USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Fight For Your Right: Phantoms Slug Chicago 3-1

Published on December 5, 2009 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Down 2-0 midway through the third, the Chicago Steel decided to turn Saturday night's game with the Youngstown Phantoms into a street fight.

As it turned out, maybe they should've stuck to hockey.

A five-on-five line brawl punctuated a two-goal final frame for the Phantoms as they prevailed 3-1 at the Covelli Centre to sweep the weekend series against their East Division rivals. Winners of two in a row, Youngstown (10-8-2, 22 points) has claimed all four games in the season series with Chicago (10-9-3, 23 points).

After Adam Berkle collected Tom Serratore's rebound and buried his sixth goal of the season to make it 2-0 at the 10:00 mark of the third, what was once a skirmish turned into an all-out fracas. Heavyweight Ryan Jasinsky dominated Chicago's Peter Hand in a short but punishing fight at 10:19, but that was merely a precursor for what was to come.

Forty seconds after Jasinsky's TKO, Chicago's Alex Simonson jumped Stuart Higgins after a faceoff in the Phantoms zone. Youngstown's Rich Young, the USHL's runaway leader in penalty minutes with 114, quickly stepped in to help his teammate, and a six-man pileup ensued with gloves discarded and punches exchanged.

With the officials monitoring the situation at the faceoff circle, the Phantoms' J.D. Carrabino and Jiri Sekac both grabbed dance partners and headed to open space. The 6-foot-6 Carrabino enjoyed a reach advantage over the 6-foot-0 Dan Kolomatis and handled him rather easily, but the real show was at center ice where Sekac, in his second game with the Phantoms, had Mac Olson pinned down and was throwing wild overhand rights.

When all the bouts were finally stopped, Youngstown's Carrabino, Sekac and Young were ejected alongside Kolomatis, Olson and Simonson for Chicago. All told, the two teams combined for 144 penalty minutes on 23 infractions.

The two clubs then got back to hockey with considerably shortened benches, which didn't seem to bother the Steel's Mark Anthoine, who backhanded his league-leading 16th of the campaign past Matt Mahalak (5-5-2) to ruin his shutout bid with 4:36 remaining.

Unfazed, Youngstown went right back to work, with Serratore picking up the key insurance goal after a goalmouth scramble. With Nick Czinder hammering away at a loose puck in front of Chicago netminder Nick Pisellini (8-8-1), Serratore joined the fray and was rewarded when he grabbed the disc to the left of the goal and sniped a wrister into the goal from a sharp angle. The third-year USHL forward's fifth of the year closed the scoring at 16:34 and extended his personal point-scoring streak to three games.

Brian Dowd earned the second assist on Berkle's third-period marker, pushing his own scoring run to a Phantoms season-high five games. Taylor Holstrom scored Youngtown's first goal of the game with 3:25 to go in the first after his centering pass hit a Chicago leg and caromed through Pisellini. It was Holstrom's first tally since Nov. 11, but the former Omaha Lancer continues to lead the Phantoms in scoring with 17 points.

Holstrom's goal triggered a deluge of stuffed animals onto the Covelli Centre ice surface as part of Toys for Tots Teddy Bear Toss Night, foreshadowing the gloves, sticks and helmets that would litter the rink during the third-period fisticuffs.

Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid1048922 for full box score.

The Phantoms conclude their five-game homestand against the Indiana Ice Thursday night at 7:15 p.m. on Phantoms Furry Friends Night. Bring any pet care product to the Covelli Centre and receive a half-priced ticket. Visit www.angelsforanimals.org to ensure $3 from your ticket goes to Angels for Animals, which provides education and solutions to pet overpopulation in our region. Be on the lookout for special furry guests throughout the night!

Check out the Youngstown Phantoms Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from December 5, 2009


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