43
Phantoms have some depth
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Phantoms traded for goaltender Chris Birdsall one day before the 2014 USHL Draft.
It was a move that filled a need created by Sean Romeo, who left for the University of Maine, and also sent a message to the other goalie on the Phantoms roster, Colin DeAugustine.
After the trade, DeAugustine sat down with head coach Anthony Noreen to discuss the plan for this season — but more importantly his future in Youngstown.
“He told me he still had high hopes for me this year and expected a lot,” DeAugustine said. “I know when my brother played in this league, their team had two of the top five goalies in the league, so I kind of knew we were going to be splitting playing time at the beginning of the year.
“I wasn’t too scared about it or anything, but it did make me a little nervous and realize I had to play my game a little bit better.”
Perhaps that was just the motivation DeAugustine needed, as he’s off to a red-hot start between the pipes for the Phantoms. The Burgettstown, Pa., native has a 5-2 record with a 1.99 goals against average, including a shutout of Dubuque.
Because of DeAugustine’s stellar play, Birdsall has only seen action in three of the team’s first 10 games.
“It’s been a 1A and 1B,” Noreen said about his goaltending situation. “Our plan is still to split them and it will be as long as they keep doing what they’re supposed to do and they keep doing their job.
“As of right now, they’ve both been tremendous in practice, they’ve both worked hard off the ice, they’ve both given us a chance to win in each one of their starts, so as long as they keep doing that it’ll keep being both of them in the net.”
Birdsall’s numbers haven’t been as impressive as DeAugustine’s, perhaps playing a factor into the playing time. The Glen Rock, N.J., native, and Boston College commit, is 1-1-1 with a 4.00 goals against average and a 0.87 save percentage.
“We have a good competitiveness and that helps us,” Birdsall said. “We get along really well, we help each other out during practice, motivating each other.
“I think it’ll be a good year with the two of us.”
Birdsall wouldn’t admit that it’s been difficult to get into a rhythm with DeAugustine getting the majority of the starts to this point.
“You’ve just got to stick through it and help the goalie who’s [starting] be the best that they can be,” he said.
Noreen says the trade wasn’t made to light a fire under DeAugustine, but instead prevent a similar situation to the one they found themselves in last season. Romeo, who had set franchise records for regular-season wins (31), shutouts (5) and playoff victories (5) the season before, was forced to miss the first eight games because of a groin injury, which he then re-injured less than a month into the season. That left two inexperienced goalies to fill the void.
“It’s pretty simple,” Noreen said. “We were really lucky for my first two years I was the head coach here. We had a starting goalie, who not only was tremendous, but also stayed healthy the entire year.
“Last year, all of the sudden two young goalies kind of get thrown into the fire. We just wanted to make sure we didn’t run into the situation again.”
So far, they haven’t. Noreen has ridden DeAugustine to this point, but a heavy dose of Birdsall could be on the horizon.
Either way, it appears the trade has worked out for all parties.