The Team | PHANTOM PHILES: Westward Once Again | ||||
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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. Riding the wave of an excitement-filled 4-1 homestand at the Covelli Centre, the Youngstown Phantoms (8-5-1, 17 points) will head back to the highway this weekend, where they have earned points in five out of six games (4-1-1). Combine that with their 6-1 record since Oct. 30, and the team is rolling into its only November road trip just one point out of a three-way tie for first in the East Division.
“This past homestand was better in every way,” said F Brett Gensler, who leads the Phantoms with nine goals. “Our intensity was higher, we played more up-tempo and aggressive and the fans really responded to it.”
Saturday’s thrill-a-minute 7-6 overtime triumph over the Chicago Steel functioned as a fitting conclusion to a five-game stretch in which every contest was decided by a single goal. Youngstown trailed by two scores on two separate occasions, both times answering with a three-goal rally. F Tom Serratore capped the second of those bursts with his second tally of the game a little more than a minute into OT.
“In a game like that, you never think you’re out of it,” F Jefferson Dahl said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in a game as crazy as (Saturday’s). It seemed like something was happening every shift.”
Saturday’s second period was especially outlandish, featuring eight combined goals (four for each team), four of them on the power play and three in shorthanded situations. After Chicago escaped the wild middle frame with a 5-4 lead, F Taylor Holstrom assisted on the final three Phantoms goals to help produce the crowd-pleasing win, earning the No. 1 star and increasing his point total to a team-leading 15 (five goals, 10 assists).
With a respectful nod to the treacherous conditions a Midwest winter can produce, the United States Hockey League tries to schedule most interdivision matchups away from the middle of the season. Due to this practice, the Phantoms – already with three West Division trips in the rearview mirror, plus the Fall Classic in Sioux City, Iowa – will head to Sioux Falls, S.D., and Sioux City for back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
The Sioux Falls Stampede holds the second-best record in the USHL at 9-1-3, behind only Omaha’s remarkable 13-2-0 start to the season. Dahl, who played in every league rink last year while with the Green Bay Gamblers, advised there could be plenty of offensive pyrotechnics in Friday’s game at the appropriately-named Sioux Falls Arena.
“The rink is very small,” said the future University of Wisconsin Badger. “The areas around the goals are especially tight, so you can expect a lot of shots and (scoring) chances. We’re essentially going to be playing on a basketball court.”
Friday’s tilt is set for 8:05 p.m. Eastern time from South Dakota’s largest city, then the Phantoms will travel down the Mississippi River to Sioux City and an 8 p.m. Saturday engagement with the last-place Musketeers at the Tyson Events Center. Catch both games on ESPN 1240 and the B2 Networks as Youngstown tries to extend its two-game road winning streak.
Programming note: Friday’s game will be tape-delayed until following the high school football game on ESPN 1240, but Saturday’s broadcast will be live. As always, the B2 Networks will carry both games live online.
UPCOMING GAMES AT THE COVELLI CENTRE…
Friday, November 27 at 7:15 p.m. vs. Lincoln – Bald Is Beautiful Night / Buy tickets at your local Casal’s Salon – $3 from each ticket bought there will go to Wigs For Kids. Stay tuned for additional promotions!
Saturday, November 28 at 7:15 p.m. vs. Lincoln – Hockey Holidays / Santa Claus visits the Phantoms! Bring your Christmas list and meet/take pictures with the Jolly Old Elf himself.
Friday, December 3 at 7:15 p.m. vs. Chicago – Pheed the Valley / Join the Phantoms and WFMJ-TV in donating to Second Harvest Food Bank. Bring a non-perishable food item and receive a half-priced ticket OR donate five and get in free!
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.
In addition, tune in to ESPN 1240 every Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. for “Phantoms Phever presented by House of Speed,” an hour-long talk show that brings you an inside look at your Youngstown Phantoms. Join host Gajtka live from Jeremiah Bullfrog’s Sports Bar & Grille on US Route 224 in Boardman, as he chats with coaches, players and front office staff about northeast Ohio’s most exciting team and the great sport of hockey.
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.
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:
Wednesday, November 11: YOUNGSTOWN 3, GREEN BAY 2
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – You can call the Youngstown Phantoms drama kings, as long as you call them winners.
Brian Dowd’s breakaway goal at 12:43 of the second period held up as the decider, giving goaltender Matt Mahalak a much-deserved first home victory and the Phantoms their fifth-straight win, 3-2 over the Green Bay Gamblers Wednesday night from the Covelli Centre. Youngstown will go for the sweep of the two-game series and its fourth straight home triumph Friday night at 7:15 p.m.
The Phantoms (7-4-1, 15 points) built a 3-0 advantage through 40 minutes of play on goals by Taylor Holstrom, Scott Mayfield and Dowd, and everything seemed to be clicking for the home side. But Green Bay (7-4-2, 16 points) was tenacious in the third, closing to within one on tallies by leading scorer Anders Lee and Ryan Furne less than three minutes apart.
Resilient Youngstown regrouped in time to smother the Gamblers in the final moments, preventing the visitors from generating any serious scoring chances with goalie Steve Summerhays off the ice for an extra skater. The Phantoms, now 4-0-1 in one-goal games, moved to within one point of second-place Green Bay in the East Division and just two back of first-place Chicago.
Mahalak, getting his first start since Oct. 30 at Fargo, improved to 3-1-1 on the season on the strength of 31 saves. His outstanding play allowed the Phantoms to win despite being outshot 33-9 in the game and 25-5 after the first period. Youngstown’s efficient shooting (33 percent) dealt Summerhays his first regulation loss of the season, dropping the second-year USHL netminder to 6-1-1.
Holstrom got the Phantoms off and running at 12:21 of the first, taking a lead pass from Nick Czinder and tossing an off-wing wrister past Summerhays for his fifth of the season and a 1-0 lead. Youngstown is now 4-1-1 when finding the first goal of the game.
Mayfield showed off his talents with the Phantoms on the power play early in the second. Fellow defenseman Dan Senkbeil found him crossing the Green Bay blue line with speed, and the St. Louis native whistled a blast over Summerhays’ blocker, pushing the lead to two with his third tally.
Dowd’s red light was set up by a brilliant stretch pass by Czech defenseman Andrej Sustr, who was fed by Mahalak prior to that. Mahalak earned the first assist of the season by a Phantoms goalie when Dowd lifted the puck into the goal with 7:17 remaining in the middle frame.
Ryan Jasinsky and Kevin Alberts threw down the gloves for a brief bout in the opening moments of the third, an expected occurrence between pugnacious Green Bay (first in the USHL in penalty minutes) and truculent Youngstown (fourth).
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1048817 for full box score.
Friday, November 13: GREEN BAY 4, YOUNGSTOWN 3
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Another one-goal game at home for the Youngstown Phantoms, but for the first time it wasn’t a good thing.
The Phantoms, who had claimed three straight wins at the Covelli Centre by a single tally, fell just short in an abbreviated third-period comeback Friday night as the Green Bay Gamblers ended Youngstown’s five-game winning streak 4-3.
Brett Gensler’s improbable shorthanded goal from behind the net had drawn the Phantoms (7-5-1, 15 points) even at 2-2 late in the second period, but the Gamblers, who have now outscored their opponents 22-8 in the third, turned on the jets in the final minutes to claim the victory.
Anders Lee’s second of the game and 10th of the season had given Green Bay the lead for the third and final time at 12:09 while the teams skated 4-on-4. Defenseman David Makowski piled on with a hard wrister from the right side over Matt Mahalak’s blocker during a 5-on-3 power play with 3:22 to go, making it 4-2 and apparently draining the remaining drama.
But Joe Zarbo had other ideas, slamming in the rebound of a point shot with the Phantoms on a late man advantage to renew hope and pull the home side within one with 2:14 to play. After converting its first two power-play chances of the night, Youngstown was awarded another late opportunity when Makowski was sent off for interference in the final minute. Despite buzzing around the Green Bay net, the Phantoms couldn’t force overtime and lost for the first time since Oct. 24.
After registering only nine shots to Green Bay’s 35 in their 3-2 win Wednesday night, the Phantoms matched that total by early in Friday’s second period. In a physical contest from start to finish, Youngstown held its own all night long in the bodycheck department, helping it rally from a pair of one-goal deficits.
Jefferson Dahl’s perfectly placed power-play wrister beat Gamblers goalie Ryan McKay over his glove hand at 4:50 of the second, countering Ryan Furne’s second goal in two games against the Phantoms in the final minute of the opening frame.
Lee’s short-range rebound goal pushed Green Bay back on top with just under four minutes to go in the middle period, only to be answered by Gensler’s heady play. With McKay roaming behind his goal, Gensler tracked down the puck in the right corner and banked his ninth of the campaign off the retreating netminder and into the cage.
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1048823 for full box score.
Saturday, November 14: YOUNGSTOWN 7, LINCOLN 6 (OT)
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Defense wins championships, as the sports cliché goes, but let’s be honest for a moment: offense is a heck of a lot more fun.
No one had more fun Saturday night than the Youngstown Phantoms, as they prevailed 7-6 over the Chicago Steel in a crowd-pleaser at the Covelli Centre on a Tom Serratore goal at 1:16 of overtime. The Phantoms twice rallied from two goals down, including a 6-4 deficit in the third period, to finish their five-game homestand 4-1 and move within one point of second-place Chicago in the East Division.
Serratore was assisted after a gorgeous move by Taylor Holstrom to step off the left wall in the Steel zone. Holstrom guided a pass across to the bottom edge of the right circle to Serratore, who buried a wrister over Connor Wilson’s glove to send the Phantoms faithful into bedlam.
Holstrom also set up Andrew Lamont’s even-strength goal at 8:04 of the third and Nick Czinder’s second of the contest, capping a 2-on-1 rush with 8:46 to go and tying the game 6-6. Holstrom now has five goals and 10 assists for a team-leading 15 points.
Chicago defenseman Mark Adams had quieted the Covelli Centre with a pair of power-play markers less than six minutes apart late in the second period, turning a 4-3 Phantoms advantage to a 5-4 Steel lead through 40 minutes. Alex Carpenter then nailed his second goal of the evening 5:40 into the third to extend the visitors’ edge to two goals.
The Steel (8-4-2, 18 points) had previously enjoyed a two-score lead at 4:05 of the second, after Mark Anthoine netted his league-leading 12th goal of the season with the visitors killing a penalty, 1:48 after Greg Wolfe ripped a shorthanded score past goalie Matt Mahalak’s blocker. The Phantoms had not given up a shorthanded goal all season until that quick pair.
Down 3-1, Youngstown mounted a quick rally, potting three straight tallies in a span of 3:04 to vault on top for the first time. David Donnellan’s first goal of the year, also shorthanded, was sandwiched between Ryan Jasinsky’s third and Czinder’s power-play slam dunk. Brian Dowd earned the primary helpers on both Jasinsky’s and Czinder’s goals, using his speed to create space for a backdoor play.
Carpenter’s first of the game was the lone goal of the first, coming at 14:51 after a goalmouth scramble. Following Wolfe’s shorthanded score that made it 2-0, Serratore deflected Donnellan’s point shot for Youngstown’s first of two power-play goals 42 second later, before Anthoine restored the two-goal Chicago lead 1:06 after that.
It wasn’t a night for goalies, but Mahalak won a war of attrition over his counterpart Wilson, turning away 36 Steel shots for his second straight home win. Wilson got in front of 16 Youngstown drives.
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1048852 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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