The Phantoms are glad to be back at home

They play Tri-City in two games at the Covelli Centre.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — After their first two road trips as a USHL expansion team (one successful, one loaded with close calls), the Youngstown Phantoms are ready to experience their first back-to-back games that don’t involve overnight travel.

“I know we are excited to have a nice two-game homestand,” Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said of this weekend’s doubleheader at the Covelli Centre. “To be able to battle on Friday night and then be able to wake up in our own beds and get some home cooking to be ready to go on Saturday will be nice.”

In their first USHL season, the Phantoms are 2-2-1 (five points), which has them tied with the Indiana Ice for fourth place in the East Division. All but one of their games were played on the road.

“More than anything, I am satisfied with where we are at as a team, wins and losses aside,” Mainhardt said. “It’s definitely nice to be .500 coming home. That’s something that you kind of look to shoot at, to be .500 on the road and make Youngstown the toughest place in the league to play.”

Friday and Saturday at 7:15 p.m., the Phantoms will play host to the Tri-City Storm (3-1-1, seven points).

After losing 6-2 to the defending champion Ice on Oct. 3 at the Covelli Centre, the Phantoms went 2-for-2 in their first road trip, defeating the Des Moines (Iowa) Buccaneers 5-4 and the Chicago Steel 5-3.

They also were away last weekend, losing to the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars 7-6 in overtime and the Buccaneers 5-3.

“We started off with a big weekend sweep a couple of weeks ago,” defenseman David Donnellan said. “Last weekend was frustrating, losing a couple of very close games. Those are two games we definitely should have won.”

A pleasant surprise for the Phantoms has been the strong start of leading scorer Taylor Holstrom (3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points).

“He’s probably exceeded expectations to this point in the season,” said Mainhardt of the forward who played for Omaha last season. “We really thought he could be dominant.”

Holstrom, whose hometown is Yorba Linda, Calif., agreed that seeing his name atop the scoring sheet was unusual.

Asked to describe this year’s start, Holstrom said there’s been “definitely a huge difference. I had 19 points the whole last year in 55 games.

“Definitely, there have been a lot more opportunities for me here, like on the power play.”

Because Mainhardt has been juggling his lines, Holstrom has been playing with multiple linemates. Right now, he’s paired with Nick Czinder (four points) and Adam Berkle (three points). Both are USHL rookies.

“We’ve had lines jumble up quite a bit but Taylor has played real well no matter who we’ve matched him up with,” Mainhardt said. “The challenge now to him is that he brings that every night for the entire season.”

Donnellan, the only Phantoms defenseman with USHL experience, will see some familiar faces this weekend. Last season, he began with Sioux Falls before being traded to Tri-City.

He has experience playing against former teammates.

“After being traded to Tri-City, I played against Sioux Falls last year,” Donnellan said. “It’s weird playing against your old team. Off the ice your friends but on the ice they’re enemies.

“I talked to some of my former teammates [at the Fall Classic in September],” Donnellan said. “That’s the good thing about this league — you meet some new people and talk to old friends, old relationships. It’s good.”

Donnellan said he might have a little advantage because of practicing and playing with some of the Storm.

“You know their tendencies, that’s the good thing about [playing a former] team,” Donnellan said. “I know how other players play and I [can] adjust my game to play against them.”

williams@vindy.com