Phantoms prepare to close book on initial season in the USHL

March 31, 2010 at 12:07a.m.

By TOM WILLIAMS

YOUNGSTOWN

Moments before boarding the bus for his final Youngstown Phantoms road trip, captain David Donnellan said there was a commencement-like atmosphere in the air.

“It’s another page down in the book,” the 6-foot, 185-pound defenseman from Wisconsin said after Tuesday’s practice at the Covelli Centre. “It’s been a great run in the USHL and I’ve learned a lot, improved a lot as a player.

“I’m looking forward to the next step.”

Tonight at 8:30 in Bensenville, Ill., the Phantoms (18-35-4, 40 points) will play their final road game of their expansion season when they take on the Chicago Steel (23-28-6, 52) at the Edge Ice Arena. The Phantoms will attempt to sweep the season series with the Steel after winning their previous four games.

This weekend, the Phantoms will conclude the regular season with two games against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (36-18-3, 75 points) at the Covelli Centre. The RoughRiders are in second place in the West Division.

Missing those games will be forward Jiri Sekac who flew to Belarus on Monday to try out for the Czech Republic’s entry in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s U18 World Championship. That tournament will be contested in April in Bobruisk and Minsk, Belarus.

Since joining the Phantoms in December, Sekac scored two goals and nine assists, including four points in his last four games.

“Jiri’s a very skilled player who’s shown the ability to create offense for us, especially in the last handful of games after he got adjusted to the league,” Phantoms coach Curt Carr said. “One thing about Jiri is he also has a very strong work ethic. He battles hard, which many other so-called scorers won’t do.”

The Phantoms will finish in seventh place. The top four teams in each division qualify for the postseason.

Donnellan, who will play for Western Michigan in the fall, said he plans to work out with the Broncos this summer in Kalamazoo, Mich.

“I’ll probably take a class throughout the summer to get a few credits out of the way,” Donnellan said. “It will be good to get started.”

Donnellan said Jefferson Dahl (University of Wisconsin), Tom Serratore (University of Minnesota) and Luke Eibler (Northeastern University) also will be enrolling early at their schools.

Donnellan called his season here “a great year, being on the bus with all these guys and making new friendships that I’ll hold for the rest of my life.”

Next week, most of the high school-aged Phantoms will be transferring back to their hometown schools.

Road work will continue for the Phantoms coaching and personnel staff (Carr, assistant coach Brad Patterson and director of player personnel Jason Koehler).

Carr spent Monday in Ann Arbor, Mich., scouting the 40 hopefuls for the U-17 National Team’s prospect camp.

“Everyone has their coaches there,” said Patterson, who added that he, Carr and Koehler will be busy scouting into May.

“There are prospect camps, showcase camps for [players ages] 15 up to 18,” Patterson said. “Any weekend this spring around here, you can get out and see some top-notch hockey. We’re fortunate here that there is a lot of good hockey around.”