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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Chicago, Sakellaropoulos Steal Game from Phantoms

April 12, 2013 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Forty-eight shots, including 26 in the third period, were not enough for the Youngstown Phantoms. The Chicago Steel scored three times in the second period and then turned it over to Alex Sakellaropoulos and the second-year goaltender stood on his head to steal the 3-2 win Friday night at the Covelli Centre.

Cam Brown brought the Phantoms (37-26-0, 74 points) within one with 1:07 remaining, and goaltender Sean Romeo, who finished with 27 saves, on the bench for the extra attacker. Austin Cangelosi also scored as the Steel (28-31-4, 60 points) picked up their first win in eight meetings with Youngstown.

The loss paired with the Green Bay Gamblers' 3-1 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks locked the Phantoms into the No. 3 seed in the United States Eastern Conference standings. They will open up their first-round Clark Cup Playoff series in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday.

"It's pretty frustrating, we really wanted second place," Brown said. "It's almost a little kick in the butt though - give us a little wake-up call before playoffs.

"Their goalie had a really big game."

After a scoreless opening period, Alex Roos put Chicago in front 6:05 into the second when he cashed in on second rebound after Romeo turned away both Tyler Heinonen and Charlie O'Connor. Zach Evancho was whistled for an incidental high-sticking penalty after the ensuing faceoff and the Steel struck quickly on the power play and defenseman Tim Davison found a seam and launched Heinonen on a partial breakaway and he slotted a wrist shot past Romeo to make it 2-0 just 54 seconds later.

The Phantoms were awarded a power play less than two minutes later after Michael Holland hooked Cangelosi to prevent a sure goal off a backdoor feed. On the man-advantage, Brown got the puck in the far-side corner and wristed a soft shot off Sakallaropoulos' pads. After a John Padulo got a whack at the rebound, it bounced out to Cangelosi, this time uninhibited on the backdoor, and the Estero, Fla., native made short work of it, cutting the lead in half with his 21st goal of the season.

"I threw it in front of the net and 'Pads' kind of touched it to 'Cange' and he buried it," Brown said. "I was just trying to go to Cangelosi actually, so luckily it got there."

The Phantoms followed with four straight shots and had a golden opportunity present itself after a Steel icing with 5:53 remaining in the period. Chicago head coach Scott McConnell may have sensed the tide was turning in Youngstown's favor and used his timeout to give his team a breather, and stymie the momentum. The move paid dividends when less than a minute later, Davison jumped up on an odd-man rush and knocked in a rebound to make it a 3-1 game with 4:42 remaining.

"[The timeout] did slow us down a little bit," Brown said. "It took a little wind out of us."

"Honestly, I don't think there was any big X's and O's that really changed anything," head coach Anthony Noreen said. "Those are lessons to be learned. All three of their goals were correctable. It's just a focus thing."

Things got chippy in the waning minutes of the period when Padulo hit Charlie O'Connor hard into the boards near the Steel bench. O'Connor's linemates came to his defense and pushed Padulo against the Chicago bench where forward Danny Fetzer reached over and took liberty on the Phantoms forward.

Fetzer was consequently ejected from the game and given a five-minute major roughing penalty, which had a pair of minutes washed off with a two-minute roughing penalty awarded to Padulo. The Phantoms however, could not capitalize on the advantage and headed into the final period trailing.

"Obviously there's a bit of a rivalry," Padulo said. "We've played them eight times now and they probably don't like me very much, but that's uncalled for."

The Phantoms ratcheted up their game in the third period outshooting the Steel by 26-8 margin but Sakellaropoulos ratcheted his up accordingly. Brown finally beat him with a quick turnaround wrist shot right off a feed from Kyle Connor that rang off the near post. But that would be all as the Steel and Sakellaropoulos weathered the final minute and picked up the win.

"The third period was as good as we've been in a long time," Noreen said. "But we need to learn a lesson that it needs to be at the level from the beginning, and it will."

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United States Hockey League Stories from April 12, 2013


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