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Phantoms place a premium on defense
By Matthew Peaslee
Youngstown
In baseball, chicks did the longball. In hockey, it’s much of the same as girls love the goals. Members of the Phantoms defensive unit hope to soon alter that adage.
Head coach Anthony Noreen does, too.
“He’s brought a great vigor to everything,” Kevin Liss said of the first-year head coach. “He wants the best for us and has really preached the importance of a strong defensive team.”
Liss, a Pittsburgh native, was in Youngstown last year and part of a team that surrendered 3.3 goals per contest. Now, with a year under his belt and a greater understanding of the game, he’s ready to take charge of the back line.
“It’s definitely exciting because it’s an opportunity to lead the team in our own direction,” he said. “We have a much tighter team, this season, and we hope that it can lead to a much more successful season.”
Chris Bradley, another returning player, says that defense may be the biggest part of the game. It could also be the most overlooked.
“Blocked shots are huge,” he said. “We do our best to stop a goal from being scored and not a lot of people take that into account. They see the goals and assists, but we kind of work behind-the-scenes to get the job done.”
Liss likes to tally his stats off the puck. He graciously lets the forwards do thier thing, as he has more important things to worry about.
“I get as much of a reward out of a big hit as they get out of scoring a goal,” he said. “I love to play physical; that’s just kind of my game.”
The Phantoms did earn one shutout in 2010, a 1-0 blanking of the Dubuque Fighting Saints on November 20, and they were 14-1-3 when leading after the second period. Much of that is a credit to the defense, but they too like to see points put up on their side of the board.
“It feels just as good to us to get the puck to someone who can score,” Jordan Young said. “All the glamorous guys on the offensive end appreciate what we do because not everyone is trying to get the glory.”
Young looks at his position in unique light.
“We’re more of the offensive linemen of the team,” the Phantoms sixth-round pick in 2010 said. “It’s a good role to have.”
Youngstown returns six defensive players from a year ago, including two goalies. That familiarity has already allowed for greater chemistry building, now, as opposed to during the season when there are bigger issues at hand.
“Last year, everybody didn’t know everybody, so we kind of had to learn as we went,” Young said. “Now, it helps out to be established coming in and everybody knows their roles.”
Bradley, Liss and Young have inherited new leadership roles. All three are comfortable carrying that torch and have accepted the challenge.
“We can hold it down,” Bradley said. “It’s up to us to stop the other team from scoring and we take pride in putting our team in a position to win. When we win, the recognition will come.”