Bruce Zoldan’s Phantoms expected to play at the Chevy Centre

YOUNGSTOWN —The city is finalizing a deal to have the Mahoning Valley Phantoms junior hockey team play about 20 of its home games this upcoming season at the Chevrolet Centre.

An announcement is expected in the next few days, said Mayor Jay Williams and Bruce Zoldan, owner of the Phantoms.

“I’m working with the mayor and Eric Ryan [the center’s executive director] to salvage hockey at the Chevrolet Centre this season,” Zoldan said.

The city-owned facility was going to be without a hockey team this season.

For the past three years, the Youngstown SteelHounds of the Central Hockey League played its home games at the center. But the league kicked the team out June 2 over a financial dispute.

Herb Washington, owner of Blue Line Hockey LLC, the SteelHounds’ parent company, met with Williams twice last month to discuss the future of hockey at the center.

Washington wouldn’t have any involvement in the operations of the Phantoms, a team in the junior “A” North American Hockey League with players ranging in age from 16 to 20. The team plays its home games at the Ice Zone, which Zoldan owns, in Boardman.

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