First-year Capitols blank Phantoms

January 17, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Phantoms’ worst home loss of the season shook the rafters.

Literally.

During the first period of the Phantoms’ 4-0 loss to the Madison Capitols on Friday at the 10-year-old Covelli Centre, four cables of the 50 that support a huge ventilation pipe near the roof snapped. Part of the pipe smacked loudly against a crossbeam.

At the end of the second period, fans sitting on the north side of the arena were moved.

Eric Ryan, Covelli Centre executive director, said a crew will work to repair the pipe this morning. If it’s not repaired by tonight’s game time, fans won’t be permitted to sit in the north section.

“We’ll get clearance before anyone sits there,” Ryan said.

Capitols goaltender Garrett Metcalfe stopped all 35 shots the Phantoms mustered.

“We were out-goaltended,” Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen said. “[Metcalfe] made some big saves.

“We hit the post twice early when we did beat him,” Noreen said. “He was excellent.”

Phantoms defenseman Connor Yau hit the goal post twice. Youngstown goaltender Chris Birdsall stopped 21 shots.

The Phantoms’ power play was blanked on three chances in their first home loss since Dec. 5. Noreen called his postgame message to his team as “pretty stern — didn’t yell. But hopefully the message got across.”

Although both are in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, it was the first meeting between the Phantoms and the first-year Capitols.

“They did what we expected them to,” Noreen said. “We had a slow start which probably cause us to veer [from our gameplan] a little bit.”

The loss tightens the standings as the fourth-place Phantoms (17-10-5, 39 points) saw their lead over the Capitols (16-10-5, 37 points) whittled to two.

“We just weren’t able to get back in it,” Noreen said. “So far, we’ve been able to get back in games because of our skill.

“This just isn’t a team we can do that against — we’ll have to outwork them.”

Late in the first period, the Capitols snapped a scoreless tie after Charlie Gerard stole the puck in the Phantoms’ zone. He gave it to Mitch Hults who found Haralds Egle in the slot. Egle’s shot eluded Birdsall for a 1-0 lead.

The game remained tight until there was 6:10 remaining in the second period. Freddy Gerard was credited with the second goal when the puck bounced off him into the net. Sam McCormick had the assist.

Early in the third period, Freddy Gerard made it 3-0 with an unassisted shorthanded goal. After the Capitols forced the puck into the Phantoms zone, Luke McElhenie pressured Yau and forced a giveaway that bounced to Gerard, who backhanded it between Birdsall’s pads.

Marco Richter had the other goal.

“There were definitely positives, we carried the play for the most part in the second and third period,” said Noreen, adding that the Capitols are following a recent trend.

“Dubuque came in a couple of seasons ago and won the championship in year one,” said Noreen, saying that Madison and Bloomington “are both good.

“They’ve put a heck of a hockey team together,” Noreen said.