Phantoms falter, 4-2

By Jon Moffett

The Phantoms and Team USA will collide again tonight at the Ice Zone.

BOARDMAN — There were two very different sounds coming from the locker rooms at the Ice Zone Friday night.

The visiting team locker room was blaring music and was full of people cheering. The home locker room had a chorus of slamming doors.

The frustrated Mahoning Valley Phantoms were defeated by the Team USA 17-und-under squad, 4-2.

“They’re a good team,” Phantoms (6-2-1) coach Bob Mainhardt said. “They limited us to very few scoring opportunities in the first two periods and they took advantage of their opportunities. I think that was probably the difference tonight.”

The Phantoms scored first when defenseman Robert Harrison received the puck from center Johnny Meo. Harrison beat USA goalie Jack Campbell on a power play with 6:37 to go in the first period. Team USA (7-5-1) took advantage of a scoring situation, and forward Emerson Etem scored the tying goal with 5.8 seconds left in the period.

The Phantoms came out rejuvenated in the second period, but were unable to score. Team USA scored twice in the final 35 seconds of the period to take a 3-1 lead.

Defenseman Jarred Tinordi scored with 33.4 seconds remaining, and Etem added his second goal on the night with 26.4 seconds left.

“We put together about a good 55 minutes when you put the whole game together,” Mainhardt said. “We just had some mental lapses, and we’ve had some issues with that earlier, but it’s still early in the season and we can work through those. But we definitely let down our guard for a couple of minutes and they made us pay.”

Team USA added their fourth and final goal with 16:26 left in the game. The goal was scored by forward Austin Czarnik and assisted by Shane Sooth and Kevin Clare.

The Phantoms scored with 13:09 left in the game on a goal by forward Alex Lippincott, but couldn’t muster enough offense to overcome Team USA.

“I thought it was a very good game,” said John Hynes, coach of Team USA. “I thought both teams played extremely well in a high-energy, high-tempo game. We were opportunistic with our chances, which was nice. I thought Mahoning Valley did a good job and had some pressure on offense, but our goalie did well.”

Mahoning Valley finished with 25 shots on goal. Team USA finished with 28. The Phantoms also led in penalty minutes with 14, while Team USA had 12.

“We’re always striving for those perfect 60 minutes,” Mainhardt said. “I think if we can get rid of those four or five minutes of down time we’ll be really successful.”

The Phantoms have a chance to exact some revenge tonight as they play host to Team USA at the Ice Zone. The game begins at 7:15.

jmoffett@vindy.com