Ondra Liebelt was on target for the Phantoms against the Huskies (Photo by Greg Grogan)
Sunday 24th May: Flintshire Phantoms 5 – Halton Huskies 12
The Flintshire Phantoms played out a 17-goal thriller against the Widnes-based Halton Huskies, unfortunately ending up on the wrong end of a 12-5 defeat on Sunday.
Games between Deeside and Widnes based clubs are always keenly contested, passionate affairs due to the relative proximity of the two venues and a regular migration of players over the years in both directions, are rarely dull – and this was no exception.
The game was actually a home game for the Phantoms but had to be played at Widnes as there wasn’t any suitable ice time available at Deeside Leisure Centre due to a weekend hockey training camp being held at the venue.
The Huskies – the “visitors” in this case – took the lead after 7 minutes and were 0-3 ahead at the first period break. They scored twice more in the second period before the Phantoms finally found the back of the net themselves with a goal from Geoffrey Coombs on 26 minutes.
Flintshire further narrowed the deficit with goals from Louis Ellwood and Ken Valyear but 4 more goals for the Huskies saw them leading 3-9 at the second interval.
The Phantoms scored again on 48 minutes with a second Valyear strike but three more goals followed for the Huskies – rounding off an impressive 4-goal haul for former Deeside Duck Jack Davies – to bring their tally to 12, before Ondra Liebelt rounded off the scoring for the game with the Phantoms’ fifth goal.
The two teams will meet again in the return match on 27th June which will officially be the “away” game for the Phantoms and will, once again, take place at Widnes.
