NORTH AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE First-place Phantoms face tough schedule

Soo got off to a bad start but has been one of the hottest teams in the league lately.
BOARDMAN -- The good news for the Youngstown Phantoms -- they will still be in first place next week. The bad news -- they must snap their season-high three-game losing streak against one of the hottest teams in the North American Hockey League.
The Phantoms (16-9-2, 34 points) play host to two games tonight and Saturday against the Soo Kewadin Indians (12-11-2, 26 points) at The Ice Zone. Faceoff for both games are 7 p.m.
Despite the three-game slide, Youngstown is still atop the standings in the North Division, ahead of the US National Team (16-9-1, 33 points) by one point. The U.S. team does not play again until Jan. 7, giving the Phantoms an opportunity to extend their division lead this weekend.
"We learned to bounce back quickly, after losing our first two games of the season. The boys know what it takes to rebound and regain our winning form. And they know the added challenge in facing the Indians," said Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt.
Series even
The Phantoms and the Indians have split four previous meetings this season. Soo has held Youngstown to six goals in those four games and have shut out the Phantoms twice. The Phantoms top line of Rob Rassey, Aaron Rhyner, and Anthony Canzoneri has combined for four goals and nine assists.
"Whenever you play the Indians, you need all four forward lines to create offense. You can't depend on one line to beat this team," Mainhardt said.
When the Soo Indians joined the NAHL in 1995, they went 0-1-1 in their opening weekend. Six days later, they beat the US National Team. From that day, they have never had a record of worse than .500 at any point in the past nine seasons. That streak ended this year, when they lost their season opener at home to Cleveland, 3-1, en route to a 2-7-1 start. But the defending North Division Champions have returned to their more familiar ways. They are 10-4-1 in their past 15 games, and have allowed two or fewer goals in eight of their past nine.
They lead the NAHL in shots allowed per game at 23.9, eight shots below the league average.
Goaltender Jason Kearney, acquired in a trade last month from Texarkana, has paid immediate dividends for his new team. In seven games with Soo, he is 5-0-0 with a 0.82 goals against average, a .964 save percentage, and two shutouts.
Tickets for both games this weekend, as well as all Phantoms home games, are available by calling (330) 965-7500, or purchasing them at the gate.