Bartus’ sterling play helps Phantoms split

Mahoning Valley is tied with Team USA for second place in the NAHL North Division.

STAFF REPORT

BOARDMAN — Sterling play by goaltender Garrett Bartus helped the Mahoning Valley Phantoms earn a split against Team USA last weekend at the Ice Zone.

Bartus (3-1-1, 3.15 goals-against average) made 29 saves in the Phantoms’ 3-2 win on Saturday.

The victory kept the Phantoms (7-2-1, 15 points) tied with Team USA (7-6-1) for second place in the North American Hockey League’s North Division.

Leading the pack is the Traverse City North Stars (11-2-0, 22 points), the Phantoms’ opponents for three games this weekend in Michigan.

Assistant coach Curtis Carr said that the Phantoms aren’t worried about the standings right now.

“We don’t care who’s in what place,” Carr said. “Our primary concern right now is continuing to improve while we win games.”

The Friday and Saturday games begin at 7:05 p.m. Sunday’s matinee has a 12:35 p.m. faceoff. Playing three games within 48 hours means role players will get plenty of ice time, according to coach Bob Mainhardt.

“It definitely will challenge our depth and show which team has the most depth,” Mainhardt said. “It’s hard to ride [just] your top guys for three games in a row.”

Mainhardt is not surprised that the North Stars are off to a flying start.

“We knew last summer that they were going to have strong team,” Mainhardt said. “They had a great group of players coming back and have a great, great recruiting class.”

So far, Mainhardt has been alternating goalies Bartus and Jordan Tibbett (4-1-0, 1.98), but he expects to begin playing the goalie with the hot hand more often.

“Right now, we’ll probably go with Jordan,” said Mainhardt of the series opener.

Last Saturday’s victory was not as close as the final score indicated. Kyle Verbeek, Nick Shkreli and Doug Clifford scored goals by the end of the second period to give the Phantoms a 3-0 cushion.

Bartus was cruising toward a shutout when Team USA pulled goalie Will Yanakeff with about three minutes to play. The gamble paid off when Team USA’s Shane Sooth scored with 2:50 remaining in regulation.

The Nationals kept applying pressure. With about 10 seconds to go and Yanakeff on the bench, Bartus found a loose puck in front of the net and fired at the goal at the opposite end.

Bartus’ shot, however, was blocked down by Team USA’s Austin Czarnik at the blue line, and Czarnik beat Bartus’ glove side as time expired to make the final score 3-2.

Bartus said it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to try and score.

“I’ve never had a chance to score like that before,” Bartus said, “but I feel bad because I messed it up and cost us the goal.”