Ice Diggers Freeze Phantoms
Published on March 21, 2008 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release
BOARDMAN, Ohio (Friday, March 21, 2008) - In a preview of a looming first-round playoff matchup, the Alpena Ice Diggers' Isaac Viau notched the go-ahead goal with just over seven minutes remaining to seal up a 3-2 win over the Mahoning Valley Phantoms on Friday night at the Ice Zone.
Despite outshooting the Ice Diggers 40-31, and a goal and an assist each from Miles Winter and Derek Graham, the Phantoms fell short of winning their fourth in a row.
Alpena got the lone goal of the opening frame when Mike DeGrazia's backhand deflected off Tom Healy and over the glove of Phantoms goaltender Garrett Bartus. Healy's powerplay goal, his first point of the season, gave the Ice Diggers a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
Just 47 seconds into the middle frame, Winter wristed home a powerplay goal, followed six minutes later by Graham's 30th tally of the season for the 2-1 lead. With the goal, Graham became the all-time scoring leader in Phantoms history.
Jon Puskar then one-timed home the Ice Diggers' second powerplay goal of the game at 15:59, tying things up at 2-2 heading into the second intermission and setting the stage for Viau's game-winner.
Between the pipes, Nick Graves picked up his 20th win of the season with a 38-save performance. Bartus had 28 saves while falling to 21-9-3 on the year.
The Phantoms went 2 for 6 on the man-advantage.
Alpena went 2 for 7 on the powerplay, helping them to clinch third place in the North American Hockey League North Division. Alpena's second win in a row sets up a showdown with the second place Phantoms in a first-round best-of-five playoff series in two weeks.
Mahoning Valley (33-18-4, 70 points) and Alpena (30-22-5, 65 points) will face off again on Saturday night - the contest will be the Ice Diggers' final game of the regular season.
Game time at the Ice Zone is slated for 7:15 p.m. Catch all the action broadcast live on the web at www.mvpphantoms.com.
The Mahoning Valley Phantoms are owned by the B.J. Alan Company - Phantom Fireworks, located in Youngstown, Ohio.
North American Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2008
- U.S. Nat'l Under-18 Team Blanks Marquette, 3-0 - U.S. National Team
- Ice Diggers Freeze Phantoms - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- NAHL champs visit Stars - Traverse City North Stars
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