Phantoms, Nationals open North finals on Thursday

Games 3 and 4 of the series will be at the Chevrolet Centre on April 23-24.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms will open the North American Hockey League’s North Division Finals on Thursday when they take on the U.S. National Team in Game 1 of a best-of-5 series.

The opening faceoff will be at 7 p.m. at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Game 2 will be played there Friday at 7 p.m.

The Phantoms will host Game 3 on April 23 at 7:15 p.m. at the Chevrolet Centre.

If necessary, Game 4 will be there on April 24 at 7:15 p.m.

Should the best-of-five set go the distance, the two sides would head back to Ann Arbor for a decisive Game 5 at the Ice Cube on April 25 at 7 p.m.

The Phantoms and Nationals split their 10-game regular season series at five wins a side.

In five games in Ann Arbor this season, the Phantoms held a 2-3-0 mark against the Nationals.

The Phantoms are 16-5-1 at the Chevrolet Centre in 2008-09, including a 3-2-0 home record against Team USA. Team USA earned home-ice advantage for this series after a four-win surge over the final week of the regular season.

Team USA finished two points ahead of the Phantoms.

The Phantoms advanced to this series after defeating Traverse City, three games to two. Team USA ousted the Alpena IceDiggers in four games.

The games will be broadcast by WBBW-AM (1240) at MVPPhantoms.com via B2 Networks. The pregame shows will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of each contest.