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Red-hot Ice goalie is too much for Phantoms
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Break it up: An official yells to end play as a fight breaks out between between Youngstown Phantoms’ Scott Mayfield (2) and Indiana Ice’s Chris Martin (12) during the second period of a game between the two teams at the Covelli Centre on Thursday.
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN — Two goals by Bryon Paulazzo and a league-leading third shutout by goalie Cab Morris helped lift the Indiana Ice over the Youngstown Phantoms, 3-0, in Thursday’s USHL game at the Covelli Centre.
“Youngstown is a great team; a very physical squad that drives hard to the net every time,” Morris said. “Give credit to our defense because they kept the shots to the outside, which made my job much easier tonight.
“For me, it was just another game,” Morris said. “To get the shutout is obviously special but to get the win is far more important.”
The Phantoms, who outshot the Ice, 22-20, won the shot battle for the third consecutive game.
They are off to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a two-game weekend series with Team USA that begins tonight.
Youngstown coach Bob Mainhardt is glad to be heading back to the ice so quickly.
“The benefit of playing so soon is that we have a chance to deal with this adversity so soon,” Mainhardt said. “We will, however, need a better effort against Team USA than had tonight.”
For just the third time this season the Phantoms (10-9-2, 22 points) found themselves in a scoreless tie despite outshooting the Ice 8-4 in the opening 20 minutes.
Paulazzo broke the tie with his sixth goal of the year at 7:43 of the second period. Earning assists were Nic Dowd and Max Cook.
Outshooting the Phantoms 7-4 in the period, the Ice took the narrow 1-0 lead to the locker room for the second intermission.
Paulazzo’s second goal of the game, a wrist shot at 6:45 of the final period, increased the Indiana lead to 2-0.
The power-play goal was the Ice’s 18th of the seasone.
“I’ve been struggling the past few games offensively so to score twice tonight is a pretty good feeling,” Paulazzo said.
“My linemates, [Nic] Dowd and [Antti] Roppo were really helpful,” Paulazzo said. “In fact, it was Dowd’s pass on the first goal that made it look easy.
“The difference in the game for us, however, was the play in goal by Cab Morris,” Paulazzo said. “ He’s really special and tonight he proved how valuable he is to us.”
Morris, who improved to 9-2, impressed his coach, Jeff Blashill.
“Cab made some big saves in a game that was hotly contested throughout,” Blashill said. “He’s big, very athletic and while he still has some learning between the pipes, he is a difference-maker.”
Youngstown fell to 6-6-1 at the Covelli Centre and finished their homestand with a 2-2-1 mark.
The Phantoms suffered their second shutout of the season.
“It was anyone’s game tonight for 50 minutes and I thought that our goalie, Jordan Tibbett, was equal to the task,” Mainhardt said.
“They bore down around the net and won more one-on-one battles, but he [Tibbett] was just as good in goal for us tonight,” Mainhardt said.
Indiana improved to 13-8-1, 27 points and moved to within four points of East Division leading Green Bay (14-5-3, 31 points).
They evened their road record at 7-7-1 with the win.
The Phantoms’ next game at the Covelli Centre will be Dec. 29 when they play host to the Waterloo Black Hawks.