Phantoms’ Saad named player of week

BOARDMAN — Mahoning Valley Phantoms forward Brandon Saad was named North Division player of the week by the North American Hockey League for the third time since Jan. 1.

Saad had five goals and two assists as the Phantoms won two of three games against the Marquette Rangers last weekend.

He scored at least one goal in all three games and had a natural hat trick — scoring three consecutive goals — in the Phantoms’ 6-1 win on Saturday.

Since Jan. 1, Saad has scored 13 goals and seven assists.

He wasnamed first-team all-tournament at the World Under-17 Challenge the first week of January after leading all scorers in the preliminary round.

“It’s been great. The team’s doing well and I’m doing well,” said Saad, of Gibsonia, Pa., who leads the Phantoms with 38 points (24 goals and 14 assists). “It’s the perfect time for everything to be clicking here, heading toward the end of the season.”

Phantoms have won player of the week awards five times this season — Nick Kenney has earned it twice.

At Marquette, the line of Saad, Johnny Meo and Stefan Salituro scored six goals and 12 assists. Saad said the line, formed for the Phantoms’ Jan. 30-31 series at Alpena, has found great chemistry in just three weeks.

“We’ve clicked since the second we got put on a line together,” he said, “and we just keep getting better and keep progressing.”

Jordan Tibbett of the Phantoms was named honorable mention for the NAHL’s goalie of the week award. Tibbett was the winner in two games against Marquette and had 60 saves, improving his season record to 21-5-1.

The Phantoms play host to the Motor City Machine at the Chevrolet Centre on Thursday and Friday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. Friday’s game will be preceded by a pre-fight rally and hydration weigh-in for Kelly Pavlik’s world championship fight against Marco Antonio Rubio.