It was a rematch of opening night and the first meeting since for the two competing squads.  The Youngstown Phantoms were leading that game 2-0 before the Indiana Ice overpowered the expansion hosts, who ended up losing 6-2.  Thursday, there had to be revenge on the minds of the Phantoms.

Revenge would have to wait as Indiana shut out Youngstown, 3-0.  Goaltender Cab Morris was on his game and held the Phantoms scoreless to earn his third shutout of the season.  The Phantoms actually outshot the Ice, but Jordan Tibbett came out on the short end of the stick despite one of his best efforts of the year for the Phantoms. 

Each team had a couple of powerplay chances in the first period, but no one managed to score a goal.  It marked only the third time that Youngstown played a scoreless first period this season. 

At the 7:43 mark of the second period, Bryon Paulazzo scored his sixth of the season to put the Ice up 1-0.  Picking up assists on the goal were Nic Dowd and Max Cook.  The Paulazzo goal would end up being the lone score of the game after two periods. 

Paulazzo connected again in the third period, this time on the powerplay.  Paulazzo was assisted by Cook in scoring his second goal of the game at the 6:45 mark of the third period.

For the Ice, Cab Morris was trying for his third shutout of the season between the pipes.  At the 17:22 mark, John Parker  took a pass from Alexander Kuqali to put the Ice ahead 3-0.   All that was left to determine at this point in the game was whether or not Morris could blank the Phantoms.

Morris turned away 22 Phantoms shots to earn his third shutout of the season.  Tibbett faced 20 Ice shots and stopped 17.

With the victory, the Ice climbed to 13-8-1 and the Phantoms fell to 10-9-2.  The Phantoms take to the road and head to Michigan to play Team USA on Friday and Saturday.  All of the action from both games can be heard on AM-1240 with Matt Gajtka calling ’em like he sees ’em.

This was not the way Coach Bob Mainhardt wanted to start the three-day stretch of games.  “We lost too many one-on-one battles tonight and they [Indiana] just wanted it more.  It’s obviously not how we wanted to start this stretch, but we will have to bounce back and show some maturity.  We know we will have to play better if we are going to het a couple of wins against Team USA”.

Richard Young Tilt-O-Meter:

Coming into 12/10 game vs Indiana:  114 Penalty Minutes (USHL Leader).

After 12/10 game vs Indiana:  116 Minutes.

In the first period, Young actually drew a penalty against the visiting Ice and almost blew his stack, but was restrained before the gloves could fly.  Indiana had the second lowest penalty minute total in the league coming into Youngstown.  Young picked up a two minute minor in the third period for roughing, but no takers on scrapping.