Cameron's Corner

Time of Your Life

2008-05-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

I’ve been in that locker room before. I’ve skated off that same ice before. I’ve choked back those same tears, and I’ve sat and stared at a similar floor. Nothing that anyone can say or do will help you overcome the sadness, the frustration, and the sickness you feel after coming so close, dedicating your life to the game, but after a long season, ultimately coming up just short of your goal.

Perhaps some have already started to put things in perspective. For others, it will take a few days, or weeks, or more – but come a few months from now, each one of those players will be able to look back at everything they have accomplished, the triumphs and the setbacks, the times they shared, and the friendships they made, and realize that they had the time of their lives.

Before the tourney started, John Davidson and Yan Stasny stood before every player at the banquet and essentially tried to share the same idea – cherish these times, take it all in, because you might never be here again. Very few people in hockey, or in sports, and even a fewer percentage of people in the world will ever earn the right to play for a National Championship those guys said. So take it all in, because someday you will look back and smile and just wonder where the time went.

Beginning on Thursday night against St. Louis, the Phantoms started playing their game. Sixty minutes turned into 120, and 120 into 180 and 240. The Phantoms played 240 minutes of quality hockey in their final days of the season. Beat up, injured, gassed, and exhausted, each one of them sacrificed, fought and clawed their way into the final and then left it all out on the ice – and that is all that you can ask for, and that is all that you can do.

There really is not a whole lot else to say. Over the summer, on the website, look for updates on the Golf Outing – which is scheduled for July 21 – look for updates from the Try-Out Camps – May 15-18 in Plymouth, Michigan and May 29-June 1 in Boardman, and the main camp sometime after that. The pre-season for players has essentially already started, but things will start getting busy here again in August before the Showcase again probably in mid-September.

It was great to see all the support out in Missouri from fans, families, friends, girlfriends, and billets. It was a good time out in St. Louis. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.

I had a great time following, writing, and calling the games for the team this year. Thank you for all of your kind comments. This is my 35th and final Cameron’s Corner for the season. Thank you for reading and commenting. It was great year, I had a lot of fun, and this was a great team to be a part of.

Again, congratulations to the team and the players for another great season – good luck in all your future endeavors, and thanks for everything.

Just Hours Until Game Time

2008-04-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

I am writing to you from room 311 at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Chesterfield, Mo. here just a few hours before the first game of the Robertson Cup Championships against the Topeka Roadrunners.

We got into town late Monday, got in a full practice (on the large surface) at the Hardees IcePlex yesterday morning, attended a press conference yesterday afternoon, went to the local mall to get the boys’ legs moving again, and then attended the first official function of the tournament last night – the NAHL Awards Banquet.

The banquet was actually very good… good food, good location, good speakers (especially John Davidson) and special guests – a lot of NHLers, and just a good experience to be a part of. Congrats to all those who won awards. Derek Graham was the lone Phantom player to be honored with his selection to the All-North Division Team.

I would also like say that I am very impressed with the turnout of Phantoms fans, families, and billet families that have made the trip out to St. Louis. If you are here for the first time, my advice is to bundle up at the rink. It is not like the Ice Zone in there, it is rather chilly, even for me up in the press box near the heaters! If in doubt, bring a blanket.

It has been said time and again what we need to do to beat the Bandits… so I won’t go over that again. We showed a week ago, and then even again in Friday’s overtime loss, that we can skate with these guys, we can compete, we can beat, and even that we can dominate. We proved to us and to them, that with a 60-minute effort, we are just as dangerous.

Furthermore, in the last 45 minutes the Phantoms played here in St. Louis, we were convincing in showing that we can play right along with them on the Olympic surface as well. If the Bandits are the team with the target on their backs, with all the experience we have against them (12 games), we have the advantage on both Alexandria and Topeka.

Speaking of Topeka… the Roadrunners have had an impressive year, finishing 39-11-8 on the year – first place in the South, and the second best point total (86) in the NAHL. They are 6-2 in the playoffs, sweeping the Texas Tornado, before going to a Game 5 overtime to knock out the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Sunday. At the banquet last night, they were rivaling the Bandits, and the (absent) North Iowa Outlaws for hardware won.

Their biggest weapon is defenseman, #5 Aaron Gens. In his fourth season in the NAHL, Gens took home the award for the league’s best defenseman, was named to the All-South Division Team and the All-NAHL Team. He led the league in scoring among defensemen with 12 goals and 46 assists, and was league leader in plus/minus with a plus-41 rating. He currently is second on the team in playoff scoring.

Leading the Roadrunners forward lines are #19 Corey Jendras and #10 Josh Kamrass, scoring 69 and 68 points respectively. Jendras is third in team playoff scoring, while Kamrass is first. One other name that Phantoms fans might recognize is that of goaltender Bryce Merriam. A former Phantom, Merriam has played all eight playoff games for Topeka and has a suspect save percentage of .889 in the post-season.

The Phantoms faced the Roadrunners in the last game of each other’s Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota in September. In a penalty-laden game, Mahoning Valley won it 3-2 in a shootout. Winter’s and Graham’s power play goals appeared to be good enough to win, but the Roadrunners scored with just eight seconds left to tie it up, before Graham got the game-winner in the shootout.

One key match up to watch in tonight’s game will be the Roadrunners power play (the best in the NAHL playoffs, at a 26.7% conversion rate) against the Phantoms penalty kill (also the best in the NAHL playoffs, at a 95.5% kill rate).

Alexandria, meanwhile, looks like the odds on favorite to be the first ones out… and that is something that they have played with all season, and something that obviously motivates them. After starting the year 3-14-2, the Blizzard finished 26-11-2 in their final 39 regular season games and third place in the Central.

The Blizzard needed five games in each of the first two rounds to knock off Southern Minnesota and Springfield respectively, and is 3-0 in overtime games this post-season including a Game 5 win to get here.

Luke Nesper (#11) and Mikael Lickteig (#19) are their leading scorers, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in NAHL scoring during the regular season. They are riding the goaltending of Ryan Leets. Leets’ goals-against average is 2.92, and his save percentage is .905 in 10 playoff games. The Phantoms have yet to play Alexandria this year.

Like I said above, with all the games the Phantoms have played here at the Hardees IcePlex, I really think that they have the advantage as far as an opportunity to move on over Topeka and Alexandria. The Roadrunners are 1-2-1 versus St. Louis this year, while the Blizzard is 0-1-1. Neither team has played the Bandits since December 1. The Roadrunners won the only game they played against Alexandria this season, 5-3 – in their first game of the year.

Remember, with the new format this season, the first place team after the round-robin will get the automatic berth into the championship game. Second and third place will battle it out in a semifinal game on Saturday for the right to play for the title, while the fourth place team will go home on Friday.

Thursday’s game against St. Louis is the only 7:30 p.m. CDT start the Phantoms will have this week. Friday’s game against Alexandria is slated for a 3 p.m. CDT start time. Saturday’s semifinal is at 3 p.m. also, and the Championship on Sunday is at 5 p.m. CDT. If you are reading this from Ohio, note that all the times listed above are CENTRAL TIME.

I won’t be calling any of the game action on B2 – the league decided to bring in “neutral” broadcasters for every game at the tournament… but be sure to listen in anyway! I will be doing one last Cameron’s Corner next Wednesday to wrap up the season – hopefully a Robertson Cup Championship season.

If you are here in St. Louis, I’ll see you this afternoon at 3 p.m. for the game against the Roadrunners – or maybe I’ll catch you in the hallway here at the hotel. But remember, bundle up!

Returning Home for Division Finals

2008-04-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Although the final margin of victory was still the same in both games last weekend in St. Louis, the difference in the way the Phantoms played was really night and day – like Bob said.

It was almost incredible how nervous it looked like we played on Friday. We weren’t finishing our hits, we weren’t able to break the puck out, we couldn’t get any sustained offensive pressure, our power play could barely get set up, we didn’t stick to any game plan, etc.

The Bandits were having a field day on Bartus… I would say nearly 50% of the 39 shots he faced were good quality scoring chances. He played very well and kept the team in the game throughout.

Saturday’s game started much like Friday’s game. St. Louis came out quick, and got up by two early. After we settled down a bit, we got our first goal and then I really feel we outplayed the Bandits for the final 45 minutes of the game. We were the ones with the better chances, we kept the shots on Tibbett to the perimeter, we had more sustained pressure, and our power play started to click.

More importantly, however, the boys should have gained a lot confidence playing so well on the Olympic surface at the Hardees IcePlex…which is where we will not only have to beat St. Louis, but we will have to beat two other teams as well come tournament time. However, neither of the other teams will have either a home crowd advantage or the advantage of having played as many games as we have on that rink… which should then be to our advantage.

Speaking of the National Championship Tournament, I’m not sure if everyone caught the story on either the NAHL website or the release I put up on the Phantoms website about the change of format for the Robertson Cup Tournament?

Unlike any years before, there will now be a semi-final game on Saturday. The team with the best record after the round-robin will get an automatic bid to the Championship game, and the worst team after the round-robin will be eliminated. The second and third seeded teams will face-off at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 for the right to go to the title game. Would have helped us last year!

Tonight, the Phantoms are obviously in a must-win situation for the series – to defend their North Division playoff championship crown. In the larger picture, the Phantoms need to prove to themselves again that they can beat the Bandits. They are definitely a very good team, but when you take the home-ice away from them, their speed is significantly diminished, and they don’t have nearly as much room to create.

The Phantoms lead the series 2-1-1 this season at the Ice Zone, and the way the Phantoms were playing before this weekend, and they way they played the last 50 minutes on Saturday, I would not be surprised at all to see them force a Game 5.

Something needs to be done about the Merrifield-Warda-Rabbani line. They are good; it is tough to contain them. It will be a bit easier to keep track of them on the NHL rink, as they were so good at just finding some open ice at home.

Don’t forget to get to the game early tonight. From 5 to 7 p.m., there will be dollar drafts and Spatz from 93.3 – The Wolf – and the Mahoning Valley Thunder arena football cheerleaders – the Storm Chasers – will be there to entertain the crowd.

There is less than two weeks now left in the season. This is my 33rd Cameron’s Corner and I would like to thank everyone who has read it throughout the year. Feel free to comment as well!

Next week at this time, I will be in Chesterfield, Mo., and only a few hours away from the opening face-off for the Robertson Cup Championship! I will have a preview from there, and I will also have a season review for you sometime between May 5-7.

Go Phantoms!

Division Finals - St. Louis

2008-04-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

I remember writing while riding on the bus last week about how the Phantoms have a renewed sense of confidence, and that they really feel that they can overcome any adversity. About 30 hours after I posted that, I think they pretty much proved me right.

What a comeback, what excitement! For those of you that made it up to Alpena last Thursday, you witnessed a great showing of how much this team has matured from the beginning of the season in Blaine, Minnesota to now.

Now, first of all, there has to be the qualifier that the Phantoms were up 2-0 in the series… so it was not exactly like their backs were to the wall to make the comeback… but believe me, no one wanted to stay up in Alpena for any longer than was necessary, everyone wanted a weekend to themselves for the first time since New Year’s Day, and the team (with Dexter and Ringel hurt) could really use the sweep for some time to heal.

At the same time, Alpena’s backs were to the wall. They had nothing to lose, and left it all out on the ice and played their best game of the series. They had a 2-0 lead, appeared to be in complete control with just 20 minutes left in the game, and then everything turned at the start of the third period.

The Phantoms got back to the game plan and really started getting some better chances. It seemed like the Phantoms’ sixth or seventh power play of the night – and nothing had really been clicking before then – when they finally got on the board.

Kyle Bailey was taking some abuse in front of the net, but was in the right place at the right time to find the rebound of a shot off the post just lying in the crease to cut it to one with less than half a period to go.

Although you could feel the team really get going after that, Madden’s goal to tie was really an uncharacteristic goal for Graves to give up – a point-blank shot from the top of the right circle. Give credit though to Madden for firing a laser and catching Graves off guard. He has shown that he likes to lead an offensive rush or two every game, and it paid off in a big way Thursday.

Two of the more unsung players on the team combined to force the overtime, and then Miles Winter did what he does best to wrap it up. I won’t describe it… if you missed it, you can catch Winter’s goal on the NAHL homepage.

Now the Bandits loom. Although the Phantoms have already clinched a berth into the Robertson Cup Tournament, there is still plenty to be played for. For one, the right to be called the North Division Champions. For two, to earn your way into the tournament. For three, to prove to themselves that they can beat St. Louis in St. Louis when the Tournament does roll around. And for four, to enact a measure of revenge for the Bandits’ winning the championship from them last season.

The Phantoms are still playing their best hockey and have now won six in a row dating back into the regular season, and 12 of the last 14. They obviously continue to get production from all four lines, and with a healthy Ringel and a healthy Dexter, they should even be that much stronger.

St. Louis is dangerous on all fronts. I would assume that Cal Heeter would get the first start for the Bandits, as he appears to be slightly better than Mike Johnson at this stage of the season. However, Johnson is a perfect 4-0 against the Phantoms this season, while Heeter is 2-2.

Ben Warda had eight points in three games against the U.S. National team. Mike Merrifield and Josh Rabbani, whom Warda has been playing alongside, have been putting up numbers as well. They have seven and six points respectively. That is 21 points in just three games from their top line!

Against the Phantoms this year, Ben Miller and Mike Leone have also been snipers, notching eight and seven points respectively in eight games this season between the two squads.

The Phantoms top scorers this season against the Bandits have been Johnny Meo, Nick Kenney, and Kyle Bailey. The Bandits have done a great job of holding the Phantoms top unit of Derek Graham, Alden Hirschfeld and Grant Blakey in check. The trio has accumulated just four points in the season series.

The Bandits and Phantoms have not faced off, however, since February 24. That streak of 12 wins in the last 14 games started right after identical 5-1 losses in St. Louis on that weekend. Mahoning Valley is playing much better hockey now than they were then, and definitely has a lot to prove. The Phantoms need to learn how to win on the Olympic surface in order to return to the Robertson Cup Championship game.

In case you haven’t read before, here is the schedule… I’ll see the Boeckman’s in St. Louis on Friday; I’ll see the rest of you probably Wednesday at the pre-game party at the Ice Zone. Go Phantoms!

Game 1 - Friday, April 18, at 8:15 p.m., at the Hardees IcePlex in Chesterfield, Mo.
Game 2 - Saturday, April 19, at 8:15 p.m., at the Hardees IcePlex in Chesterfield, Mo.
Game 3 - Wednesday, April 23, at 7:15 p.m., at the Ice Zone in Boardman
Game 4 - Friday, April 25, at 7:15 p.m., at the Ice Zone in Boardman*
Game 5 - Sunday, April 27, at 8:15 p.m., at the Hardees IcePlex in Chesterfield, Mo.*

* = if necessary
(All times are Eastern)

On the Road Again

2008-04-09T09:11:00.001-07:00

I am writing to you from somewhere on the Ohio turnpike (I think we are near Sandusky) on our way up to the great city of Alpena, Michigan. Movie number one is in the books, and we still have about seven hours left to go. Back on the road again for the first time in about a month – hopefully it’s a short trip.

Simply stated, the Phantoms are playing their best hockey of the season. Throughout the year, we talked about peaking at the right time, and undoubtedly they have. With the wins last weekend, Mahoning Valley has now taken eight of their last nine games and 11 of the past 13. More importantly, they are up 2-0 in the series with Alpena and are just a win away from going to the Robertson Cup Championship (I am sure you know the reason why this is, if not, I have explained it in the news story I put up on the website today).

I will start off by saying that Harrison’s overtime goal was the biggest goal all season, and Friday’s win is going to end up being the catalyst for a championship run. Nothing seems insurmountable after that. This team believes they are capable of winning despite any situation they find themselves in, and that is a trait that will surface again come May in St. Louis. They have earned everything this season. They are battle tested, and I think they have convinced themselves that if they play a full 60 minutes, there is no better 20-man unit in the NAHL.

It appeared the Phantoms had everything in control on Friday. A 2-0 lead, a powerplay to start the third period, and then all of a sudden, things shifted. Alpena got their first one, a few minutes later, they tied it up. Everything was going the Ice Diggers’ way. But, the Phantoms showed their maturity, got back to the game plan, came together as a team and found a way to win, despite the adversity.

As I’ve said in the stories, depth and goaltending were the keys last weekend, and will continue to be as we get deeper into the playoffs. With all four lines clicking, Verbeek, Meo, Bailey, Salituro and other third and fourth liners contributing, there will be matchup problems – especially late in games. While opponents are rolling two or three lines, the Phantoms are staying fresher with four.

Bartus is playing like a seasoned vet of the playoffs despite these being his first post-season games. He is not only making all the saves, he is looking confident as he does it.

Now the series shifts to Northern Lights Arena. The Phantoms have had some success there over the year, going 4-2-0 in six games, but haven’t played there since early November – a long five months ago.

Alpena has a great home crowd and they will be out in full-force. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that arena sold out. It will be hostile, as will the game. The Ice Diggers have showed all season that they aren’t afraid to get rough. With their backs to the wall, and nothing to lose, it will all be left out there on the ice from here on out.

The Phantoms could really use the rest and the time to heal up that would come with a sweep. Bumps and bruises are starting to mount. Dexter is healing, he made the trip, and could be ready to go if needed. Everyone probably noticed Eric Ringel’s absence from the ice for the second half of Saturday’s game – his status is uncertain, but he has made the trip as well.

There really isn’t a whole lot more to say at this time of the season, and I am starting to run out of battery power. It is time to win or go home. See you in Alpena.

The Second Season

2008-04-02T05:56:00.001-07:00

After nearly eight months of camps, practices, big wins, tough losses, bumps, bruises, tough breaks, blood, sweat, and tears, we have finally reached the pinnacle of the season – the NAHL Playoffs.

It all begins Friday of course with Game 1 of the North Division Semi-Finals against the Alpena Ice Diggers in the friendly confines of the Ice Zone.

It is quite obvious to me that the Phantoms are playing some of their best hockey of the season. After suffering through their toughest stretch of the season (going 3-6-1 in a 10 game span between January 25 and February 24), the Phantoms have rebounded to go 9-2-0 since, and finished up by winning six of their last seven games.

The U.S. weekend was really a perfect precursor to the playoffs. After trailing 1-0 and 2-1 midway through the third period, Johnny Meo and Miles Winter stepped up and proved why they are clutch performers, showed their veteran leadership and savvy, and brought the Phantoms back to win a tight one.

The Phantoms used that momentum to come out and put on a scoring clinic on Saturday. The second period showed off the team’s firepower, while the third period showed the competition the kind of defense and goaltending the Phantoms are capable of putting together throughout the post-season.

Miles Winter was huge in the playoffs last year, and he appears to really be hitting his stride. Playing alongside Boeckman and Kenney on the team’s second line, and on the number one power play unit seems to be suiting him well.

Of course the line of Graham, Blakey and Hirschfeld cannot be left unaccounted for. Since Hirschfeld’s return, the team is 8-2-0. Even if the number one line isn’t producing statistically, they are extremely effective at neutralizing the opposing team’s top line, and opening up some opportunities for the Phantoms to show off their depth – everyone has responded.

Goaltending, as any hockey fan knows, is the key to a team’s longevity in the post-season. The two 3-2 grinds against Alpena on March 21-22 were definitely the brand of hockey you should expect to see, and Bartus played very well in both.

Between Bartus and Jordan Tibbett, the Phantoms have a combined .929 save percentage against Alpena this season – very good. One thing you can probably bet on is Nick Graves being between the pipes for each game of the series. Although his record is just 1-3-0 against the Phantoms (since he’s been with Alpena), he is the only Ice Diggers’ goalie with a save percentage above .885 in the season series (at .911).

The Ice Diggers and Phantoms have faced off 12 times already this season. The rivalry from last season carried over, there is no shortage of animosity between the two, and by the time these teams are three games more familiar with each other, expect a very rough series. Mahoning Valley is 8-4-0 against Alpena, 4-2-0 at each location.

Although five of the team’s top six scorers are veterans, the rookies have played a big role all year as well. Blakey, Scott Moser, and Stefan Salituro might be experiencing some of the biggest pressure situations of their careers… but after 58 games, they really cannot be considered rookies any more.

Derek Graham and Miles Winter have led the way in scoring over the past 10 games, but Kyle Bailey, Salituro and Brian McGinty have combined for 29 points over that span – thus proving my point about the team’s versatility and depth.

Friday night is National City Bank Thunder Stix night – the first 500 fans will get free Phantoms Thunder Stix – which should make the crowd overwhelmingly loud. Saturday, every fan will get a coupon for a free chicken sandwich at Chic-Fil-A.

The pressure is almost tangible, the excitement will be incredible. We’re just two days away now!

One Week Left

2008-03-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

While a pair of wins this weekend would obviously be ideal, the main goal of the team will probably to be to remain healthy in order to do what needs to be done to prepare for the playoffs. If building momentum by going out on a winning note is that vital, then so be it.

As some of you might have noticed last Saturday, Graham and Ringel were held out of the lineup – obviously two very key players for the playoff run. Whether or not they are playing this weekend, probably won’t be decided until game day, but they are both healthy and skating full steam at practice.

With all of the injury problems the Phantoms have suffered through this season, it really is quite amazing to have a 34-18-4 record and be sitting in second place right now. It is even more amazing that the team is as healthy as it is now – although I’m sure there are some bumps and bruises, everyone is cleared to play – Brent Dexter is back in the line-up after a month-long hiatus.

As you all know by now, the Alpena weekend was a preview of what is to come in the next couple of weeks in the first round of the North American Hockey League playoffs. With Friday’s win the Ice Diggers clinched third place and will face the Phantoms in a best-of-five series beginning Friday, April 4 at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice Zone. This series is going to be an intense physical grind, where defense and goaltending is going to be key.

Both goalies had amazing weekends. Bartus and Graves each earned honorable mentions for Player of the Week, while keeping their team in the game each night.

To be honest, I was not expecting Graves to come out and play the way he did. He had been solid all season for both Southern Minnesota and Alpena, and helped lead the Ice Diggers on their incredible run back in February, vaulting them back into the middle of the pack.

I even watched him at the Phantoms Hockey Showcase, and he was very solid there as well. However, the first time he came back to the Ice Zone at the end of February, the Phantoms chased him from the net both nights, lighting him up with seven goals in less than 60 minutes.

Although the fourth liners continued to play important roles against Alpena, it was Graham, Winter, Boeckman, and the usual suspects doing the majority of the scoring last weekend.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the upcoming weekend games against the U.S. National Team. The Phantoms are only 5-4-1 this season against the U.S. and haven’t played them since splitting a weekend series with them back on January 11 & 12 (3-2 los on Friday and a 6-2 win on Saturday) at the Ice Zone. Derek Graham and Johnny Meo have led the way, scoring 16 and 13 points respectively against the Americans.

For the U.S… it is hard to predict which team is going to show up – literally. It could be the Under-17s, could be the Under-18s, but most likely it will be a mix of their top performers. During the NAHL regular season, international competition sometimes interferes, but doing well in the playoffs is a major focal point for them, and will most likely draw their best 20-man unit.

Over their last 6 games, the U.S. has clinched a playoff spot by going 4-1-1 in that span. With the exception of one game in St. Louis, Team U.S.A. has been getting some very solid goaltending – Nick Maricic has not allowed more than one goal per game yet in March.

It wasn’t until last weekend that the rest of the North Division was been decided, however. With St. Louis sweeping Traverse City and the U.S. taking down Marquette twice, the U.S. officially clinched the fourth and final playoff spot in the North, and will face St. Louis in the first round – thus eliminating both the North Stars and the Rangers.

This Friday at the Ice Zone, the first 500 fans through the door will receive a free coupon for a Dairy Queen treat. So, be sure to come early!

Championship Mentality

2008-03-19T07:05:00.001-07:00

A great weekend against Traverse City would be an understatement. It was more than the wins, it was more than clinching the second spot in the division, it was more than the fights… it was a ‘championship mentality’ that the team showed that was the most impressive aspect of the weekend.

Friday’s game couldn’t have been more important. It is a little hard to remember with all the excitement that followed, but coming into that game, the North Stars were 9-0-1 in their last 10 games; the Phantoms were coming off a tough loss at Marquette in their last game, and were just hanging onto the second spot by three points. On top of all that, they then found themselves down 3-0 after the first period of the series.

At the beginning of the year, the comeback wouldn’t have happened. But, as you would hope and expect, the team showed exactly how much it has matured. They didn’t lose their composure, they kept their confidence, they stopped the bleeding, got back to the game plan, outworked, outhustled, outshot, and out-everythinged the Stars to tie it up in the third and then win it in the shootout.

Following the first 20 minutes of the weekend, the Phantoms played their best 165+ minutes of the season, finally burying a healthy amount of chances to outscore the Stars 17-3 and complete the sweep.

Not only did we play well offensively, we played well defensively, too, severely limiting Traverse City’s quality scoring chances, and holding them to less than 27 shots per game. Although they didn’t need to be spectacular, the goaltenders played solidly and came up with the key saves when called upon.

The team also wasn’t afraid to mix it up. With all the fighting majors, the roughing minors, the trash talking, and chippiness that you could see and hear, not to mention the line brawl on Saturday night – any fan that was at the Ice Zone could tell you that this was a very physical matchup – and the Phantoms can play that type of game just as effectively.

The Phantoms showed that anyway you want to play them; they can come out and play right along with you and beat you. This is a team that no one wants to face come playoff time, and this is a team that is showing that they know how to win in the clutch and get to the Robertson Cup Championships.

With that said, now it is the Alpena Ice Diggers that have to come to Boardman in what will, more than likely, be a preview of a first round playoff series. These will be the Ice Diggers’ final games of the regular season, and they just need one win, or a loss by either Marquette or the U.S. to clinch third place.

Mahoning Valley has won six of seven, and that streak began with a sweep three weeks ago against Alpena. In the season series, the Phantoms are 7-3-0 against Alpena and have won five of the last six games against the Ice Diggers.

It has been Derek Graham and Alden Hirschfeld that have led the way against Alpena. Graham has notched 16 points, while Hirschfeld has tallied 13. Brent Dexter, who is still doubtful for this weekend, is third with nine points, and Blakey and Boeckman are fourth with eight points.

A week after facing the NAHL’s second best powerplay unit, the Phantoms will now go head-to-head against the league’s third best unit in Alpena. This unit is led by Erik Peterson, the NAHL’s fourth leading scorer and second leading powerplay scorer.

For any readers that participated in the jersey auctions this season, I would like to extend a special thank you. Also, for our 21-year-old and older fans, there will be dollar beers at the Ice Zone again this weekend – on Friday night this time – please enjoy responsibly.

Three Weeks Left

2008-03-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

With the regular season winding down and the playoffs right around the corner, the Phantoms will face one of their most critical tests of the season this coming weekend.

With the North Stars 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, and having two weeks to prepare for these three games, it is going to be one of the stiffest tests the Phantoms will have faced all season. St. Louis might be the most skilled team the Phantoms have faced, but the Stars are the hottest, will be the most prepared, have the most to play for – their playoff lives, and have three chances at Mahoning Valley.

As it stands right now in the North, with the U.S. beating Alpena last night, the North Stars are tied for fifth with the Rangers, and one point behind the U.S. in fourth. The Ice Diggers are currently three points behind us, but we have three games in hand on Alpena, and play them twice next weekend.

We have talked about the parity in the North division all season long, and it is only fitting for the playoff picture to be as hazy as it is going down to the wire.

The games against Marquette were really nothing to write home about either night. Friday’s win was nice obviously, especially since it seemed like there was either a bit of food poisoning going around the team or some type of 24-hour stomach virus. The boys toughed it out and although they lost a couple leads, they showed their developed maturity and maintained their composure to hang on in the end for the win.

The effort was there on Saturday night, it was just a case of unfortunate bounces that went the Rangers’ way. You have to give Marquette some credit for forcing the issue, however – luck is the residue of design. Three of their goals actually deflected off Phantoms players on their way in. The entire last minute of regulation was spent peppering Beau Christian with shots, but the Phantoms just couldn’t get one by him.

Looking into Traverse City’s run lately, it has been Kyle Bonis (16 points), Nathan Urbaniak (12 points), and Harrison Niemann (12 points) that have led the way over the last 10 games. Chris Paliafito and Brandon Stephenson have combined to save over 93% of the shots they have faced, and are allowing just two goals per game.

However, the “1” in the 9-0-1 record was at the hands of the Phantoms back on February 15 at the Ice Zone – a game in which the Phantoms had a 4-1 lead with just 15 minutes left to play, before the Stars came storming back to tie. Chad Boeckman then won it in the shootout.

With one win this weekend, the Phantoms can clinch a playoff spot. With a three game sweep, the Phantoms can secure second place in the division and the all-important home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The best news for the Phantoms is the fact that despite all the setbacks throughout the season, they seem to finally be getting healthy at the most important time of the year. Kyle Bailey returned with flying colors, notching a pair of goals on Saturday and earning an honorable mention for player of the week.

Obviously, Alden Hirschfeld’s return has been key. Since returning to the team’s top line with Graham and Blakey on March 1, the trio has combined for 11 points in three games. Only Robert Harrison and Brent Dexter remain on the injured list, and hopefully they will be back in soon.

This weekend of course is the St. Patrick’s Day weekend at the Ice Zone. The Phantoms will be wearing their special edition, green St. Patrick’s Day jerseys on Saturday and Sunday which will be auctioned off to fans at those games. Also, for those readers who are 21 or older, there will be $1 beers on Sunday.

Friday and Saturday, the games start at the usual 7:15 p.m. time – Sunday’s opening face-off is set for 3 p.m.

Sweep Brings Renewed Confidence

2008-03-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure what triggered it, whether it was just a matter of the team finally converting their chances, or it was the fact that they were finally concentrating on the details which in turn resulted in a scoring explosion; but those wins couldn’t have come at a more critical time.

Scoring 12 goals against a gritty Alpena team is no easy task. Chasing one of the division’s top goaltenders from the net – twice – and his backup once – is something to be proud of. Holding the league’s second best powerplay unit to just one goal in 17 chances is quite a feat as well.

But most encouraging was the way the Phantoms seemed to just shrug off the fact that they had lost three in a row, and seven of their last 10, and went about their business like it was all part of the plan.

What a world of difference a little bit of confidence makes. From the point when Boeckman buried the first goal of the weekend midway through Friday’s first period, everyone in the building could sense the renewed attitude for the rest of the weekend.

Great to see Graham putting points on the board again. Graham is such a great two-way player, it has to be encouraging to everyone on the team to see him finally get rewarded on the scoreboard for the effort he puts out each night – two goals, three assists, and an honorable mention for player of the week.

When Hirschfeld returned to the line-up on Saturday, it was almost as if that line with Blakey and Graham hadn’t even missed a shift, let alone 11 games. It took just 76 seconds for them to each get a point, and they had combined for seven points by the time the final 58:44 played out.

With Alpena then winning against the U.S. on Sunday, the sweep proved to be even more important – keeping them in second place in the division. Traverse City has now gone 9-0-1 in their past 10 after winning in overtime last night. Especially with the North Stars having a weekend off now to prepare, the three showdowns next weekend at the Ice Zone will be phenomenal.

First things first, however. The Phantoms have one last regular season road trip this weekend at Marquette. The Rangers have lost four out of their last five, are 4-12-1 in their last 17 games, and are sitting on the outside of the playoffs, looking in right now. The Rangers have a chance to get back into the playoffs by taking three of four points against the Phantoms, and obviously have a lot to play for.

Hurting the Marquette cause, however, is the injury to Aaron Pietila, the team’s leading scorer. He has been out since the Top Prospects Tournament. Josh Bussell, James Gallagher, Nick Weight, and Mike Macari have led the way since. They have all fared well against the Phantoms as well, as has defenseman Derek Grogan.

The Phantoms are 4-1-1 in six previous games this year with the Rangers, including a weekend split the last time these two met on February 8-9 at the Ice Zone.

The Phantoms can secure at least a fifth place finish in the division with a sweep this weekend, and depending on how the U.S. National Teams do this weekend (both the Under-17s and Under-18s play twice each), the Phantoms may be able to clinch a playoff spot as well.

Second place is far from secure though, and most likely won’t be until the last weekend of the season. With the way the Phantoms play at home – 16-6-1 this year – second place is key… earning them home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Another interesting playoff note – since the Bandits are hosting the Robertson Cup this year, they have an automatic berth. So, assuming the Bandits win their first round playoff series, whoever faces St. Louis in the second round, will automatically have their ticket punched as well, as the North Division representative.

On a more serious note, the Relay for Life Phantoms jersey auction had another very successful night, earning thousands of dollars for the fight against cancer – Thank you to everyone that participated.

The Phantoms special edition St. Patrick’s Day jerseys are now available for on-line bidding. The live auction will take place on March 15 as the Phantoms take on the Traverse City North Stars.

Mama Said There'd be Days Like This

2008-02-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well this wasn’t exactly the title I was hoping to have on the 25th edition of Cameron’s Corner, but I think it’s appropriate.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about the weekend’s games in St. Louis. Other than a few glimpses of hope on Sunday night, the 5-1 scores pretty much speak for themselves.

Growing up, playing hockey my entire life, these situations obviously were never fun. Losing brought infinite frustration until you were able to go out the next game and, if only for 60 minutes, try to earn a measure of redemption. Even winning only brought a fleeting sense of satisfaction.

But as you grow older and more mature, you realize that despite what you used to hear, the fact is: winning isn’t fun. None of the ingredients it takes to win are fun – winning is hard work – bottom line. Only afterwards, only at the completion of your goal, is there fun.

Additionally, as you get older, you finally begin to realize that it is these trying times, the ebbs to the season, the adversity, and the way you overcome these obstacles that really shapes your character, defines your personality, and gives you confidence to strive to achieve goals that you used to consider outside your comfort zone.

Everyone falls, everyone loses, it’s a fact of life… but it’s the way you react to these challenges that determines how far you will go. Will you crumble in the face of adversity for the rest of your life? Or, will you be the person that everyone knows as someone who will always overcome?

So how does one overcome? First off – hard work. I think this team has that covered. The work ethic is there. The discipline to the game plan may not always be there, but the work ethic in practice definitively is.

Secondly – maintain positivity. What do you have going for you? Well, thanks to early season success and North Division parity, the Phantoms are still in second place. They control their own destiny; they are 10 points ahead of the U.S (in fifth). They have no games left against St. Louis. Nine of their last 11 games will be played at home. You have the talent, you have the work ethic, and you have the time. Every game is a chance to turn it all around, and the first chance is Friday against Alpena.

Alpena is struggling a bit themselves. The Ice Diggers are just 1-4-2 in their last seven games. This is after they were seemingly the hottest team in the league, going 13-1-2 between December 8 and January 26, which included an 11-0-1 span.

The Phantoms haven’t faced Alpena since December 1st, however, and the team they face this weekend will be one that is vastly improved from that weekend. One improvement that this team made is between the pipes. Goaltending had been the Ice Diggers’ Achilles heel, but with the acquisition of Nick Graves, it is now a strength.

Graves is 12-2-4 with two shutouts, a .910 save percentage, and a 2.48 goals-against average since coming to Alpena from Southern Minnesota. The Phantoms faced him in their first game of the season, a 4-3 overtime win against the Express at the NAHL Showcase. The coaching staff also got a chance to watch Graves in all four games he played at the Phantoms Hockey Showcase back in January.

In the season series, the Phantoms are 5-3-0 against Alpena. Derek Graham and Alden Hirschfeld have led the way, each scoring 11 points in the eight games. Nick Kenney, Kyle Bailey (who will hopefully be healthy) and Johnny Meo have been the most consistent contributors lately.

Speaking of injuries, Hirsch remains out of the lineup at this time. He is still rehabilitating the injury he suffered on January 25 at St. Louis… it remains to be seen if he is ready to go this weekend, or if he’ll be saved for the playoffs. Derek Carr was sidelined with a knee problem midway through Sunday’s game, his return is also indefinite.

With the Ice Diggers (26-17-5, 57 points) so close to the Phantoms (27-16-4, 58 points) in the standings, there is no need to overstate the importance of these games towards the standings. Fans at the Ice Zone will be privy to some early playoff-like intensity – as there are huge playoff implications in this one – as it will be for the rest of the way.

Be sure to come out for Saturday night’s game, as the Phantoms will be donning special edition, purple Relay for Life Phantoms jerseys that will be auctioned off to fans after the game to help support the cause.

Showdowns Loom - Part II

2008-02-20T07:11:00.000-08:00

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.

A Tale of Two Nights

2008-02-13T07:34:00.001-08:00

An understatement to say the least, but Friday’s game was not the game I was expecting to see at all. Although 61 shots on goal is quite an achievement, and Marquette’s goalie played a pretty good game, this team should not lose 6-2 to any team in the North American Hockey League – even on their best night – as was the case with Marquette.

The team showed a lot of character to bounce back the way they did on Saturday, and although it wasn’t a great performance, it was gritty, and the effort was certainly better. As the coaching staff has said, too much emphasis is put on wins and losses sometimes, but this time the end result was an important win to quash a two-game losing streak before it became any more contagious.

Much to the pleasure of many fans, the powerplay seems to be starting to click again. Four goals in the past three games, including a 2 for 6 performance on Saturday. It had been tough, especially with the injuries, to keep anything consistent on the ice, but hopefully that will change when guys start coming back.

Speaking of the team’s health woes, it was great to see Kyle Verbeek and Derek Carr back off the injured list last weekend. Kurt Washnock, John Houston and Denny Kramarz are still going full-tilt in practice this week. Hirschfeld and Nielsen are still on the shelf for the time being, but once they get enough rest, it shouldn’t take more than a couple days to get them back in playing shape… they are probably 50/50 for this weekend.

After six games absent from the score sheet, Derek Graham appears to have his stride back, notching an assist in each game against Marquette. He is complimented well with Nick Kenney and Grant Blakey on the wings.

Speaking of Blakey, just watching this kid develop has been a treat… he is really starting to get comfortable in the system, he has got tremendous talent, a great work ethic, and a great attitude. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lead the team in scoring here down the stretch, and he will be a star next season if he keeps this up.

What can you say about Johnny Meo? He has five points in his last three games, eight points in his last six games, has a knack for scoring big goals, and is wreaking havoc all around the ice. He’s been the top forward over the past month.

Enough about individuals, as this is a team game. The team the Phantoms host this weekend is Traverse City. The Stars are a decent team in a really good division and are therefore bringing up the rear, but always have that potential to win. Like every other night, the Phantoms cannot take any team lightly. The Phantoms are 7-2-0 against the Stars this season, including winning their past five in a row.

BUT, the Stars are riding the momentum of two huge wins over the Alpena Ice Diggers and have had the luxury of two weeks to prepare for the Phantoms. Don’t forget, the story two weeks ago was Alpena, and their surge… they had gone 13-2-1 in their previous 16 games heading into the weekend against Traverse City. They have shown the ability to win against good teams, and don’t forget their 10 overtime losses, could have just as easily all gone the other way.

Nathan Urbaniak, Harrison Niemann, and Tyler Stephens have led the way against Mahoning Valley, but the team’s goaltending has struggled against the likes of Miles Winter and Derek Graham – each having scored 13 points against the Stars.

Just as an added bonus to the hockey this weekend, the Phantoms have Quaker Steak night on Friday and Chick-Fil-A night on Saturday. Also, don’t forget to bid on the special Phantoms Relay For Life Jerseys – on-line bids are now being taken, and the LIVE auction is slated for March 1.

Statement Weekend

2008-02-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Despite only getting one win out of their last series, the Phantoms did put together a couple of really good games – and at the right time as well. Although a sweep would have, of course, been better, I think the team made a statement with their weekend, and that statement is that we are one of the top two teams in the league.

Still plagued by injuries, the Phantoms won an absolute grind on Friday. A good old-fashioned goaltending duel played out at the Ice Zone, and Bartus proved why he is one of the top in the country.

Saturday, as disappointing as the final result was, it was still a good effort put forth, and it was encouraging to see the offense finally start to convert some of their opportunities and get some rhythm against St. Louis. Again, it hasn’t been a lack of opportunities, it’s been a lack of finishing them that had been troubling.

With only two games left against the defending champions, (coming up on February 23-24 in Chesterfield, Missouri) the Phantoms have fared pretty well so far – going 2-2-2 on the year – and only one of the non-wins has been decided by more than one goal.

Even more encouraging this week in practice, is the return of a few players to the ice. Denny Kramarz, John Houston, Kyle Verbeek, Derek Carr, and Kurt Washnock are all back on the ice and appear to be full-go. Now, I don’t know if they will all be in playing shape come Friday night, but hopefully they will regain their stamina and be game-ready in a few weeks, barring any re-injury.

Kyle Bailey is really starting to settle into the game plan and produce. Congratulations to him on earning the honorable mention for Player of the Week – two points in each game last weekend. Bailey has scored a point in five straight games – a streak that includes two goals and seven assists.

Also turning heads lately is the play of Jon Madden, who leads the team in plus/minus at +27, and Johnny Meo, who is the Phantoms’ leading scorer in the past 10 games. Carl Nielsen has turned into quite a physical presence out there as well… He clearly has won all three of his fights against Murray in the past four games.

Looking forward here, Mahoning Valley is 3-0-1 this season against Marquette, with their only non-win coming in a 4-3 overtime setback back on December 7 in Marquette.

It has been three weeks since the Phantoms and the Rangers last matched up. In case you forgot, the Phantoms won both of those games, pretty handily as well, back in the Phantoms Hockey Showcase.

The Phantoms are currently enjoying a three-game winning streak against the Rangers, and winning those by an average of four goals each.

Marquette has been struggling mightily lately. Although they did win their last game (against sub-.500 Alexandria), they were 1-8-1 in their previous 10 games. They are now 22-19-3 on the season and barely holding off the U.S. National Team for fourth place in the North Division.

Although Derek Graham has been held without a point in his last six games, the veteran forward has had a field-day against the Rangers this season, notching 7 points in four games. He is still in the top five among NAHL scorers.

Grant Blakey, Chad Boeckman and Miles Winter have each averaged a point per game against Marquette this season as well. Needless to say, playing these games at home, this coming weekend should be owned by Mahoning Valley, but it is still up to the Phantoms to execute, and each individual player to do his job.

Another Chance

2008-01-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

The Phantoms are in a unique position to be able to get some immediate vengeance on the team that was responsible for their worst weekend of the season. It is quite amazing that we are nearly 2/3 of the way through the season, and this was the first weekend that the team was held without a win… plus, they got a point out of it anyway.

I’d like to say right off the bat here that it was great to see all of the Phantoms fan support out in the St. Louis area. While the Bandits drew a lot more fans than I thought they would, there was still a loud group of purple-and-orange-clad fans to my right, near the rafters of the Summit Center. Most of them were friends and family of Chad Boeckman, and it was great meeting some of you.

From watching the games, there were three main things that I saw. First of all, you have to give credit where it’s due… St. Louis is a pretty talented team. They have a ton of skill, they were physical, they played well, they executed their game plan, and just plain and simply converted more of their chances than the Phantoms did.

Secondly, the Phantoms did not seem to have a whole lot of passion, especially on Friday night. I doubt it was complacency after coming off of five straight wins, but there was definitely a certain motivation missing from the players.

Thirdly, and not to use it as an excuse, but the extra 15 feet of width on the Olympic rink favored the Bandits. I’m not saying the Phantoms would have won on an NHL-sized rink, but with St. Louis knowing the rink better, practicing on it every day, playing on it in every game, and using their speed in the open space, it caused some trouble in the defensive zone. At the very least, it took a bit of an adjustment period for the Phantoms to get used to it – and St. Louis scored two goals in the opening period of both games.

There were a couple of bright spots on the weekend. The Bandits power play was held scoreless. Heading into the weekend, discipline was one of the major things that the coaching staff was stressing on. Just by virtue of the stats, you can tell that the discipline was there. The Bandits only got five chances on the man-advantage over the weekend – that’s how you keep the league’s best power play in check.

Another bright spot is Johnny Meo’s play of late. I said it last week, when he was contributing as well, but Meo’s hustle and grit is paying off. Missing his front two teeth, and expecting surgery here pretty soon, Meo notched two goals on Friday to help the Phantoms comeback from a 3-1 deficit to force OT and then assisted on McGinty’s first career goal. Congrats to McGinty on that and to Meo on his POW honorable mention.

I would also like to congratulate Carl Nielsen on his first fight in a Phantoms uniform. Nielsen and Mike Murray squared off early in the game on Friday night. It was probably the best fight of the season, lasted a good 30-45 seconds, both landed some good shots, Nielsen caught Murray with a myriad of uppercuts, and eventually it was Murray who went down.

The injury bug is sure starting to take its toll. Of course, Kramarz and Houston are still out from months ago with their ankle problems. Washnock was still being held out for at least one more weekend. Derek Carr is out. Alden Hirschfeld had to sit one out. Verbeek got injured last week after a practice, Bailey got sick all of a sudden on Saturday night, and Snead and Bonnett were playing pretty banged up on Saturday as well.

It seems like just as the Phantoms were starting to get into some productive line combinations, the injuries started to pile up again. I don’t know if it was the short week or what, but hopefully we get these guys back soon.

Even with the rough weekend still fresh on everyone’s mind, I’d still like to remind people that the Phantoms are 1-1-2 against St. Louis this season – that’s not horrible considering that the Bandits own the NAHL’s best record by nine points.

After sweeping the showcase, it was said that the boys took pride in defending their home ice and making the Ice Zone the toughest place to play in the NAHL. The Phantoms have a chance on Friday and Saturday to let the Bandits experience the discomfort of a 10-hour bus ride home after a winless weekend, and to move above .500 against the league’s top team. Now, it’s all about executing.

Phantoms vs. Bandits - North Division Showdown

2008-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

The Phantoms five-game winning streak couldn’t have come at a better time. After what can only be described as a slow start against the U.S. two Fridays ago, all the Phantoms have done since is win – and win big. There has only been one game decided by fewer than three goals (a 3-2 win over Traverse City on Saturday). The team is hot, and the boys have confidence.

It was too bad to see Graham’s 10-game point scoring streak come to an end on Sunday, but it was great to see some other players step up. Thirteen different players had points in Sunday’s win, and the line of Dexter, Verbeek and Bailey accounted for seven points in Monday’s game alone.

(On a side-note – the Phantoms record when Graham doesn’t score? It has only happened eight times this season, and oddly enough, the team is 7-1-0. I found that intriguing.)

Even more impressive was the defense this weekend. A goals-against average of 1.75 is not only a credit to the goaltending, but the defense as well. The defense also allowed less than 30 shots per game in the Showcase. In talking with Bartus, as well as he played, he gave a lot of credit to the defense as well for clearing out the front to let him see all the shots, keeping the shots to the outside, and clearing out any rebounds.

Speaking of Bartus… it’s great to see him rewarded again finally for his continued stellar play. Mostly because of Graham’s uncanny ability to score, it had been since his 1-0, 44-save shutout against the U.S. Under-18s that Bartus had gotten any recognition. But his stats do most of the talking – top four in wins, GAA, and save percentage – and unlike those around him, he’s doing it against the toughest division. Congrats.

So now there are four against the first-place Bandits and their 31-7-1 record. I said in my last blog that come February 3, the Phantoms will know exactly where they stand among the NAHL’s elite. They got off to a great start with the Showcase sweep, but now the real test is ahead against the top team in the country.

The Bandits powerplay is over three percentage points better than anyone else’s in the league. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider that the fifth best power play (North Iowa) and the 16th best power play (the Phantoms) are separated by less than three percentage points.

Kyle O’Kane, Ben Warda, and Mike Leone each have over 48 points this season. I watched those three (O’Kane and Warda especially) move around at will against Alpena and Traverse City this past weekend… a couple of physical teams. Stopping those three is going to be a challenge. O’Kane is a pure goal scorer, while the other two are exciting playmakers.

On the flipside however, struggling to beat Traverse City one night, and then losing and being brought to a shootout by Alpena in two other games is hardly the definition of dominance. They are obviously beatable. Talent wise, the Bandits and Phantoms are on a pretty even playing field. So now, I guess it comes down to discipline and execution.

The Phantoms took three of four points from St. Louis the last time these two met back in November at the Ice Zone. With a chance to dissect each other this past weekend at the Showcase, it should be interesting to see what kind of game is played.

Expect Cal Heeter to start between the pipes against the Phantoms as well… he seemed to have the hotter hand between him and Johnson in the Showcase.

And one more thing… for those of you that like to listen in to the broadcasts while the team is on the road: I will be doing the audio-only version for free this weekend on mvpphantoms.com. You can follow the live video and the Bandits’ announcer only on B2.

Crucial Weekend at the Showcase

2008-01-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

It really seemed like the Phantoms dominated the whole weekend against the USA, but it took nearly five periods before the scoring touch returned.

The Phantoms outworked, outshot, and outplayed the U.S. during the entire game on Friday it seemed, but just couldn’t find the back of the net, and paid dearly for the few mistakes they gave up. And how dominating was that penalty kill on Friday?? I don’t think the U.S. even had control of the puck on the power play inside the Mahoning Valley zone until late in the third period. In a word: dirty.

Saturday’s first period was the only period this weekend where the Phantoms looked a bit slow. The second period however, the team picked it up, the scoring chances increased, and Derek Graham created his own scoring chance off an aggressive forecheck and slotted a huge goal, late in the frame, to spark the third period scoring explosion.

The changing of the lines seemed to help as well. Meo moved onto the line with Graham and Hirschfeld, while Blakey moved between Kenney and Moser… the thinking was to help productivity over all four lines. It definitely sparked something, as Meo, Hirschfeld and Graham each had three-point nights.

With those things in mind, the Phantoms are now 20-10-3 on the season, good for 43 points and third place in the North. The good news is that Mahoning Valley is only a point out of second place and have two games in hand on each team in the race.

The bad news is that while the Phantoms had their only break of the season, everyone else kept winning. Alpena has gone 9-1-0 in their last 10, and are now in second place, while St. Louis was a mere six points ahead of the Phantoms on December 22, and are now 14.

While the Showcase is big enough on its own to merit the title of “A Big Weekend,” the fact that everything is so congested from second to fourth and that each team plays four games this weekend against each other… we could see a whole new picture afterwards.

One of the things I am most excited to see is how St. Louis performs against some North Division competition. The Bandits are undoubtedly a very good team, but the North is undoubtedly the best division in the NAHL – and St. Louis has only played two games against North Division teams since the Phantoms took three of four points from them at the Ice Zone in early November (going 1-1 against the U.S. back on November 16-17).

Each team will be able to size up their competition in person this weekend, and with eight points at steak for each squad, the division race will be shaped by this weekend’s results more than any other.

Especially for the Phantoms, with four games against St. Louis to follow this weekend’s Showcase, come February 3, the team will know where they stand.

Looking at the Phantoms competition this weekend… two against Marquette (Friday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m.) and two against Traverse City (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Monday at 5 p.m.)… The Phantoms are 1-1 against the Rangers this season, and in the second game of the series in Marquette, the Phantoms found a way to score at will, winning the game 8-2 and winning a handful of scraps as well. The Rangers are coming of two losses last weekend against Alpena.

The Phantoms are 5-2 against the North Stars this season, winning their last three in a row by an average of 3.33 goals per win. The two have not met since back-to-back 6-3 wins for the Phantoms on November 23-24 at the Ice Zone. The Stars are winless in their last six games, but their last three losses have all been in shootouts.

Again, the Showcase starts this Friday at Noon, when Alpena plays the U.S., and lasts until Monday night at the conclusion of the Phantoms vs. Traverse City game. There will be a Midget Major AAA tourney going on as well at the Ice Zone as part of the Showcase. With all the fans, scouts, parents, and staff, it should be quite an event, and a great opportunity not only for the teams, but the individual players as well.

And Now it Begins...

2008-01-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

As it does to the players, it probably also comes as a big relief to the biggest area hockey fans as well, that the Phantoms are finally back to action this coming weekend against the U.S. Under 17s after nearly three weeks off.

While the break was great, and it was much-needed by the players to heal from some injuries and just get a mental break from the game, it is finally back down to business. The Phantoms will not have another weekend off until April.

Think about that: April… by the time the players get another weekend off, rain will have taken the place of snow, the NHL will be ready to start the playoffs, March will have had it’s Madness, The Masters will have been played (and probably won by Tiger), and the MLB regular season will be under way. It is at least 12 consecutive weekends of hockey, probably even more with a playoff run – and it all begins right now.

In case you forgot, the Phantoms are 19-9-3, good for 41 points, and, as suspected, they have dropped to third place in the NAHL North Division during their layoff – one point behind Marquette in second, and one point ahead of Alpena in fourth. The Phantoms have 12 points to make up in the race for the North Division title with St. Louis.

Practices started last Thursday through Saturday, started back up again on Monday and will continue through until the morning skate before Friday’s game. They have been shorter, but harder, skating-oriented practices. Today, most likely, will be more systems-oriented.

Every player that I have talked to is just happy to get back to business… they love the game and just want to be playing and getting back into the routine. Getting glimpses of the practices over the past week, the boys look to be hitting on all cylinders and hopefully there won’t be too much of a lull on Friday to get readjusted to game speeds.

As far as injuries go – Ringel is nearly back to full steam and should be in the line-up for the first time since November 24. Washnock is healthy and skating again as well – his status is still to be determined. Kramarz is still out.

The big news of the past week is the acquisition of defenseman Carl Nielsen from Alpena in exchange for Zack Barbis. Nielsen has the distinction of being the biggest player on the team, checking in at 6-foot-4, 215 lbs., and will hopefully not only bring some more physicality to the blue line but also be big weapon on the power play as well.

The Phantoms top line of Graham, Hirschfeld and Blakey has combined for 100 points this season. Graham is currently on a six-game point scoring streak, and is now third among NAHL scorers with 47 points. The line of Boeckman, Winter and Salituro is formidable as well, combining for 80 points this season.

The U.S. hasn’t played NAHL games since their 6-1 loss on December 22 here at the Ice Zone against the Phantoms. They have, however, been competing and doing well internationally. They are still at an even .500 (15-15-2, 32 points) and in fifth place in the North, but are sporting the NAHL’s fourth best power play unit.

The coaching staff feels that the final pieces of the puzzle are in place and this weekend should be a good chance for the Phantoms to start showing some more consistency as they are now in the grind of the season and getting prepared for their playoff run.

NAHL Update

2008-01-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well, with the weeks off here, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about regarding the Phantoms.

Obviously though, the only real news is big news – and that is Miles Winter’s commitment to Quinnipiac. Congrats to Miles on this achievement. It seems that he is really excited about it, and in talking to him, one of the biggest things is the weight that is taken off his shoulders now that he has his future secured a bit more.

The school is close enough to home for him, that his parents can attend often and when he needs to go home for a bit, it is definitely do-able. Additionally, the hockey program is an up-and-comer, doing well this season, and the school is amazing according to Miles. Again, congrats.

As far as the rest of the Phantoms go, they have been out of town for nearly 10 days – the majority of them having left with their parents right after the game on December 23rd. They get back on the ice tomorrow (January 3) and I’m sure will be skated hard for the first few days back in the saddle in order to get back into playing shape. The U.S. Under 17s loom just nine days away now.

The rest of the NAHL has still been going at it, however. While you might have been sleeping on the Phantoms, knowing they would be in second place once they were back in action, you might not have noticed that Marquette has taken the opportunity to gain ground – a lot. The Rangers, by virtue of three consecutive wins last weekend over Traverse City, are now only one point behind the Phantoms for second place in the North.

St. Louis has also put together a couple of wins since the Phantoms last laced up, putting them 10 points clear of Mahoning Valley in the race for the North Division title. Both of these teams are in action again this coming weekend, and by the time Mahoning Valley takes on the U.S. on Jan. 11-12, they could be looking up at a couple of teams.

I also wanted to get the hype started regarding the Phantoms Hockey Showcase coming up in a couple of weeks here at the Ice Zone. Numerous future NHL stars, including each of the last two first overall NHL Draft picks (Patrick Kane in 2007 and Erik Johnson in 2006) were scouted right here at the Ice Zone.

From Jan. 18-21 fans will have the pleasure of not only seeing the Phantoms future NHL stars, but a collection of some the brightest prospects in the world when each of the NAHL North teams and eight Midget Major AAA teams come to town. The showcase lasts four days and will be a great opportunity to see some great hockey all day long. It will also be a key time for the Phantoms to make a charge, getting two games each against Marquette and Traverse City.

Until next week…

'Twas the Wednesday After Christmas

2007-12-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone. I got to spend some time with family, received pretty much everything I asked for, and I hope you did as well. Well, what then do the Phantoms need for Christmas?

Later this week, I will be putting out an article with some of the best reasons why Mahoning Valley is primed to make another run at the Robertson Cup Championship. I thought it would be a good idea to look at the things that would help even a bit more.

Not being here during last year’s magical run, I wasn’t privy to the character and attitude it took to make it to the championship game in Alaska. Although, having been on a number of championship teams throughout my playing career, I do have a pretty good idea of the sacrifices it takes to do it.

One of the things that I have only seen glimpses of this season, is a win-at-all costs attitude. The teams that I have played for and been around that ended up doing the best are the ones that absolutely hated to lose.

It’s one thing to be disappointed after a loss, but it’s quite another to go home and think about it, learn from it, push yourself to the limit all week, motivate your teammates to do the same, and then come game time, refuse to let it ever happen again. Whether you had a four goal game or a zero point game and went -3 didn’t matter… it only mattered whether you won or lost, because you wouldn’t be able to sleep until you tasted victory again.

Don’t get me wrong, the Phantoms have shown this win-at-all-costs attitude from game to game, but I have yet to see it on a consistent basis. There is no magical recipe for success that is fail-proof every time, but there are key ingredients. There is structure, discipline, work ethic, execution, talent, and attitude. All the ingredients are there, but the attitude seems to be the only inconsistency.

Last weekend against the Under-17s was somewhat of a microcosm of the season thus far. Friday night, the boys got down early, showed their offensive explosiveness to battle back and tie the game a number of times, and then just gave the Americans a bit too much room and paid. A team as skilled as that one cannot be given that kind of room. Saturday night, the necessary adjustments were made, the boys showed that glimpse of win-at-all costs attitude, and dominated 6-1.

The Phantoms are 19-9-3, 10 games above .500 and in second place in the North – a great start. They have suffered through the toughest part of the season and are set up to succeed here in the second half. More than just all the road trips, have been the injuries that contributed to the first half being the “toughest part of the season.” There are 27 games left to set the tone for the playoffs, and come Jan. 11, hopefully, all but one player will be healthy again.

Being set-up to succeed is no guarantee, however. Every night will continue to be a test, and as soon as everyone buys into the system, this team will start sweeping nearly every weekend.

Those are my opinions… what are yours? Have a happy New Year.

The Americans are Coming

2007-12-19T08:56:00.000-08:00

For the first time this season, the U.S. National Team invades the Ice Zone. The under-17s come to town for a two game set against the Phantoms… don’t for get to bring a toy for Toys for Tots night on Friday, and a winter clothing item, canned food item, or a cash donation on Saturday for a free DVD of your child with Santa. A shameless plug – I know, but a worthy one for sure – on to hockey.

The Phantoms are 3-2-1 so far this season against the U.S., with their last game being a 6-4 setback on November 20. With the Phantoms winning 10-2 in their previous meeting (on October 30), the U.S. stacked their roster with quite a few under-18 players for the Nov. 20 game. The teams were deadlocked at 3-3 for nearly half of that game, before a late (and questionable) hooking call led to a USA powerplay goal and eventually an empty-netter to seal the deal. The Phantoms have gone 4-1-1 since.

Chad Boeckman should be given the playmaker award in this series, as he leads both teams in scoring with nine points – all assists. Derek Graham and Johnny Meo each have three goals and four assists in the series. The U.S. has Vinny Saponari and sniper Kyle Palmieri that have led the way against the Phantoms.

The special teams trends in this series are somewhat reversed from each team’s season stats… the US has the fourth best power play in the league, but has only converted at an 11.4% clip against Mahoning Valley. The Phantoms on the other hand are in the middle of the pack of the NAHL powerplay-wise, but have put home 23.1% of their opportunities against the U.S.

After practice on Friday, the coaching staff gave the players Saturday and Sunday off… the first two-day break since the season started. I’m sure the time off was enjoyed by the players, but it didn’t do a whole lot for the team’s injury woes… perhaps the 19-day break after these two games will allow the Phantoms defense to get healthy again.

Don’t be surprised to see one or more AAA defensemen get a crack at the U.S. squad this weekend. The 13-day break probably most helped the guys with sore muscles, aches, and pains – the ones that were playing hurt.

The boys got a chance to break routine a couple times last week, heading to Master Park, a martial arts instructor in Boardman. Most of the benefit of such a diversion lies in the mental discipline that martial arts employs… translating hopefully into an increased focus on the ice.

The sport also takes a lot of strength, flexibility, balance, and hand-eye coordination, that all play a major role in hockey as well. The boys worked up a decent sweat, but it was the diversion from normalcy itself that probably helped more than anything.

The practices in the meantime have been mostly skating. Most of the skating drills are designed competitively, however, which not only makes it feel less like you’re being overworked, but also keeps the boys working harder, longer, because they are competing against someone.

In case you forgot with the layover, the Phantoms last game was one of their best efforts of the season, dismantling the red-hot Marquette Rangers 8-2, and winning a number of fights as well.

With the Bandits winning two at home against North Iowa last weekend, the Phantoms find themselves in second place as they get back to action – four points behind St. Louis.

Derek Graham also fell one point off the pace of the league’s leading scorer (North Iowa’s Shea Walters). Graham’s 23 goals are still tops – by three. Graham and captain Trent Bonnett are both tied for fourth in the league in plus/minus at +16. Scotty Moser (33.3%) and Derek Graham (31.5%) are second and third respectively in the NAHL in shooting percentage.

At 18-8-3, the season is half over, and the Phantoms are primed for a title run. They are definitely improving weekly, but of course still have yet to meld into the team they can be. The coaches have said all season that they are playing well and hopefully will be peaking when the time is right.

Although we have yet to play the teams from the other divisions, the Bandits have beaten the best of the rest, and we know we can beat the Bandits. The tools are there, the work ethic is there… it’s just about effort and consistency in execution from here on out.

Finally, Some Rest

2007-12-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

With half the season over already, the Phantoms are finally going to get a chance to rest – a chance to heal. Here is the list of injured players… Eric Ringel, Denny Kramarz, John Houston, Kurt Washnock, and Derek Carr. Zack Barbis has been out with mono. On Monday, there were only two defenseman that participated in practice, while the rest were resting.

From here, there really is only good news. 1) Despite all these injuries, mostly to defensemen, the Phantoms are still 18-8-3 and tied for first place… and 4-1-1 in their last six. 2) The thinking right now is that everyone except Houston could be back in action against the U.S. on December 21. 3) Even if they aren’t, they will get 20 more days to rest right after that. 4) The majority of the remaining games will be played at home.

If you include the pre-season games in New Jersey, the team has been in action every weekend for over three months – with a few Tuesday games thrown in there as well. That’s 14 consecutive weeks, 11 of which have been on the road, and at last there is some time to heal.

Whether it is the official injuries that have kept players out of games, or the daily bumps and bruises that are wearing them down and holding them out of practice, this will finally be a chance to rest.

While the Rangers weren’t as good as I was expecting, they were still a bit above average. Friday’s game wasn’t our best performance. Luckily, it was only a point lost and not two. Three separate one-goal leads were lost, including two back breaking goals – one in the last two minutes of the third period and the other to win it in overtime.

You could tell the Rangers were all psyched up to play the division leaders. I realized for the first time this season that we are the team with the target on our backs that every opponent gets hyped up to play against, and circles on their schedule.

Saturday’s game was more like business as usual for the Phantoms. While eight goals isn’t always expected, our skill level always makes it a decent possibility. It was great to see the way the team responded to both the 1-0 deficit, and when the Rangers made it close again at 4-2. The game was still in doubt when that happened. So the boys just rolled off four more, stepped up with the gloves dropped when called out, and took home a great win.

So, half the season is over, and only two more games remain before the holiday break. I think that 39 points in 29 games, and a share of the division lead is a pretty good start for anyone, especially with the nature of our schedule – 23 of 29 on the road.

If you didn’t catch the broadcasts this weekend, be sure to check out the NAHL.com homepage and take a look at Graham’s goal. He can dangle with the best of them. He had five points on the weekend and finally won Player of the Week, after three honorable mentions. Congrats to Derek.

Blakey continues to come on strong as of late – the rookie is now fourth in team scoring, has a point in each of the last five games, and has 6 goals and 3 assists in that span. Hirschfeld also has nine points in his last five games, moving him into fifth on the team, and averaging just over a point per game for the season. Along with Graham, these three are a dynamite line and compliment each other very well.

The goaltending continues to be strong. Tibbett just keeps gaining more and more confidence and playing better and better, while Bartus has been a wall all season. When the defense gets healthy again, the goaltending stats will only get better, and the team seems primed for success.

At Marquette is Toughest Test Yet

2007-12-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Up and down again, the season goes, as we follow up a solid weekend against Traverse City, with a somewhat lackluster weekend against Alpena. We did split however, even winning handily on Friday, which leads me to a conundrum:

Am I just spoiled by a team that is already in first place in their division and is tied for the most points in the entire league? Am I expecting too much? Do I expect a win every single game? Because if that’s the case, that’s an unreasonable expectation. A healthy mindset? Yes. But an unreasonable expectation.

So, I thought about this for a little while and then it struck me as pretty obvious… no. What I had become accustomed to, was a consistent effort and quality decision making – things that, for one reason or another, to my eye, didn’t seem to be there this past weekend.

The coaching staff must not have been too excited with the team’s effort either, and scheduled a couple extra days of practice – read: skating – to get that message across. With the way Marquette is surging lately, a performance like last weekend’s could end up as a Rangers blowout.

The loss of Ringel, both as a player, and as a leader, obviously hurt the on-ice performance. Additionally, the absences of Kramarz and Barbis are further depleting the defensive corps.

With this depletion on defense, a forward had to step back and pick up some shifts. This responsibility came to Brent Dexter… a constant threat up front. With Washnock still out, these injuries start to take their toll on the forwards as well – and changes to the lines become a necessary adjustment, and can have a temporary effect on productivity.

What was consistent against Alpena, and all season for that matter, has been goaltending. Heading into the season, losing the services of a goaltender like Zapolski, left a lot of question marks between the pipes.

But, Bartus has grown into an outstanding netminder, and one of the top five statistically in the league, and Tibbett now is playing great and flashing just as much brilliance after re-gaining his confidence. Every night, they put the team in a position to win, and have stolen their fair share of Phantoms wins as well.

More good news is that Kramarz and Ringel are both back on the ice… but neither is participating in any drills, and are probably unlikely to see any action this weekend.

The line of Blakey, Hirschfeld and Graham lit up the ice again this weekend, accounting for nine points on five total goals over the two games. As the coaches have been saying, they are really starting to get more and more comfortable with each other out on the ice, and compliment each other very well.

I am excited for these Marquette games… even more than St. Louis – I think Marquette is going to develop into a better team by season’s end. Looking at the Rangers statistics, they are one of only a handful of teams with four players that have at least 20 points (Pietila, Bussell, Condon, and Gallagher – the Phantoms have seven such scorers) Pietila has 18 points in the last 10 games.

Moreover, I think Marquette has really found their stride here in the middle of the season, going 7-2-1 in their last 10. They have played mostly North Division teams (arguably the best division in the NAHL this season), with the exception of a few against an average Fargo-Moorhead team, and they beat the current leaders of the other divisions (North Iowa in the Central and Wichita Falls in the South) at the Showcase in September.

I’ll even go as far as saying: I think playing in Marquette will be our biggest test so far this season, and I think they are the second best team in the North, behind us. St. Louis has just had an easier schedule.

Marquette has a goaltender (Brooker) that is in the top five in the league in save percentage as well. The Phantoms haven’t faced a goalie in the current top 12 since the Showcase.

Furthermore, the Rangers rank in the top four in both power play and in penalty killing, and they will be all geared up to face the first-place Phantoms and defend their home ice..

This will be a great barometer for both teams, and I guess we’ll know more by this time next week.

Tied For First

2007-11-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good holiday feast, I sure did.

It’s been a long road coming, but we’ve finally caught up to St. Louis for first place in the North Division and the most overall points in the NAHL. Now we just have to keep it going. If we want to catch North Iowa for the best overall record, that’s going to be another good battle.

The wins this weekend were very similar. The Phantoms put up big leads, 3-0 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday, before allowing the Stars to make things interesting, 3-3 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday, and then putting it away. We dominated all but 10 minutes of each game it seemed like… still not 60 minutes, but closer. As coach Mainhardt said – we played 100 good minutes this weekend out of 120.

Obviously, with that statement, there is room for improvement. Earlier in the year, without as much maturity, it might have been a different story. Letting a team back into the game, we wouldn’t have been able to quell their momentum. Interestingly enough, even though they never got any closer than 5-3, I thought Traverse City had a better chance of taking that one from us, than they did when they tied us up at 3-3 on Friday.

Salituro had a heck of a weekend, and now has eight points in his last four games. His hat trick on Friday was only the second of the season for a Phantom… both were against the Stars (Miles Winter on 11/16). Once the North Stars tied it up, he took the team on his back and won the game for us.

Moser had a good weekend as well, with three goals… his first three points since October! Even without getting any points for all those games, he is still fourth on the team in scoring. That just goes to show you how hot of a start he really had. I wouldn’t call it a slump, however. According to the coaches, he really has improved his defensive zone skills and become more of a complete player. Both Salituro and Moser are first year players, and led us this weekend… reassuring.

I think it was a good thing that we got two wins without Derek Graham getting a point. Furthermore, he is still second in the NAHL in points, so it didn’t hurt him too much not to get anything. It would have been nice to be take over as the league’s leading scorer, but he’ll undoubtedly get plenty more points this season.

The attendance this weekend was very encouraging. With the colder weather and all the events/promotions happening this weekend, the Phantoms drew over 900 on Friday and over 1000 fans on Saturday. Although there were no fights, much to the fans’ dismay, there were two wins. This should hopefully keep them rolling in. It’s a great atmosphere down here.

In case you haven’t read the news, the Phantoms are already planning for the future, signing four players for the 2008-2009 season. Three players, J.D. Howard, Kyle Van and Zak Zaremba signed this weekend, while William Rapuzzi signed a few weeks ago via fax. Howard especially is encouraging, as he is one of the first local kids to be tendered by the Phantoms. Kyle Van is a great defenseman and plays currently on the AAA team. The other two are putting up monster numbers in good leagues. Congrats to all four.

Kyle Verbeek got his first points as a Phantom, chalking up an assist on both Friday and Saturday night on Scott Moser goals. Verbeek’s size and hustle are probably his most outstanding qualities. Right now he is playing with Meo and Moser, we’ll see where he goes when Dexter is back in the line-up and Winter moves back onto Meo’s line. Wherever it is, he’ll be a tremendous asset.

Speaking of Dexter, encouraging news: He is healing quicker than originally expected. Hopefully, we’ll see him this weekend.

Ringel on the other hand, is going to be a bit more lengthy. Interviewing him yesterday, and talking with the Phantoms trainer the day before, he isn’t expected to start getting back on the ice until a few weeks from now due to his shoulder injury. The December games at home versus the USA might be pushing it, but by January, hopefully, he’ll be back in the saddle.

Looking at Alpena this weekend… After sweeping back on November 9-10 at Northern Lights Arena, the Phantoms are ahead 4-2 in the season series. Those two wins however were hard-fought, one-goal wins, with Grant Blakey getting the game-winner midway through the third period both nights.

After sweeping them in Alpena, I’d have to say another sweep here at the Ice Zone is expected from the coaching staff. Wins however aren’t automatic in this league, they will be earned. It will come down to execution, discipline, and hard-work… if we win in those departments, we’ll win every game.

Home Stretch Begins

2007-11-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

After a week-long road trip, we are finally back in Boardman. And an interesting trip it was. Our record really didn’t reflect how we played. We went 2-2-0 on the swing, but we played like we should have gone 3-1-0. We were a questionable call away from a point (or possibly two) last night that would have made the weekend a statistical success.

First of all, it was a great shot, but Kristo’s snipe in the last minute of regulation Tuesday night was caused by having too much room, and too much time to pick a spot… a direct effect of having a power play on a questionable neutral-zone penalty called on the Phantoms. Now you can’t blame a loss entirely on officiating, but it could be considered a contributor.

Friday’s 6-5 shootout win was probably our poorest performance of the four games, but a win nonetheless. Both Saturday and Tuesday, we played well enough to win, but just couldn’t pull it off. That’s the way the bounces go sometimes, and especially on the road.

Miles Winter has put together a multi-point effort in three of the last four games; earned a Player of the Week award; and has just really picked up his game. His shot is deadly, it’s a quick release, it’s fast – velocity-wise, and it is accurate. His speed is deceptive – he doesn’t look like he is faster than everyone else, but I just watched him skate around some of the best defensemen in the league for the past week. His size is a huge asset as well. Not only can he score, but he adds a physical dynamic to the team when he’s out there.

Of course Graham has continued his stellar play. He is up to second in league scoring now, only a point behind Cardwell, and also has the most goals in the NAHL. He has now scored a goal in 11 of his past 13 games, and has failed to notch a point in only four games the entire season. Talk about consistency!

On the topic of consistency… we finally saw some this week. A few letdowns here and there are to be expected, but the effort for 60 minutes is what is harped upon. The effort, I felt was there all weekend.

The Phantoms will be without their fourth-leading scorer for an indefinite amount of time. Brent Dexter went down on Sunday with a shoulder ailment. It isn’t as serious as was first suspected though, and Dex appears to be healing quickly. Don’t expect to see him this weekend, however. Physicians will get a better look at him next week.

We saw three very physical games at Traverse City just a few days ago. With each team having one game in between (Traverse City and Alpena play tonight), I doubt any animosity will have subsided when they face off again here on Friday and Saturday. The fans at the Ice Zone should be in for a treat, and hopefully a couple of wins as well.

As you may have already heard (or read) World Middleweight Champion, and Youngstown native, Kelly Pavlik will be in attendance on Saturday night. That should make the place even that much more electric. The Ice Zone should be close to capacity.

Like I said last week and have been reiterating in my broadcasts, the Phantoms will now play 27 of their final 35 regular season games at the Ice Zone. On the bus ride back from Ann Arbor late last night, it was evident that most of the players are relieved to finally be skating on home ice for a while.

Including the exhibition games in New Jersey, the players have been enduring red-eye bus rides, and living out of hotels for 9 of the past 10 weekends, 21 of 23 games, for a bit over two months. It’s been quite a run – a great time, but taxing. To come out of this stretch with a 14-7-2 record, 30 points, and a second place standing, is an accomplishment, and our boys are to be commended.

Happy Thanksgiving, and see you Friday in Boardman.

Reward for Sweep - Four Games in Five Days

2007-11-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Finally, a weekend sweep!

The Phantoms didn’t play their best hockey, but they found a way to win nonetheless, twice- and Alpena is not a terrible team. I don’t think they are as talented as they were last season, but that was still a playoff team that we beat. Good teams find a way to win, even when they are not playing their best. But then again, great teams just play consistently well. Hopefully we’re in the middle of that transition.

Saturday’s game was one of the slowest games I have watched. I love defensive hockey, don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t give me a whole lot to write about, but as a former goaltender, I’d rather see an exciting 1-0 game than a sloppy 7-6 one.

The 2-1 shootout loss to St. Louis was an exciting defensive game, but this past one against Alpena just wasn’t – only 40 shots on goal combined, very few scoring chances, sloppy play in the neutral zone, lots of whistles, etc.

At 12-5-2 and (4-0-1 in the last five), you can’t call the start of the season anything but a success. However, we need at least five points in this four game stretch to keep that momentum going here until the schedule becomes friendly. Four games in five days, all on the road. That’s going to really test our depth.

Coach Mainhardt has said all season that his team is built for depth, and that at this level, each line should be able to score. He has proven it with the recent contributions of his third and fourth lines. Now it (the depth) will be tested to the highest degree thus far.

Unfortunately, according to the team’s trainer, the Phantoms will be without the services of Kurt Washnock again for the remainder of the road swing. Washer just seemed to be hitting his stride with Kenney and Carr on that fourth line, all had started producing.

Grant Blakey is starting to emerge as one of the team’s top rookies as well. Blakey, is second amongst Phantoms rookies (behind Moser) in scoring, and came up with two clutch game-winners in Alpena. Congrats to Blakey for his honorable mention.

After Tuesday, there is only one road trip per month from December through March. Counting the North Division Showcase (played in Boardman), the Phantoms will play 27 of their final 35 games in the friendly confines of the Ice Zone. Players, and coaches as well, have told me that there is a totally different energy in the locker room before the home games. The Mahoning Valley fans almost create a permanent power play.

With the parity in the division, there really are no easy games all season. You might be able to say that if you were going to play Alexandria, Bismarck, or Kenai River some time, but not in the North.

Traverse City proved three weeks ago that they can hang with the Phantoms if we aren’t ready to play, as the two teams split last time at Center ICE Arena. Looking at the North Stars, they really don’t have any statistical studs. Against us, Stephens, Bourbonis and Greener each had 3 points – the majority of those coming in the final game as the Phantoms fell just short of coming back to win from a 4-0 deficit. Hughes and Niemann are legit scoring threats as well.

The Stars have had 14 days to prepare for these games at home, so it’s going to take a 60 minute effort each night on our part to pull off another sweep. The next home weekend is coming up in 10 days, Friday and Saturday Nov. 23-24 against Traverse City - Besides just the games, there are some great attractions at the Ice Zone that weekend as well.

I’ll tease you with that – Until next Wednesday…

Class of the League

2007-11-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

Three out of four possible points on the home stand – against the top team in the NAHL no less – proves that not only can we play with the best, but we can beat the best, and possibly are the best.

Although a win on Saturday would have been ideal, if someone had told me that the Phantoms would have gone 1-0-1 this weekend against the Bandits, I would have taken it. Anyone else?

Coach Carr brought up a good point after Saturday’s game, in realizing that the boys had played five games in the past eight days and looked tired early in the game. It was a completely different tempo. It probably also had a lot to do with how the Bandits changed up their game plan towards the middle of Friday’s game and the entire second game. They just, plain and simple, started playing better and more aggressively.

Bartus was the main reason the Phantoms were able to salvage a point out of the game, as he continued playing brilliantly. Derek Graham’s goal, his seventh consecutive game with a tally, came at the right time… it appeared that the Bandits were ready to pull away, and that shifted the momentum at least back to neutral.

I was surprised that we couldn’t convert more than once in the shootout. The end of every practice is usually when the team works on breakaways – the same time that you would be taking them in the game as well, after you’re tired. It could have just been the continuance of hot goaltending, Mike Johnson had a great game, but now we are 2-2 in shootouts this season.

How about Johnny Meo’s goal on Friday? Unreal. He really plays a physical game, always keeps his motor running, and earns everything. That shorthanded goal at the end of the first sparked the second period flurry, and boy do the fans respond to him, and then the team responds to that. Six points in two games (USA on Tuesday, and Friday vs. St. Louis) – he definitely deserved that Player of the Week. Congrats.

The crowd and the atmosphere were great, and I, along with the players and coaches, can’t wait to play in front of the home crowd again on Thanksgiving weekend.

Although Graham had a great weekend, so did Adam Cardwell (9-21-30) from Wichita Falls. He notched five points on Saturday to take the NAHL lead in points, two ahead of Graham (14-14-28).

We’ve seen Alpena now four times this season, and are 2-2 against them. This will be the team’s last trip up to Northern Lights Arena in the regular season, I’m sure we’ll see them in the playoffs. With the weekend success, the Phantoms have moved into sole possession of second place in the North, six points behind St. Louis… Alpena is nipping at our heels in third, just three points back.

The U.S. is right there too, but they seem to be tailing off here lately – even though they are tied for third place, they have the worst win percentage in the division (.500). The parity this year in the North is unparalleled – last place and second place are only separated by five points.

Each team has the ability to just light it up offensively. Inconsistency seems to be plaguing everyone except St. Louis, although, even the Bandits had a bout of it this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see where they go now that they face the opposite situation as us – playing the majority of their remaining season on the road.

It was great meeting some of you in the parking lot on Friday before the game. If you ever see me roaming the halls of the Ice Zone before a game, don’t hesitate to pull me aside! I’m always up for suggestions, and of course some hockey talk.

Until next week…

Showdown At The Ice Zone

2007-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

I should preface this edition by saying that I am writing this fresh off a 10-2 thumping of the U.S. National Development Team, Under-17s… so this may be a slightly, overly-optimistic assessment.

I will continue, nevertheless, by saying that we are the most talented team I have seen play so far in the NAHL (including at the Showcase in Minnesota, where I was privy to watching most teams), and with the right mindset, there is no telling how far we can go.

The record stands at 9-5-1. When the puck drops on Friday night at 7:15 p.m. for the home opener, the Phantoms will be tied for second place in the North with the winner of Thursday’s game between the U.S. and Alpena. So, it will be a battle atop the North Division against the Bandits.

I said all along that if the Phantoms had 17 points after playing their first 15 games on the road, they’d be happy. Now, although there have been some frustrating losses, and a lot of fans/players/coaches/etc. feel like they should be more like 12-3-0, the coaches have said they think this is a successful start to the season, and the boys are primed for another run at the title.

Stats

We have now combined to score 15 goals in the last 4 periods. That’s the good part, it’s what this team is capable of. But, like I said in the pre-game show last night, 20 minutes of hockey usually isn’t going to win many games.

The Phantoms proved last night that they can play from start to finish. It was great to see the more unheralded players such as Grant Blakey and Johnny Meo put up the numbers that they did – each notching a goal and three assists. For Blakey, it was his third consecutive game with a goal.

Derek Graham continued his tear – he now has scored a goal in each of his last five games, and has had three points in each of the last three games – this run has moved him into the NAHL league lead in points (12G, 14A, 26 pts.).

After the coaching staff repeatedly stressed upon Graham’s all-around game, rather than just his scoring knack, I have also started to pick up on how well he executes the forecheck, his hustle on the backcheck, and all the different situations that he’s thrown into, and thrives in.

Chad Boeckman is obviously benefiting from being put back at the point on the power play. He is now second in the league in assists. The coaches are impressed with the way he sees the ice – hence the switch.

With the exception of the Traverse City loss, Garrett Bartus has been a rock. Even in that game, he didn’t get a lot of help, nor did he take the loss though either. I’m sure it was somewhat of a relief for him to not have to put the team on his back last night.

The line of Meo, Miles Winter and Scott Moser is really clicking. All three players have benefited tremendously.

More impressive than Moser’s 17 points in 15 games is his plus/minus, a +9.

Congrats To:

Trent Bonnett recently committed to Bentley College. He becomes the sixth Phantom on this year’s team to have his college secured for next season.

As you have undoubtedly read and heard, Phantoms veteran defenseman Eric Ringel (committed to Notre Dame) was recognized by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau as a B-rated player for the Draft in June.

Phantoms rookie goaltender Jordan Tibbett was recognized with a C-rating. Both players are only 17 years old and are at the dawning of promising hockey careers. Congratulations to both men.

At Home… Finally

It has been a long time coming, a lot of early morning bus rides back into the Ice Zone and long drives home, but we are finally here. The clock on the website is counting down, and the defending champions await.

Looking at St. Louis, from the stat sheet, the numbers are impressive. A 13-2-0 record, best in the NAHL. They lost their first game to the U.S. National U-18s before Minnesota, and then rolled off eight straight wins. They lost to Springfield, and now have won five more in a row – BUT, all their wins have come at home… their only losses this season have both come on the road.

Both Bandits goaltenders have a GAA below 2.15 and a save % above .915. Who will we see? I’d say both. It looks like they are rotating starters.

As far as scorers, Kyle O’Kane’s 22 points is good for 4th in the NAHL. There are three players tied with 17 points each: Sam Bozoian, Ben Warda and Mike Leone. Mike Merrifield was recognized by Central Scouting as a C-rated player for the NHL Draft. He is fifth on the team in scoring with 12 points.

All the Phantoms I’ve talked to can’t wait to be at home, to play in front of friends and family, and their hometown fans – that wait is now just two more days.

Happy Halloween!

Still Dominant - But Not Consistent

2007-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

It looked as though the Phantoms had turned the corner going into Saturday night’s game in Alpena. They were 4-1-1 in their last six games. They had put together their best 60 minutes two games before, and then even a better 60 minutes on Friday in a 6-1 thumping of the Ice Diggers.

But then there was Saturday’s game. What an odd game. The Phantoms didn’t play altogether that poorly. They out shot their opponent for the third time in a row. They had a good amount of scoring opportunities… perhaps even more than Alpena did, but they ended up losing 4-2. It was partly due to great goaltending. Nate Pellegrino played well. We didn’t crash the net, look for rebounds and deflections and play nearly as physically as we did on Friday.

Also, there were no penalties called in Saturday’s game! Not one! On either team! After a combined 27 penalties for 66 minutes, including two separate fights in the third period, are you honestly telling me that there was nothing illegal going on between these two rivals that warranted a penalty? There was no obstruction, no interference? Nary a hook, a slash? Anything? Officiating cannot be blamed for a loss, but when there is nothing called at all, you have to question the commitment of the referees.

Speaking of fighting… Adam Snead and Derek Carr chalked up a couple wins in that department. Carr was particularly impressive. Fighting Russ Anderson, who officially has 9 inches and 42 pounds on Carr, Carr drew blood and gave him a shiner. Snead’s fight was a bit more equal, with Snead coming out on top of Kerry Bence.

Graham’s year is still going strong. Three goals on the weekend. He is now in fifth place amongst NAHL Scorers. Bob Mainhardt is of course happy with Graham’s scoring, but is more impressed with how great of a two-way center he is.

Moser picked up three helpers on the weekend and is third on the team in scoring, and has a team-leading eight goals. Dexter and Graham have seven goals each.

Moser and newcomer Jon Madden lead the team in +/- at +5. Madden has added some stability and depth into a defensive corps that was somewhat lacking earlier, mostly due to injury. The Phantoms have not been out shot since Madden started playing regularly. Another newcomer, Stefan Salituro, now has two points in four games.

Garrett Bartus had a great showing on Friday night. His win moved him to 3-1-1 on the year and into 2nd place in the league in both GAA and Save %. Bartus shows a lot of confidence out there during the games, and usually the team responds in like-kind in front of him. Coupled with Tibbett being in net for the loss on Saturday, it will be interesting to see what the coaching staff does with the goaltending this coming weekend against Traverse City.

B2 Networks –

I hope that a lot of the listeners/viewers of the webcasts are also reading this. I’d like to start off first with – I’m Sorry.

There has been a lot of miscommunication between B2 and myself as to what we are able to do. Supposedly, there are to be two audio feeds (one for the home announcer and another, separate one for the away announcer) at every rink we have traveled to so far.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, especially in Alpena, where evidently most of the time you were hearing someone other than me. I try to put on a professional broadcast, but the B2 ends of things haven’t worked out yet.

Believe me, I’m getting frustrated too, and I’m doing everything I can to remedy the situation, so that we can get live coverage of the game to you. Without going into too much more detail, I’d like to say please e-mail me at clee@fireworks.com with any questions you have.

North Stars -

Traverse City is only two points behind us in the standings. Of course a sweep would be ideal, as we are only two points out of second place. With the US playing the Bandits this weekend, we can make some headway on someone. Looking at the stats for Traverse City, there is nothing that jumps out at you at all… they seem relatively mediocre.

I can’t wait until St. Louis comes to town in 12 days for the home openers at the Ice Zone. The atmosphere will be great, and the opposition will be tough. Great games to watch.

Ten Games Deep

2007-10-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Splitting Weekends

2007-10-10T07:38:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday night, I finally saw what the Phantoms were capable of – for 20 minutes at least – and that was enough to win the game. Just imagine what kind of score would have been put up if we multiplied that by three.

I wasn’t privy to what was said in the locker room during the second intermission while the team was trailing 2-1, and looking somewhat lackluster offensively. I imagine the thought of skating lines at 5 a.m. back in Boardman after a nine-hour bus ride was engrained into the heads of the players… but again, I can only guess.

I commented last week about how the 1-0 win over Team USA was perhaps the spark this team needed to start moving. Well, giving away a 2-1 third-period lead in Saturday’s game wasn’t what I really expected. The 20 minutes of high-flying, speed-oriented, tape-to-tape passing and highlight reel goals in the third period of Sunday’s game was. We’ll see now where we go from here.

Looking at the standings in the NAHL, the North seems to be the class of the league. Every team is .500 or better. Sure there are teams such as Wichita Falls and North Iowa that are good in the other divisions, but top to bottom, the North is the grind. With St. Louis winning last night, the Phantoms are six points behind them in first place. With some help from Springfield this weekend, we hopefully we can narrow that gap.

Return of Hirsch –

I had been told that Alden Hirschfeld was going to be a huge boost when he got back, and he did not disappoint. A mere 7 minutes, 20 seconds into his season, he scored a goal that made me realize his value to the team. He won a battle along the boards in the neutral zone, walked a defenseman, deked the goalie completely out of the net, and slotted a backhand.

He then added a goal and two assists to help spark Sunday’s outburst, earned an honorable mention accolade, and is the clear emotional leader of this team – all this after not being able to eat solid food, let alone play hockey, for the past month.

In addition, it’s very encouraging to see the rest of the veterans stepping up. You can notice it in the stats, obviously. Eight of our nine top scorers are vets. It would be nice to see at least one or two other rookies to start playing a bigger role though.

Special Teams –

If you haven’t noticed, the Phantoms live and die on the special teams. Although the power play is only converting at 17% (7th in the NAHL), it has accounted for nearly 50% of our total goals this season.

Alpena’s power play is again pretty lethal this year, and I think our PK numbers (83% and 13th in the NAHL) should go up as the season wears on (so their numbers against us aren’t as heavily weighted), and the team matures and becomes a bit more disciplined – both while on the PK, and not taking bad penalties in the first place.

Being Healthy –

We’ll see if veteran defenseman Denny Kramarz will get back into the line-up this week after missing nearly four games now due to injury. Our defensive corps got a big lift when Harrison came back off his suspension. I think Kramarz will add some much needed depth at the blue-line. It has got to be tiring being so shorthanded.

Other than Kramarz, Washnock is back, Hirsch is back, Woods is back, and anyone else that had some problems is back as well.

There is one new face in the dressing room this week – Jon Madden was brought over after playing in Waterloo of the USHL last season. It will be exciting to see what he can contribute. I’ll try and get some info and interview him for the weekend preview.

Getting Out Shot –

Something needs to be done about getting so drastically out-shot. It might have a lot to do with who is counting the shots (the other team, while we are on the road), but getting out shot by an average margin of 8.8 shots per game is probably costing us a goal per game.

Looking Ahead –

The USA Under-17s are a lot better this year, evidently, than last year’s squad. Either way, you have to think that if we can beat (read: shut-out) an Under-18 squad that has been playing together for over a year now, then we should be able to handle the 17s… Marquette did – once.

Talking with Bob Mainhardt this week, he says that coming off the bus and winning the first game of a weekend stint will come with maturity. So, I think if we can just win a few of those and come off this 15-game, season-opening, road-trip at with at least 18 points, we’d be happy. Home is where we’ll excel, come November and afterwards.

Until next Wednesday…

True Mettle

2007-10-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

This one is going to be pretty short in comparison to the previous three…

With North Division play only two games old, the Phantoms character has already paid off. After falling 7-2 the night before, I can’t tell you how encouraging the rebound 1-0 revenge victory against the Under-18 National team was. The attitude and confidence on the bus afterwards was tangible.

Having said that, they still haven't put together a full 60 minutes. They mostly rode the goaltending of Bartus to that win. The first period was played pretty evenly, but the last 40 minutes was played mostly down in the Phantoms zone. Now, having said that too, 60 minutes from us, and we’d be unbeatable, every night, even against the Team USA’s of the world.

Bartus played very well, but with the exception of a few saves (most notably a diving save to his right late in the third), he really never put himself in a position to have to make spectacular saves… and that’s the mark of a consistent, confident goaltender.

The defense kept the majority of the 44 shots coming from the outside. He was constantly in position, he saw the puck well, he controlled his rebounds well, and made the saves look easy. If you heard the broadcast you probably could have felt the enthusiasm because he was just so solid. Being the only returning goaltender, it is probably up to him now to show the coaching staff what kind of day-in, day-out consistency he can have. I’m not sure if the starting job has been decided, but Bartus’ performance Saturday probably gives him an edge.

I haven’t had time to look at the history books, but does anyone know when the last time that the U-18 team got shut out in NAHL play was? In any play?

Alpena will be the first true road test. Ann Arbor had a lot of Phantoms fans there, and the American fans weren’t that boisterous. Alpena, from what I’m told should be a hostile, and fun environment to experience.

The Ice Diggers have become a bit of a rival after last season’s battle atop the standings. Three of their players already have eight points on the year, Russell Anderson, Erik Peterson, and Jon Puskar. Watch out for them…it looks like they all work together on the same power play unit.

Our power play is just as deadly though… the stats might not show it, but it really is where we live and die… and right now we’re 4-2, so I’d say we’re living. Our special teams, put together are moving at an above 100% clip which is what you want (17% on the PP and 88% killing), but I think we’re capable of 110%... Alpena’s power play is at 22%, but their PK is only 72%... Graham, Boeckman, Winter, Ringel, Dexter, Moser, and Co. should have some big numbers this weekend.

And one more note before we go… Having watched the practices for a few weeks now, I cannot imagine any team in the league being in better shape than we are. We may not be the biggest team in the league, but we have the talent, the speed, and the work ethic to win it all. Now they have to earn it, every day.

North Division Play Begins

2007-09-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

The obvious question this early in the season, after a mere four games of NAHL play, and three exhibition games, is: So, how far do you think the team will go this year?

I’m very optimistic, but I’ll leave it that. It is too early in the season, too early to tell exactly the potential of this team. Instead, I’ll work around it, and let you decide.

There are some promising things coming out of last week, and some things that need to be worked on. Talking with head coach Bob Mainhardt and Curtis Carr on the bus ride back from Minnesota, they are impressed with the talent, they are excited about the potential of the rookies, and they were encouraged by the way the team bounced back after the loss to North Iowa.

More candidly about the showcase… The team did not put together an entire 60 minutes in the games I watched. Once we start playing teams in our own division, twice in one weekend, and multiple series in the course of the month, if we can’t put 60 minutes together, there will be some problems. To me, it seemed to be a mental thing - the team possibly losing focus for a few minutes - that ended up costing them key goals. Luckily, it only cost them one game, and this is a problem that can be easily remedied.

Let me put it this way, we could have real easily been anywhere from 0-4 to 0-2-2, but great teams find ways to win, even when they aren’t playing their best hockey, and that’s what the boys were able to do. So we are 3-1-0.

Thursday’s game was a great example of this. We were vastly superior skill-wise to the Texas Tornado. We were up 3-0 after one, and 4-1 with only a few minutes left in the second period. A late Texas goal in the second, accompanied by an early goal in the third, and the team seemed to lose focus. Before you knew it, the game was tied. Our boys stepped up though, some veterans came through, and Derek Graham was able to score the game-winner. In actuality, we should have won that game (and the other two games we won) by three goals at least.

I probably don’t even need to mention how easily the two shoot-out wins could have gone either way. But our talent and our goaltending stepped up to get us the W.

Just an observation here, but speaking of talent… Without having seen the North yet, I think we have an advantage already over the rest of the league. It seems as though we have put together a team of smaller, faster, more skilled players. Southern Minnesota and Topeka especially looked a lot bigger than us. But, with all the penalties called, and all the open ice that resulted, our speed and talent on the power play was usually the difference when we were matched up against bigger, but slower penalty killers.

I could go a lot further in-depth on the Showcase, but let’s look ahead to the upcoming showdown in Ann Arbor. According to the schedule, we are playing the U-18s as opposed to the U-17 team that we will be facing for just about the rest of the year. USA goalie Nick Maricic was the North Player of the Week at the showcase, winning 2 games, with one shut-out, a 0.50 GAA, and a .983 save percentage. Besides hot goaltending, we also have to face a team mostly full of future Olympians. I will be interviewing Bob and Curt later in the week, and I’ll be interested to see what kinds of things they are working on in practice specifically to tune-up for such a high-powered squad. I’m sure they will be looking at the game tape from the USA vs. Fairbanks game to see how Fairbanks kept up and won.

We are currently tied with Marquette for third place in the division, with St. Louis and the USA above us. This will be a great chance for us to move up. While the showcase was a great barometer to see how we compared to the rest of the NAHL, this weekend will be a chance for these boys to see how they measure up to the best in the world. What a great opportunity for these guys.

On the Road Again...

2007-09-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

On the Road Again…

Just driving through Indiana on the way to Minnesota, and thought that I’d put my blog up a day earlier than scheduled. After returning home a mere 36 hours ago, we are right back on the road for 13 hours going up to the NAHL Showcase… not an easy task, but it is exciting nonetheless. Anyway, there will be plenty more to read in the coming days, as I will be putting a brief game summary up on the website shortly after each game, and then will have a full weekend wrap-up for you on Sunday or Monday. In addition to previews and features as well, I think this will remain the plan for the whole season.

Four games in four days. An increased chance of injury due to fatigue. And, bigger and deeper teams – Those are the challenges facing the Phantoms in Blaine, Minnesota.

Despite the continued absence of Hirschfeld and Washnock, due to illness and injury respectively, the team remained healthy through the pre-season. Besides getting a good warm up for NAHL play, I’m sure this was one of the goals of the coaching staff for last weekend.

With only one day of practice (Monday) this week before setting out for the road, it gave neither the players nor the coaches a chance to work on anything specific that might need to have been improved upon from New Jersey. It goes without saying (almost) that it gave them no time to prepare for the unique challenges of each opponent either.

The boys worked up a good sweat yesterday, and had a full practice instead of the usual Monday practice where the team splits up into groups on both sheets of ice to work on skills rather than systems.

The Showcase will help answer a lot of questions. As coach Mainhardt said in his interview for today’s article, every team is going into this week thinking they have a championship caliber team… This showcase will really help all teams discover how they stack up against the entire NAHL as opposed to just their division, which will be what we’ll be playing for the rest of the season.

In trying to incorporate everyone into the game plan last weekend, it was great seeing some of the rookies get off to such a successful start. Even with so many quality returners, the rookies are going to play a major role in the team’s success this year. So, this week, we’ll be able to see which of these newcomers will be consistent enough to earn playing time this year.

We’ll also get to see the emergence of a starting goaltender as well. As a former goaltender, I’m excited to see who plays / plays best this week.

The season has been shortened to 58 games this year, this means only 29 home dates for each team, and really only 27, considering two “home games” will be played this weekend in Minnesota. Just like last season, the Phantoms will begin with a whole bunch of games on the road. So, a quick start this year, will obviously be a huge boost considering a majority of the second half of the season will be played in the friendly confines of the Ice Zone, and helping us in pushing towards the playoffs.

Enough written here. My computer is starting to run low on battery, and I need to be getting busy on a few other things. More from Minnesota on the website tomorrow afternoon after the game against the Express. It should be up between 7 or 8 pm.

Looking at the 2007-2008 Phantoms

2007-09-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Before we officially kick the season off, I should introduce myself… My name is Cameron Lee, as the staff page suggests. I am the new play-by-play voice of the Phantoms, as well as the guy handling all media relations, press releases, feature stories, etc., for the team. I have played hockey nearly my entire life, still do, and I am really looking forward to this opportunity, and the upcoming season. Because of my hockey background, feel free to talk hockey with me, without having to “dumb it down,” I’m a hockey player through and through. I’d like to get a blog out per week on the site here, but I am still getting settled in, and hope that everyone understands there might be some hiccups in the early going.

With that said, the Phantoms seem to have a lot of potential. Coming off their most successful season in team history, there is a lot to live up to, and at first glance it looks difficult to measure up to the benchmark that the 2006-2007 team set. However, with a core group of veterans, and the rookies looking good thus far, there is a lot of positivity emanating from the locker room.

Watching over the practices for the past few days, it is good to see the development of the team. Instead of a bunch of random skilled players, it looks as though the team is jelling, and as I mentioned in the article, starting to build that identity.

One of the most pleasing things to see from practice actually happens after practice… it is great that almost every player is making a substantial commitment to the team by staying quite a while afterwards and working on a variety of things.

If you get a chance to come down and watch a practice, I recommend doing it from ice level. Watching from the stands, you can see the overall picture and the systems and some good stuff, but it’s difficult to comprehend the size and speed of these guys. They are big, and they are fast. These guys are still teenagers and a lot of them are already 6 foot or taller… the prototypical college and pro prospect material.

The coaches have started installing systems work into practice. I’m sure the boys appreciate it. From my competitive playing days I remember the beginning of camp was always just about busting your hump, almost all skating, very few pucks, and just very physically exhausting. With the coaches working on the defensive zone coverage, power play, PK, breakouts, neutral zone regroups, etc, it gives the players a chance not only to face more typical game situations, but also it’s more mentally exhausting than physically… and as a result, the team looks more fluid in everything they do.

I am headed to New Jersey this weekend for our exhibition games, stories to follow shortly. The rink we are playing at is arranging for some internet connection, so hopefully we’ll have the audio web-cast up and running as well. The regular season openers in Minnesota are only eight days away now, and it should be fun watching these guys win all year.