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Hard-Luck Phantoms Can't Capitalize against Black Hawks

October 28, 2012 - United States Hockey League (USHL) Youngstown Phantoms

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The Youngstown Phantoms took more shots, laid more hits and created more scoring chances than visiting Waterloo Black Hawks Sunday afternoon at the Covelli Centre. But the game of hockey comes down to making something with chances, and the Black Hawks capitalized on virtually every chance it got, with help from a few fortuitous bounces along the way, to hand the Phantoms an 8-3 defeat.

Markus McCrea, Austin Cangelosi and Alexander Dahl all scored for Youngstown (4-7-0, 8 points), which after opening the season with four wins, dropped its seventh consecutive contest. Between the pipes Sean Romeo made 30 saves and played a much better game than the box score indicated.

"Tonight was one of those games where it seemed like the harder we tried - the more shots we blocked and the more physical we got - it just got worse," coach Anthony Noreen said. "It was like quicksand."

The Black Hawks (9-1-0, 18 points) brought with them USHL's top-ranked power play and put it on display in the first period. Waterloo got power-play goals from both Kyle Schmidt and Taylor Cammarata, while Justin Kloos sandwiched an even-strength tally between them, to make it 3-0 at the 13:46 mark.

The Phantoms came right back at the Black Hawks scoring just 20 seconds later on the following shift. JJ Piccinich put a puck on net from the right side and McCrea sprawled out on his stomach to bat the rebound past netminder Eamon McAdam for his fourth goal of the season.

Waterloo, however, added another pair of goals to go up 5-1 early in the second. Mark Friedman beat Romeo at the 3:22 mark with a redirected shot, two seconds after Cangelosi had stepped out of the penalty box. Then just past the midway point of the period, Cammarata netted his second of the night scoring on a breakaway off a turnover.

Cangelosi cut back into the Black Hawks' lead with eight minutes remaining in the second when he won a race to the puck in Waterloo's end and threw it straight at McAdam, beating the goaltender five-hole for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. But despite outshooting the Black Hawks 35-22 through the first two periods, the Phantoms entered the third with a three-goal deficit.

Cammarata, who finished the afternoon with six points, set up Vince Hinostroza on a 2-on-0 to make it 6-2 and Nashville Predators pick Zach Stepan scored off an awkward bounce on the rush to put Waterloo up five goals with 11 minutes remaining. Three minutes later, Dahl notched the third and final goal for the Phantoms when he stole to puck from a scrum in front of the Black Hawks' crease and put it high past McAdam for his second marker of the season.

"All three of our goals were great, hard-working goals," Noreen said. "The problem was we scored three ugly ones and weren't able to capitalize on the pretty ones.

With just seven seconds remaining and on Waterloo's sixth power play of the game, the Jake Horton capped the scoring. After the game, Noreen said that his team should waste no time dwelling on the loss, especially with the Indiana Ice coming to town on Wednesday.

"That's life. Sometimes you work hard and do things the right way and it doesn't work out," Noreen said. "That's just the way it's going right now. We've got 53 games left. We're not going to hang our heads on a loss in October."

Phantoms by the Numbers

Shots - 42

Saves - 30

Power Play - 0-for-6

Penalty Kill - 3-for-6

Goals - Cangelosi, Dahl, McCrea

Assists - Dahl, Piccinich, McCrea

Next on the Slate

The Phantoms will try again to halt their skid Wednesday night at the Covelli Centre against the Indiana Ice. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Celebrate Halloween Wednesday night with the Phantoms. Fans in costumes can get tickets for just $5 at the box office and the entire night will be filled with plenty of Halloween fun and treats. Additionally, every fan in attendance can enter in for the chance to win tickets to Justin Bieber's sold-out show Nov. 20 at the CONSOL Energy Arena in Pittsburgh.

Season tickets for the 2012-13 season are on sale now starting at the low price of just $7 a game. Benefits include invitations to exclusive season ticket holder events, discounts at the Phantoms Team Shop, playoff priority and much more. Call 330.747.PUCK (7825) for more information or to reserve seats today. For all the latest news, visit www.YoungstownPhantoms.com, follow the Phantoms on Twitter ( @YtownPhantoms ) and "˜like' them on Facebook ( www.Facebook.com/YoungstownPhantoms ).

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United States Hockey League Stories from October 28, 2012


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