Everyone Active Raiders look to retain Shield silverware

Sean Easton’s men visit Slough for the first leg on Saturday, before hosting the return at Romford’s Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre on Sunday (5.15pm).

And the club are waiting for new Canadian defenceman Zachery Bennett to arrive in the UK, having confirmed a U-turn by his fellow countryman Pierre-Luc Lurette to take up a job as an NHL official.

Bennett, 23, is from Newfoundland and the cousin of Dawson Mercer, of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

Raiders opened the 2023-24 season with back-to-back 3-2 wins over Peterborough last weekend.

Lukas Sladkovsky and Archie Salisbury put Phantoms 2-0 up in the first of two challenge matches at the Sapphire on Saturday.

But Raiders, having outshot their rivals 16-10 in the first period, saw captain Aaron Connolly and Jake Sylvester net 84 seconds apart in the middle session to level.

Adam Laishram’s 34th-minute effort proved the winner, as Brad Windebank held firm in the home net, before Callum Wells and Martin Susters clashed at the final buzzer.

New Canadian import Nick Leyer opened the scoring in Sunday’s return meeting with a shorthanded goal, but Sladkovsky beat Ethan James inside the first minute of the second period to level.

Leyer restored the Raiders lead before the midway point, but tempers boiled over at the buzzer and Raiders saw Brandon Ayliffe and Mikey Power ejected along with Salisbury and Joe Gretton.

Wells and Austin Mitchell-King were given fighting majors, while Zack Milton and Scott Robson were handed 10-minute misconduct penalties.

Raiders ended up on the powerplay and took a 3-1 lead just 49 seconds after the restart as Leyer completed his hat-trick.

Brad Bowering replied late on but Raiders took the spoils for a second night running.

MATCH DETAILS

Saturday

Raiders 3 Peterborough 2

Raiders: Jake Sylvester 1, Aaron Connolly 1, Adam Laishram 1, Michael Power 0+1, George Norcliffe 0+1.

Phantoms: Archie Salisbury 1, Lukas Sladkovsky 1, Scott Robson 0+1, Luke Ferrara 0+1, Austin Mitchell-King 0+1.

Penalty minutes: Raiders 9 Phantoms 11.

Shots on goal: Brad Windebank (R) 30-2; Jordan Marr (P, 59.32) 33-3, empty net (0.28).

Sunday

Peterborough 2 Raiders 3

Phantoms: Brad Bowering 1+1, Lukas Sladkovsky 1, Callum Buglass 0+1.

Raiders: Nick Leyer 3, Brandon Ayliffe 0+1, Thomas Relf 0+1, Jack Cooper 0+1, Ethan James 0+1, Adam Laishram 0+1.

Penalty minutes: Phantoms 73 Raiders 73.

Shots on goal: Marr (P, 40.49) 19-3, Tyler de la Bertouche (P, 17.48) 8-0, empty net (1.23); Ethan James (R) 34-2.