Sundays Silver contest against Howies marked the franchises 306th game. Entering the contest, it was believed by many on the Phantoms and those at the Cedar Rock Sports Plex that the Phantoms would have very difficult time against this Howies team. Not only did the previous encounter this season feature a 11-1 defeat by the Phantoms, this game would be played without three of the Phantoms biggest stars: Chris Benedict, Casey Rosenberg and Scott Vandonkelaar. With the Phantoms facing odds like this, the Phantoms displayed a performance that was truly outstanding and a testament as to how the Phantoms have continued to be among the best in the league for now 23 seasons. With the Phantoms suffering a severe manpower shortage, the team looked no further than to Dave Trahan, Sean Wert, Jason Schemmel and netminder Jeff Pacific to fill in the blanks. Midway into the opening period, Howies would jump into a 1-0 lead. That single goal lead would remain intact into the second period until Howies Lance Verkaik increased the lead to 2-0, with a goal 30 seconds into the second period. With the Phantoms trailing by two, the teams veteran playmaker Nate Tyler, with an assist to Trent Kik, would put the Phantoms on the board. The Phantoms would continue to battle back. That pressure would pay off 1:14 later as Dave Trahan would make a statement in his first game back in a Phantom jersey in nearly three years, as Trahan would connect on a Gordie Anderson pass to notch a 2-2 deadlock on the scoreboard. The second period assault by the Phantoms would continue with 3:10 remaining in the period, as Dave Trahan would connect on another Gordie Anderson sweet-dish-feed to put the Phantoms on top for the first time in the contest at 3-2. As the scoreboard shifted to the third period, the Phantoms and Howies were putting on a show that really no one would have expected. As the period began, Howies stormed into a 3-3 tie just 2 minutes into the period. The Phantoms would restore their single goal grip on a Matt Zehr (assisted by Trent Kik) strike with 9:24 remaining in the third period. The Phantoms would then jump into their own two-goal lead of the night roughly three minutes later as Dave Trahan would complete the three-goal hat-trick off a Sean Wert assist to increase the Phantom lead to 5-3. However, just like Howies two-goal lead earlier in the game, the Phantoms would experience the same shortfall, as Howies would answer back with two goals 1:23 apart to again deadlock the contest at 5-5. With two minutes remaining in the game, Howies Chris Pasma was ticketed for a tripping penalty that would present the Phantoms with a glorious late period powerplay. However, Howies would be the ones that would benefit as they struck with a short-handed goal with a mere 1:07 remaining in the period to jump into a 6-5 lead. No one expected that with all the scratches on the Phantom roster during this game that the Phantoms would have been able to make a game out of it. However, the team still managed to press on and shock the Cedar Rock facility with a powerplay goal by Brad Zehr (assisted by Trent Kik and Jason Schemmel) to tie the game at 6-6 with just 28 ticks left on the clock. The Brad Zehr bazooka blast completely raced like a Mexican running from the border patrol into the back of the net and stunned the rink as the Phantoms completed the comeback and etched a single point in the standings. In the MoJos Dueling Piano Duel, the Phantoms Dave Trahan, Trent Kik and Brad Zehr would come up empty handed on their shoot-out attempt, while Howies would capitalize on two of their three shots to take the game by the final of 7-6. Despite the overtime loss by the Phantoms, everyone was completely satisfied and thrilled with the Phantom performance on the night. During the contest, Howies out shot the Phantoms by a 32-27 margin. On the Nautys Penalty Minute Board, only a single penalty would be called during the contest that would go against Howies for two minutes. On the MoJos Dueling Piano Shoot-out Duel, Howies would tally two goals to sweep the duel against the Phantoms in the overtime period. As mentioned, the Phantoms played without team captain Chris Benedict, defensemen Casey Rosenberg and Scott Vandonkelaar and netminder Kevin Wootton. The team would like to thank Dave Trahan, Sean Wert, Jason Schemmel and Jeff Pacific for their hard work during the night. From those Phantoms at the rink, everyone had very high praise for the four newcomers that played. The Phantoms will return to action in two weeks to tangle with the Red Devils.
