Ten Games Deep

After 10 games of the 2007-2008 campaign, the Phantoms are 6-3-1 and in a tie for third place in the North Division. That is the bottom line. With all the success last season, we were only 4-6-0 at this time. That is encouraging news.

The team finally put together a quality 60-minute effort in Saturday’s game at the Under-17s. It wasn’t everything they were capable of, the power play wasn’t as potent as we have become accustomed to, and we could have won that game by more, BUT we won, and the consistency was there from start to finish… and that was our biggest problem in games one through nine.

The emergence of Brent Dexter was good to see, along with him clicking well with Miles Winter once again. It had been since the NAHL Showcase (nearly a month now) since those two were looking fluid, and now they are once again.

Scotty Moser, although a bit overshadowed by Dexter this weekend, put together a heck of a series. It’s always great to see a first-year player stepping up and especially scoring goals. He notched his team-leading seventh and eighth goals on the season and is third in team scoring now behind Graham and Boeckman.

Speaking of Boeckman… he really is quietly stepping up, both in the statistical columns and as a leader of the team. He doesn’t light the lamp a whole lot, but he collects a bunch of assists. Playing the point position on the power play looks to be helping him get that extra bit of time to see whom is open. It allows him to be a natural play-maker, and lets his forwards (read: Graham, Dexter and Winter) be more of the pure goal-scorers. It sure worked for the game-winner on Saturday.

Team Captains

The Phantoms named their captains over the weekend. Team captain this year is veteran defenseman Trent Bonnett. Alternate captains are defenseman Eric Ringel and forward Chad Boeckman – also veterans. Just being on the bus, in the hotel, and at the rinks with this team, you can tell these players are natural leaders. Good choices.

Goaltending

The goaltending situation has been split pretty evenly so far. With Mark Lee no longer on the team, Garrett Bartus and Jordan Tibbett are the main men. Both played well this weekend, and should each be getting a lot more repetition in practice without having to share time with a third netminder. Splitting time is a great way to find out what everyone is capable of in game situations, but eventually one of these guys will need to pull away from the other and assume the starting role.

New Players Impacts

Stefan Salituro already notched a point in his first two games. Jon Madden is picking up some of the slack defensively… for the first time in nine games on Saturday, the Phantoms weren’t out shot. I think it’s only a matter of time before these two (especially Madden, because of his size and his position) get more comfortable with the systems and become more prominent in their roles as well.

This Weekend

On the road again to Alpena – Two weeks ago, we lost a 2-1 lead in the third period and lost the first game, and then came back with 20 minutes of domination in the third period of the second game to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 6-4 win With our developing consistency, and our superior talent, on paper, we should sweep easily – but that cannot be our mentality.

With a sweep, we would move four points clear of Alpena, and Traverse City, and into a tie for second with the idle U.S. National Team. With Traverse City idle this weekend as well, and us playing the North Stars nine days from now, these next four games are going to really create a path back to the top of the North for someone. Hopefully it’s the Phantoms.

Odds and Ends

Graham is now tied for eighth in NAHL scoring, five points behind the league leader.

Boeckman is tied for 13th.

Bartus is racking up saves, his save percentage is tied for second-best in the NAHL at .932.