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Injuries hurting Phantoms’ progress
Photo
Noreen
By Tom Williams
BOARDMAN
Youngstown Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen calls the USHL rules for the injured reserve list “confusing.”
This much is clear — each hockey team can have no more than two players on the list. Right now, the Phantoms have five who are eligible.
As the seventh-place Phantoms (7-11-3, 17 points) prepare for their final four games before Christmas break, Noreen says his veterans will be logging extra minutes while replacements get valuable experience.
“It’s been a crazy year,” Noreen said. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t had our best lineup on the ice for many nights.
“At the same time, it’s been a great opportunity for a lot of [younger] guys.”
Defenseman Alex Carle and captain Alfred Larsson are the players on injured reserve. Carle has been out since mid-October.
Larsson suffered a back injury in early November and has flown home to Sweden for treatment. He’s expected back after the Christmas break.
Starting goaltender Sean Romeo, who set the franchise record with 31 victories last season, has been able to play only five games. He suffered a groin injury in training camp and aggravated it a month ago.
Last week’s 4-3 loss to the Indiana Ice was costly. Forward Josh Melnick blocked a shot and suffered a finger injury. Defenseman Tommy Parran suffered bruised ribs when he was checked from behind and won’t play until after Christmas.
On Tuesday, the Phantoms traded a draft pick to the Omaha Lancers for second-year forward Alex Rauter.
“We are very excited to add a player of Alex’s caliber,” Noreen said. “He’s a guy who’s never had trouble finding the back of the net at previous levels and we hope he can provide some scoring depth.”
A Cornell University recruit, Rauter scored four points in 13 games this season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound forward has a +5 rating. In 27 games last season, Rauter scored 11 points.
The Phantoms will play the Chicago Steel (7-15-0, 14 points) on Friday at the Covelli Center and Team USA’s 18-under squad on Saturday. Team USA (14-10-1, 29 points) is tied with Dubuque for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Next weekend, the Phantoms will travel to Nebraska for two games against the Tri-City Storm, then enjoy an 11-day break before the Ice come to Youngstown for two games on Dec. 27-28.
With Larsson (captain) and Romeo (alternate captain) unavailable, the Phantoms named Conor Lemirande to serve as an alternate, joining Luke Stork, Josh Nenadal abd Tyler Spezia. Noreen said the team will rotate the C on jerseys, starting with Nenadal on Friday.
“It’s a huge honor to wear the C,” Nenadal said. “To have Alfie hurt is one of the worst things — he’s been my linemate for two seasons.”
Nenadal and Stork said the Phantoms are running out of time to reach .500.
“Every game from now on is pretty much a must-win for us,” Nenadal said. “We’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole so we’re going to have to [climb] our way out. It’s nothing new for us — we did it last year.”
Last season, the Phantoms wiped out a 5-11 start to finish in third place and advance to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Stork called the rash of injuries “a big loss” for the team.
“Guys are going to have to step up, prove [themselves],” the second-year forward said.
Replacing Larsson’s leadership role “puts a little extra pressure on us,” Stork said, “but we know what to do. We went through this last year.”
Stork called this weekend’s games “the biggest of our season. We’ve got to treat them like playoff games, a do-or-die situation.”