Phantoms Blitz Blizzard; Advance To National Semifinal
May 2, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release
CHESTERFIELD, Mo. - Displaying their offensive prowess in a must-win game on Friday afternoon, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms scored five unanswered goals, including four in the final frame, en route to a 6-1 win over the Alexandria Blizzard on Day 3 of the Robertson Cup Championships at the Hardees' IcePlex.
Miles Winter tallied three points and Alden Hirschfeld scored a pair of goals, while Derek Graham and Chad Boeckman collected two points apiece to lead the Phantoms to the National semifinal game on Saturday afternoon.
Phantoms goaltender Garrett Bartus turned aside all but one of the Blizzard's 25 shots for his fifth win of the playoffs.
"We stuck to the game plan for all 60 minutes," said Phantoms head coach Bob Mainhardt after the win. "When we don't let things that we have no control over get into our heads, and get us off our game plan, we know we are a tough team to beat."
It took nearly eight minutes for the Phantoms to get their first shot on goal, but they made it count. Defenseman Jon Madden jumped on a Blizzard turnover in neutral ice to lead a 3-on-2 rush. Madden dropped a pass for Nick Kenney, who fed it to a wide open Kyle Bailey in the slot. Bailey one-timed home his fifth of the playoffs and put Mahoning Valley on top 1-0.
Skating 4-on-4 less than four minutes later, Brandon Bahnemann won a battle along the boards behind the Phantoms net, and stuffed the rebound of his own wrap-around behind Bartus to knot the score at one-all heading into the first recess.
Despite a number of power plays for each team, only the Phantoms converted in the middle frame. With the man-advantage, and just 19 seconds into the period, Hirschfeld polished off a one-time feed from Graham, sniping the upper corner over the glove of Blizzard goalie Ryan Leets, and giving the Phantoms a 2-1 lead.
Late second period penalty trouble for the Blizzard set the Phantoms up early in the third. Working a 5-on-3 to perfection, Winter curled around Graham in the left circle and fired a laser over Leets' glove just 1:19 in. Graham and Brent Dexter picked up the helpers on Winter's second tally of the post-season.
Winter picked up an assist 10 minutes later, when he spearheaded a rush towards Leets. Winter's shot created a rebound for Boeckman in the slot. Boeckman buried it for his first goal of the playoffs.
Hirschfeld and Meo added some icing on the cake with goals just 81 seconds apart late in regulation to secure the triumph.
The Phantoms will now move on to play in the National Semifinal game on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. EDT for the right to play in the Robertson Cup Championship game. Mahoning Valley will face off against the loser of the Topeka Roadrunners versus St. Louis Bandits game tonight at 8:30 p.m. EDT.
Catch all the action 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.
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- Phantoms Blitz Blizzard; Advance To National Semifinal - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
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