Phantoms still seek first victory at Covelli Centre

By Greg Gulas

Youngstown plays host to Des Moines for a pair of home games.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Covelli Centre is awaiting the return of the Youngstown Phantoms, readying the ice when they play host to the Des Moines Buccaneers beginning Thursday for a two-game, intra-division series.

Forgive the Phantoms players and staff, however, if they head to the visitors’ locker room as their home base.

Winless in three previous home contests, the Phantoms are 4-4-1 (9 points) and coming off a two-game road sweep of the Fargo Force.

If it seems as though their road play has a decided edge over their home ice time, it’s because the expansion team has found success much easier to come by when away from the Covelli Centre. They are 4-1-1 in six road outings, having outscored their opponents by a 28-23 count.

Conversely, they have struggled at scoring in their three home losses, being outscored 14-6.

“The success that we have enjoyed on the road does not surprise me,” said Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt. “We have so many new players that are playing together for the first time and with fewer distractions on the road, they have found it easier to stick to our game plan.

“Coming together on the road will make us a much better team at home as the season progresses,” he added. “Finding the right way to use the home crowd and atmosphere to our advantage is the key.

“We’ve worked really hard with our main focus now to get that elusive first home victory.”

Mainhardt noted an overall team effort helped the Phantoms sweep the Force last weekend.

That effort has never been questioned this season.

“This team from Day 1 has worked hard and they give it their all each and every time they hit the ice,” said Mainhardt.

“When they work smart as well as hard, then we’ll have something special. It’s tough to coach that work ethic as you either have it or you do not and this team definitely has the right work ethic,” he added.

“This group early on wanted to do so much that they found themselves out of position. Now, they’re learning how to dominate,” Mainhardt said.

The Phantoms outscored the Force 9-4 with forward Stu Higgins collecting his third goal of the season in Saturday’s 6-3 victory.

Higgins believes the Phantoms are now pointed in the right direction as they return home.

“As an expansion team we knew that there would be growing pains. We don’t want it that way but expect a lot out of ourselves,” said Higgins. “After struggling in the early going, we realize that we’ll be fine if we just stick to the game plan.

“Against Fargo last weekend, everything just seemed to be clicking. We scored on the power play, had an excellent penalty kill and won our fights.

“The little things that win games are finally working for us,” Higgins added.

Youngstown has split their only two outings this year against the Buccaneers, winning 5-4 in Des Moines on Oct. 10 while dropping a 5-3 road decision a week later.

Defenseman Ben Paulides won’t be satisfied until the Phantoms can get earn that first home win.

“Until now we didn’t get prepared mentally for our home games,” he said. “We had a good weekend at Fargo because we drove wide, dumped and chased.

“We will need to be a physical team down low, behind the net and at the red line against Des Moines. If that happens, then we should be alright,” Paulides added.

The Buccaneers are 4-5-0, having defeated the Green Bay Gamblers their last time out, 5-2 on Oct. 31.

They have dropped three of their last four outings, however, and are just 1-2 in three road contests.

Goaltender Eric Mihalik, a native of Avon Lake, is 3-2 while in net for Des Moines and is 1-0 against the Phantoms.

He rejected 28 of 31 Youngstown shots during their 5-3 win over the Phantoms on Oct. 17 and in two games against Youngstown has stopped of 44 of 51 shots.

T.J. Tynan, with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points, is the top offensive threat for Des Moines, scoring a goal and an assist against the Phantoms this season.

“Des Moines is an excellent hockey team and we were just fortunate to be able to steal one from them on the road last month,” said Mainhardt.

“They won [the USHL championship] four seasons ago, are a very dynamic team with a balanced scoring attack so with both teams starting to settle in, this is shaping up as one exciting series.”