Pee Wee Phantoms face tough competition

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Robbie Stanko (Canfield) eyes an the opposing player during a game last weekemd at the Ice Zone.

The Youngstown Phantoms Peewee AA team played host to a four-team showcase Dec. 1-2 at the Ice Zone in Boardman. The event featured three top tier teams, including one from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Youngstown opened play with a league game against the Arctic Foxes from Pittsburgh. The Arctic Foxes, ranked third in the PAHL league, scored a goal with 24 seconds left to earn the win.

Both teams remained scoreless through the first period. The Foxes then took a 2-0 lead with two goals early in the second period. Youngstown rallied in the third period, scoring 34 seconds into the period on a pass from Devin Whitaker (Boardman) to Stone Elias (Canfield) to Devin Kelly. At the 10:41 mark, Bo Gray (Boardman) tied the game on a pass from Mike Fetsko (Boardman).

The Phantoms took the lead on a goal by RJ Pozzuto, assisted by Maguire Franko (Poland) at 7:30 left in the game. But the Foxes tied the game at 3-3 with 2:20 left and hit the game-winner with 24 seconds remaining.

Later Saturday evening, Youngstown hosted Team Ohio from Cincinnati, which plays at the AAA level. Outmatched, the Phantoms lost 8-0.

On Sunday morning, the Phantoms and Team Ohio squared off again. After a scoreless first period, Youngstown took the lead at 8:28 of the second period and held it for the rest of the period.

Team Ohio tied the game at 9:23 of the third period, but the Phantoms regained the lead at 3:22. That lasted only a minute, as Team Ohio scored to salvage a 2-2 tie.

The final game of the weekend was against the Cleveland Hockey Alliance, who is ranked 89 out of 571 teams in AA. The Phantoms trailed by one at the end of the first period and took the lead in the second on a score by Whitaker assisted by Elias.

The Phantoms followed with another score by Tallon Price (Poland). Youngstown held the lead until 5:54 remained in the game when Cleveland rattled off four straight goals to win the game.