Phantoms on the road for 2

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Phantoms travel to Nebraska this weekend for a pair of United States Hockey League games.

The Phantoms (4-2-0) face off against the Tri-City Storm (3-3-0) in Kearney, Neb., tonight, before visiting the Omaha Lancers (3-2-1) on Saturday.

Faceoff is 8:05 p.m. for both games.

The Phantoms saw their four-game winning streak come to an end last weekend, 5-4 at Team USA on Saturday, two days after they recorded the franchise’s first victory over Cedar Rapids.

The Phantoms are eager to continue that trend of franchise firsts against the Storm and Lancers, two teams they are winless against in a combined 12 appearances.

Coach Anthony Noreen said this year’s Phantoms team has a new identity and he anticipates the opportunity to put it on display this weekend.

“For some teams, to go in and beat certain teams it’s no big deal, but for us it is,” he said. “We want to create our own legacy for this organization. We need to prove that we can go out west and get wins in two hostile environments.”

Tri-City enters tonight’s game on the heels of its biggest offensive output of the season, a 7-3 victory over Sioux City last Saturday.

The Storm were led by a three-goal, four-point performance from Nick Lappin, while Brad Schierhorn tallied twice.

“Going against a team like Tri-City, who we only see two times a year, is a big challenge,” Noreen said.