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Phantoms atone with impressive win
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Phantoms forward Kiefer Sherwood called Saturday night’s 6-2 win over the Team USA under-18 team “probably our most complete 60-minute effort” during his season-and-a-half with the team.
Head coach Anthony Noreen said, “It was as good a job of [being hard to play against] as maybe we’ve ever done.
“We finished every hit, we blocked every shot and the biggest problem we had was we didn’t know who to put out there because every line was so good.”
It was a commanding performance from start to finish as Kyle Connor scored 1:03 into the game and Ryan Lomberg capped the win with a empty-net goal.
The victory came 24 hours after the Phantoms (12-6-4, 28 points) blew a four-goal third-period lead to Team USA (7-12-0, 14 points) and eventually lost in a shootout.
“It was one of those [losses] that didn’t go away,” Noreen said. “We didn’t get over it. We were mad about it — every one of us — and we were still mad when we came to the rink this morning and we were still mad when we came to the rink tonight.
“We weren’t going to let that go.”
The Phantoms took that attitude out with them on the opening shift and jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Connor’s 10th of the season.
Team USA tied the game later in the period and took a 2-1 lead early in the second. The advantage was brief as Sherwood converted 35 seconds later to even the score.
The Columbus native wasn’t done, scoring a power-play goal off an offensive zone faceoff midway through the second period. Sherwood has eight goals this season.
“There’s no one that works the specific craft on our team more than Kiefer does,” Noreen said. “He works at that shot tirelessly before practice, after practice and it’s nice to see guys rewarded when they works so hard.”
Play was physical throughout the game — Team USA’s Brendan Warren was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind in the first period — but things began to get chippy as the hits got kept coming.
“Love it — that’s us,” Noreen said. “I don’t know how to coach any other way.
“We will finish hits, we will be hard to play against.”
Connor scored his second of the game on a beautiful forehand-to-backhand move that left Team USA goaltender Michael Lackey on his backside.
Unlike Friday night’s game, the Phantoms held on to a third-period lead and gave 2,015 fans inside the Covelli Centre a reason to cheer.
“For the majority of the game [Friday], I think we were trying to make a statement and kind of took our foot off the gas pedal,” Sherwood said. “Tonight, we stuck through it and it was a great effort from the guys.”
Phantoms goalie Chris Birdsall stopped 28 of 30 shots to improve to 6-1-4.
NOTES
Saturday’s game featured 32 college commits, with 16 playing for Team USA and 16 on the Youngstown ... The Phantoms wore special jerseys for military appreciation night at the Covelli Centre, which drew one of the best crowds of the season ... After four consecutive home games, the Phantoms hit the road next weekend for two games against the Tri-City Storm. It’ll be the team’s first meeting of the season ... They return home on Dec. 19 for Pittsburgh Penguins night, with the Stanley Cup in attendance at the Covelli Centre.