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Team USA bests Phantoms again
By matthew Peaslee
YOUNGSTOWN
When two of the Phantoms’ best players were ejected in the second period of Saturday’s 6-4 loss to Team USA, coach Anthony Noreen could relate.
It happened to him at the junior level, too.
With under three minutes remaining in the second, Dylan Magonari, Jordan Young and JT Stenglein each got tangled up with three seperate Team USA players. Punches were thrown, blows were taken and everyone fell to the ice.
It was an all-out melee.
Stenglein went to the penalty box for five minutes — Margonari and Young were ejected. Clint Lewis and Keaton Thompson from Team USA were also thrown out.
“If there’s more than one guy fighting, usually you get kicked out for jumping in there,” Noreen said.
He was guilty of that numerous times as a kid in his late teens and early 20s as a member of NAHL’s Springfield Jr. Blues, he admits. And the sensation is one that’s hard to accept.
“It’s a terrible feeling,” Noreen said, “especially when the comeback starts. You’re not on the ice and you want to be to be a part of it.”
When the players were ejected, the Phantoms trailed 4-1. Just a minute later, they were down 5-1.
At the time, maybe calling it an early night wasn’t so bad.
But that quickly changed.
Ryan Belonger netted his 11th of the season at the 17:17 mark of the third period. Todd Koritzinsky landed a shot on goal and Belonger caught the rebound for a score.
With seven minutes, 51 seconds left, Mike Ambrosia took a shot along the boards that deflected off a Team USA defender. It jumped about five feet to an open Stenglein who was conveniently camped out in front of the net. He then punched it in for his team-leading 18th goal of the season.
Six minutes later, Austin Cangelosi got Youngstown within one goal on his 14th of the season off an Ambrosia pass.
It was the hard to watch comeback Noreen was talking about.
“Going into the third, we said we were not going let the game get out of control,” Noreen said. “We were not going to do anything stupid because it was 5-1. We were going to stay classy and we were just going to play hockey and see what happens and it happened to be our best period of the weekend.”
The Phantoms won the ensuing face off after the Cangelosi goal. There was 1:46 remaining, pressure was high, the crowd was roaring and goal tender Matthew O’Connor was pulled in favor of an extra attacker on the Youngstown offense. It got two good shots off before a pass was mishandled. Team USA gained possession and launched a pass through the diving arm of Ryan Lowney that was corralled by JT Compler who scored easily on the unmanned net.
For the second straight night, the Phantoms (18-11-2) were out-shot by a wide margin — 26-18 — although they took nine in the third period compared to five from Team USA (13-11-3). Also, they scored first again. Pat Conte netted a goal off his own rebound attempt at the 15:41 mark of the first period.