43
Phantoms pummel Thunder with 9 goals
Pearson, Winkler each score two in morning contest
By Greg Gulas
Youngstown
The Bloomington Thunder sent a wake-up call to the Youngstown Phantoms by scoring 3:18 into Wednesday’s morning game at the Covelli Centre.
The Phantoms responded by scoring the next nine goals, four on the power play.
Chase Pearson netted two goals and made an assist while James Winkler registered his first two USHL goals as the Phantoms crushed the expansion Thunder for the fifth straight time this season, 9-3.
Youngstown (7-3-1, 15 points) moved into third-place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings, a point ahead of Dubuque. The Phantoms pulled to within a point of second-place Muskegon (8-4-0, 16 points) and are three points away from division-leading Cedar Rapids (9-1-0, 18 points).
“It’s fun to play an early morning game,” Pearson said. “The atmosphere was great, the schools attending had plenty of energy and they in turn energized us.”
The announced attendance was 1,290.
Goaltender Chris Birdsall stopped 21 shots for the victory.
Vince Pedrie gave the Thunder the early lead. Goals by Josh Melnick, Kevin Conley and Kris Myllari 97 seconds apart turned the momentum to the Phantoms. Pearson’s first goal made it 4-1.
“I got a great pass from Ryan [Lomberg] on my first goal,” Pearson said. “I was wide open in the slot and was able to bury the puck over their goalie’s glove.”
In the second period, the Phantoms scored three goals in 94 seconds for a 7-1 lead. Kiefer Sherwood, Pearson and Winkler scored the goals.
“Max [Letunov] fed me the puck perfectly on my second goal,” Pearson said.
Defenseman Tommy Parran also scored in the second period. After Winkler scored his second goal, the Thunder’s Alec Mehr and Jake Slaker scored.
“I got a great pass from Bryan [Lemos] on my first goal and on the second, Josh Nenadal fed me in the slot and I one-timed it past their goalie,” Winkler said.
Despite giving up an early goal, Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen said he was pleased with his team’s start.
“We had jump and after they scored the first goal we went to work,” Noreen said. “We want to roll four lines and this was the first time that we got it rolling.
“Our shifts were sharp; we moved our feet and buried our shots,” Noreen said. We had a nice crowd, it was a great atmosphere and there was plenty of energy.”
The Phantoms improved to 4-2-1 at home and are 3-1 on their current eight-game homestand.
In five games against Bloomington, they’ve outscored the Thunder, 26-10.