Connelly: Phantoms certainly enjoyed the ride

Travel back in time with me for a moment.

Let’s rewind 29 days to March 24. The Youngstown Phantoms were in the midst of a franchise-record 17-game win streak that had them rocketing up the USHL standings.

The team had just concluded an afternoon practice at the Ice Zone in Boardman when I walked into a room where head coach Anthony Noreen and first-year assistant John Ronan were unwinding. With his feet up on the table and a telling smirk across his face, Noreen says to me, “You look like Indiana Jones.”

There may have been another colorful word mixed in there somewhere, and he may have been on to something with the outfit I was wearing, but that’s not the point. The reason I bring this moment up is that Noreen, at the crux of his most successful season in four years behind the bench, appeared the most at-ease with himself.

He was enjoying the success his team was having and not worried about some win streak. He was enjoying the chance to hold a meaningful practice that time of year, after going through the worst season in franchise history the year before. He was even enjoying — or a least pretending to — conversations with the media, even when this writer basically ran out of ways to ask him how his team kept winning 17 games in a row.

The Phantoms’ season ended sooner than anyone in the organization would’ve hoped and probably sooner than anyone who has been following the team would’ve guessed. But now that it’s over, something else Noreen shared with me that afternoon continues to resonate now more than it did then.

“The biggest thing we’ve been talking about through the course of [the season] is just staying in the moment,” Noreen said.

“Not worrying about what happened last game or not worrying about what’s to come in a couple weeks, but just enjoying it.

“You talk to people who win at all in anything. Very rarely is it the final game or the final day that they remember the most. It’s the ride. And that’s what we’re talking about right now,” he continued.

“Stay in the moment and enjoy the ride.”

And what a ride it was. I haven’t been at this job for very long, but I have watched and followed enough hockey teams in my life to know this year’s Phantoms had as much fun each night as any championship team.

It could have been because of their style of play, which produced more goals than any other team during the regular season. It could have been because they won two out of every three times they took the ice.

Or it even could have been the perks that came with having a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a co-owner.

Those, I’m sure, all contributed to the team’s carpe diem attitude. But my guess as to what made the ride that much more special is the company they kept.

You won’t find a more humble star than Kyle Connor. You won’t find team captains who embody the city of Youngstown more than Josh Nenadal and Ryan Lomberg.

You won’t find two goaltenders more willing to see their ice time cut in half and essentially split starts in net than Colin DeAugustine and Chris Birdsall.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

While it felt like this year’s team had a chance to make a run at the Clark Cup, they met their match in the first round against a very good Muskegon Lumberjacks team. In fact, the two teams were so even in their series, they each scored four goals in the first period, five goals in the second, and two in the third. It was the Lumberjacks’ two overtime goals in Games 1 and 3 that were the difference.

It also felt like this year’s team reinvigorated a hockey fan base that largely ignored the high school-aged kids that played up the street. While the attendance numbers showed only a slight uptick with an average of 1,553 fans per night — up more than 150 from last year and nearly 200 from two years ago — the energy inside the Covelli Centre over the last few weeks told a different story.

Junior hockey may not have been the sport Youngstown wanted, but perhaps this year’s Phantoms were exactly what the city needed.

Kevin Connelly is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.