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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Phantoms Seek Answers as Skid Hits Nine

January 3, 2014 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - On that date, the Phantoms defeated the Muskegon Lumberjacks by a 6-3 final. In a vacuum, a relatively routine regular season game, but on that date, it snapped a 1-11-0 skid for last season's Phantoms. Including that win, the Phantoms finished out the season with a 32-16-0 record, earning a playoff appearance.

This season, head coach Anthony Noreen believes that, similarly, one win is all it will take for his Youngstown team to break out-directly comparing the Phantoms' current 0-6-3 skid to the 1-11-0 stretch from 2012-13.

"[Last year], all it took was one win. Just one win, and all of a sudden.we won a lot of games in a row, and didn't lose very many down the stretch," said Noreen. "I think it's a confidence thing. I have no doubt in this group, and the leadership that sits in that room, and we're going to get the results that we want here very soon."

Noreen was speaking after the Chicago Steel extended the Phantoms' slide on the backs of a 4-1 victory at the Covelli Centre. It was the first game of a seven-game homestand for the Phantoms, who were playing for the first time since their "three-in-three" last weekend. On this night, Youngstown fell victim to a blazing Chicago start en route to their fifth consecutive regulation loss.

"That was the key to [Chicago's] game, a very good start. I thought they neutralized our top guys," said Noreen. "We had a really good second [period], overall. I thought in the third, we had our chances. We outplayed them again. The lesson to be learned: 40 minutes isn't good enough at this level and beyond. We have to get better and we have to learn our lesson."

The Phantoms also struggled on the power play, the machine that drove their offense last weekend, when they had six power play goals over the final two games of the three-in-three.

"They got outworked," Noreen said, about his top power play unit, which consists of five forwards. "That group got outworked. Bottom line. It's not me throwing them under the bus-I think if you asked all five of them, they'd tell you the same thing. Credit Chicago's kill, I thought they outworked our top power play unit."

Among Youngstown's stated goals entering the contest against Chicago was to get more shots and to get traffic in front of Steel goaltender Chris Nell-something that the team accomplished, with a total of 37 shots on the night. Unfortunately, the final timing was not there for the Phantoms, and Nell was again good when called upon, much as he was in the clubs' last meeting, on December 6 at the Covelli Centre.

"I thought we actually had quite a bit of shots with traffic, with tips, and with screens," said Noreen. "It seemed like the [shots] where we had a great screen either missed the net, or we weren't able to get a stick on the rebound. I thought we did a much better job of getting traffic and shots overall.

"The area we didn't do a good job of was on the power play. That's the time when one of those rebounds will pop out, and you won't have a guy on you because of the man advantage. I thought five-on-five, we did a good job of it, but on the man advantage, it wasn't good enough."

The Phantoms' lineup was bolstered by the additions of affiliate players Trey Bradley and Carson Vance. Noreen thought Bradley was "tremendous" on the evening, playing big minutes alongside Kyle Connor and JJ Piccinich.

"I thought he made plays, and I thought he made his linemates better," said Noreen. "He generated probably six to seven grade A chances, either through distributing the puck, one time going in and finishing a hit, and one time getting a chance himself."

The Steel held a 1-0 lead after one, and although Josh Nenadal equalized in the second, CJ Smith got the lead back for Chicago on the power play. At the 10:02 mark of the third, Kyle Connor drew a penalty shot, but Nell made a stick save on the Phantoms' leading scorer to preserve the one-goal lead.

"Just kind of shot it. He's a good goalie. He made the save," remarked Connor.

Chicago took a 3-1 lead less than a minute after Nell's penalty shot save, and Mason Bergh added an empty netter in the waning moments (his second goal of the game), sealing a 4-1 Steel win.

The Phantoms have the rest of the weekend off, and although Noreen said he would prefer to play again right away, he admitted that the time off might be best for his young team.

"These guys just have to get back to being kids and having fun," said Noreen. "When you're in a rut like this, it's easy to see the negatives. It's easy to squeeze the stick. That's our job, as coaches, especially, but our leadership corps too-all of our goals here are still attainable. What we're trying to do here is 100% attainable. We need to get better. Whether you lose games, or win games, no matter what, our message is the same: we need to improve."

"We just have to stay positive," said Connor. "Keep looking ahead-we're fine, we'll get out of it."

Ultimately, Noreen is optimistic and upbeat about his team's ability to emerge from this stretch and repeat last season's feat in recovering from a tough slide.

"This group hasn't pulled apart, they haven't gotten selfish, and they haven't pointed fingers. They deserve for something good to happen because of it, and good things will happen. We're going to win a game, and we're going to win a lot of games once that [first win] happens."

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