Phantoms heading to Michigan to take on the Marquette Rangers

The two-game series, tonight and Saturday, begins at 7:30

BOARDMAN — If the weather cooperates, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms will have two 11-hour bus rides this weekend, their longest road trip of the year.

For the first time this season, the Phantoms (17-8-2) head to Marquette, Mich. to face off against the Marquette Rangers (15-8-1).

The games are scheduled to begin tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The Rangers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, including a comeback from a three-goal deficit against the U.S. National team last Saturday.

“They have a pretty big building and a lot of great fans,” said Phantoms assistant coach Curtis Carr. “We have to go up there [tonight], keep things real simple, and try and take the crowd out of the game in the first period.

After a split last weekend at the Ice Zone against Alpena, the Phantoms coaches added a few extra practices, looking for some additional effort.

“We got a little bit lucky on Friday night and then we didn’t make the necessary mental adjustments on Saturday — and struggled,” said Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt. “We can draw up Xs and Os all we want, but the reality of it is the effort and the commitment was not there.”

Phantoms goaltenders Garrett Bartus and Jordan Tibbett combined to stop over 94 percent of the shots they faced against Alpena.

The Rangers have some goaltending of their own, however — Matt Brooker, the NAHL North player of the week.

“We’re going to have to be patient and get pucks to the net,” said Carr. “We definitely have to be getting to the net, getting rebounds, getting traffic in front of him.”

The Phantoms have been hit with injuries. Along with the absences of defensemen Denny Kramarz and Zack Barbis, assistant captain Eric Ringel, the team’s top scoring blue liner, sustained a shoulder injury a few games ago.

“Ringel is out indefinitely; we are hoping to get him back in a couple weeks,” Mainhardt said. “We’re hoping Kramarz is potentially back for this weekend, but we don’t want to bring him back too early. Zack Barbis will be re-evaluated after this weekend as well.”