USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Phantoms Blow Past the Storm 5-1

Published on October 28, 2011 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


KEARNEY, Neb. - The Phantoms needed overtime to seal the franchise's first win over Cedar Rapids last week. Friday night against Tri-City, they made sure to get the job done regulation.

Five different players scored for the Phantoms (5-2-0) and goaltender Sean Romeo turned away 41 of 42 shots in his first start of the season. The Youngstown power play, which ranked last in the United States Hockey League heading into the contest, went 3-for-7 and the Phantoms blew past the Storm (3-4-0) by a score of 5-1.

"We needed some other guys to step up and start contributing and not just 5-on-5, but on the power play and the penalty kill," Head Coach Anthony Noreen said. "Our guys did that tonight."

The Phantoms found themselves in penalty trouble early in the first period and Tri-City made them pay. The Storm struck at the 5:52 mark when Adam Chlapik found Nick Lappin open on the backdoor to go up 1-0 with both Pat Conte and Kevin Liss in the box. Conte took another penalty - one of ten total whistled against the Phantoms - a little more than eight minutes later, but the result was much more favorable.

The Phantoms were able to kill it off and Richard Zehnal found Conte streaking out of the sin bin. The Niagara Falls, N.Y., native blew past the Storm defenders and back-handed the puck top-shelf to tie the game.

"He was attacking 1-on-4 and he just smacked it at net and it went in," Noreen said. "That's the kind of goal we expect from Pat Conte - hard-working and hard-nosed."

Dylan Margonari put the Phantoms up 2-1 just 1:50 into the second period, when he batted a pass from Sam Anas past Tri-City goaltender Trevor Gorsuch on the man-advantage.

"Every chance Dylan's had this year has come from hard work," Noreen said. "He doesn't score many pretty goals. He gets them because he's willing to do things other guys aren't."

The Phantoms found themselves on a 5-on-3 power play at the 10:24 mark and took full advatage. Ryan Belonger wristed one low through a Margonari screen and Mike Gunn scored on a bazooka shot from the point just 45 seconds later to make it a 4-1 game with 9:26 remaining in the second stanza.

"Coach [Rob] Rassey and [Brad] Patterson worked with the power play all week and got across the message that we needed them to start scoring," Noreen said. "We need to make other teams pay and we did. Special teams was the difference tonight."

The latter half of the period was littered with penalties but the Phantoms PK unit killed off all of them, including a five-minute major and over two minutes of 5-on-3, to carry the lead into the third period.

Storm Head Coach Drew Schoneck decided to yank Gorsuch with 3:37 remaining in the third in a last-ditch effort to get back in the game. The gamble backfired and Jordan Young banked the puck off the wall from his own zone and if floated all the way down the ice and into the gaping net to seal the victory.

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United States Hockey League Stories from October 28, 2011


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