved, we all had to be on the same page. We all had to buy in to the plan if we were to win and that’s exactly what happened at the weekend.
“My players executed it all to a tee and, given the challenges everyone knows we’ve had this season, they deserve an endless amount of credit for that.
“We haven’t had a fully fit roster since the second game of pre-season. We’ve had suspensions and we’ve been really unlucky as, once we got a player back from injury, another one picked something up and it’s been like that all year.
“Jordan Marr (netminder) was absolutely brilliant in every game in the play-offs, not just at Coventry, and he deserves so much credit for his performances and the huge saves he made when we needed him to come up
clutch for us.
“There were so many amazing performances from our guys, so many of whom shouldn’t have even been playing because of injuries, but they all fought through them and put their bodies on the line for this team and this club, and they’ve all been rewarded by winning the Championship.
"We only had seven forwards and five defencemen for most of the run to the trophy and yet we’ve beaten teams with so much depth.
“We’re also extremely thankfultoourfansasthey’ve stuck with us through a really tough season and we’re so happy we were able to repay them with this trophy. This is for them as much as it is for the players and staff.”
THE SEMI-FINAL
Telford Tigers started the stronger of the two teams, but Jordan Marr stood tall in the Phantoms goal, writes
Ian Offers.
And it was the Phantoms who opened the scoring on 14:51 when Ferrara found Jarvis Hunt who fired home from close range.
Phantoms extended their lead on 24.54 when Lukas Sladkovsky scored, but less than two minutes later Harry Ferguson pulled a goal back for Tigers and Scott McKenzie then scored a short-handed
breakaway goal to draw his side level at 33.46.
Phantoms kept fighting and on 36.56 Connor Glossop gave them the lead once more after fine work from Ales Padelek.
Padalek made it 4-2 with his 250th career goal, but Tigers came roaring back to score two unanswered goals in the final period from Finley Howells and Joe Aston.
With the teams tied at 4-4 after 60 minutes, the game went into five minutes of 3-on-3 sudden death overtime.
Tigers started the stronger of the teams, but on 1.16 Callum Buglass struck to send his side into the ‘Grand Final.’
Austin Mitchell-King was named Phantoms man-ofthe-match.
THE FINAL An edgy opening period saw both netminders tested, writes Ian Offers.
Kieran Brown and Mac Howlett forced Marr to make saves, whilst at the other end Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom and Sladkovsky brought big saves out of Sam Gospel.
Leeds opened the scoring on 13.38 when Matt Haywood's shot trickled under Marr.
Phantoms levelled the scoring three minutes into the middle period when Hunt ripped the puck home and on 26.47 it was advantage
Phantoms when Ferrara set Bjorkly-Nordstrom through on goal and, after a small fake, the Swede sent a rocket of a shot into the Leeds goal.
Leeds responded on 37.30 when Dylan Hehir saw his shot fly past Marr, but two minutes later Sladkovsky claimed a breakaway goal to put Phantoms back in front.
Back came Leeds to level through Noah McMullin on 42.39 and the teams then played out a cagey final period, and no further goals meant another overtime battle for Phantoms.
Billy Thorpe shot just wide in the final seconds at a time when Phantoms were shorthanded to confirm a penalty shootout.
Both teams missed their opening couple of penalties, before Matt Barron fired over Marr's catcher to give Leeds the advantage, but Brad Bowering then coolly fired home for Phantoms with a highlight reel finish.
Into sudden death and Barron went again for the Knights, only to see his shot go wide giving Ferrara, who had missed his earlier penalty shot, the chance to seal a famous win, and he stayed cool to make it and spark glorious celebrations on and off the ice.
Bjorkly-Nordstrom was named Phantoms man of the match.