43
Indiana schools Phantoms at Covelli
Photo
The Youngstown Phantoms’ Josh Melnick moves the puck from behind the net against Indiana Ice defender Joshua Jacobs during the annual “School Day Game” Wednesday at the Covelli Centre in Younstown. The Phantoms fell 7-4. It was the sixth time the two teams have faced one another and the fifth win for the Ice, who are in first place in Eastern Conference standings.
Indiana schools Phantoms at Covelli
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Phantoms have given the Indiana Ice all they can handle this season.
Unfortunately, all they have is one win in six outings to show for their efforts.
Timothy Shoup, Brian Pinho and Sam Kurker each had a goal and assist, and Indiana outshot Youngstown, 46-20, as the Ice beat the Phantoms, 7-4, in the annual “School Day Game” on Wednesday at the Covelli Centre.
“It was nice to go up two goals at the outset but I didn’t think we had a great start. We don’t judge our start by goals and when we got down, we just tried to do a little too much,” Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen said. “We need to keep things simple and we’re inching closer to that as you saw in the third period. The quicker we figure that out though the better we’ll be as a team.”
The Phantoms (8-21-5, 21 points) needed just two shots to registered the game’s first two tallies.
Maxim Letunov gave Youngstown the early advantage when his 14th goal sailed past the outstretched arm of Ice goalie Jason Pawloski at 5:34.
When Kiefer Sherwood’s unassisted goal found the back of the net 24 seconds later, the Phantoms increased their lead to 2-0.
There’s a reason Indiana (22-6-5, 49 points) sits atop the Eastern Conference and an opportunistic offense is one of those reasons.
The Ice unloaded five unanswered goals, outshooting Youngstown 22-4 for a 5-2 lead heading to the first intermission.
Shoup’s unassisted goal at 7:29 of the frame got the Ice scoring started and when Jason Salvaggio’s shorthanded goal slipped past Phantoms goalie Sean Romeo, Indiana tied the score at 2.
The scoring was far from over as Joshua Jacobs’ goal at 15:58 gave Indiana a 3-2 advantage and a lead the Ice would never relinquished.
Tyler Pham’s seventh goal of the year at 18:53 and with time expiring, Dwyer Schantz’s unassisted power-play goal helped Indiana to a three-goal lead at the intermission.
“Youngstown started off really hot, but we didn’t panic and just continued to play our game,” Pham said. “It’s been a while since we started a game at 10 a.m. and just took some time for us to get our legs going, settle down and play.”
As offensive as the first period was the second was a complete 360-degree turn with defense the theme and the Phantoms the recipient of the period’s only goal.
Youngstown cut the deficit to 5-3 as Tyler Spezia notched a shorthanded goal — his sixth of the season — at 17:14.
“It was one of those games that seemed like the last shot was going to win,” Indiana coach Jeff Brown said. “We spotted Youngstown two goals early and despite that, I felt the first period today was our best.
“We had some opportunities in the second period but couldn’t cash in, took a couple bad penalties and all of a sudden they’re right back in the game. We had 46 shots, held them to 20 and found a way to win and that was the upside.”
Sherwood’s second goal of the game, a power-play opportunity at 5:16 of the final period, cut the Ice lead to 5-4 but Pinho’s wrap-around goal at 10:04, assisted by both Kurker and Jacob Pritchard helped Indiana regain their two goal advantage, 6-4.
“We just stayed focused and that was the key. We want to turn their defensemen around, but sometimes get a little too pretty,” Pritchard said. “A game this early in the morning reminds me of my AAA days with Detroit Honeybaked. I really enjoyed it.”
Indiana’s Alex Talcott then rounded out the scoring when his shot from the Phantoms’ blue line registered at 14:33.
The unassisted goal was his sixth of the season.
The Phantoms fell to 1-4 on school days, falling for the third time to the Ice.
Youngstown will conclude its seven-game home stand when its hosts Team USA at 7:05 p.m. on Friday.