Posts Tagged ‘Mike Ambrosia’

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 (9-17-1,19pts) could not finish the year 2010 with a win as they lost a tough one to the Indiana Ice (13-10-2,28pts) by the score of  5-4. Mike Ambrosia recorded an assist extending his point streak to four games in the losing effort.

After a quiet ten minutes to start the first period, Phantoms forward John Fritsche was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 10:22. The power play was killed off by the Phantoms but the momentum gained while on the man advantage gave the Ice they edge they needed. David Johnstone tipped a pass from Ferlin behind Matthew O’Connor to take the 1-0 lead. Just over four minutes later on a Phantoms power play, Cody Strang banged home an Adam Berkle rebound for his sixth goal of the season. The secondary assist on the tying goal was credited to Jiri Sekac.

Forty-one seconds after the Phantoms goal, forward Ryan Belonger took advantage of a misplayed puck by Ice netminder Casey DeSmith to put the Phantoms up 2-1. The goal was unassisted and it was Belonger’s ninth goal of the season. With 1:42 remaining in the first period, Berkle was issued a two minute penalty for elbowing. Before the Phantoms touched the puck to stop play, Ice forward Will Aide dropped the gloves with Berkle in response to his thrown elbow. On the ensuing Ice power play, Ferlin was able to tie the game at two right off the faceoff in the Phantoms zone. The goal was Ferlin’s second point of the first period and it was assisted by Blake Coleman. At the end of the first, the two teams were tied at two but the Phantoms were able to outshoot Indiana 14-9.

“We responded really well tonight,” said Head Coach Curtis Carr. “After a tough game after the break and the game against Des Moines our guys came out ready to play tonight. It was a tough day of travel and to play a hot Indiana team they way we did, there is nothing but positive things to say after this one.”

Tempers continued to flare as the Phantoms and Ice moved toward the midway point of the second period. With Indiana outshooting the Phantoms 8-5 with 11:35 remaining in the period, Andrew Sinelli dropped the gloves with Ice forward Chris Martin. The Phantoms were a post away from taking the lead when Quinn Smith took a feed from JT Stenglein and made a fantastic move around an Ice defender. Smtih’s shot rang off the far post leaving the game tied at two.

About a minute later on a Phantoms power play, DeSmith made a great save to deny Sekac and on the ensuing dump into the Phantoms zone O’Connor played the puck right to the stick of Ice forward Coleman. With O’Connor out of the net and up around the hash marks, Coleman had a wide open net to shoot at as he gave Indiana a 3-2 lead on the shorthanded goal. Responding to what could have been a back breaking goal Phantoms forward Ty Loney scored to tie the game at three. The Phantoms goal was assisted by Sekac giving him his second assist of the night. The second period ended with the Phantoms on the power play giving them thirty seconds of carry over time. The Phantoms again outshot the Ice 15-10 giving them a two period advantage of 29-19.

The Phantoms could not capitalize on their carry over power play but on their second man advantage of the period Stu Higgins put a one timer in the back of the net to give the Phantoms a 4-3 lead. Ambrosia and Ben Paulides were credited with the assists on Higgins’fifth goal of the year. Eleven seconds later Daniil Tarasov beat O’Connor to tie the game back up at four. Tarasov benefited from a fluky bounce in front of the net as the puck made its way across the line. The Ice were then able to take the lead on their own power play as Tarasov scored his second of the game to give the Ice a 5-4 lead with six minutes to play. Like the fourth goal, the puck this time bounced off of a Phantoms player in front of the net before it crossed the line. The Phantoms pulled O’Connor with under a minute to play but the equalizer was never found as the comeback effort was spoiled by Indiana. The Phantoms were outshot in the third period 14-8 but held the advantage at the end of the game 37-33. The Phantoms recent history repeated itself against the Ice as three of the five Indiana goals came off of bad bounces on its way into the net.

“I have never seen so many bad bounces against one team,” said Carr. “In my entire hockey career I have never seen this many bounce in one season. We are not making excuses but it would be nice if one or two or those bounces would go our way.”

The Phantoms return to the Covelli Centre on January 7 and 8 for games against the Sioux City Musketeers and the Muskegon Lumberjacks. January 7 is Mac ‘N’ Cheese Night sponsored by the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley and January 8 is Military Appreciation Night. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available by calling 330-747-7825.

Embarrassment. It is a word that humbles, but has an upside in the way of motivation sometimes.  The Youngstown Phantoms, coming off of a 7-2 loss to Indiana were embarrassed.  Des Moines warded off an early flurry of goals and kept their composure to beat the Phantoms, 5-4.  It should be noted that Youngstown played much, much better against Des Moines than they did against Indiana one night earlier.  No embarrassment on this night, just a very hard-fought loss.

The opening face-off usually starts the “feeling out” period of a hockey game.  Teams will often try to detect the strengths and weaknesses of an opponent.  Just 33 seconds into this game, the Phantoms were done feeling out Des Moines.  Mike Ambrosia connected from close range for his fifth goal of the season to put the Phantoms up early.  Ryan Belonger fed Ambrosia for an assist and the puck had just enough on it to scoot past Buccaneer goaltender, Michael Shibrowski (next photo down).

Less than three minutes later, Cody Strang got himself in on the action for the Phantoms. Jiri Sekac, who missed last night’s contest due to inclement weather, picked up an assist when he set Strang up for his fifth of the season.  The goal, just 3:12 into the game, put the Phantoms ahead 2-0.

Youngstown stayed hot and got a third even-strength first period goal.  Ty Loney took the team lead with his ninth goal of the year to put the Phantoms ahead 3-0.  Loney’s unassisted goal came at the 15:32 mark of the first, and the Phantoms looked to have things under control.  Before the period ended, Des Moines found the scoreboard when Kevin Irwin scored unassisted to cut the score at intermission to 3-1.

In the second period, Des Moines continued to fight back when Irwin recorded his second goal of the game, this time on the powerplay, something the Phantoms have really struggled against, to cut the lead to 3-2 in favor of the host Phantoms.  later in the second, the Buccaneers tied the game when Mitch Cain scored at the 10:47 mark of the second period.  Cain’s sixth goal was assisted by Justin Selman and Peter Stoykewych.

The Phantoms finally cashed in on a powerplay with just 39.2 seconds left in the second period.  Sekac took a beautiful pass from Strang to score from close range just outside of the goal crease.  Jordan Young also picked up his seventh assist of the season on the goal that gave Youngstown a 4-3 lead heading into intermission.

In the third period, Des Moines scored a pair of quick goals to claim a 5-4 lead.  The first was a Doug Clifford powerplay goal.  Clifford got assists from Ethan Prow and Austin Coldwell.  The game-tying goal was scored 2:02 into the final period.  Cain picked up his second goal of the game, also a powerplay opportunity.  Chris Joyaux and Kevin Irwin claimed assists on the go-ahead goal for the Buccaneers.

The Phantoms got a two-man advantage in the last few minutes of the game and another one-man advantage to end the contest, but were unable to capitalize and tie the game.  With the 5-4 loss, Youngstown fell to 9-16-1 and lost their sixth in a row.  Des Moines improved to 11-8-2.  The Phantoms outshot the Buccaneers 32-28.  Give the home team credit for a better effort and really leaving it all on the ice.

The Youngstown Phantoms needed a break.  Heading into this contest with the Indiana Ice, the Phantoms had dropped four contests in a row, all on the road.  It seemed like an eternity since the Phantoms had a home game (December 4), which incidentally was the last time this team won.  A three-goal second period doomed the home team as Indiana collected an even-strength, a powerplay, and a shorthanded goal over the last seven minutes of the frame to post a 7-2 win Tuesday.

Indiana scored at the 13:36 mark when Blake Coleman fired a shot that hit the post and apparently went in.  Coleman’s goal was a powerplay score and he was assisted by Brian Ferlin and Danlil Tarasov. For Coleman, it was the 11th goal of the season.

The Phantoms wasted little time knotting the contest at the 14:39 mark of the opening period.  Dylan Margonari connected for his third goal of the year, an even-strength chance.  Mike Ambrosia picked up an assist on the Phantoms game-tying score.  The first period would come to a close in a 1-1 deadlock.  The Phantoms and Ice were playing very physical hockey and there was no shortage of hits or near fights throughout the game.

Youngstown would grab a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Ryan Belonger stayed hot and scored for the fourth time in the last ten games.  Ambrosia picked up his second assist of the night and sixth of the year.

The roof then caved in on the Phantoms.  Indiana scored three second period goals in the last seven minutes of the stanza to take a 4-2 lead into intermission.  Adam Erne connected for an even-strength goal with an assist from Peter Schneider to tie the game.  Sean Kuraly then broke loose for the Ice to net a shorthanded goal.  Kuraly gathered a loose puck near center ice and raced toward the net beating Matt O’Connor for the go ahead goal.  Tarasov put an exclamation point on the strong period connecting on another powerplay, this time Ferlin got the assist to put the Ice in front 4-2 after two periods.

At the 18:32 mark of the final period, Indiana tacked on another goal to increase the lead to 5-2. Jarrod Rabey picked up the third powerplay goal of the night for the Ice.  Just over a minute later, Coleman got his second of the game, an even-strength tally, and the rout was on.  Chris Martin (not from Coldplay) tacked on a late goal to wrap the scoring up at 7-2 in favor of the Ice.

With the loss, the Phantoms fell to 9-15-1.  Indiana improved to 12-10-2 with the victory.  The Ice outshot Youngstown, 30-25.   Youngstown welcomes Des Moines for a rare Wednesday night game at the Covelli Centre.

“We have to come ready to play 60 minutes.  It seems like something goes wrong that we do not recover well, and we need to”, said Curtis Carr after the game.  “We compete with the best teams in the league and what happened here tonight does not reflect what kind of team we have.”