Archive for the ‘Phantoms’ Category

The USHL has announced the 2010-11 USHL All-Star team and Phantoms defenseman Scott Mayfield and forward Cody Strang have been named Eastern Conference All-Stars.

Both Mayfield and Strang are in their final season with the Phantoms and their hard work on the ice has been recognized by the general managers and head coaches of the USHL.   Even though this is an individual accomplishment, Strang was quick to credit his teammates for this award.  “It’s a great honor,” said Strang. “It takes a lot of hard work but I have to give a lot of thanks and credit to my teammates. Without the hard work they put in on the ice we would not have been able to succeed like we have.”

 Mayfield, a first time all-star, was quick to say that this award would mean a lot less if the Phantoms do not qualify for the post season.  “It feels really good, but I know my teammates are focused on the games ahead,” said Mayfield.  “This accomplishment ranks up there with all of my other personal awards but what means the most is how well the team does.  If we do not make the playoffs, no disrespect, this award does not mean nearly as much.”

Assistant Coach Anthony Noreen gave credit to both players for the accomplishment, but like his two assistant captains, he was also quick to give credit to the entire team.  “It’s a great accomplishment for both of our guys, said Noreen.  “This is also a testament to all the guys in our locker room. What they said is exactly why they are two of our captains. It shows their leadership on and off the ice and this award just gives them the gratification for their hard work.”

For Mayfield this has been a season where the all-star award is just one of a few personal accomplishments that he has earned since this summer.  Over the summer Mayfield competed at the NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp and back in November,  he also played for Team USA at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge.   At the Junior ‘A’ Challenge Mayfield won a gold medal and was named the tournament MVP.   With all of these accomplishments Noreen pointed out that the 6’4 defenseman has not changed one bit since he arrived in Youngstown last season.  “If you know Scottie and how humble he is this does not mean much to him,” said Noreen. “The way he comes to the rink would not change even if was not named an all-star. This is great for him and his family but since day one he has not changed who he is or what kind of player he is.”

The Youngstown Phantoms (16-23-4, 36pts) beat the Chicago Steel 6-0 behind an 18 save performance by Jordan Tibbett on Friday night at the Covelli Centre. The Phantoms had six players record a multiple point game and they were lead by a three point (1g,2a) performance by Stu Higgins.

The Phantoms got on the board four minutes into the game during their first power play of the night. Jiri Sekac was able to beat Chicago netminder Connor Wilson, on the glove hand side after a pass by Ty Loney found Sekac wide open on the near post. Sekac tallied his fourteenth goal of the season and Loney and Cody Strang were credited with the assists. The Phantoms would add their second goal of the opening frame, as Scott Mayfield found the back of the net over the right shoulder of Wilson to increase the Phantoms lead to two.Mayfield recorded his fifth goal of the season and Strang tallied his second assist of the game.

The Phantoms would increase their lead five minutes into the second period after Adam Berkle deked out Wilson and put a wrist shot in the net to give the Phantoms their third consecutive goal. Berkle recorded his sixth goal of the season and Stu Higgins and Nilan Nagy were credited with the assists. The Phantoms continued to dominate on the power play when Loney found the back of the net on a deflection that put the Phantoms up by four. Loney’s goal was his seventeenth of the season and Sekac tallied the assist, his second point of the game. A minute later, the Phantoms scored on their third consecutive power play as Ryan Belonger put a slap shot past Wilson right off the face off win by Higgins. Higgins was given the assist on the play giving him two points with six minutes left in the middle frame. With three power play goals, the Phantoms headed into the intermission up 5-0.

“It was uncertainty, a feeling we have not had much this season,” said Phantoms Head Coach Curtis Carr. “We have played so many close games this season and going into the last period up by five goals was something new. I was very happy the way we responded in that last period.”

The Phantoms scored their fourth power play goal of the contest at 10:48 of the third period when Higgins put a wrist shot past the blocker hand of Wilson to go up 6-0. Higgins’ goal gave him three points on the night and he was one of five other Phantoms with a multi-point game, Berkle (1g,1a), Sekac (1g,1a), Loney (1g,1a), Mayfield (1g,1a) and Strang (2a). The 18 save shutout by Tibbett was the Phantoms first of the season and their first since entering the USHL.

“We played a good, team game,” said Tibbett. “Getting the zero on the board was really the icing on the cake. I got a lot of help from my forwards and defenseman and all I had to do was make my routine saves.”

The Phantoms take on the visiting Muskegon Lumberjacks (17-18-8,42pts) tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Covelli Centre. The Phantoms and Lumberjacks will once again face off in what has become an intense rivalry this season. The Phantoms will meet the Lumberjacks for the seventh and final time this season tomorrow night. Youngstown and Muskegon have split the previous six meetings 3-3 with one of the Phantoms wins coming in overtime. Loney (4g,2a) and Jordan Young (6a) are each tied with a team leading six points against the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks come into tomorrow winless in their last four games.

“Tonight we learned that we can be very successful when we stick to our game plan for a full sixty minutes,” said Carr. “Even when we got up by two or three goals we stayed within the system and played our team game. Tonight can be a turning point to reinforce how important it is to play within our system.”

The Youngstown Phantoms (15-23-4, 34pts) were unable to win their second game is a many days as the Chicago Steel (9-25-7, 25pts) picked up the 3-2 victory. Jiri Sekac scored in his second consecutive game in the losing effort. Chicago netminder Connor Wilson stood on his head a number of times during the game, denying 26 of the Phantoms 28 shots on goal.

The Phantoms and the Steel each traded opportunities to start the first period and it took 13 minutes of hockey before the first goal was scored. Steel defenseman Peter Hand took a wrist shot from the point that beat Jordan Tibbett to put Chicago up 1-0. Hand capitalized on the screen in front of the Phantoms net for his first goal of the season. The Phantoms were 0 for 2 and the Steel were 0 for 1 with the man advantage after the first period, but Chicago held the one goal lead at the intermission

“I was pleasantly surprised with the how much energy we had coming into tonight’s game,” said Phantoms Head Coach Curtis Carr. “We have had a long week and playing last night I knew we would be a little tired. The guys came out fired up and they really played well tonight.”

The Phantoms went on an early second period power play and Phantoms defenseman Scott Mayfield took advantage on a shot from the point to tie the game at one just five minutes into the middle frame. A minute later Stu Higgins was awarded a penalty shot, the Phantoms second is as many games, but his forehand deke was denied by Chicago netminder Connor Wilson. The Phantoms would add their second power play goal of the period at the 7:26 mark as Sekac tipped in a Chris Bradley slap shot to give the Phantoms their first lead of the contest. Just over three minutes later, Steel forward Alex Kubiak took a pass from Tim Weber in the slot and found the back of the net to tie the game at two. The Phantoms would pressure the Steel late, but Wilson denied Andrew Sinelli and Danny Mattson with two big saves to send both teams into the intermission tied a two.

“We were getting a lot of chances,” said Carr. “We told the guys heading into the third period that we needed to keep doing what we were doing. I thought we controlled the tempo of play and we made sure to keep our guys composed even if the puck was not crossing the line.”

The Phantoms continued to pressure Wilson during the first half of the third period but he was up to the challenge not allowing the Phantoms the go ahead goal. At the 10:05 mark of the third, Kubiak was able to beat Tibbett on the blocker hand side for his second goal of the game. Late in the final frame, Ben Paulides was sent to the penalty box and the Phantoms were forced to pull Tibbett just to return to five-on-five hockey with under a minute to play. The Phantoms could find the equalizer allowing the Steel to take the 3-2 victory, their first over Youngstown this season. Wilson earned third star honors for Chicago, thanks to his exceptional game in net.

“Wilson won the game for them,” said Carr. “He was by far the difference maker in tonight’s game. He stopped a penalty shot, a breakaway and a two-on-one, I don’t think I have seen a performance like his in the past two seasons.”

Note to the Youngstown Phantoms scheduling and promo teams…  Always schedule a team with a cosmic name like “Stars” on Star Wars Night.  The force was with the Phantoms as Youngstown got the best of Lincoln in a hard-fought, shootout, 4-3  victory.  Ryan Belonger, the last shooter for the Phantoms made a dazzling move to give the Phantoms the extra point in a great hockey game.

Lincoln scored the lone goal of the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission. John McCarron scored his 13th goal of the season, this one with a man advantage.  McCarron’s goal (below) came with just under three minutes remaining in the initial period, and Ryan Dzingel was credited with an assist his team-leading 22nd.  The Stars outshot the Phantoms 19-8 in the opening period.

Youngstown was able to tie the game at a goal apiece at the 2:58 mark of the second period when Ryan Belonger scored on  a Phantoms man-advantage.  For Belonger, it was goal 12 on the season and Mike Ambrosia picked up an assist.

Lincoln did not take long to regain the lead when Garrett Peterson tallied at the 6:27 mark.  Peterson took a pass from McCarron to beat Matt O’Connor from a tough angle.  Peterson’s 15th goal of the season was an even-strength score.

The Phantoms would score the next two goals of the game to forge ahead, 3-2.  Jiri Sekac got into the plus column with his 12th of the season.  Ben Paulides gained an assist on Sekac’s game-tying even strength goal which came at the 11:07 mark of the second.  The next Phantoms goal would be recorded by Cody Strang, his 13th of the year.  Strang gave the Phantoms their first lead of the game at the 14:17 mark of the second.

The fifth goal of the second period was scored by Lincoln’s Brent Tate and tied the game, 3-3 at the 16:36 mark.  Tate found the twine unassisted for his ninth goal of the season at even strength.  The hamster race that was the second period found Lincoln ahead 31-24 in the shots on goal department.

In the third period, Ambrosia stole a puck right by the Lincoln blue line and was hauled down and awarded a penalty shot.  Stars net minder, Lukas Hafner , stoned Ambrosia to keep the game tied at three goals each.  The rest of the third period was uneventful for the Phantoms offense, only able to generate four shots on goal.  The offensive lapse did not hurt as the Stars were also unableto find the net forcing a five minute overtime period.

In the overtime, no one was able to score, setting up a shootout to determine which team would get one point and which would receive two.  Lincoln outshot the Phantoms 47-29 in regulation and overtime.  Matt O’Connor had a good game.

This is how the shootout went.  Lincoln sent Zachary Aston-Reese out first and he scored.  Cody Strang tied it up on the Phantoms first attempt.  Peterson was next for the Stars, but before he could unload, O’Connor poke-checked the puck away.  The Phantoms then sent Adam Berkle who was stopped.  The Stars third shooter was Dominik Shine who went top shelf and scored, 2-1 Stars.  Youngstown then sent Jiri Sekac who was stopped.  With a 2-1 shootout lead, Lincoln sent Matt Prapavessis, who tried the five-hole and was stopped.  Youngstown’s fourth shooter was Ty Loney.  Loney tied the shootout at 2 each when he sent a wrister past Hafner.  O’Connor would stuff Lincoln’s final shooter, John McCarron.  Ryan Belonger then became a hero when he put the game-winner past Hafner giving the Phantoms the big two-point win.

With the win, Youngstown jumped to 15-22-4 and Lincoln fell to 19-16-4.  The Phantoms welcome Chicago and muskegon to the Covelli Centre next weekend.

The Youngstown Phantoms (14-22-4,32pts) had a two goal lead in the second period but were unable to hold on as the Indiana Ice (24-12-3,51pts) stole a 5-3 victory on Wednesday morning.   The Ice have only lost four times since November 26.  Goals by Scott Mayfield, Mike Ambrosia and Stephen Collins were not enough against the Ice.

The Phantoms, for the third game in a row, scored the first goal. While on a power play, Mayfield rushed the puck down the near side boards and as he made his way behind the net he banked a shot off the back of Indiana netminder Jon Gillies for his third goal of the year. With less than six minutes to play in the opening period, the Ice were able to tie the game at one on a goal by Blake Coleman, the USHL’s leading scorer.   The Phantoms were outshot in the first period 15-6, despite the difference the first period was  evenly played.

The Phantoms wasted no time in the second period as Collins found the back of the net just 1:43 into the middle frame.   Collins gathered the puck in the near corner and walked out in front of the net where he beat Gillies on a wrist shot that was placed in between the blocker and his right leg pad. The goal was Collins’ third as a Phantom.  The Phantoms then extended their lead to two when Mike Ambrosia found the back of the net as he capitalized on a rebound that was put on net by new Phantom Danny Mattson.   The goal was Ambrosia’s seventh of the season and Mattson’s first point as a Phantom.   Later,  in the second period, the Phantoms drifted away from their game plan and Indiana was able to take advantage with two late goals to end the period.  At 4:31, Brian Ferlin scored to bring the Ice within one goal. Just over two minutes later it seemed as if Jordan Tibbett had covered the puck, but after a scrum in front of the Phantoms net Peter Schneider was able to flip the puck over Tibbett to tie the game.

“After we went up by two goals we got away from our game plan,” said Carr.   “We have done this a few times this season, we get up by a few goals and decide to play like a finesse team and not stick to our system. We are not a finesse team and we need to understand that to win we need to play within in ourselves and within our system.”

The Phantoms came out in the third period looking to regain their form from earlier in the game but just :36 into the final frame, Schneider was able to beat Tibbett to go up 4-3.   The Ice improved their lead to two goals when Coleman scored his second of the game on an Ice power play with 9:10 remaining in the contest. The Phantoms tried to pressure the Ice late but the with the four unanswered goals against and a shot disadvantage of 42-25, the hill was too high for the Phantoms to climb.

The Youngstown Phantoms (14-21-4,32pts) skate back to Youngstown with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Steel (7-25-7,21pts). The Phantoms were carried by two goals performances by both Ryan Belonger and Ty Loney.

The Phantoms for the second game in a row scored the game’s first goal to go up 1-0. 6:01 into the first period, Phantoms forward Belonger scored on a rebound opportunity right in front of the Chicago crease after the shot from the point went on net. The goal was Belonger’s tenth of the season and the assists were credited to Stu Higgins and Quinn Smith. Belonger extended the Phantoms lead to two after he took advantage of a neutral zone turnover and a buried the puck over the glove hand on Steel netminder Connor Wilson on a breakaway. The goal came at 13:39 and it was Belonger’s second goal and Smtih’s second assist of the game. With 1:08 left to play in the first period, Loney picked off a pass at the top of the right circle in the offensive zone and put his the shot past Wilson to go up 3-0. It was the first time this season that the Phantoms went into the first intermission leading by three goals.

“We had a good first period,” said Phantoms Head Coach Curtis Carr. “We capitalized on our chances and we picked up the two points with the win.”

The Steel were able to close the gap to two after a shorthanded goal by Tucker Brockett. Tim Weber skated into the Phantoms zone and fed Brockett who finished off the 2-on-1 play with a goal at the 13:00 mark. The Steel continued to pressure the Phantoms but Jordan Tibbett did not allow another goal as the Phantoms went into the intermission up 3-1.

The third period started with the Steel bringing the game within one goal just four minutes into the frame on a goal by Sam Povorozniouk. The Phantoms would extend their lead back to two goals as Loney scored his second of the game off the assist by Cody Strang. A turnover in the Phantoms defensive zone led to a Joel Benson goal that brought Chicago back within one goal with under five minutes left to play. The Steel came within inches of tying the game with 2:30 remaining on the clock but a sprawling save by Tibbett denied the equalizer. Tibbett again denied a tying chance, this time on a shorthanded attempt by Alex Kubiak.   A late power play for the Phantoms put them up a skater and even with the empty net the Steel were only able to play 5-on-5 as the Phantoms picked up the one goal victory.

The Youngstown Phantoms have acquired former Chicago Steel forward Danny Mattson in a trade that was completed last night. The Phantoms exchanged their sixth round pick with conditions to become a fourth round selection to acquire the Bemidji State University commit.

Mattson is a native of Minneapolis, MN and in 23 games with the Steel he has tallied five goals and seven assists for a total of 12 points. Mattson is in his second year in the USHL and his career has been split between the Omaha Lancers and Chicago.

“We traded for Danny because of his age and experience in the league,” said Phantom head coach Curtis Carr. “He is a twenty-year old in the league and we feel that since he is getting ready to go to college a playoff run will be the perfect thing to motivate him. He also gives us some veteran experience with his time spent in the USHL.”

Mattson brings experience to the Phantoms locker room but he also brings a knack for scoring to the Youngstown line-up. The Phantoms top line of Jiri Sekac, Cody Strang and Ty Loney has put up consistent numbers all season. For the Phantoms other forward lines, Mattson has the opportunity to come in and give the Phantoms scoring depth beyond that first line.

“He is a half a point a game producer,” said Carr. “With a lot of our close games he could be a guy that plays a role in any outcome. We do not expect him to come in as ‘the guy’ but he can help our top six by adding a little firepower.”

During his senior year of high school Mattson established a new career points record of 213 points at Holy Angels and during that season he produced 76 points (25g,51a) for the Stars. He was also a finalist for the Mr. Hockey Award, given to the top high school player in the state of Minnesota.

“We feel that we have not had someone step up on our second line and dominate the way we would like,” said Carr. “It is nothing against our players but Danny comes in proving he can put up consistent offensive numbers.”

Mattson will make his debut with the Phantoms this Saturday when he and his new teammates take on the visiting Dubuque Fighting Saints. Mattson is traveling from Chicago and the winter weather that hit that region has slowed the forwards move here to Youngstown.

The Youngstown Phantoms welcomed an old friend back into the crease.  Jordan Tibbett (above) has not played a game for the Phantoms since last season, has not even played in a hockey game since October,  but popped up on the roster Friday night.  Even more fascinating, he started the game looking like a rent-a-goalie with his #41 shirt, no name, and green shorts that would make the Irish jealous on St. Patrick’s Day.

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, Tri-City’s Scott Diebold (below) was also “locked” in.  The two goaltenders combined to stop 48 shots through the first two periods of a scoreless game.  Through those first two periods of the game, Youngstown had more shots (25) than Tri-City (23) but nobody could slip the puck past either net minder in a classic defensive battle.  Tri-City mustered two third period goals to get a 2-0 win on this night behind a great effort from Diebold.

The Phantoms did not put a shot on goal in the third period until the 12:53.  It seemed like so much of this game was spent in transition from one side of the rink to the other and neither squad was getting a second chance to get a shot off and the action progressed to the other end, very tennis-like.  Andrew Sinelli picked up a two-minute minor to put the Storm on the power play.  At the very tail-end of that man advantage, Tri-City got the first score of the game with 10:28 remaining.  Alex Carpenter connected unassisted just to the left of Tibbett’s crease and the puck appeared to deflect in off of Tibbett.

Brian Ward gave Tri-City a 2-0 lead when he struck gold on a quick takeaway from short range.  Danill Zharkov was credited with an assist on Ward’s third goal of the season with 6:58 left in the game.

The Phantoms only managed to take seven shots in the third period, and five of those were in the last 1:30 of the game.

With the win, Tri-City improved to 16-13-7.  Diebold posted the shutout for the Storm and did nothing to hurt his goals against average or his save percentage stopping all 33 Phantoms shots he faced.  The Phantoms dipped to 13-20-4 and played well for the most part.

After the game, Coach Carr commented on the lack of offensive production.  “I thought we came out really strong in the first period, it almost felt too easy.  In the third period, we panicked and made some costly mistakes.  Jordan played well enough to give us a chance to win but we couldn’t do much offensively in the third period.”

Carr explained why Tibbett is back and what happened to Greg Lewis.  “We activated Jordan based on his experience.  Greg played exceptionally well with us but we sent him away to develop hoping he will return next year with more experience.”

A rivalry is brewing.  The Youngstown Phantoms came into their game with the Muskegon Lumberjacks with aspirations of moving a little closer to the visiting team in the standings.  Heading into this game, Muskegon was fourth while the Phantoms were holding on to the sixth and final playoff spot.  On YSU night, the Phantoms came up big with 34 seconds left to force overtime on a Ty Loney goal.  Unfortunately, the Phantoms lost the shootout 3-2 giving Muskegon the extra point.

In front of one of the biggest crowds the Phantoms have welcomed in all year (2,200), both teams deserve credit for playing a very crowd-pleasing physical style of hockey.  These guys were hitting, like rivals.  Both teams jumped on their respective busses after a shower and headed North to Muskegon for the second leg of the home-and-home series.

Coach Carr talked about the effort that his Phantoms put forth.  “I feel we outplayed them. We had more opportunities and I am disappointed about not getting two points tonight, but I can live with getting one.  That’s like eight of our last nine games that we have recorded a point. I’m not upset and thought we did a lot of things well tonight.  It was the first time we pulled our goaltender and successfully converted for a goal.”

In the first period, the Phantoms managed to take a 1-0 lead to the game just seconds after an apparent goal was disallowed.  The referee claimed that the net had come off just before the puck crossed the plane.  No goal, no problem.  Just seconds later, Adam Berkle connected on a power play chance for his eleventh goal of the season.  Ty Loney and Cody Strang picked up assists on the first score in the contest.

The Lumberjacks tied the game when Matt Berry hit the twine for the 16th time this season.  Berry tied the game from close range and John Parker and Mark Yanis were credited with assists.  After two periods the Phantoms held a 25-18 edge in shots on goal.  The 18 shots that Greg Lewis stopped were not easy.  Lewis is looking good between the pipes these days.

In the third, Muskegon took a 2-1 advantage on a nice play.  Isaac Kohls was the recipient of a nice pass from Travis Belohrad allowing Kohls to shoot over Phantoms goaltender Lewis’ right shoulder.  Belohrad set Kohls up from behind the net floating a soft pass just right of the crease. Travis Walsh was also credited with an assist for the Lumberjacks.

The Phantoms sent the crowd into a tizzy when Andrew Sinelli connected shorthanded.  Mike Ambrosia picked up an assist on the goal and the rejuvenated Phantoms knotted the contest at two goals apiece with 10:40 left in the game.

With 7:02 left in the game, Muskegon went ahead again.  Mike Conderman tallied for the ninth time on the season.  Alexx Privitera, who always manages to get a point or two against Youngstown, gathered an assist on the even-strength chance.

With just 34 seconds left in the game, Loney picked up a rebound right in front of the net and beat Joel Vienneau on a put back.  Jiri Sekac picked up an assist on Loney’s team-leading 13th goal of the season that would force overtime.  No one was able to score a goal in the extra session setting up a shootout.

Muskegon got the first shot with Chris Lochner.  Lochner got stuffed by Lewis straight on.  The Phantoms responded with Stuart Higgins.  Higgins was stuffed.  Travis Belohrad was next for the Lumberjacks and he converted to beat Lewis.  Next up for Youngstown was Adam Berkle.  Berkle went top shelf to beat Vienneau and tie the shootout at one apiece.  The third shooter for Muskegon was Matt Berry.  Berry also went high to score.  Jiri Sekac, the third Phantom, was stoned.  The fourth Lumberjack was Mike Conerman who scored to put Muskegon up 3-1.  Loney, the hero who forced overtime, kept Youngstown alive  when he converted.  Muskegon’s final shooter was Isaac Kohls who mishandled the puck from the get-go and failed to ice the win.  The Phantoms last hope was Scott Mayfield who could not convert giving Muskegon the extra point.

Ty Loney talked about connecting to tie the game with under a minute left.  “Jiri [Sekac] just threw it toward the net and I was able to dig it out and put it between his legs.  The shootout was a little bit nerve racking.  Some of the shot is premeditated and some of it is what the goaltender is going to give you. My shot was a combination of both and went in.”

This game was only the third time the Phantoms were involved in a shootout all season.  Muskegon has vast experience in the tie department with twelve, giving them a definite advantage.

“This one wouldn’t have hurt as bad if we could have won a few games earlier in the season when we had leads and lost”, remarked Carr.

The Youngstown Phantoms didn’t let the law of averages get them, not until overtime.  Youngstown (12-19-2) was outshot 47-24 by the visiting Sioux Falls Stampede (18-10-4) but survived the barrage until overtime.  Marcus Perrier buried a twenty-five footer 1:53 into overtime to boost the Stampede to victory by the score of 3-2.

In the first period, Sioux Falls got a power play goal and a 1-0 lead from Thomas ORegan at the 11:33 mark.  ORegan’s goal was his third on the season.  Marcus Perrier and Sam Coatta were awarded assists on the game’s opening score.

Right before the first period ended, the Phantoms were able to tie the contest at one goal apiece when Jiri Sekac connected on an even-strength chance.  Sekac’s tenth goal came with just 19 seconds left in the opening session and he was assisted by Ty Loney and Ben Paulides. The Phantoms were outshot 16-6 in the period, but the only ones that count are the pucks that hit the back of the net.

In an entertaining second period, Youngstown took a temporary 2-1 lead when Adam Berkle made a beautiful pass across the front lip of the crease to Quinn Smith, who buried the puck for his eighth of the season.  Smith beat Sioux Falls Goaltender, Juho Oikinuora with 3:48 of the second period elapsed.  The Stampede rustled back to a 2-2 tie on the wings of a couple of Reilly boys.  Connor Reilly scored on an even-strength feed from Ryan Reilly. Connor was credited with his sixth goal, and you guessed it, Ryan, with his sixth assist.  The fraternal twins are both headed to Minnesota on hockey scholarships.  At the end of the second period, nothing was settled and the Phantoms were outshot 35-17 to this point.

In the third period, neither team could find the goal.  Sioux Falls had a total of 45 shots on goal while the Phantoms only had 23.  A five minute overtime period would be needed to determine a winner, or need be it, a shootout.

In the overtime, Perrier broke Youngstown’s hearts with a twenty-five foot slap shot just beyond the left face off circle that got past Greg Lewis for the game winner.

After the game, Coach Carr reflected on the loss.  “It’s a point, we are 3-1-2 in our last six games, and we can’t be upset getting a point out of this game, but we need to be better tomorrow. Greg [Lewis] played a great game for us tonight, and he got screened by that last shot and unfortunately, we could not block it, but give Greg credit.  He has five starts and we have at least one point in all but one of those games.”

The Phantoms are holding on to the final playoff spot and the team right on their heels, Waterloo, makes a visit on Saturday.  Puck drops at 7:30 at the Covelli Centre.