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Phantoms expect to be better at home
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Phantoms spent an extra 30 minutes on the ice past their scheduled practice time Thursday afternoon at the Covelli Centre.
This, just hours after their USHL Eastern Conference semifinal Game 1 loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Forward Kiefer Sherwood stayed out even longer, as he’s been known to do, working with a few teammates, trying to figure out what went wrong with the top-seeded team’s performance Wednesday night.
“I don’t know if it was nerves or if we were just getting our first playoff game out of the way,” Sherwood said of the 5-4 overtime loss.
“I don’t know what it was, but we know we can play much better and we’re gonna bring it these next couple days.”
They’re going to have to in order to stay alive in the Clark Cup Playoffs.
With the 1-2-1-1 series format the Phantoms selected for the first round — that way they could host Games 2 and 3 at the Covelli Centre tonight and Saturday night and draw bigger crowds — an opening game loss has put them in a virtual must-win situation this weekend or face elimination on the road Monday night.
“That’s been us all year — it’s never been easy,” said Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen. “I think it’s very easy to look at our record and just assume it’s been a cake walk.
“Would we have loved to get Wednesday night’s game? Absolutely. Didn’t do it. Didn’t happen. We had a chance, but we weren’t us. That’s the bottom line.”
Noreen felt Thursday’s practice was one of the best the team has had all season. The power-play units worked on better entrances into the offensive zone and there was a real emphasis on being more physical on defense.
The Phantoms special teams failed to score on all four power-play opportunities, but they did net two short-handed goals — something Noreen doesn’t remember seeing happen to a team that wound up on the losing side. They also gave up a 5-on-3 goal to the Lumberjacks, which was their first power-play tally in seven games against the Phantoms this season.
“With our speed against them, we should be drawing penalties,” Noreen said. “There’s no way we should play a game against them and only have four power plays. We should be drawing way more than that.”
The Phantoms managed to get four goals past Lumberjacks goalie Eric Schierhorn, who led the league in save percentage during the regular season. It’s a total Noreen said he probably would have taken before the start of the game and liked his team’s chances.
It was the offensive and neutral zone penalties that he’d like to see his team eliminate tonight.
“We just need to be better all the way around,” said forward Ryan Lomberg. “From top to bottom, we all need to be better and we need to work harder.
“In playoff hockey, all those little things are so magnified. If you don’t do one of them, it probably ends up in the back of your net.”
The Phantoms had identical 20-7-3 records at home and on the road in the regular season. However, the larger crowds filling the Covelli Centre of late have had a notable impact on the team’s energy, the players say. They hope that continues in the season’s most important games this weekend.
“We’re excited to play in front of the Covelli,” Lomberg said. “Last time we played here it was bumpin’ and the place was packed, so we’re looking forward to the excitement in the building.”