Phantoms set for home-and-home series

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

After last weekend’s split with the Bloomington Thunder, the Youngstown Phantoms are hoping to avenge a loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks with this weekend’s home-and-home series.

Tonight, the Phantoms will be in Muskegon, Mich., to try and avenge a 3-1 loss to the Lumberjacks on Nov. 1 at the Covelli Centre. They will play again on Saturday at the Covelli Centre

It will be a good test for the Phantoms (9-6-2, 20 points), the fourth-place team in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings. Six of the Phantoms’ victories have come at the expense of the expansion Thunder.

The Lumberjacks (13-5-1, 27 points) are in second place.

“If you want to play meaningful hockey this season, that is the type of team you are going to have to beat, and they are probably the strongest and best skating team we’ve played all year,” Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen said after the first meeting with the Lumberjacks.

“I thought the chances were there, and we did a really good job of controlling a lot of the offense, and we even had the goalie down-and-out a lot,” Noreen said.

Last weekend, the Phantoms surrendered a four-goal lead to the Thunder, then rallied to win 6-5 in overtime.

In the second game of the road trip, the Phantoms fell, 4-1. The Thunder scored three times in the first 23 minutes, prompting Noreen to lift goaltender Colin DeAugustine for Chris Birdsall.