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.