The Youngstown Phantoms created memories for more than just their fans Saturday night at the Covelli Centre. The Phantoms (14-6-1, T-second East) defeated the Chicago Steel 3-1 and gathered nearly 700 stuffed animals to donate to Akron Children’s Hospital of Mahoning Valley from their third annual Teddy Bear Toss.

JT Stenglein scored two goals and Ryan Belonger netted one as well while Mike Ambrosia andAustin Cangelosi both added a pair of assists. Goaltender Matthew O’Connor turned away 24 of 25 shots to record his 11th win of the season.

“I can’t remember seeing him give up one rebound the entire night,” Head Coach Anthony Noreen said of his goaltender. “He ate up everything.”

Chicago (7-14-1, eighth East) took the lead on the power play just under 11 minutes into the first period with Stenglein in the box for interference. Michael Fallon grabbed the puck off a failed clearing attempt, skated it in and wristed it past O’Connor.

But less than seven minutes later, Stenglein redeemed himself on the man-advantage.  Cangelosi handed it to Ambrosia on the half-wall and the Princeton commit skated it in the corner, drew the Chicago defense, then backhanded a pass through a miniscule opening and Stenglein punched it in on the backdoor.

The goal triggered a downpour of hundreds of stuffed animals from the stands that halted play for nearly five minutes as staff and players cleared the ice. When it was all said and done 681 stuffed animals were collected and the Phantoms and Steel entered the first intermission tied at one.

Stenglein found the back of the net again at the 12:08 mark in the second to put Youngstown up 2-1. Cangelosi skated the puck out of his zone and moved it over to Ambrosia, who got the puck on net from the left side. The rebound caromed out into the high slot where Stenglein was trailing and quickly wristed it back toward goal for his 12th of the season.

Belonger, who left the ice in the first period after a collision with Chicago’s Patrick Polino, stretched the lead to two goals 2:13 into the third. Steel defenseman Ryan Trentz lost the puck behind his net and Belonger got it on the goal line and beat Mathias Dahlstrom from the nearly impossible angle – especially for a right-handed shooter – to cap the scoring.

“It was a bit scary for us when Ryan got banged up in the first period,” Noreen said. “But he got cleared and goes out and scores a goal. Maybe that hit cleared him up a bit.”