Phantoms, Team USA to face off

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By Tom Williams

Mahoning Valley leads the North Division standings, but Team USA has plenty of chances to make up ground.

YOUNGSTOWN — Friday’s 9-2 blowout of the Traverse City North Stars had the Mahoning Valley Phantoms poised to clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the North American Hockey League playoffs.

A win on Saturday or Sunday against the North Stars would have assured the Phantoms of finishing no lower than second place in the six-team North Division. The top four teams qualify for the postseason and the top two get three home games in the best-of-five opening series.

But the North Stars shook up the division race by defeating the Phantoms twice — 4-1 on Saturday and 3-2 on Sunday.

The Phantoms (34-14-5, 73 points) remain atop the North Division standings but they are looking over their shoulders and not necessarily at second-place Traverse City (30-17-6, 66).

The Phantoms and North Stars each have five games remaining in the regular season. The U.S. National Team (30-14-4, 64), in third place has 10, including tonight’s showdown with the Phantoms at the Chevrolet Centre. The opening faceoff is set for 6 p.m.

Unlike the other North Division franchises, the Team USA organization sometimes splits into two squads. Tonight, the Team USA 17s will face the Phantoms while Team USA 18s will be hosting the last-place Motor City Machine.

Friday and Saturday, one Team USA squad will be playing fourth-place Alpena while the other will be playing Traverse City. At the same time, the Phantoms will be on the road playing the St. Louis Bandits (39-9-6, 84), the second-place team in the South Division.

Curtis Carr, the Phantoms assistant coach, said it’s often a mystery who will show up for Team USA.

“You never know if you’re going to see some 17s, some 18s, a mixture,” Carr said. “We just have to be prepared.”

Tonight’s game will be the Phantoms’ fourth in five days.

Aware of how quickly Team USA can make up ground, Phantoms captain Johnny Meo isn’t ready to call tonight’s game a must-win contest.

“We’re not going to press or make a big deal out of anything out there,” Meo said. “But we know points are important down the stretch, so we just want to win the game and show USA they can’t come into [the Chevrolet Centre] and take anything from us.”

The Phantoms are 4-5-0 against Team USA this season, including 3-2-0 at home.

The Phantoms’ magic number for finishing ahead of Traverse City is four (points earned by the Phantoms or lost by the North Stars). Against Team USA, the magic number is 12.

The Phantoms’ two-game losing streak is only the third losing string of the season

Goaltender Jordan Tibbett said the Phantoms need to buckle down to regain confidence.

“It always comes back to hard work,” Tibbett said. “When you’re working hard, you get the good bounces out there. If we can maintain a hard-working mentality, we’ll be on top, where we need to be.”

Tibbett’s record is 23-7-2 with a 2.42 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. Brandon Saad leads the Phantoms in scoring with 28 goals and 18 assists. Defenseman Cullen Lundholm scored twice in the three games against the North Stars.

Matthew Nieto paces the Nationals’ attack with 11 goals and 22 assists while Will Yanakeff anchors the Team USA net with an 11-4-2 record, a 2.10 GAA and a .916 save percentage.

Tonight’s game is part of the Phantoms’ annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration and will include a live auction of the special edition St. Patrick’s Day jerseys the team will be wearing. Fans can bid in advance on the jerseys at MVPPhantoms.com.

Tonight’s $8.50 seats have been discounted to $5 and beer will be sold on a “buy one, get one free” basis.

williams@vindy.com