43
PHANTOMS NOTEBOOK More from the Covelli Centre
Streak snapped: The Phantoms’ record of eight straight home wins came to an end. Their last defeat at home was on Jan. 26, a 4-3 loss to Indiana.
Coming up: After tonight’s rematch with Cedar Rapids at the Covelli Centre, the Phantoms will hit the road for their final four away games of the regular season. Next weekend’s road trip will take them to Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday to play Team USA, Chicago on Saturday to play the Steel and Indianapolis on Sunday to play the Indiana Ice. Then on April 10, the Phantoms will return to Chicago for a late-morning game with the Steel. The Phantoms’ final two home games will be against the Steel on April 12-13.
Sustr plays in Tampa: Former Phantoms defenseman Andrej Sustr made his NHL debut on Friday in the Lightning’s 5-4 shootout victory against the New Jersey Devils. In the Phantoms’ inaugural 2009-10 season, Sustr played in 50 games. He then played three seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha before signing a two-year contract with the Lightning last week. He’s the first Youngstown Phantom to make the NHL. Chicago Blackhawks rookie Brandon Saad played for the Mahoning Valley Phantoms of the North American Hockey League in the 2008-09 season.
Welcome back: RoughRiders assistant coach Doug Leaverton was a Mahoning Valley Phantom during the 2006-07 season.
No penalty problems: The Phantoms were assessed several penalties in the third period when the Cedar Rapids lead grew to 5-3. Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen did not have a problem with the ones that came from defending hits on some of his smaller players. “Those are penalties we are going to take,” Noreen said. “We feel that if someone takes a liberty with one of our guys, especially one of our smaller skill guys, we expect [others] to get in there. We need other teams to know they are not going to be able to hit our small guys from behind or come after [Cam Brown, Austin Cangelosi].”
Scoreboard watching: Noreen admitted Friday’s loss was a blown opportunity but said the Phantoms are more concerned with their own performance than what second-place Green Bay and third-place Muskegon are doing. “The way things have been going, we know if we win good things will happen.”