Shots on goal usually reflect the type of hockey game that was played.  On Saturday night, Team USA only took 21 shots on goal.  Unfortunately for the Youngstown Phantoms, six of those 21 shots hit the inside of the Phantoms net.  Team USA rode their offensive outburst to a 6-2 win in Youngstown.  The Phantoms outshot Team USA 28-21, but the quality of the Phantoms shots were mostly routine saves for Team USA goaltender John Gibson.

With 3:39 elapsed in the game, Team USA struck first when Cole Bardreau connected on a shorthanded chance.  Austin Wuthrich picked up an assist on the goal which gave the 17-year old version of  Team USA the lead for good.

Team USA would tack on another goal with a powerplay score.  Alexx Privatera connected from almost straight on beating Jordan Tibbet.  Privatera’s shot was from about 15 feet and may have deflected off of Tibbet’s shoulder as it bounced the Gatorade bottle resting on top of the net as the puck hit the inside top for the score.  Travis Boyd and Robbie Russo gathered assists on the man-advantage connection.

The Phantoms would cut the margin to 2-1 when Jefferson Dahl scored a shorthanded goal.  Dahl’s interception and tally were good for his 16th goal on the year tying him with Tom Serratore and Brett Gensler for the team lead in that category.  The noisy crowd of just over 2,500 had little to cheer about after this goal.

In the second period, the Phantoms looked good in killing off a two-man penalty, but failed to score on three consecutive powerplay chances.  During the second powerplay, Youngstown did not even get a shot off.  Reid Boucher knocked in his tenth goal of the season to put Team USA ahead 3-1 with 4:37 remaining in the period.

Dylan Margonari picked up his third goal in his twentieth game as a Phantom to cut the Team USA lead back to a single goal at 3-2.  Margonari found twine with 1:57 left in the period while the Phantoms were enjoying yet another powerplay opportunity.

In the third period, goals by Dan Carlson and Travis Boyd hiked the Team USA lead to 5-2.  The two goals were scored less than two minutes apart and put the Phantoms in too big of a hole.  Wuthrich would add another goal with 4:46 left in the game to seal the deal for Team USA (25-29-4).

East Palestine native, JT Miller (above), talked about coming home.  “It is a pleasure to come home and play in front of my family and friends.  We don’t get to come back much during the year, so it is good when we get here.  It is a confidence booster to play here and you always want to be accounted as playing hard in front of people you know.”  Miller will move up to Team USA 18 year-olds next season saying he likes the two-year developmental program.

The Phantoms dropped to 18-35-5 with the loss.  When asked if the last couple of games left in the season were going to be experience builders for the Phantoms rather than trying to actually win, Coach Curt Carr responded, “We are still going to try to win.  I think if the guys know that we as a staff are just building for next year, it sends the wrong message, so we will be battling each day as if we were competing for a playoff spot and do everything we can to win.”

Jordan Tibbett set a team record with 50 saves on Friday night as the Phantoms won a dramatic 3-2 OT thriller. Tibbett faced another 40 Saturday but was on the wrong end of the 3-2 score 24 hours later. To sum it up, Tibbett stopped 90 shots in two games, seemingly too many.

“It looks like a lot of shots, but we did a good job taking away the prime scoring areas.  They [Sioux City] are a team that does not score a lot of goals, and if you look at their shots they were just coming across the blue line and throwing the puck on net”, remarked Coach Curt Carr after the game.

Despite being outshot 17-3 in the first period, the Youngstown Phantoms found themselves in a scoreless game.  Credit  Tibbett for a couple of nice saves in the opening period.

Brett Gensler got Youngstown on the board first with 16:54 left in the second period. Gensler’s 16^th goal, which leads the team, came on a power play. Taylor Holstrom and Tom Serratore picked up assists on the man-advantage tally.

Nick Sorkin snuck the puck past a heavily screened Tibbett with exactly four minutes to go in the second period.  Dan Ford picked up an assist on the game-tying power play goal.  Sorkin fired from in-between the right face off circle and blue line around moving traffic.

Ryan Jasinsky, who was recently hampered with shoulder problems forcing him to miss several games, attempted to stuff the puck in from close range but was denied by Musketeer Goalee Jake Hildebrand. Jefferson Dahl collected the rebound from close range and knocked it in with 12:14 left in the game. Jasinsky was credited with an assist on the even-strength chance.

With 9:38 left, Adam Schmidt tied the game at 2-2 on a power play goal.  Stephan Vigier and Sorkin collected a point each with assists on the goal.

Mitch Zion put the Musketeers ahead 3-2 with 8:09 to go in the game.  The even strength goal gave Sioux City their first lead in the game.  Zion gathered the puck just outside of the goal crease on a rebound and drove it past Tibbett who was shaded left from the save he had just made.  Tommy Olczyk and Matt Paape were credited with assists on the goal.

Time ran out on Youngstown and pulling the goaltender as a last resort neither helped nor hurt the outcome for the Phantoms.  Put it in the books, Sioux City 3, Youngstown 2.

Interestingly, Coach Carr opted to start Ty Loney (left) and Dylan Margonari (right), two youngsters who have not been Phantoms very long, over experienced players.  “We are walking a fine line right now because we want to continue to perform and win games, but we also have some young guys who can return next year, so we want to make sure we do what we can to develop them for next season.  Dylan and Ty played hard and earned the ice time that they are getting.”

The Phantoms dropped to 17-33-3 in their inaugural campaign, while Sioux City improved to 21-23-8 on the season.  The Phantoms take to the road next weekend to face Omaha and Sioux City on consecutive nights.  Be sure to tune in to AM-1240 to catch Matt Gajtka as he calls the action from afar.

Good teams find ways to win games.  Omaha is a good team atop the Western Division standings of the USHL.  Despite being outplayed and outhit for a majority of Saturday night’s game by the Youngstown Phantoms, the team that knew how to win managed to do just that, win.

The Phantoms got on the scoreboard first at the 10:35 mark of the first period as Brett Gensler (pictured above) got his 13th of the season.  Gensler went top shelf to beat Jeff Teglia.  Cody Strang and Ben Paulides picked up assists.

The Phantoms held a 1-0 lead after the first buzzard.  The Lancers outshot the Phantoms 15-10 in the period, but the Phantoms were hitting with intensity.  On one Lancer surge midway through the period, three consecutive checks by the Phantoms garnered the favor of the audience.  Youngstown looked a step faster in this one, at least in the first period.

Omaha dug in and scored at the 1:20 mark of the second period.  Camden Wojtala beat Matt Mahalak. Troy Power and CJ Ludwig picked up assists.  Wojtala’s sixth goal of the season came on a powerplay for Omaha.

With 2:40 left in the second, Omaha claimed their first lead of the game.  Tom Craig got his second goal in as many nights.  Stefan Demopoulos and Ryan Daugherty gathered an assist apiece on Craig’s even-strength chance.

Seth Ambroz scored with 12.8 seconds left in the second period to give Omaha a 3-1 lead to cap off a 3-goal period for the Lancers.   Greg Wolfe and Lancers Goaltender Jeff Teglia got credited with assists.  The Phantoms were definitely outhitting the Lancers, yet somehow, Omaha held a 3-1 lead after two periods.

With 2:41 left in the game, Taylor Holstrom drew a ten-minute misconduct and the Lancers would almost be able to kill the clock on an Adam Berkle 2:00 minor.

Phantoms Coach Curt Carr was pleased with the effort of the Phantoms.  “They [Omaha] are a very good team, one of the best in the league, and I have a lot of respect for them.  We are lacking a little firepower and we are getting chances but just aren’t able to bury the puck.”

The Lancers ended up taking 35 shots compared to the Phantoms 27.  That was about the only category other than goals scored that the Phantoms were outperformed in.  They checked, poke checked, passed, and outplayed a good team, but good teams find ways to win, and Omaha (32-12-3) is a good team.

Guest photographers tonight were Bryce Hall and Anthony Cervone.

The Youngstown Phantoms got embarrassed on their home ice Friday in dropping an 8-1 decision to Sioux Falls.  The Stampede beat the Phantoms in every phase of that game.  As Classic Rock legends Foreigner once sang, That Was Yesterday, and Sunday offered fresh zeroes on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately for the home team, the zeroes turned into bad numbers again.  The goals scored section read Sioux Falls 8, Youngstown 3.  The shots on goal column for Sioux Falls had a 38 underneath it, too many quality attempts for the Phantoms to give to a high-powered juggernaut like the Stampede.

The Phantoms got a goal from Taylor Holstrom (above) at the 9:35 mark of the first period.  Both teams had a man in the penalty box, so it was an even-strength chance.  Brett Gensler picked up an assist as the Phantoms took the 1-0 lead, quite a contrast from Friday when they were down 3-0 at this point.

Sioux Falls tied it up as Michael Voran connected when Matt Lindblad’s shot deflected off of Phantoms Goalkeeper Matt Mahalak.  Voran was in the right place at the right time as he picked up the easy goal.

Matt Zarbo gave Sioux Falls the lead when he connected on an assist from Voran just about a half-minute later handing Sioux Falls a 2-1 lead.

Matt Farris connected just 18 seconds later, and just like that, the Phantoms had dug themselves a hole at the end of the first period and trailed 3-1 at the intermission.  Sioux Falls took the big lead scoring three quick goals in the last 1:19 of the frame.

At the 9:09 mark of the second period, the Phantoms broke into the Sioux Falls zone with a three-on-two advantage.  Jefferson Dahl unloaded the puck to Ryan Jasinsky who nailed the shot from in between the faceoff circles, beating Stampede netminder Clay Witt (top photo).  The goal shrunk the Sioux Falls lead to 3-2.

Conor Allen pushed the Stampede margin back to two goals when he scored from in between the circles. The goal came with 5:38 left in the second period and anytime the Phantoms seemed to gain a little momentum it was yanked away.

Linblad got his second point of the game when he took a rebound and stuffed it past Mahalak.  For Linblad, it was his twelfth goal of the season.  The powerplay goal was scored with 1:19 left in the second. Voran and Anthony Day picked up assists.  After two periods, Youngstown trailed Sioux Falls, 5-2.

Clark Cristofoli drilled a slapshot past Mahalk from the farthest part of the right faceoff circle.  The goal came at the 2:34 mark of the final period.  Jacob Johnstone was credited with an assist on Cristofoli’s second goal of the season.  Sioux Falls seemed to be having all of the fun again as they opened the lead to four goals at 6-2, their largest margin on the afternoon.

With 15:18 left in the game, the Stampede struck again as Josh Holmstrom let loose at an empty net. Mahalak dove right to stop a shot seconds earlier and Holmstrom was able to buzz it by before the Phantoms goaltender could reload to make it 7-2.  With 11:31 left, Holmstrom again hit the twine to push the lead to 8-2, and the route was on.

Scott Mayfield picked up his seventh goal of the season at the 11:14 mark of the third to ease the sting and make the score 8-3.  Stuart Higgins tallied an assist, his sixth of the year.  Unfortunately, it was the last murmur of the game and when the horn sounded signifying the end, the Phantoms were on the short end of the stick.

Goaltender Clay Witt may want to call Howard Hanna Real Estate to see if there are any homes for sale because he plays well when he hears the word Youngstown.  Witt has only give up four goals in three starts against the Phantoms (14-21-2) this season.

The Phantoms return to the ice Wednesday morning to play defending champion Indiana with a special early start time of 10 AM. 

The Youngstown Phantoms don’t want to come off as an unpatriotic group of people, but they broke a six-game winless streak and set records of a positive nature in their destruction of Team USA, 7-3.  Cody Strang (pictured) collected the first hat trick in Phantoms history as the home team scored seven unanswered goals to post their first win of 2010.

The Phantoms had lost to the 18 & under version of Team USA, 6-1, two nights earlier.  The trend looked to continue as the Michigan-based Team USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead. 

Monday, the 17 & under version of Team USA got their shot at the struggling Phantoms who had not yet posted a win in the year 2010 (0-5). 

Rocco Grimaldi (pictured) connected at the 10:50 mark to put Team USA up 1-0.  For Grimaldi, it marked his sixth point of the season against the Phantoms.  Grimaldi’s goal was unassisted and came on a Team USA powerplay chance.

It didn’t take long for Grimaldi to find the net again as he connected at the 16:19 mark of the first period.  Austin Wuthrich picked up an assist on Grimaldi’s second goal of the night and seventh of the season.

Tom Serratore got Youngstown on the scoreboard at the 17:27 mark, still in the first period.  Serratore was assisted by Ryan Jasinsky on the even-strength chance.

As the first period closed, the Phantoms had 15 shots on goal compared to Team USA’s nine, yet trailed the Under-17 USA group 2-1. 

With 9:15 left in the second priod, Adam Berkle tied the game with a powerplay goal, his eighth of the season.  Berkle took his shot from the left faceoff circle and beat Matt McGee.  Assists on Berkle’s goal went to Taylor Holstrom and David Donnellan.

Three minutes later,  Holstrom connected as Team USA goaltender McGee was laying on his stomach in the crease.  Holstrom fired from about 15 feet away and grazed the top bar of the goal as his shot hit twine and gave the Phantoms a 3-2 lead.

The onslaught continued as Cody Strang snuck the puck past McGee at the 14:27 mark of the second.  Jefferson Dahl and Luke Eibler snagged assists on the beautiful shot that Strang had from a tough angle.  The Phantoms stayed  hot as they picked up another goal a few moments later to go up 5-2.  Strang redirected a Luke Eibler slapshot and picked up the powerplay goal with an assist from Dahl.  It was the Phantoms third powerplay goal of the period and fifth in a row.

Strang, who was hurt for a good part of the season with wrist problems, knocked home his third goal of the game, a hat trick.  When asked about the wrist, Strang replied, “It felt pretty good tonight.  Some nights it gets sore, other nights it feels good.  It was a month ago I last got a goal, so I was really happy to get three.” 

The hat trick was the first in Phantoms history.  Strang was assisted by Dahl, his third helper of the game.  Mercifully, the second period would close with Youngstown ahead of Team USA, 6-2.

After two periods the shots on goal heavily favored Youngstown 37-13.  The 22 shots on goal in the second period were the most by the Phantoms this season.  The five goals scored in the period were also a new franchise record. 

Jiri Sekac, a Czech Republican Phantom, scored his first career USHL goal.  The goal pushed the lead to 7-2 in favor of the Phantoms.  Brett Gensler collected an assist, and the  Phantoms had their seventh unanswered goal.  The seventh goal was the highest output on offense for Youngstown since November 19.  The Phantoms also set a season-high for shots on goal in a game with 44, breaking the old mark of 42.

JT Miller, of nearby East Palestine, scored a goal for Team USA to close out the scoring at 7-3.  Robbie Russo snagged an assist to close out the game scoring.

Coach Bob Mainhardt was happy to get back on the winning track.  “I thought we played pretty good in the last few games but we still drifted from the gameplan.  Tonight showed that when we play 60 minutes, we are a really good team.”

Mainhardt also sang the praises of Cody Strang.  “He is a natural goal scorer.  He is headed to the University of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin doesn’t take too many slouches.  We had very high hopes for him coming in and he has done a great job.” 

The Phantoms hit the road for a Friday game with Waterloo.  The puck drops at 7:05 and you can catch all of the action on AM-1240 with Matt Gajtka, the best in the USHL – give him a listen.

The Youngstown Phantoms seem to have lost their mojo over the last couple of weeks.  Friday, they did little to regain the promise shown in December as Fargo rolled into town and captured a 4-2 victory.  The loss was the fourth in a row for the slumping Phantoms.

The Phantoms wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Tom Serratore put the rebound of an Adam Berkle shot into the opponents net.  Dan Senkbeil also picked up an assist on the goal, scored at the 4:28 mark of the first.

Garrett Allen tied the game when Phantoms Goaltender, Jordan Tibbet, got tangled up with a Force player trying to retreat back through the crease.  Allen’s goal was a rebound off of a Matt Leitner shot.  The goal, which came at the 11:37 mark of the first period was Allen’s 12th of the season.

With 14:37 left in the second period, Force Captain Chase Grant connected on a shorthanded chance.  Grant’s goal was his 15th of the season and was unassisted putting Fargo on top, 2-1.

With 11:27 left in the second period, Fargo took a 3-1 lead when Corey Leivermann  beat Tibbett from close range.  Garnering assists on the goal were Colten St. Clair, and Grant, who scored three minutes earlier.

With 1:13 left in the second, Youngstown sliced the two-goal Fargo lead in half when Brett Gensler connected unassisted.  Gensler had been so close so many times in recent games to scoring a goal.  He finally broke through with his eleventh of the season.

In the third period, Nate Condon extended the Force lead to 4-2.  Chad Demers and Johnnie Searfoss picked up assists on the Condon goal.  Condon snuck the puck past Tibbett who stopped a Demers drive that deflected to the front lip of the right faceoff circle.

Fargo held off a late powerplay chance to preserve the victory and raise their record to 21-9-1.  With the loss the Phantoms fell to 13-15-2.  Fargo outshot the Phantoms 31-27.

After the game, a dejected Coach Mainhardt reflected on the recent problems of his team.  “A couple of bad apples are spoiling the whole bushel.  Most members of each line play well and do their jobs, but there is a guy on each line not sticking to the plan.  We will give them an opportunity to do the job again tomorrow, and if those couple of guys continue to let the team down we will definitely be shortening the bench and giving the ice time to the guys who are on the right page.”

Richard Young Tilt-O-Meter:

Coming Into 1-8-10 Game vs Fargo: 120 penalty minutes (leads USHL).

After Game:  Still 120 penalty minutes.

Young was a scratch from Friday’s game and has missed the last three with concussion symptoms.  He sat next to me in the pressbox during the game and stayed busy videotaping and charting shots for the team.  The injury took place when he was checked simultaneously by two Green Bay defenders on the recent roadtrip. 

The Youngstown Phantoms stretched their regular season record to 4-0 against the Chicago Steel.  Matt Mahalak gave up one late goal which spoiled his shutout bid, but the offense had enough to get him the win in taking down the Steel 3-1 in a game marred by a mele for the ages in the third period. Tom Serratore (pictured), the #1 Star of The Game had a goal and an assist.

The Phantoms got on the scoreboard first at the 16:35 mark of the first period as Taylor Holstrom connected just to Chicago Goaltender Nick Pisellini’s stick side.  Holstrom’s sixth on the season was assisted by Brett Gensler and Ben Paulides.  The goal would be the only score by either team in the first period and the Phantoms would take a 1-0 lead to the locker room for intermission.  The 16 shots on goal that the Phantoms took in the first period tied their season-high, an accomplishment met twice earlier this season.

There was no scoring in the second period.  Chicago had two powerplay chances and Youngstown had one, but nobody could find the nets.  The Steel outshot the Phantoms 11-5 in the period as Matt Mahalak was stellar between the pipes for Youngstown.

At exactly the 10 minute mark, Adam Berkle got his second goal in as many nights.  The goal by Berkle, which extended the Phantoms lead to 2-0, was assisted by Tom Serratore and Brian Dowd. 

All hell broke loose when Stuart Higgins and Alex Simonson were set to draw at the right faceoff circle in the Phantoms zone and  Simonson opted to sucker punch Higgins instead of trying to win the draw which prompted a pier six brawl with 9:01 left in the game.  Ryan Jasinsky was sent off for a ten-minute major minute fighting penalty.    Richard Young picked up another five for fighting penalty, an automatic ejection because it was his second fight on the evening.  Newcomer Jiri Sekac even got tossed but surely gained the respect of his new Phantoms mates.

At the 15:24 mark of the third, Mark Anthione broke up the Mahalak shutout bid with a goal.  Jake Chelios and Andrei Kuchin picked up assists on the goal that cut the Phantoms lead to just a 2-1 margin.

With 3:26 left in the game, the Phantoms Tom Serratore answered off of a nice pass from Nick Czinder.  For Serratore, it was his fifth on the year and Czinder picked up his fifth assist of the season to reclaim a two goal lead for the Youngstown Phantoms which is how this one would end.

Coach Bob Mainhardt was very satisfied.  “These last two nights were probably the best 120 minutes of hockey we played.  Give credit to Matt Mahalak, the kid will be an NHL goaltender someday.  I was happy with the complete effort we got tonight.”

Mahalak praised his defense.  “They were diving and blocking shots, I was able to see everything that I stopped and that is a credit to the team.  We are really starting to pick it up.  We knew who their shooters were with Anthione and Wolfe, and what our defense wasn’t blocking I was able to stop for the most part.” 

Richard Young Tilt-O-Meter:

Coming into 12/5 Chicago game:  94 Penalty Minutes (USHL Leader)

After the 12/5 Chicago game:  104 Penalty Minutes

A trend with Richard Young has been developing over the past few games.  Behave for the first two periods and go nuts in the third.  Tonight was no exception as Young and Charlie Thauwald dropped the gloves for a second consecutive night.  There were no cheap WWE takedowns in this one as Young and Thauwald traded punches with Young landing the big blow in the end.  The result was five more minutes in the box for the USHL leader in penalty minutes.  Young was ejected for a second fight giving him ten minutes on the evening.  Young spoke after the game saying, “Gotta give the people what they want.  They want to see a fight, they like the hitting, and we delivered tonight with both.”

The Youngstown Phantoms have shown bursts of greatness and breakdowns of unthinkable proportion, sometimes in the same game.  Bob Mainhardt, the Phantoms GM and Coach, never holds back after a game when giving quotes to the media, win or lose.  Alex Zoldan, the Phantoms President has opinions too, but in a much quieter demeanor.  I recently caught up with both of them to assess the team after one third of the season has been played.

Mainhardt gives his team the letter grade of a ‘C’ to this point.  He feels that many of the individuals on the team are striving toward becoming better hockey players.  However, sometimes the team loses focus and leaves the coach scratching his head.  “These guys know that every day they must show up and earn their spot.”

We discussed the progress of some Phantoms players.  Fan-favorite Richard Young was first to be discussed.  Mainhardt said that Young is maturing and getting better at picking the opportunities where a fight may lift the team a notch.  “He is maturing and starting to understand his role, Rich is a very good hockey player.  He is not a guy that we are just looking to tade off for five minutes at a time.  He is doing a real good job so far.”

In the first third of the season, Mainhardt cited Taylor Holstrom as the biggest surprise.  “Holstrom has exceeded my expectations and has shown that he belongs night in and night out.  It’s no fluke, he is one of the few ‘A’s’ I would give out so far.”

Jordan Tibbett, coming off of a hand injury, and Matt Mahalak have both done good work between the pipes for the Phantoms.  “We set it up where these two guys would push one another.  We are definitely nearing a point where we are going to hand the reigns over to one of the two guys and let them steer us the rest of the way home.  They are still battling it out, and I couldn’t be happier than having these two guys playing well.”

The return of Luke Eibler was something Mainhardt was quick to praise.  “Luke is good for about four or five big hits a game.  If a guy gets one big hit a game, he is considered a big hitter.  Luke brings a physical presence and a competitive spirit, he hates to lose.  He is completely in a routine and wants to do whatever he has to so that we win.”

Ryan Jasinsky is not putting up the numbers yet, but Mainhardt commented on his recent play.  “Ryan has been productive enough, would we like him to be more productive? Yeah.  We are comitted to developing these guys into what they can be and he has really taken some big strides to get going.”

Brett Gensler was lighting it up but has been quiet on the scoring end lately.  Mainhardt feels Gensler will get it going again soon.  “He [Gensler] is a guy that needs to be in the right combination.  He has been getting opportunities but has been coming up a little unlucky.  He had good luck with a couple of his goals early on, but lately he has been snakebitten.”

Andrej Sustr (SHOE’ stir), the Czech Republic Defenseman who recently garnered USHL honors as Defenseman of The Week is doing what he should.  “He [Sustr] is right where he should be.  Big guys like that get worn down with this sort of training regimin, but he is holding up real well and will coninue to improve as he gets bigger and stronger.  He is an NHL Defenseman for sure if he makes the right decisions from here on out.”

On who may be in danger of losing a spot, Mainhardt had this to say, “Nobody is really in jeopardy of being sent away.  It is all baby steps and maximizing what you can get, and we knew that going in.  A guy can score 50 goals on a losing team, or a guy can score 20 goals on a winning team, and the one who succeeds around here will be the guy whose team wins and I am trying to get that across to them and they understand it.”

I asked Mainhardt if I were an NHL Scout and approached him before the game and asked ‘Which three guys should I keep an eye on tonight?’ who he would offer.  “I’ll give you five.  [Matt] Mahalak, [Scott] Mayfield, [Andrej] Sustr, [Luke] Eibler, and [Nick] Czinder.  If you asked me tomorrow that list could change.  It’s all about who is making the right decisions combined with the raw talent.”

On the business and promotional end of things, Mainhardt and Zoldan know that there are more steps to take to increase the interest locally.  Mainhardt commented on attendance and seeing repeat customers.  “The shock and awe of having a hockey team in this building have already been used up by previous teams.  What we have is the chore of educating the fans.  What we are seeing is that the people who come, are coming back.  We are promoting as much as we can by being a part of the community.  Mr. Zoldan is comitted to building something that is going to last, and that is why he brought this franchise here.”

Alex Zoldan discussed the business end of things.  “Eric Ryan and The Covelli Centre have worked with us a great deal to promote the team.  I have already seen an increase in attendance, and I understand that alot of the early crowds were in direct conflict with high school football. You hope to have 5,000 or 3,500 at every game, but realistically I envisioned what we are drawing and expect increases, it is a process.  By getting the people involved and getting their hearts behind us, the city can claim ownership of the team.  Being a sports fan, when you follow a team and that team leaves, it is real hard to jump back in.  The people that have given it a chance notice that it is better hockey.  The fans that are coming are into the game.  People are waving towels and t-shirts and screaming their support.”

The ride has been a fun one so far.  I think Zoldan and Mainhardt have a winner.  It is nice to have Eric Ryan in your corner, but believe me, this hockey will sell itself sooner than later.  To this point, the games have been fun to watch, easy to write about, and very well played.  I agree 100% with Zoldan that this process will steadily improve over time.  If you have not been to a Phantoms game yet, they play on Friday and Saturday this week against one of the better USHL teams, Chicago. 

Give this product a shot.  It is cheaper than going to the movies and the fact that you are watching players who will definitely be in the NHL in a few years adds to the exciting atmosphere.  I even enjoy listening to the road games.  Matt Gajtka is phenomenal on the air and could probably do play-by-play in the NHL if he had to.  Look for this team to break out this month.  Wins are going to happen more often than not.