Furious finish stuns Alpena

By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley Phantoms have played 60 games this season. Amazingly, just five have been extended beyond regulation in order to decide the final outcome.
The fact that they forced an extra session and then a shootout Saturday night against the Alpena Ice Diggers was amazing in and of itself.
Trailing by three goals at the Ice Zone with less than five minutes to play, and all but ready to absorb their third consecutive home loss, the Phantoms went on a scoring rampage, netting three goals in a 2 minute, 48 second stretch to force overtime, then won the game, 5-4 on Dustin Cloutier's goal.
Good goaltending
"We ran into a hot goaltender in Alpena's Mike Jarboe. He was excellent in both outings this weekend and like us, the Ice Diggers are preparing for the playoffs as well," Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said.
"We were facing a three-goal deficit but to our credit, the guys just kept plugging away. They worked exceptionally hard and deserved this win tonight," he added. "This was playoff hockey with a definite playoff atmosphere. We just have to keep plugging away, realizing we cannot get the job done unless we play 60 full minutes each and every time out."
Drew Pierson got the Ice Diggers on the board first with his team-leading 34th goal of the season, a power play opportunity at 2:08 of the opening period. When Jimmy McCusker added his netter at 9:21 of the opening frame, the Ice Diggers had a 2-0 advantage.
Phantom sparkplug Johnny Meo finally got the Phantoms on the board with his goal at 12:34 of the second period, cutting the Ice Diggers lead to 2-1.
Drought ends
Meo's score broke an 83:20 scoring drought against Alpena dating to the first period of Friday night's game.
When Alpena's Eric Roman found the back of the net at 14:14 of the period, the Ice Diggers forged a 3-1 advantage.
Pierson's second score of the game at 6:31 of the final period increased the Ice Diggers lead to 4-1, but goals by Chad Boeckman (a power play goal at 15:02); Alden Hirschfeld (16:00) and Chris Fairbanks (18:20) knotted the score a 4-all, forcing the extra session.
Neither team could register in the five-minute overtime period with the Phantoms holding a 4-2 shots on goal advantage.
In the shootout, Mahoning Valley's Brent Dexter scored but that was matched by Pierson on Alpena's third attempt. Neither team would penetrate the crease until Cloutier's attempt registered on the final shot of the shootout.
"We felt like it was just a matter of time. Coach [Mainhardt] told us right before the final period that this game was ours for the taking and he was right," Cloutier said.
"We just kept crashing the nets and you saw the result; three unanswered goals when we needed them most. This was a huge win for us because we were in bit of a slump. It was nice to rally like we did."
Mahoning Valley outshot the Ice Diggers, 65-32 but was just 1-for-7 on the power play. Alpena was 1-for-6 with a man advantage.
Ryan Zapolski of the Phantoms registered the victory (40-8-1) to become the first goalie in the 31-year history of the North American Hockey League to hit the 40-win plateau.
The Phantoms play host to the U.S. National team Friday and Saturday at the Ice Zone.