Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Next: Phantoms at Team USA, Friday
Special to The Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN
With expansion looming next season in the United States Hockey League, there’s no guarantee the Youngstown Phantoms and the Sioux City Musketeers will meet four times in a season again.
That’s a shame, because all four games this season were ones to remember.
Youngstown is an East Division team in its first year of existence while Sioux City is an original USHL club in its 31st season of existence. The clubs have some big differences beyond just their histories and locations.
While the Phantoms have been among the most penalized teams in the league (averaging 26.4 penalty minutes per game), the Musketeers have been whistled for fewer than half of Youngstown’s total.
Also, the Phantoms have used Jordan Tibbett and Matt Mahalak to a nearly equal amount of starts in goal while Sioux City has leaned heavily upon first-year netminder Matt Skoff, who has played a league-high 45 game.
Despite their differences, the teams matched up extraordinarily well.
Saturday, they played to a shootout, won by the Musketeers. Sioux City won the season series 3-1, but three of the games were decided by one goal.
On March 12, the Phantoms prevailed in a seven-round shootout at the Covelli Centre, earning their first win over Sioux City.
Tom Serratore, who spent his first two USHL seasons in Sioux City before the Phantoms selected him in the expansion draft last May, played well against his old club. Serratore scored five points (two goals, three assists) against the Musketeers, including a regulation goal and a shootout tally Saturday.
Serratore was booed in the shootout, but he snapped a shot past Skoff.
“I couldn’t really hear [the boos],” said Serratore following his first shootout attempt of the season. “I was pretty nervous.”
After playing in just two shootouts in their first 50 game,s the Phantoms have gone to the tiebreaker three times in their last five.
The Phantoms play Team USA twice this weekend.
On Friday, the teams will play in Ann Arbor, Mich., at 7:05 p.m. Saturday’s game at the Covelli Centre is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.
Saturday’s game will feature a poster giveaway to the first 2,500 fans in attendance.
Also youth who sign up for the Phantoms Kids Club get a free ticket to the game plus a gift pack.