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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Pellah Makes Debut, Melnick Returns, But Phantoms Fall

January 10, 2014 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Mired in a nine-game winless streak, the Phantoms shook up the lineup prior to a Friday night contest against the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Despite the successful debut of defenseman Bo Pellah, as well as the productive return of forward Josh Melnick, Youngstown's winless streak was extended to 10 games thanks to a 4-3 Lumberjack victory.

Acquired from Sioux Falls in a transaction that was finalized late last evening, Pellah rushed to Youngstown in time to make his team debut-but his travels were not without their challenges.

"My plane in Sioux Falls got delayed, and I came to Chicago, where I missed my connecting flight by two minutes," said the newest Phantom. "I had to spend the night in Chicago on a bench, and only got an hour of sleep. I played the game [tonight] off of one hour of sleep in Chicago and a one-hour nap at my billet house. It was tough, but I tried my best out there."

Despite the difficult circumstances, Pellah started out the game with a bang for the Phantoms, creating two chances in the contest's first eight minutes-including drawing the primary assist on the game's first goal, which went to Tyler Spezia at the 8:01 mark after a nice pass into the slot by the British Columbia native.

"It took a little while to get the jitters out," said Pellah on his debut. "I settled down during the first five minutes of the first period while seeing how the guys played, what their playmaking abilities were like, and where they'd be."

Coach Anthony Noreen was excited by what he saw in his first glimpse at his new defenseman in a Phantoms jersey.

"I think you saw it tonight; a kid who laid in an airport waiting for a flight all night on an hour of sleep, and all the travel he went through-he made plays left and right," said Noreen. "It's exactly what we need on the back end. I'm excited to see what he's going to do for us the rest of the season."

Given that the 6'2" blueliner was fresh off of traveling to the Mahoning Valley, Noreen and the rest of the coaching staff made sure to ease him into the lineup, limiting his power play minutes, but after his performance tonight, they expect him to carve out a larger role on this Phantoms team.

"Without a doubt, he's going to play the power play for us," said Noreen. "We tried to simplify things for him [tonight]. There's a lot of looks and reads that we have on our power play. A guy coming in without any practice whatsoever.we weren't going to throw him out there and put him in an unfair situation. I thought he was very good, though, and I think you can see why he's going to be able to help our power play."

Also returning tonight was forward Josh Melnick. A Princeton commit, Melnick recorded one assist in the contest, and reported no ill effects after returning from injury.

"I felt pretty good," said Melnick. "It's been a little bit over a month since I've played. I just got back last week and started practicing with the boys. I watched most of the games that they played when I was out. It seemed like tonight, we really worked hard. I thought it was a really good game. Tonight, we played a lot for each other towards the end there. We had a good start, and towards the end of the first, it was a little bit slower, but we picked it up towards the end."

Indeed, the Phantoms started out strong, getting the first goal on the pass by Pellah to Spezia. Aligned with Melnick's observations, the Lumberjacks played well in the latter stages of the opening period, getting the next two goals before the first intermission, courtesy of Trevor Morbeck and Haralds Egle.

Luke Stork tied the game in the second period for the Phantoms on the power play, collecting a Conor Lemirande rebound and scoring past Muskegon goaltender Eric Schierhorn. Following that goal, the snakebitten Phantoms hit two crossbars, narrowly missing taking the lead on several chances. Later in the period, Matt Mendelson converted a chance at the other end past Sean Romeo to put the Jacks up for good.

"That's hockey. That's the way it goes," said Noreen. "You see it so many times, no matter what level. You get a grade A chance on one side and don't score, or hit a pipe, or whatever it is, and the team comes back and scores on the next shift. We were on them; we had them hemmed in for a while there, and we're putting a bunch of good shifts together, but we make one mistake, they come down, put one shot on net and score. It seems like we've been saying it a lot here lately, but that's kind of the difference."

In the third, Connor Wood put Muskegon up by two following a nice redirect in front of Romeo, and although JJ Piccinich brought the Phantoms back within one with a goal on a delayed penalty, that was all the offense the Phantoms could muster-despite throwing everything they had at Muskegon in the latter stages of the third, especially with the goalie pulled, coming close on several occasions to tying the match.

"I'll tell you exactly what I told the guys: there's nothing to hang our heads about after that game," said Noreen. "I thought some guys played tremendously.the guys who we needed to be very good for us, I thought were excellent. If we keep playing like that, we're going to win a lot of hockey games."

Despite the loss, the Phantoms displayed encouraging heart and effort that they hope to extend into tomorrow's match against Team USA. Also giving reason for optimism is the play of newcomers like Pellah, who likes what he sees in this Youngstown team.

"We're a really young and talented team, I feel like," said Pellah. "The team is going to do very well toward the end of the season. A lot of guys can bury the puck and make smart plays. We just have to keep doing that and bury our chances."

Melnick, too, was encouraged by the Phantoms' effort in his return.

"Coach [Noreen] has been talking about not giving up, and I don't think anyone's giving up," said Melnick. "He and all the coaching staff, and all the players-we have faith in each other that it's going to happen. Tonight, we had a lot of chances, and no one ever gave up. It's going to keep coming for us, and it's going to happen eventually."

Ever positive, Noreen continues to display that attitude towards his team.

"Obviously there's frustration-these guys are competitors, everyone in there is a competitor, we want to win," said the Phantoms' coach. "We want better. We want better for ourselves, we want better for our fans, and we want better for this organization, and we're never going to be satisfied unless we win. A lot of times, when we win, we're not even going to be satisfied. Right now, it's a group that deserves better. They're going to get better, and once we get better, we're going to get on a roll, and we're going to make some noise in this league."

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