The Bracebridge Phantoms are following up a string of victories with an upcoming appearance in pink.
The Phantoms will be decked out in pink for a game against the South Muskoka Shield on Oct. 13, as part of a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness month. Phantoms assistant coach Nico Figliano said fans who show up for the game will have a chance to take home a piece of the team as part of the fundraiser.
“At the end of the game, we’re going to raffle off all of the pink jerseys,” he said.
With just one week left until the south Muskoka showdown happens, the Phantoms are riding on a wave of momentum that swept them through three consecutive victories in seven days. The latest win was a 7-6 victory over the Shelburne Red Wings in a home game on Sunday, Sept. 30.
The Red Wings, however, did not go down easily. The Phantoms had got off to a scary start, trailing Shelburne by a score of 0-4 at the end of the first period. But after regrouping, the Phantoms mounted a quick comeback.
“Our boys just battled their way back the entire game,” said Figliano. “They just battled back, they showed good resiliency.”
The rebound was led by Phantoms forward Alex Boswell, who scored two goals spaced apart by another goal from centre Michal Linda. Forward Shawn Watson evened out the score to 4-4.
The game then briefly see-sawed between the two teams, with the Red Wings coming back on top with another goal. The Phantoms, however, quickly returned fire with a goal from defenceman Roman Martuscelli.
Goaltender Kyle French also got a piece of the action, scoring another goal that brought the Phantoms to a 6-5 lead before the Red Wings caught up again.
Then, with just one minute left in the third period, it was aggressive defenceman Michael Spacek who came through with the tie-breaking goal for the Phantoms.
“It was about 25 or 30 seconds that we scored the power-play goal,” said Figliano.
Just one day prior, the Phantoms sent the Powassan Eagles flying off into the sunset with a 5-2 win. Five days before that, they chased off the Bradford Bulls with an 8-4 finish.
By contrast, the South Muskoka Shield is still recuperating from two consecutive losses against the Bradford Rattlers and the Lefroy Wave.
Before they take on the Shield on Oct. 13, the Phantoms will first have to cut down the Sturgeon Falls Lumberjacks in an away game on Saturday, Oct. 6.