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USHL Youngstown Phantoms

Team USA Outlasts Phantoms' "Best 60 Minutes"

January 24, 2014 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen thought very highly of the effort his team put forth on Friday night at the Covelli Centre, but the Team USA U18s survived a tremendous Youngstown performance to win by a 4-2 final.

"That was the best 60 minutes we've played, all year," said Noreen. "Bar none, period, best 60 minutes we've played all year long."

Despite the Phantoms coming up short on the scoreboard, Noreen's statement is hard to disagree with given the circumstances. Not only are the U18s an incredibly formidable opponent, but Youngstown was also missing both Lukas Klok and Bo Pellah for the game, leaving them with just five defensemen. Players like Matt Miller and Steven Ruggiero were thrust into expanded roles, and they responded nicely, said Noreen.

"The message to the defensemen before the game was 'there's only five of you. Keep [shifts] short, let's keep them hard, let's keep it simple.' Credit them, I thought they did a great job back there. As a unit, that's probably as good as our 'D' corps has been all year long.

"We were [missing] two guys who log some pretty heavy minutes for us. Credit is due to [Steven] Ruggiero, who played more minutes tonight probably than he has the last couple of games combined. That was by far the best hockey game he's played all year long."

Ruggiero, who drew his second assist of the season on a Trey Bradley goal in the second period, credited his teammates after the game.

"I thought [the game] was definitely an adjustment, because you have more shifts than normal," said the future Penn State Nittany Lion. "The guys around me helped. We communicated really well tonight, and I thought the whole team together stepped up and had a good game. It was a tough loss, and really hard for us to swallow."

The Phantoms put together one of their best first periods of the season, leading by a 1-0 count after one against the high-flying U18s. JJ Piccinich scored on the power play at the 7:50 mark, holding the puck after a Kyle Connor rebound as he skated from left to right between the circles, finally firing past USA goaltender Blake Weyrick.

"I'm around great guys, I'm thankful for that.Kyle [Connor], Trey [Bradley], guys like that," said Piccinich on his team's power play. "I'm thankful to get pucks from them. We've been shooting as much as we can, just to get pucks on net and get traffic."

USA got the only goal of the second period on a redirect in front from Nolan Stevens. The Phantoms hit two posts in that frame, narrowly missing several chances to go ahead again. After 40 minutes, the vibe was still that despite the shorthanded defensive corps, Youngstown was playing one of its best games of the year.

In the third, the NTDP took a 2-1 lead on a snipe by Ryan Bliss, but Bradley deflected a Miller shot past Weyrick just 49 seconds later to tie the game at two.

"I think it's a big sign of maturity with our team," said Noreen on the importance of quickly answering Team USA's goal. "You saw in games past, and weeks past, we've kind of let teams get momentum after scoring on us. This was a great job of just responding, going right back out, and getting back to work. Even after they scored their third goal, we came right back on that shift. I didn't think the scoreboard dictated anything, I thought our guys just kept coming all night."

As the third period progressed, however, the increased workload of the shortened defensive corps perhaps took its toll on Youngstown, as Team USA got a rebound goal from Jack Eichel to take the lead, a tally that held up as the game winner after Sonny Milano's empty netter sealed it.

"We knew they were going to come out flying," said Miller. "They're big guys. You take the body a few times, and let them know you're there. We were a little short on the back end today; we only had five. The first 40 were great, but we started to get winded towards the end."

While players and coaches alike seemed unified in thinking that this was an step in the right direction for the Phantoms, and a gutty effort against a great opponent, Noreen and crew are not satisfied.

"We need to be better tomorrow night than we were tonight and that's the bottom line," said the Phantoms' coach. "We need to be better the next day after that as well. We set a pretty good bar for ourselves, and we're not going to allow anything less than that. I think it's pretty clear to everyone in the room what type of effort it takes to be with that team."

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