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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Playoff-Bound Phantoms Drop Season Finale to Chicago

April 13, 2013 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Before puck drop Saturday night, Youngstown Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen grappled with a decision. Would he ice his top lineup and risk injury in the regular season finale, or rest some of his top players for a prolonged playoff run?

He decided on the latter and it cost the Phantoms in the short term as they fell 3-0 to the Chicago Steel at the Covelli Centre.

The Steel (29-31-4, 62 points) scored all three goals in the opening period against the Phantoms (37-27-0, 74 points), who dressed six affiliate players with a combined 13 USHL games under their belts, and then leaned on goaltender Alexander Sakellaropoulos to secure the win. Jake Moore, who got the nod in net for Youngstown in favor of starter Sean Romeo, and finished the game with 24 saves, but was a perfect 17-for-17 in the final 40 minutes.

"It was a tough game," Noreen said. "Every line was different, all the 'D' pairs were different and there was a lack of chemistry, which is to be expected. We wanted to win the game, but we knew there would be some struggles, but I think it's something to learn from.

"A little taste of defeat heading into the playoffs maybe isn't the worst thing. You realize you don't want to do this any more."

Along with Romeo, defensive stalwarts Eric Sweetman, Ryan Lowney and Tommy Davis; and forwards John Padulo and Cam Brown got the night off. Youngstown called up four affiliate defenseman - Alex Carle, Matt Miller, Shawn Brennan and Tommy Parran - along with forward Kiefer Sherwood to fill in their stead.

Affiliate goaltender Colin DeAugustine backed up Moore, while defenseman Dan Renouf was bumped up to forward to get the chance to play in front of more than a dozen family members, who made the trip down from Ontario to watch his final regular season game in a Phantoms uniform.

Tyler Hill put Chicago in front 1-0 at the 6:21 mark of the opening period. The Steel forward was denied on an initial wraparound attempt by Moore, but picked up his own rebound and put the backhander in. Hill notched his second of the game less than three minutes later with a wrist shot right off the faceoff that beat Moore over the blocker-side shoulder.

Patrick Polino gave the Steel a three-goal cushion with 3:02 remaining in the first thanks to a broken play. Moore left his net to play a loose puck at the hash marks, but Polino came barreling down the ice and stepped in front of the goaltender's clearing attempt, deflecting it into the corner. It came down a foot race as Moore sprinted back to his crease, but Polino beat him to the puck and fired it into the open net to make it 3-0.

"We essentially inverted our lineup," Noreen said. "The guys that did come in - the affiliates - we put them up at the top and I thought for the first period of the game, we looked like a young, inexperienced team. The positive was after the first period, it's a 0-0 game and we had the chance to make it a game, but ran into a hot goaltender."

Noreen said he was encouraged by the play of first-year defensemen Jimmy Mazza, who finished tied with 16-year-old Mac MacSorley for a team-high three shots, and his defensive partner Kyle Mackey. With four affiliates on the blue line, he said the two met and exceeded the challenge of top pairing minutes.

"Mazza had some Grade-A scoring chances and looked good on the point. We used him on the power play for the first time and he did some good things," Noreen said. "Kyle was aggressive and finished his hits and made some good plays as well. And the other four - some in their first or second game - got better and by the third period weren't out of place."

One of Youngstown's best opportunities to get on the board came at the end of a penalty kill eight minutes into the second period. Sherwood exited the box as the Phantoms were pushing up the ice and played a puck to space for Sam Anas, and he went in 1-on-0, but Sakellaropoulos was able to get a piece of his wrist shot with the glove and deflect it out of play. Despite being held off, Anas still finished the season tied for the USHL lead in goal scoring (37) with Dubuque's Michael Szmatula and Waterloo's Taylor Cammarata.

Moore in the meantime rebounded from a difficult opening period and put in a strong, steady performance peppered by some athletic saves over the final 40 minutes, a positive sign heading into the postseason, Noreen said.

"Once he settled in he made some big saves and gave us a chance to win that game," Noreen said. "There's no doubt we have every bit of confidence in Jake."

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