Phantoms click, 6-2, for loop's best mark

Mahoning Valley continues to improve, thumping the U.S. National team.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- A season after finishing fourth in last year's North American Hockey League's championship series, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms are the team to beat this postseason.
Friday at the Ice Zone, the Phantoms (46-14-1) blasted the U.S. National Team, 6-2, to secure the NAHL's best record, which determines seeding for the Robertson Cup finals.
"I felt pretty special about this group as early as training camp," Phantoms coach Rob Mainhardt said after the Phantoms improved their home record to 25-3-0. "They have just continued to get better.
"What I've discovered is that they truly have such strong character," Mainhardt said. "Ever day, they bust their hump and that's been the difference."
First-period goals by Chris Fairbanks (26th), Mike Fillinger (23rd) and Miles Winter (19th) had the Phantoms flying against the Nationals (28-29-4).
Winter's second goal kicked off the second-period scoring and Nathan Longpre's shorthanded goal extended the lead to 5-0. Fillinger scored another goal in the final minute.
"It's a long season and we want to get it going," Winter said. "We're ready."
Zapolski wins 41st game
Goaltender Ryan Zapolski stopped 28 shots to win his 41st game in the 50 he's played.
"We've worked hard all season for this so it's nice that it as paid off," said Zapolski who holds the NAHL's record for victories.
The Erie, Pa., native credits increased depth to the Phantoms' improvement.
"We've used four lines all year long," Zapolski said. "Last year, we ran two or three near the end of the season."
Zapolski said Friday's strong performance epitomizes the Phantoms' season.
"The last couple of weeks we've been struggling, but tonight we went hard the whole game," said Zapolski, one of eight players back from last year. "It's a good example of how we're going to go."
A little more than four minutes into the game, the Phantoms led 1-0 when Fairbanks took a feed from Eric Ringel and tapped the puck past Nationals goaltender Nick Maricic.
"It's our approach to the game," said Fairbanks of the difference in this year's team. "We really made sure we learned the little things this year because the little things add up.
"We're hungry," the Phantoms captain said. "Some of us feel we missed out on last year's opportunity, so we want to capitalize on it this year."
Fillinger delivers 2-0 lead
Skating in from the point, Fillinger slapped the puck past Maricic from about 40 feet out for a 2-0 lead.
While killing off a second-period penalty to Alden Hirschfeld, Cloutier stole the puck near center ice and zipped to the Nationals net, dumping a pass to Longpre who netted his 27th goal.
The Phantoms have home-ice advantage for the NAHL playoffs which begin April 5 with a best-of-5 series against the Marquette (Mich.) Rangers, the fourth-place team in the North Division.
Game 2 will be played April 7 at the Ice Zone. Games 3 and 4 will be April 9-10 in Michigan. If necessary, Game 5 will be played April 14 at the Ice Zone.
Mainhardt said now is not the time to reflect on being the NAHL's best regular-season team.
"We still have a lot of unfinished business," Mainhardt said. "We hope we're peaking at the right time. Everybody's healthy, we're hitting on all cylinders and the playoffs can't start soon enough."
Today's regular-season finale between the Phantoms and Nationals begins at 2:30 p.m. The first 100 fans will receive a ticket to tonight's Mahoning Valley Thunder arena football game at the Chevrolet Centre.
williams@vindy.com