The Youngstown Phantoms had their home opener against the Des Moines Buccaneers on Friday night at the Covelli Centre.  The fans who attended were treated to an outstanding hockey game that saw 17-year old prospect Austin Cangelosi score a third period powerplay goal and later add an empty-net score to boost the home team to a 4-2 victory.  The victory marks the first time in their three-year history that the Phantoms won a home opener.

The Bucs got on the board 4:31 after the opening puck dropped.  Trent Samuels-Thomas found the back of the net beating Phantoms goaltender Matt O’Conner from short range. Drake Caggiula and Duggie Lagrone picked up assists for the Bucs on the goal.

The Phantoms (2-1-0) tied the game at 1-1 later in the first period.  Mike Ambrosia scored his second goal of the young season, beating Des Moines goalee Jason Karsdorf. The goal came at the 8:17 mark and Kevin Liss picked up an assist, his first of the season.

Before intermission, Des Moines (1-2-1) reclaimed the lead, 2-1, when Caggiula tallied his second point of the night on a powerplay goal. Samuels-Thomas picked up the assist for the Buccaneers who outshot the Phantoms 12-10 in the opening period.

A funny thing happened before the game started.  I was on the glass grabbing pictures of some of the new Phantoms and an older woman was smacking the glass and screaming.  I informed her in a polite way that the game had not started yet.  She said she was cheering for her grandson to have a good game.  The woman turned out to be the grandmother of Sam Anas (above).  She informed me that she was 80 years old and came all the way from Washington D.C. with Sam’s parents to see the game.  I promised her a picture and got a hug.

The only goal scored in the second period was, you guessed it, a game-tying goal from Sam Anas.  The goal marked the first USHL points in the young career of Anas.  Anas made a beautiful move on the Des Moines red line and burst past a defender before beating Kasdorf with a nice backhand just outside the front of the goal crease.  The goal came at the 11:10 mark of the second and evened the score to the delight of the Phantoms faithful in attendance.

“It meant so much for me to score my first USHL goal with my family here to see it.  It was great and I could not stop smiling”, said Anas, who has made a true jump in class as he was playing high school level hockey not long ago.  “There is not just a few strong guys or a few fast guys at this level, everyone is stronger and everyone is fast. Anything you get, you have earned in this league.”

With 7:54 left in the game, Austin Cangelosi, who was all over the place on every shift the entire game, connected on a powerplay chance that gave the Phantoms a 3-2 lead.  Ryan Belonger picked up the assist on Cangelosi’s fourth goal of the season.

“We definitely had more speed and energy at the end of the periods tonight”, remarked Cangelosi.  “Our chemistry here clicks.  We hang out off of the ice and work hard together when we are on it.  I don’t know if I can keep up this torrid pace with the scoring.  If I score great, if I don’t so be it, as long as we win.”

O’Connor really buckled down between the pipes after the first period to earn the victory in net for the Phantoms, making 30 saves on the 32 shots he faced.

With seven seconds left, Cangelosi tallied an empty-netter with the goalee pulled on a breakaway to ice the game.  Ambrosia snagged another point with an assist.

Coach Anthony Noreen talked about keeping his team composed facing a 2-1 deficit after the first period.  “The first period is over is what I told them.  Let’s look forward to the second period and stick to our game plan.  Let’s outhit them, out forecheck, out back check, and beat them to the puck.  Our plan is threefold.  Number one, we strive to be the most conditioned team in the league.  Number two, we talk about keeping the game uptempo and constantly moving the puck forward.  Finally, we refuse to lose. Refuse to lose the puck, refuse to lose battles, and our guys did a much better job tonight with that stuff later in the game.”

These same two teams will hook up again tomorrow night at the Covelli Centre.