The Harlem Globetrotters were set to share their magic with Youngstown at The Covelli Centre  on Saturday.  Somehow the script was flipped and the Youngstown Phantoms took on the role of the Washington Generals, the team that was the patsy forced to play the Globetrotters and look foolish in losing badly.  Sioux Falls and Youngstown did their absolute best to provide a Globetrotters vs Generals matchup a night early as the Stampede pounded the Phantoms, 8-1, in front of a large crowd. 

The pregame fireworks left plenty of smoke.  Before the smoke could even clear, Sioux Falls scored a goal. Jacob Johnstone beat Matt Mahalak (see top picture) to a rebound and knocked the puck home to give the visitors the lead at the 16:52 mark.  The Stampede’s Michael Voran and Matt Zarbo picked up assists.

With a small cloud still lingering over the ice, like something from a Charlie Brown Halloween Special, Sioux Falls picked up a second goal. At 14:19 of the first, Voran connected with assists from Matt Linblad and Clark Cristofoli, and the fireworks were just starting.

With 9:39 left in the first period, Johnstone scored his eleventh goal of the season to put the Stampede up 3-0.  Matt Bailey picked up the assist.

Just 29 seconds later, the Stampede continued the offensive onslaught.  The larger-than-usual crowd was silenced as their hometown Phantoms looked totally outclassed in the early going and trailed this one 4-0. Coach Bob Mainhardt tried a switch between the pipes, switching to Jordan Tibbet, as Mahalak was ineffective.  The fourth goal was scored by Anthony Day with assists from Ryan Misiak and George Michalke.

Sioux Falls connected for a powerplay goal with 2:47 remaining.  Conor Allen connected on a nice pass from Johnstone who recorded his third point of the first period.  The five goals scored against the Phantoms were a season high.

The first period would mercifully come to a close with Youngstown trailing Sioux Falls, 5-0. The Phantoms were outshot 14-5 and of the 14 Sioux Falls shots, better than 33% resulted in goals.

Sioux Falls picked up where they left off to start the second period as Day picked up his second goal of the game, a powerplay chance.  The goal was scored with 16:43 left in the second period and Michalke and Chad Ruhwedel gathered a point each for assists.  With 5:26 the Stampede got their seventh unanswered goal.   Jamie Oleksiak recorded his first of the season, assisted by Linblad.

Another powerplay goal came with 7:24 left in the game.  Sioux Falls used only five seconds of a man advantage to find the net.  Linblad and Voran piled up their stats with an assist each. 8-0 Stampede.

Luke Eibler got the Phantoms on the scoreboard and broke up the shutout bid of Stampete Goaltender Clay Witt with 2:22 left in the game.  Adam Berkle nabbed an assist on the goal which made the score 8-1.  The Phantoms were outshot 27-21 but the shots on goal were not the difference, the pace and play went the way of Sioux Falls.

After the game, a dejected Coach Mainhardt said this one hurt.  “There will be some changes.  I did not have these guys prepared tonight.  I have been cutting corners as I coach and try to make exceptions and that never works out well, so I have learned a pretty important lesson here this season.”

The Phantoms get another crack at Sioux Falls on Sunday, the puck drops at 3:00 PM, see you there!