When 2007 began, the ice war between Youngstown SteelHounds owner Herb Washington and Mahoning

When 2007 began, the ice war between Youngstown SteelHounds owner Herb Washington and Mahoning Valley Phantoms owner Bruce Zoldan still raged.

By summer, there was a thaw as Zoldan and Washington came together to welcome Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama for a fund-raiser in Washington’s Boardman home.

Then in December, representatives for Zoldan and Washington announced that they would unite forces to provide a hockey team to play in the Chevrolet Centre in 2008-09.

By the way, their teams enjoyed unprecedented success in 2007.

The SteelHounds capped their second season in the Central Hockey League with their first playoff appearance. Thanks to a new format that had six teams in each CHL conference qualify, the SteelHounds, led by first-year coach Kevin Kaminski earned their first playoff appearance. After going 24-35-5 in their initial season, Kaminski’s squad (34-20-10) found a winning formula.

Led by captain Jeff Christian (CHL Most Valuable Player) and Chris Richards (CHL MVP finalist), the SteelHounds took the Colorado Eagles to six games in their best-of-7 series before being eliminated.

Game 5 was most memorable. Facing elimination, the SteelHounds defeated the Eagles, 6-3, at the Chevy Centre, with Richards scoring one goal and assisting on the other five.

Zoldan’s Phantoms swept two playoff series to earn a second straight appearance in the North American Hockey League finals that were held in May in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Phantoms won three games to advance to the championship contest where they lost to the St. Louis Bandits, 8-4.

During the summer, the SteelHounds shook up their roster by trading Christian to the Tulsa Oilers for the rights to four players (defenseman Kurtis Dulle and center Bryan Lachappelle are now SteelHounds).

In an effort to boost attendance, they opened the 2007-08 with 14 road games and surprised many with a 12-1-1 start.