Phantoms try to rebound at Ice Zone

By Greg Gulas

Mahoning Valley trails the Bandits 2-0 in the NAHL series.

BOARDMAN — During the regular season, the St. Louis Bandits and Mahoning Valley Phantoms were the first and third, respectively, in points scored in the North American Hockey League.

After outscoring the Phantoms, 9-3 in the first two games to take a 2-0 lead in their North Division championship series, the defending Robertson Cup champion Bandits appear to be the only team thus that has lived up to their offensive billing.

“We did not play our best game overall on Friday and didn’t deserve to win,” said Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt. “On Saturday, however, we did play what I felt was a much better game at both ends of the ice. That gives us hope as we return home for the next our two games of the series.”

“St. Louis took advantage of their opportunities in both games and that was the difference. I really don’t feel like we’ve played our best overall game to this point and you could either view that as a negative or a positive.

“We choose to look at it as a positive and strive to get better each time we hit the ice. We will have to be at our best starting tomorrow night though if we expect to extend the series,” Mainhardt added.

The Bandits won the first two games, 4-1 and 5-2. Mahoning Valley has yet to grab a lead in the series, falling behind 3-0 in the opener and 2-0 barely eight minutes into Game 2.

Kyle Bailey feels the team that is more physical will win the series.

“St. Louis has won the battle to the puck and the boards thus far and that has to stop if we expect to win,” he said. “We need to be more physical and it all has to start on Wednesday night.”

Both teams have an excellent one-two punch in goal; the Phantoms feature Garrett Bartus and Jordan Tibbett and the Bandits rely on Cal Heeter and Mike Johnson.

Heeter, 25-6-1 in the regular season, rejected all but one of the Phantoms’ 26 shots in game one for the win while Johnson (21-3-1 in regular season play) stopped 28 of 30 Mahoning Valley shots to register the victory in Gwame 2.

Bandits coach John Cooper said goal play was a key in their first two wins.

“We got a lead early in both games and that put pressure on Mahoning Valley to score. The play by both Heeter and Johnson in goal for us was big,” Cooper said.

Bartus, who rejected 36 Bandits shots in the first game but absorbed his first playoff loss, is looking forward to returning home.

“Both teams are hard working, but the hardest working team is the one who will win this series. There isn’t a sense of urgency since both teams are already headed to the Robertson Cup, but we’d really like to defend our North Division crown and that is our immediate goal,” Bartus said.

“It’s fun to play St. Louis because we know that we are playing the very best in the league this season. That means you have to be at your very best if you expect to win.”

Mainhardt added his team, while a little banged up, is ready to get back on the ice.

“It’s foolish to look beyond your next game and we’ll certainly take it one game at a time. However, we’ll take that one step further and just go period-by-period,” he noted.

Both Game 3 Wednesday and Game 4, if needed, Friday night are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice Zone.