After hot start, Mahoning Valley heads to the Ice Zone

By Tom Williams

The Phantoms are 6-1-1, their best start in franchise history.

BOARDMAN — Off to the best start in franchise history, Mahoning Valley Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt feels his team’s defensive play is about to get even stronger.

“We’re definitely optimistic about the future,” said Mainhardt after the Phantoms (6-1-1) opened the North American Hockey League season with eight straight road games.

Friday at 7:15 p.m., the Phantoms will play their Ice Zone home opener against Team USA Under-17. They also will play there Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

“It’s been kind of nice to be road warriors early on,” Mainhardt said. “It allows the team to gel and get some chemistry going.”

Last weekend, the Phantoms split two games against Alpena. On Friday, the Phantoms edged the Ice Diggers, 4-3, in overtime, with Doug Clifford scoring the winning goal.

Clifford, who was selected the NAHL’s North Division player of the week, pounced on a rebound of a shot by Brandon Saad against Ice Diggers goaltender Nick Graves.

Alpena forced the overtime period by erasing the Phantoms’ 3-0 lead in the second period. The Ice Diggers netted three power-play goals, including one with 1:19 remaining in regulation.

Saturday, Clifford scored to put the Phantoms ahead 3-2, but the Ice Diggers scored twice in the final minute of the second period for a 4-3 victory and hand the Phantoms their only regulation loss.

Mainhardt said the team anticipates “our defense to be our strong point and we’re really expecting them to show it soon.”

Their backliners include leading scorer Cullen Lunholm, Kyle Van, Dustin Hopfner, Robert Harrison, Carl Nielsen and John Houston.

Anchoring the Phantoms defenders are returning goaltenders Jordan Tibbett (4-0-0, 1.48 goals against average) and Garrett Bartus (2-1-1, 3.43).

Because both returned to the Phantoms from the 2007-08 campaign, Mainhardt calls his goaltending situation “an absolute luxury. This was the first year where we didn’t have to recruit a goaltender. We’re very confident in these two guys.”

Up front, Mainhardt said the rookie line of Cole Schneider, Erik Higby and Alex Lippincott has blossomed.

“We’ve had some really good starts from our rookies,” said Mainhardt, noting that Schneider has eight points and is a plus six in plus/minus ratings.

Lundholm has nine points including eight assists. Schneider and Saad are next with eight points apiece.

The Phantoms will need plenty of scoring against Team USA (6-5-1).

Mainhardt said the Team USA roster is loaded with NHL prospects.

“These guys are considered to be the top 20 17-18-year-old players in the country,” Mainhardt said. “From top to bottom, they are a very exciting team to come out and watch.

“This team will have six or seven players who become first-round [NHL] draft picks.”

One of the USA players, Austin Czarnik, almost was a Phantom.

“We were recruiting him,” Mainhardt said. “He was one of the last players signed by Team USA. Czarnik has had a great start.”

Following this weekend, the Phantoms will play three road games at Traverse City and two more against the Motor City Machine.

Then the Phantoms will open the Chevrolet Centre portion of their home schedule Nov. 14-15 when the St. Louis Bandits visit.

williams@vindy.com