Thursday, November 27, 2003
Tyler Sims stopped 98-of-105 shots (93 percent) in two games.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- There's just something about Tyler Sims in goal that brings out the best in the Youngstown Phantoms.
All he did Saturday night was reject 50 of 51 shots, leading the Phantoms to a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Barons in Junior A/North American Hockey League action at The Ice Zone.
"With Tyler Sims in goal we have a chance to win every night," Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said. "I can't say enough about his effort this weekend, or for that fact the effort of our entire team.
"We have 20 great kids and with character people, good things tend to happen like it did for us this weekend."
Promising performances
Sims rejected 24 of 27 Toledo shots the night before and for the weekend stopped 74 of 78 enemy attempts. He was pleased with his overall effort in goal the past two games.
"We carried the momentum with us from the Springfield series last weekend," Sims said. "This was a four-point weekend for us, but more importantly we picked up two points on the Barons tonight as they are directly in front of us in the league standings.
"They are a good team and I am just happy to have been able to give the team a chance to win tonight."
The Phantoms (11-7-5) got on the board first at 9:06 of the opening period when Rob Rassey found the net with an assist from both Ryan Kidd and Anthony Canzoneri.
Youngstown took a 2-0 lead after two periods of play when Dan McClain (assisted by Mike McMullen) scored at 7:14 of the second period. When Kidd assisted Aaron Rhyner just 35 seconds into the final stanza, the Phantoms built a 3-0 margin.
No excuses
"I thought that we played tired tonight, but that's not an excuse," Baron coach Tim Alexander said. "We won at Dayton last night, got in at 3 a.m. and just couldn't get untracked. Take nothing away from Youngstown as they played an excellent overall game tonight.
"Sims was great in goal," he added. "Our challenge now is to regroup with the hopes of bouncing back the next time out."
Brian Bicek scored a power play goal at 10:43 for the Barons (14-7-2) to cut the lead to 3-1.
Cleveland then pulled goalie Ian Keserich with 2:36 left in the contest, allowing the Phantoms' Jared Katz to round out the scoring with an unassisted, empty-net goal with just 33 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Youngstown travels to Cleveland on Wednesday at 7 p.m.