Phantoms sweep all-Ohio weekend

Published on November 4, 2004 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release


The Phantoms played their first 10 games away from home -- six road games and four contests at the NAHL Showcase Tournament in Blaine, Minnesota. But when they returned home, they did it in style, knocking off Toledo and Cleveland in weekend action at the Ice Zone, stretching their run to seven wins in the past eight games.

The Phantoms are becoming a high-scoring hockey club and they proved it Friday night when they registered an 8-5 victory over the Toledo IceDiggers. It was the fourth time in the six previous games that the Youngstown scored six or more goals.

Steve Culbertson of the Ice Diggers scored 26 seconds into the third period to tie the score at 4-4, but the Phantoms grabbed the lead for good on a goal by Rob Rassey at the 2:31 mark. Rassey added another tally moments later -- this time on a rebound -- to give Youngstown a 6-4 advantage. However, just seconds after the Phantoms had successfully killed a two-man disadvantage, Toledo's Jared Katz scored to pull his team within a goal at 6-5 at the 8:42 mark.

It remained a one-goal game until Youngstown's Bob Collar scored with 1:38 left in the contest, and then an empty-netter by Marc Menzione put the game away with 13 ticks showing on the clock. Toledo had the upper hand in shots on goal, 51-35, but Phantoms' netminder Jerry Kuhn helped his team, making 46 saves and improving his personal record to 6-3-0. Youngstown has won all three of its meetings with Toledo this season, having come out on top by scores of 5-2 (September 22) and 7-1 (October 9) in the previous two games.

"We know we can score goals, but over the course of the season, we're going to have to play a lot better in our own zone than we did tonight," Phantoms' head coach and general manager Bob Mainhardt said. "Certainly Jerry Kuhn played outstanding for us, but you can't give up 50 shots and count on your goaltender to bail you out very often."

The next night, facing the Cleveland Barons for the first time this season,

third-period goals by Menzione and Mark Zarbo helped lift the Phantoms to a 3-2 win. This seventh victory in the last eight contests for the Phantoms boosted their record to 8-4-0.

Youngstown out-shot Cleveland, 14-4, in the opening period but managed only one goal -- a power play tally by Rassey at the 10:10-mark. The visitors tied the game when Nick Biondo found the net at 1:57 of the second period. The score remained 1-1 until Menzione beat Barons' goaltender Blake MacNicol for a short-handed goal 2:16 into the final period.

Youngstown got what proved to be the game-winning goal at the 8:22-mark off the blade of Zarbo. Cleveland's Jake Coyle scored 13 seconds later to make it 3-2, but the Barons could not get one past Phantoms' goaltender Tommy O'Brien the rest of the way.

Youngstown had a 35-24 edge in shots tonight, and played much better defensively than it did in last night's 8-5 victory over Toledo.

"We got a little undisciplined in the second period tonight, but overall I thought we had control of the game," Mainhardt said. "We had opportunities to put a few more pucks in the net, and we didn't give them a ton of chances. We took care of our own end pretty well."

Youngstown will return to action next weekend with a home-and-home series against the Toledo IceDiggers. The two teams will play at The Ice Zone in Boardman on Friday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for that contest -- and all Phantoms' home games -- are available by calling (330) 965-7500 or visiting The Ice Zone, located at 360 McClurg Road. The Ice Diggers will host Youngstown at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 6 at the Team Toledo Ice House.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



North American Hockey League Stories from November 4, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central