Friday, September 28, 2007
BOARDMAN — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms went 3-1 last week against some of the best in their league at the North American Hockey League Showcase in Blaine, Minn.
This weekend, the Phantoms will go up against some of the best in the world.
The Phantoms are back on the road tonight and Saturday night against the U.S. National Development Team’s Under-18 squad in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Americans went 3-0-1 last week at the Showcase, their only blemish coming in a 3-2 shoot-out loss to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.
Phantoms head coach Bob Mainhardt says the Americans present a formidable challenge.
“They have obviously got a very good team,” Mainhardt said. “The under-18s are the only ones in the country that have been together a full year as an entire group.
“With that, comes a real cohesive team, and they definitely have a head start on the rest of the teams as far as being able to work as a unit and knowing their systems,” Mainhardt said.
Team USA goaltender Nick Maricic was a big reason for the team’s success at the Showcase, winning twice, allowing just an average 0.50 goals against per game, and turning aside 59 of the 60 shots he faced.
Mainhardt says that the key to beating strong goaltending is to find a way to capitalize on the few mistakes they do make, and hopefully get the goalie to start over thinking.
“Go to the net hard,” Mainhardt says. “Very rarely on a hot goaltender do you see him come off a streak with a bunch of pretty goals against him. You have to score some ugly ones, get him off his game, and then hopefully that’ll open up a few more scoring opportunities after that.”
The puck drops tonight at 7:30 from the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Saturday’s game time is 7 p.m. The action can be heard on www.mvpphantoms.com.