Showdowns Loom - Part II

Obviously, the overall result of the weekend was somewhat disappointing. A shootout win and a loss against the last place team in the division. Those are the facts… they are undisputed. But looking deeper into the games, this is what we find:

First of all, we have to give credit to the North Stars. They are a good team. We have talked about parity in the North Division all season, and this is a great example. If you look at the standings, every team in the North has at least 40 points… the Central and the South have just three such teams. Traverse City has 11 overtime/shootout losses – those could have gone either way… just give five of those to them, and they are above .500.

The Stars also had a lot of confidence stemming from two upsets over the Alpena Ice Diggers, who are starting to really hit their stride – more on them later. To top it off, Traverse City had two weeks to prepare (and two weeks to get healthy) before coming into the Ice Zone to face a team that they had seen nine times already this season. So, not only are they a good team, but they were a very well prepared/rested/confident team as well.

The Phantoms started the weekend off great. They scored the first goal of the game less than seven minutes in, they had a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, and a 4-1 lead with just 15 minutes left in regulation. Everything seemed to be going right.

Then, with one defensive breakdown, and a well placed backhand by Kyle Bonis, the wheels fell off. One breakdown led to another shortly thereafter, and all of a sudden it was a one-goal game. Hopefully people will remember the six or seven solid saves Garrett Bartus made in the middle 10 minutes of that third period to keep the Phantoms out front.

Finally, a third defensive breakdown led to an even-strength, 2-on-0 down low, that resulted in Kory Kaunisto’s game-tying goal with just 25 seconds left. Give credit to the Phantoms for seeing things through and earning the two points in the shootout, but the way the game ended set the stage for Saturday.

While Saturday’s first period seemed to be played pretty evenly, the second was really dominated by Traverse City. Courtesy of seven Phantoms penalties in the frame, the Stars managed a couple of disputed powerplay goals… one of which didn’t appear to go in, and the other appeared to have gone in after the net was off its pegs.

Injuries started to plague the team – again, especially to the team’s defensive corps – again. With Harrison not dressed because of a stinger suffered on Friday, Snead out early in the first period, and Ringel given a gamer for an after-the-whistle fight, the Phantoms only had four defensemen down the stretch of Saturday’s game. And one of them, Kramarz, hadn’t played in nearly three months because of an injury.

Yet the Phantoms battled back, scored a couple of third period goals, and made the score respectable.

Alden Hirschfeld’s absence is really hurting, his leadership both on and off the ice, his competitiveness, his physicality, the way he compliments his linemates, and the fact that he is a constant scoring threat – him being healthy will be a key to the Phantoms playoff success.

So what does all this mean? Well, obviously injuries are a problem… but what can be done? These aren’t pulled muscles that might be prevented with conditioning or something, these are just a series of unlucky events.

What else does this mean? Inconsistency is a problem. Whether it is an inconsistent effort one night, a lack of focus for a few minutes on another night, or the injuries that cause constant shuffling of the lineup, it is a rare occasion that the team can put 60 solid minutes together.

The thing is, that despite all this injury and inconsistency, I am talking about a team that is in second place in the division – a team that is 13 games above .500 – a team that is in the heat of the playoff mix – but a team that has still has yet to hit its stride.

As promised, more on Alpena… the third place Ice Diggers gained a point on the Phantoms over the weekend with a 1-0-1 record at St. Louis. This is a team that HAS hit its stride and you can see exactly what they are capable of. They play three games this coming weekend, two versus Traverse City and one against the U.S., before coming to the Ice Zone at the end of the month.

With 13 games now left in the season, the Phantoms will finally be closing out a season series this weekend when they head to St. Louis. Mahoning Valley is 2-2-2 in six games against the Bandits this year. There were obviously a lot of problems the last time the Phantoms played at the Summit Center… There is word however that Sunday’s game time is going to be moved back to 7 p.m. EST and also to a different location, with an NHL-sized rink. Stay tuned for updates.

Also, congrats go out to Derek Graham, Miles Winter, Chad Boeckman, Eric Ringel and Garrett Bartus for their performances at the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament and representing the Phantoms. Those five have played five games in five days now, and then have practice today through Friday before a long bus trip, and then two more games on Saturday and Sunday – what a grind.