Phantoms advance to semifinal

Mahoning Valley eliminated Alexandria with a 6-1 rout.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms scored five unanswered goals Friday to pull away to a 6-1 win over the Alexandria Blizzard at the Robertson Cup championships at the Hardees’ IcePlex.

The Phantoms scored four times in the third period.

Miles Winter tallied three points and Alden Hirschfeld scored a pair of goals to advance the Phantoms to today’s semifinal game. The Phantoms’ victory eliminated the Blizzard from the four-team tournament.

Derek Graham and Chad Boeckman collected two points apiece while Phantoms goaltender Garrett Bartus turned aside 24 shots for his fifth win of the playoffs.

“We stuck to the game plan for all 60 minutes,” Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said. “When we don’t let things that we have no control over get into our heads, and get us off our game plan, we know we are a tough team to beat.”

It took nearly eight minutes for the Phantoms to get their first shot on goal, but they made it count. Defenseman Jon Madden jumped on a Blizzard turnover in neutral ice to lead a 3-on-2 rush. Madden dropped a pass for Nick Kenney, who fed it to a wide open Kyle Bailey in the slot. Bailey one-timed home his fifth of the playoffs.

Skating 4-on-4 about four minutes later, Brandon Bahnemann won a battle along the boards behind the Phantoms net, and stuffed the rebound of his own wraparound behind Bartus for a 1-1 tie.

Despite a number of power plays for each team, only the Phantoms converted in the middle frame. With the man-advantage 19 seconds into the period, Hirschfeld polished off a one-time feed from Graham, sniping the upper corner over the glove of Blizzard goalie Ryan Leets for a 2-1 lead.

Late second period penalty trouble for the Blizzard set the Phantoms up early in the third. Working a 5-on-3 to perfection, Winter curled around Graham in the left circle and fired a laser over Leets’ glove just 1:19 in. Graham and Brent Dexter picked up the helpers on Winter’s second tally of the post-season.

Winter picked up an assist 10 minutes later when he spearheaded a rush towards Leets. Winter’s shot created a rebound for Boeckman in the slot.

Hirschfeld and Meo also scored.

Today’s winner will advance to Sunday’s championship game.