Phantoms add depth up front in futures draft

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Phantoms used four of their six draft picks in Tuesday’s USHL Futures Draft to add depth at the forward position.

The Phantoms drafted players from as close as Pittsburgh to as far away as California.

In their second USHL season, 32 of the Phantoms’ 60 games were decided by one goal so the team is looking for scoring support up front.

Their first three selections were; Max Becker from Orange, Calif.; Jacob Pritchard from Macomb, Mich.; and Luke Stork from Pittsburgh.

Jason Koehler, Phantoms assistant general manager, said this draft is not about bolstering next season’s team.

“Odds are most of these players are a year-or-so away,” Koehler said. “The door is open for these players to come in and compete [in June’s training camp], but it’s about taking the best available player.”

Koehler said the hockey landscape has been changing as newer hotbeds have been developing.

“We are no longer looking in just your typical hockey areas,” Koehler said. “The game has now expanded from coast-to-coast and from corner-to-corner here in the U.S.”

In the fourth round, the Phantoms chose defenseman Kale Bennett out of St. Louis. Bennett played for the St. Louis Under-16 AAA squad, the same program that helped develop Scott Mayfield, the Phantom defender who is likely to be selected in June’s NHL Draft.

“St. Louis can be compared to a hockey area like Pittsburgh,” Koehler said. “We have seen some high-caliber players come out of that secondary hockey market.

“Professional hockey players that have played in St. Louis have a tendency to stay in the area and coach the hockey youth playing there,” Koehler said. “This area does not get the attention like a Minneapolis or a Chicago, but some really good players have come out of that region.”

Mayfield played two seasons with the Phantoms and has a scholarship to attend the University of Denver in the fall.

The Phantoms’ other picks forward Jayson Reynolds from De Pere, Wis., and defenseman Matthew Calabrase from Park Ridge, Ill.