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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Romeo Returns, but Storm Sweep Phantoms

December 14, 2013 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


KEARNEY, Nebraska - Due to the wild, wide-open nature of Friday night's series opener between the Youngstown Phantoms and the Tri-City Storm, it had to be expected that each coaching staff would make adjustments for the rematch on Saturday.

Indeed, the series-concluding matinee at the Viaero Event Center was a much tighter game, with far fewer scoring chances for either team. In the end, however, the streaking Joel L'Esperance (two goals) was again the difference, propelling Tri-City (8-16-2, 18 points) to a 3-1 victory over Youngstown (7-13-5, 19 points), despite the return of Phantoms goaltender Sean Romeo, who made his first start since November 1.

"He was what we expected him to be: one of the elite goalies in the league," said Youngstown head coach Anthony Noreen on Romeo. "You see what we've been missing for a while. Colin [DeAugustine] has been very good, but Sean, after practicing one week with us, and not seeing a game in a couple of months, was pretty sharp. I thought he was very good, he was calm, and he was the guy we expected back there."

Romeo stopped 30 of 32 shots on the afternoon, but the nature of the game seemingly made his return difficult. In total, there were 19 power plays in the match, split rather evenly, with nine for Youngstown and 10 for Tri-City. The Cary, North Carolina native, however, had mixed feelings when asked if the rampant special teams play presented a challenging situation in which to make his first start in weeks.

"We started off, I think, with something like four penalties against us in a row, so it got me into the game pretty fast," said Romeo. "When we're on the power play, it's definitely a little slower, and I'm not really seeing much action, so I kind of lose a little of the flow, but overall, it's not bad."

Despite facing five Tri-City power plays in the first period, Romeo stopped nine of nine shots in the opening frame. In the second, however, the Storm broke through first, through-who else?-L'Esperance, who scored shorthanded after Max Letunov had the puck knocked off of his stick by Garrett Gamez just in front of Romeo.

Tri-City took their advantage to 2-0 in the third period courtesy of Austin Poganski, who was in the right place at the right time when the puck squirted out of a board battle behind the net and right to his stick on the doorstep.

With just under 3:30 to play, Letunov drew the Phantoms back to within one with a gorgeous individual effort on the power play, dancing through the Tri-City defense and potting his own rebound. Needing one more goal to tie, the Phantoms' effort was made significantly more difficult by their 12th penalty of the day, a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct with 1:58 to play. Forced to pull the goalie regardless, L'Esperance scored into the empty net to seal the game with eight seconds to play. Although it ruined a perfect penalty-killing day on the scoresheet, the Youngstown kill went 9/9 with a goalie in the net on the afternoon, an impressive outing for a side that conceded three power play goals the night before.

"I thought our penalty kill was very good," said Noreen. "We made some adjustments after last night's game. I thought we responded pretty well. Having said that, it's very hard to win a hockey game that you have 11 forwards dressed in with 10 penalties. It's hard to get a flow of the game. When 10 penalties get called against you, it's hard to swallow things that don't go your way when it looks like it might be. It makes for a tough hockey game."

The nature of the game, with seemingly each side alternately receiving a power play throughout, made it tough for either team to generate offensive momentum.

"It just makes for a bad hockey game. It's not a fun hockey game for either team," said Noreen. "You don't want to play a hockey game like that. You want the guys to be able to play five-on-five. We're short on killers right now, so the same guys are going. It's definitely hard to get any sort of rhythm in the game."

Although the Phantoms are certainly unhappy with the defeat, they can take some solace in Romeo's return. After the contest, the goaltender felt no ill effects from his injury.

"I felt really good, obviously I'm happy to be back and not in the stands," said Romeo. "I felt a little rusty at the start, the first couple of minutes took a little bit, but once the game got going, I felt really good and really comfortable."

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