St. Louis Bandits shootout winner over Phantoms

It was a “whale of a game” between two hungry hockey teams.

By GREG GULAS

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BOARDMAN — Mike Merrifield’s goal in the shootout session helped lift the St. Louis Bandits to a 2-1 victory over the Mahoning Valley Phantoms in a NAHL North Division game Saturday at the Ice Zone.

The win gave the Bandits (14-3-0) a split of their weekend series with the Phantoms while Mahoning Valley (10-5-2), despite a split with the divisional leaders, registered three points against St. Louis to maintain a firm hold on second-place within the division.

“I really feel like we played four and a half periods of good hockey against the Phantoms this weekend. Unfortunately, it was the first period and a half that proved costly for us,” Bandits coach Jon Cooper said.

“Yesterday, I felt like we turned the corner and that momentum carried over for us tonight; especially in the first period when we withstood six Phantom power play opportunities. The Mahoning Valley fans will go home tonight a little disappointed at the outcome, but trust me. This was a whale of a hockey game between two very hungry hockey teams,” he added.

The teams battled to a scoreless draw after the first 20 minutes of play with Mahoning Valley outshooting the Bandits by an 11-7 count.

Sam Bozoian’s power play netter at 7:34 of the second period gave the Bandits the goal advantage, but Derek’s Graham’s team-leading 14th goal of the season at 5:14 of the final stanza, an unassisted tally, knotted the game at 1-all.

The goal would stand up, first forcing overtime and the eventual shootout session.

Neither team could penetrate the crease in the overtime session, but the shootout was a different story and it was all Bandits from the start.

St. Louis’ John Wickman and Mahoning Valley’s Brent Dexter each failed in their first try of the shootout session, but Jeff Ceccacci’s goal and a failed attempt by the Phantoms’ Miles Winter left St. Louis with the 1-0 advantage after two shot attempts.

Ben Miller’s slap shot then registered for the Bandits on the third try and when Mahoning Valley’s Derek Graham notched a tally, the Bandit lead was cut in half at 2-1 in the extra session.

St. Louis’ Ben Warda and Mahoning Valley’s Grant Blakey each failed on their attempt, and when Merrifield added his net rippler the Bandits closed with a 3-1 flurry to secure the victory.

“We just didn’t deserve to win tonight. We played 20-minute hockey and that just isn’t good enough to win you a game,” Phantom head coach Bob Mainhardt stated.

“We’re stuck on guys not able to play two games in a weekend and it’s starting to become an issue. We are going to have to make some changes if we expect to play better hockey,” he added.

The Bandits held a 32-22 shots on goal advantage while Phantom goalie Garrett Bartus (6-1-2) failed to win for just the third time in nine outings this year.