Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, anyone?

I’ve got nothing witty here obviously, certainly nothing as good as the Huskies’ Valentine’s Day cards which were hilarious. I think they missed a trick with this one though: Will you be my McFarlane-tine?? Or maybe not.

Unfortunately, Saturday was devoid of romance, devoid of anything that sets the heart racing. What we saw on Saturday was dire, Haringey the spurned ex desperately trying to cling to an old flame that has so blatantly moved on. The fact it ends 1-8 isn’t the worst thing about it for me; Guildford put seven past us here last November, but I thought we played much better in that game.

No, what’s sticking in my craw is nearly every other aspect of our performance. Our inability to problem solve on the ice, to identify what’s going wrong and fix it in real time. How cheaply we gave up possession. The space we allowed Peterborough to have, particularly in our defensive zone. So much came down the middle for Peterborough who weren’t forced wide anywhere near enough.

It’s almost unbelievable that even though we outshoot Peterborough 47 to 43 on the night, we still end up conceding eight goals and only scoring one. Dylan Phillips will probably want a couple of those back at least, but to be fair to him he didn’t have a great deal of protection out in front.

It’s made all the more frustrating because we know we can if not match then get very, very close to this current Peterborough side. Just look at the Wilkinson Cup semi-final games. But on Saturday the Phantoms caught us on a very, very bad day.

As you’d expect it’s a lightning-fast start. Chances at both ends before the Phantoms begin to take control over centre-ice, hemming the Huskies in.

They take the lead after four minutes, winning the face-off on the left and drifting into the slot, ripping across goal into the top corner. Smart finish.

Haringey have their best spell of the entire game after the goal, to my mind. There’s several good chances on the powerplay. Johan Persson plays dump and chase, puts it out front where the goalie covers.

Carl Etuazim feeds Courtney Grant charging in who draws a save. Marton Szasz shoots wide from the right. Ryan Payne blasts one from the point that’s kicked out. Conner Smith with a bouncing speculative effort from centre ice that spirals wide.

But it’s 0-2 on 14 minutes exactly. One pass from the Peterborough D-zone to the blue line cuts through the entire Haringey team and completely undoes us. Sixteen-year-old Peterborough wonderkid AJ Herring picks it up, skates away 1-on-1 down the slot and finishes high into the net. Dreadful stuff.

Haringey continue to push for a response. Ruskin Springer Hughes finds Marton who shoots wide. Stuart Appleby drops it off for Conner who has his shot held. Marton goes coast-to-coast, shooting from the high slot but is gloved.

The Phantoms pick up in the second where they left off the first. Former Husky Ross Clarke finds the roof of the net from the left after Peterborough had been on top for the opening minutes of the period. Will Nowik and Stu combine for a 2-on-1 but the shot’s blocked.

Courtney barrels into the offensive zone but can’t work a decent attempt. Johan shoots from the point. Ruskin goes all the way, around the net and puts it back into the slot but there’s no one there. It’s an end-to-end, scrappy game at the moment. Haringey still with chances but unable to take any.

There’s a huge let off. It’s the same pass for Peterborough as their second goal, straight through everyone, down the middle but this time the forward shoots over. Haringey clinging on. Dylan makes a monster save from the slot soon afterwards. Peterborough dominating and Haringey unable to clear the zone.

Ryan McFarlane hits a slapshot from the centre and Ryan Bainborough in the Phantoms’ net can only spill it into the slot, sadly no Huskies’ player there to take advantage.

Peterborough get their fourth with seven minutes left in the period. There’s acres of space in the Haringey defence, no one near, it comes back from the boards to the hashmarks, and the forward takes his time to finish across goal. A dismal goal to concede.

There’s a flicker of life as Ruskin finds Robby Rejna across the slot who rips from the left back across goal to get Haringey on the scoreboard at 1-4. It could have been even better moments later, as Conner’s hauled down and a penalty shot is awarded.

Conner takes it and it’s saved, and I don’t blame Conner at all. That can happen to anyone. It was a slow approach, but you’ve got to move the netminder more and create the space. Or shoot it.

Luke Martin fires a slapper from the blue line, before Peterborough make it five at the end of the period. It comes from the right, into the slot, dekes one way then the other and slides it beyond Dylan into the net. Urgh…

We start the third needing goals. Luke dumps it off the backboards from the puck-drop and Marton has a backhander saved from the rebound. Johan carries it along the boards, cutting into the slot but shoots into the goalie’s chest.

The Phantoms extend their lead after five minutes. The breakaway initially saved by Dylan, but the follow-up shot creeps beyond him. Very unlucky.

Jaden Boolkah’s gloved from the point. Luke has another look from the blue line. Johan tries to inject some impetus, carrying the puck into the zone but gets blocked off. Chance after chance but nothing sticks for the Huskies.

Cameron Pow shoots wide through traffic. Stu’s set away but is caught and the puck’s put out of danger. Carl skates past two Peterborough players but shoots wide from the left. Time’s running out.

With only three-and-a-half minutes left, Peterborough get their seventh. Allowed to walk, they have time in the slot to rip one into the net unopposed and unimpeded.

Peterborough’s eighth, which comes a minute later, is arguably their best set-up goal of the night. It comes off the boards on the right, back to the point and the one-timer slapshot is turned in on the doorstep. 1-8 all told and a chastening, heartbreaking, lovesick night for Haringey.

You can sometimes tell where a team’s at by how they react to a loss. The Cardiff Canucks sit one place below us in the league table, having played the same number of games. It’s not an easy place to go, the Vindico. The long drive there, the waiting around. We’ve seen plenty of close games there over the years, against Cardiff Fire also.

But the Huskies dust themselves down and come out with a thumping 1-6 win. That’s encouraging. That’s mentality. That’s the response you want.

There’s only four league games left now in the 2025/26 season. Four games to establish the final playoff berths. Win them all and it’s guaranteed third, but it’s still so close from there to sixth.

I’ve got to finish with some positives, because look there are still many positives we can take, and the positives are these: we’re in a cup final, we’re four winnable games away from securing third, we didn’t follow one bad performance with another, we are and continue to remain the Mighty Haringey Huskies whom we love and adore.

Invicta up next.

Let’s Go Huskies.