The Team | PHANTOM PHILES: Two to Build Upon | ||||
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – These are the Phantom Philes, a weekly comprehensive look at Youngstown’s very own stop on the road to the National Hockey League. Last weekend at the Covelli Centre featured not only two Youngstown Phantoms’ wins over the Chicago Steel, but also could’ve functioned as a marketing video for the sport of hockey.
Friday’s 6-4 win brought all the offense a fan could want, with both long-range bullets and crease-crashing tactics resulting in goals, including three from Phantoms defensemen. There were power-play tallies (three combined), a shorthanded marker and a three-goal third-period rally by the home side.
An authentic line brawl surely pleased the “old time hockey” connoisseurs in a 3-1 Youngstown triumph Saturday, with seven players being shown the door with the game still up in the air midway through the third period. Tom Serratore’s late goal ensured the Phantoms (10-8-2, 22 points) would improve to 4-0 against Chicago and finish constructing their finest two-game stretch of the season.
“The weekend stood out because of our overall commitment to the game plan,” Head Coach/GM Bob Mainhardt said. “We played consistently both defensively and offensively and the guys executed very well. Mentally, they stayed on an even keel for 120 minutes and really showed some maturity.”
Did the pair of tough home losses the previous weekend to Lincoln provide some motivation for the two-game Chicago sweep?
“I think so and I hope so,” Mainhardt said. “We’ve certainly given up some games we shouldn’t have, but it’s all part of the learning process. I think we’ve definitely taken some positives away from some of the losses.”
Mainhardt also expressed his pleasure in USHL veterans Brian Dowd and Tom Serratore picking up the scoring pace in the past month and a half, with both forwards on point-per-game paces since the calendar flipped to November.
“Obviously the pressure is on those experienced guys right from the start not only to help our team win but also to secure their future,” he said, “so it’s a difficult recipe sometimes.”
“I think more than anything they’ve calmed down, started playing their game and having fun. They’re letting the numbers and everything else take care of itself.”
Regarding the fisticuffs near the end of Saturday’s contest, Mainhardt was proud of how his squad responded to Chicago’s provocations, displaying for all to see that his Phantoms (second in the league with 589 penalty minutes) won’t back down from a physical challenge.
“Hockey’s the only sport left, I feel, in which players are held accountable,” he said. “You can’t go around and take a shot at the quarterback and jog off the field and then come back on and start cheap shotting again. You’ve gotta play both sides and be accountable. It’s a great part of the game, it’s exciting for the fans and I think we showed we have some pretty deep team toughness.”
The last time the Indiana Ice were in town, they rallied from a 2-0 hole with the final six goals of the game to beat the Phantoms in their first USHL regular season contest Oct. 3. Mainhardt expects a much different confrontation this time around against the defending Clark Cup champs.
“I’d like to think if we jump out to a quick lead [Thursday], we’re much better prepared and equipped to protect that lead than we were Opening Night,” he said. “I think you’re going to see two much more mature teams that are plugging away at the top of their games right now. It’s going to be a great test for us.”
Following the Indiana matchup, the final contest of a five-game homestand, Youngstown hits the road for four in a row. That stretch starts with Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (4:05) meetings with the US National Team in Ann Arbor, Mich.
FOLLOW THE PHANTOMS ALL SEASON LONG!
Listen to Voice of the Phantoms Matt Gajtka call exciting Phantoms hockey on Youngstown’s ESPN 1240. Broadcasts begin approximately 15 minutes prior to opening faceoff. Phantoms fans outside the listening area can log onto www.wbbw.com and use ESPN 1240's streaming audio player, so there’s no need to miss a second of the action.
Phantoms Phever, presented by House of Speed, is an hour-long weekly talk show that brings you an inside look at your Youngstown Phantoms. Gajtka sets up shop Tuesdays at 6 p.m. at Jeremiah Bullfrog’s Sports Bar & Grille on US Route 224 in Boardman, chatting with coaches, players and front office staff about northeast Ohio’s most exciting team and the great sport of hockey. Catch Phantoms Phever on Youngstown’s ESPN Radio 1240 AM and online at www.wbbw.com.
Also, make “Youngstown Phantoms” your friend on Facebook and follow “ytownphantoms” on Twitter to stay plugged into the Phantoms 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
UPCOMING GAMES AT THE COVELLI CENTRE…
Thursday at 7:15 p.m. vs. Indiana – Phantoms Furry Friends Night / Bring any pet care product to the Covelli Centre and receive a half-priced ticket! Visit www.angelsforanimals.org to ensure $3 from your ticket goes to Angels for Animals, which provides education and solutions to pet overpopulation in our region. Be on the lookout for special furry guests throughout the night!
Tuesday, December 29 at 7:15 p.m. vs. Waterloo – Christmas Gift Exchange / Bring your unwanted holiday gifts to the game in exchange for a half-priced ticket to the game – all collected gifts will be donated to the Salvation Army! Also, enjoy $2 pretzels, hot dogs and pops all night long!
Friday, January 8 at 7:15 p.m. vs. Fargo – New Year New You & Bargain Beer Night / Make a new year’s resolution to watch Watch the Phantoms host the Force for the first time and enjoy $1 drafts all night long! Further details to come on this promotional night…
RADIO REPLAYS, PRESS BOX OPINIONS AND MUCH MORE…
Relive heart-pounding Phantoms action on demand! Listen to all the best goal calls from the past week’s worth of games and get Gajtka’s take on Youngstown’s inaugural season in the USHL at the online Voice of the Phantoms blog.
THE WEEK THAT WAS:
Friday, December 4: YOUNGSTOWN 6, CHICAGO 4
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Defensemen are often relegated to take solace in the intangibles they provide while forwards revel in the self-evident glory of goals and points.
For at least one night at the Covelli Centre, those roles were reversed.
Defenseman Scott Mayfield tied the game with 5:41 to play, followed by fellow blueliner Luke Eibler’s game winner with 3:05 left as the Youngstown Phantoms snapped a four-game winless streak by topping the Chicago Steel 6-4 Friday night at the Covelli Centre. The teams will meet again Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
Phantoms leading scorer Taylor Holstrom hadn’t gotten on the scoresheet since the team’s last win – also against the Steel Nov. 14 – but he earned the lone assist on the game’s decisive play. The second-year USHL forward picked up a turnover in the right wing corner and fed Eibler, who deked around goalie Nick Pisellini (8-7-1) before depositing the puck with a taut backhand that gave Youngstown a 5-4 lead. Eibler now has four goals in his last four games, and six overall on the season.
A few moments prior, defenseman David Donnellan, who had given the Phantoms (9-8-2, 20 points) their first lead in the second period with his second goal of the season, picked up an assist on Mayfield’s tying strike with Youngstown shorthanded. Mayfield wired a heavy wrist shot past Pisellini from the top of the right circle, his fourth and the Phantoms’ fourth shorthanded goal of the campaign.
Sahir Gill drilled in a pair of power-play goals, one late in the second and the other early in the third, to give Chicago (10-8-3, 23 points) a 4-3 lead. Sandwiched between that pair was Ryan Jasinsky’s unconventional man-advantage tally with under a second to play in the middle frame that tied the score 3-3. Eibler’s point shot nailed the crossbar over Pisellini, then popped off Jasinsky’s chest and trundled over the goal line, just barely beating the buzzer.
Chicago jumped out to an early edge when Mark Anthoine threw a 40-footer over netminder Jordan Tibbett’s left shoulder 1:10 into the contest. Tibbett (5-3-0), recovered from a right hand injury, was making his first appearance since Nov. 6. For Anthoine, it was his league-leading 15th red light.
The Phantoms issued a hasty retort in the opening minutes of the second, getting goals from Adam Berkle (:58) and Donnellan (2:55) to hop on top 2-1. Donnellan now has two career USHL tallies, both this season and both against Chicago.
Chicago’s Jake Chelios scored the most bizarre goal in a Phantoms game this season when he improbably bounced a knuckling puck into the top-left corner of the net at 3:27 to stun Tibbett and the Covelli Centre congregation. The 100-foot shot hopped twice off the ice surface, the second bounce an unpredictably high one that allowed the Steel to tie it up 2-2.
All in all, five Phantoms defensemen earned points on the night, with Andrej Sustr and Dan Senkbeil each cashing in an assist to join Donnellan (goal, assist), Eibler (goal, assist) and Mayfield on the scoresheet.
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1048916 for full box score.
Saturday, December 5: YOUNGSTOWN 3, CHICAGO 1
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Down 2-0 midway through the third, the Chicago Steel decided to turn Saturday night’s game with the Youngstown Phantoms into a street fight.
As it turned out, maybe they should’ve stuck to hockey.
A five-on-five line brawl punctuated a two-goal final frame for the Phantoms as they prevailed 3-1 at the Covelli Centre to sweep the weekend series against their East Division rivals. Winners of two in a row, Youngstown (10-8-2, 22 points) has claimed all four games in the season series with Chicago (10-9-3, 23 points).
After Adam Berkle collected Tom Serratore’s rebound and buried his sixth goal of the season to make it 2-0 at the 10:00 mark of the third, what was once a skirmish turned into an all-out fracas. Heavyweight Ryan Jasinsky dominated Chicago’s Peter Hand in a short but punishing fight at 10:19, but that was merely a precursor for what was to come.
Forty seconds after Jasinsky’s TKO, Chicago’s Alex Simonson jumped Stuart Higgins after a faceoff in the Phantoms zone. Youngstown’s Rich Young, the USHL’s runaway leader in penalty minutes with 114, quickly stepped in to help his teammate, and a six-man pileup ensued with gloves discarded and punches exchanged.
With the officials monitoring the situation at the faceoff circle, the Phantoms’ J.D. Carrabino and Jiri Sekac both grabbed dance partners and headed to open space. The 6-foot-6 Carrabino enjoyed a reach advantage over the 6-foot-0 Dan Kolomatis and handled him rather easily, but the real show was at center ice where Sekac, in his second game with the Phantoms, had Mac Olson pinned down and was throwing wild overhand rights.
When all the bouts were finally stopped, Youngstown’s Carrabino, Sekac and Young were ejected alongside Kolomatis, Olson and Simonson for Chicago. All told, the two teams combined for 144 penalty minutes on 23 infractions.
The two clubs then got back to hockey with considerably shortened benches, which didn’t seem to bother the Steel’s Mark Anthoine, who backhanded his league-leading 16th of the campaign past Matt Mahalak (5-5-2) to ruin his shutout bid with 4:36 remaining.
Unfazed, Youngstown went right back to work, with Serratore picking up the key insurance goal after a goalmouth scramble. With Nick Czinder hammering away at a loose puck in front of Chicago netminder Nick Pisellini (8-8-1), Serratore joined the fray and was rewarded when he grabbed the disc to the left of the goal and sniped a wrister into the goal from a sharp angle. The third-year USHL forward’s fifth of the year closed the scoring at 16:34 and extended his personal point-scoring streak to three games.
Brian Dowd earned the second assist on Berkle’s third-period marker, pushing his own scoring run to a Phantoms season-high five games. Taylor Holstrom scored Youngtown’s first goal of the game with 3:25 to go in the first after his centering pass hit a Chicago leg and caromed through Pisellini. It was Holstrom’s first tally since Nov. 11, but the former Omaha Lancer continues to lead the Phantoms in scoring with 17 points.
Holstrom’s goal triggered a deluge of stuffed animals onto the Covelli Centre ice surface as part of Toys for Tots Teddy Bear Toss Night, foreshadowing the gloves, sticks and helmets that would litter the rink during the third-period fisticuffs.
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1048922 for full box score.
The Youngstown Phantoms are a Member Club of the United States Hockey League (USHL), America’s only Tier I hockey league and premier developer of National Hockey League talent with more than 100 alumni on current NHL rosters.
Visit www.youngstownphantoms.com or call the Front Office at 330.747.PUCK(7825) for more information on the Phantoms organization. The Youngstown Phantoms are owned by the B.J. Alan Company (Phantom Fireworks), located in Youngstown, Ohio.
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