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Even with Phantoms in first place, captain believes they can be better
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
By winning four of their first six games, Youngstown Phantoms captain Adam Berkle says that his teammates don’t mind their perch atop the USHL’s Eastern Division standings.
But he believes they can improve.
“We have had a good start, but we’d like to be better,” said Berkle after Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders created a tie for first. “There’s a few things we’re working on.
“Once we figure those out, we should do well against every team,” Berkle said. “We’ve had some minor breakdowns during games and that’s what hurt us sometimes.”
The Phantoms’ worst period of the young season was Sunday’s second period when they were outshot 15-1 and outscored 3-0 to fall behind by four goals.
“Our energy was not there at the start,” Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said. “Some costly turnovers really hurt us [but] I was very happy that they did not give up at any point.”
The Phantoms (4-2-0, 8 points) and RoughRiders (4-0-0, 8 points) share the top spot three weeks into the season.
“We were starting to build momentum,” said Carr of a 1-0 deficit that snowballed. “A bad play at our blue line led to their second goal and the guys started to panic a little.
“We tried to get them to understand that we need to keep battling and chipping away at the four goals,” Carr said. “At no point did we want them to think or believe that this or any game is out of reach.
“We play 60 minutes for a reason and I told the guys that this was only one game and it’s only a loss if we do not learn from it.”
Defenseman Ben Paulides echoed Carr’s thoughts on effort.
“We need to play a full 60 minutes to win a game and we did not do that [Sunday],” said Paulides, adding that the Phantoms have little time to work out kinks.
“No one likes the quick turnaround,” Paulides said of the short week that had just three-non-game days and a 17-hour bus ride. “That said, I feel that these two teams are not up to the level as Green Bay and Cedar Rapids.”
On this week’s long road trip to North Dakota and Iowa, the Phantoms will face two first-place Western Division teams.
Tonight, they will be in Fargo, N.D., to take on the Force (3-3-0, 6 points). On Saturday, the Phantoms will make their first appearance in Dubuque, Iowa, to play the expansion Fighting Saints (3-2-0, six points.
“Both teams are very good and both games will be hard fought,” assistant coach Anthony Noreen said,
Given a choice, Berkle said, “I’d rather have the games back-to-back.”
The unusual trip includes a rare day off between games.
“It’s a lot easier that way,” Berkle said. “Rest is always good but [so is] getting right back after it.”
USHL standings, schedule/B2