Phantoms ready to open Robertson Cup play

Mahoning Valley left for Missouri after getting a pep talk from Kelly Pavlik.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Pumped up by a speech by Youngstown boxer Kelly Pavlik, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms are primed for their third straight Robertson Cup Championship tournament.

Monday, the middleweight world champion addressed the North American Hockey League team at the Ice Zone in Boardman. The Phantoms then loaded the team bus optimistic about returning to the league title game.

“I think we have a good chance, but there are four good teams that have a good chance,” Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said. “It is going to come down to whichever team comes out and wants it more and executes the best. It is definitely going to be a good tournament.”

The Phantoms (36-18-4) finished second in the NAHL North Division and are 4-3 in the postseason.

The Phantoms swept the Alpena Ice Diggers in a best-of-five series, then lost to the St. Louis Bandits, 3-1, in the division finals. Because the Bandits are the Robertson Cup hosts, the Phantoms are representing the North Division in the four-team finale.

Leading the way in the postseason is forward Derek Graham, the seventh-leading scorer during the regular season with 71 points. Graham, who will play for Ferris State next fall, has nine points in the seven playoff games.

Graham centers the team’s most productive line, with Alden Hirschfeld and rookie Grant Blakey on the wings. In the playoffs, the trio has combined for 21 points to help spark the offense.

Goaltender Garrett Bartus has the league’s best save percentage at .945 and a goals against average of 2.14 — fourth best among playoff goaltenders.

The five-day National Tournament begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. when the Phantoms face off against the Topeka Roadrunners. In the teams’ only head-to-head matchup at last fall’s NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minn., the Phantoms beat the Roadrunners 3-2 in a shootout.

Thursday at 8:30 p.m., Mahoning Valley will face off against the Bandits. St. Louis won the North this season with a 47-9-2 record (96 points).

The Bandits also won six of their seven playoff games against the U.S. National Team and the Phantoms.

Friday at 4 p.m., the Phantoms will take on the Alexandria Blizzard for the first time this season in the final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament.

Alexandria is the No. 3 seed from the Central Division and have been forced to five games in their first two playoff series against Southern Minnesota and Springfield.

The team with the most points after the round-robin will get a bye into the league title game on Sunday at 6 p.m. The second- and third-best teams will play in the semifinal game on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the right to advance to the championship game. The fourth place team will be eliminated.

In last year’s Robertson Cup Championship game, the Bandits beat the Phantoms 8-4.

“Having guys that have been through it, having the experience, it is worth its weight in gold,” Mainhardt said. “It is definitely a good thing to have players that have been though this and know what to expect — it should help us out.”

This season, the Phantoms are 3-7-2 against St. Louis. At the Hardees IcePlex, the Bandits are undefeated in six games against Mahoning Valley.

“I think we’ve learned from the experience that we do have on this surface,” Mainhardt said. “Everyone has played on an Olympic surface, both of those other teams [Alexandria and Topeka] have as well, so I am sure they are going to be prepared and ready to go as well.”