Phantoms scare RoughRiders late

Staff report

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA

The Youngstown Phantoms threw a late scare at the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders before falling 4-3 on Friday.

The Phantoms (21-27-5, 47 points) scored a goal with less than four minutes to play to bring the deficit down to one goal against the RoughRiders (37-11-5, 79 points).

“Our guys played exceptionally well tonight,” Phantoms head coach Curtis Carr said. “This game represents the story of our season, we just could not get a bounce to go our way.

“We hit four posts, three in the second and one in the third, and it is tough to see our guys battle and come up short like we did tonight,” Carr said. “We thought we were the better team on the ice tonight.”

Waterloo’s 2-1 loss to Muskegon keeps the Phantoms two points ahead of the Black Hawks in the Eastern Conference race for the final playoff berth.

The USHL regular season ends on April 9. The Phantoms and Black Hawks each have seven games remaining.

Jiri Sekac, Adam Berkle and Cody Strang scored for the Phantoms.

Stu Higgins recorded an assist in his first game back since Feb. 25.

Goaltender Jordan Tibbett stopped 20 shots for the Phantoms. Brady Hjelle, who had defeated the Phantoms 6-3 on March 17, made 27 saves.

Both teams had two power-play chances, but did not score with the extra skater.

Tonight, the Phantom will be in Omaha, Neb., to face the Lancers.

Their next home game will be on April 1 against Team USA at the Covelli Centre. They also have home games on April 8-9.