The Phantoms enjoyed a team bonding party on Friday night at Puckz Restaurant where they had dinner prior to taking in the Oakville Blades game. They were up close to the ice and saw just how fast the Blades actually skate. That must have inspired them for Sundays game as they came out on fire even though half of them were sleeping in the dressing room prior to the 8am start.
The Phantoms have been working on a couple of things at practices the past few weeks and it's beginning to pay off. They've been asked to apply offensive zone pressure, and get out of their own end quickly and efficiently. Both tasks were performed very well today as many of the goals scored resulted from scrambles with sustained pressure in addition to a couple goals scored off the break-out from the defensive end.
As a result of the goals scored off the break-out, the defence were rewarded on the score sheet with assists. The boys were very happy about that as many times their hard work of keeping the puck out of our net is not recorded on the score sheet. It's as important, if not more important, to keep the goals out of the net, but it's always good for players to see their efforts on the score sheet as well.
With Connor's goal today, every player on the Phantoms now has at least one goal on the season. The scoring continues to be balanced throughout the team although Joey had something to say about that today with 5 goals in a row over the last two periods!! As a result of his 5 goal outburst, even with the number of goals the Phantoms have scored this season, Joey is the first Phantom to reach double digits in goals. That's true team hockey!!