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Phantoms’ Connor in elite company as team hits road
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Phantoms forward Kyle Connor joined an exclusive club in last Saturday’s shootout win over the Bloomington Thunder.
His second-period goal was the 50th of his USHL career, joining Sam Anas and Austin Cangelosi as the only other players in Phantoms franchise history to score 50 goals.
“He’s in pretty good company with those two guys,” said Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen. “Obviously he’s a special player and that’s the first of what I would expect to be many big accomplishments by him.”
Noreen admitted he wasn’t aware Connor was approaching the milestone when he was behind the bench on Saturday, but that didn’t stop the fourth-year head coach from cracking a smile post-game.
Saturday was Connor’s 123rd regular-season game with the Phantoms. He also has 71 assists to give him 121 career points, not including his three lifetime postseason helpers.
Anas, a sophomore at Quinnipiac University, and Cangelosi, a sophomore at Boston College, both reached the half-century mark in fewer games than Connor. Anas had 54 goals in 115 games, while Cangelosi finished with 50 in 109 games.
But with nearly a full season still remaining before heading to University of Michigan, Connor is in position to become the Phantoms’ all-time leading scorer.
“He’s a real talent and he’s fun to watch,” teammate Kiefer Sherwood said. “I think he makes everyone around him better, so it’s just fun to watch him.”
Shootout strategy
The Phantoms were victorious in their first shootout of the season in last Saturday’s home opener at the Covelli Centre.
They needed seven rounds to get to forward Kiefer Sherwood, who handed the Bloomington Thunder their second loss of the season — both to Youngstown.
Should the Phantoms (3-2-0, 6 points) find themselves in a similar situation this weekend at Dubuque (2-2-0, 4 points), will Noreen go with a similar game plan?
He says his first three shooters — Maxim Letunov, Connor and Trey Bradley — are set in stone.
“They’re three guys that have had success here in the past in shootout situations,” Noreen said. “It’s a little bit tougher this year because we probably got about 10 guys that on most teams would be a first-three guy.
“And then after that, honestly, it’s just gut feel.”
In last Saturday’s win, the shooters he sent out after the first three were Josh Melnick, Taylor Best, Ryan Lomberg and Sherwood.
Letunov, Melnick and Sherwood were the only ones to score.
“Different guys will kind of give you the eye, like the, ‘Hey they wanna go’ [look],” Noreen said. “Some guys are pretty quiet and watching what the goalie does.
“It kind of varies.”