Phantoms co-owner experienced similar winning run with Penguins

March 25, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

First-year Youngstown Phantoms co-owner Troy Loney has now been part of two of the longest winning streaks in North American hockey history.

Coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup championship seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Loney was part of the 1992-93 team that closed out the regular season by winning 17 consecutive games. Their streak was eventually halted in the last game before the playoffs, a 6-6 tie with the New Jersey Devils.

Twenty-two years later, Loney is being reminded just how much fun it is to go streaking.

“Once you start getting in that groove, everyone believes,” Loney said. “It doesn’t matter what the obstacle is. You’re down three or four goals and you get to the bench and guys are like, ‘We can still win this, right? And everyone’s like, ‘Right’ and they really believe it.”

Another thing Loney remembers about the Pens’ 17-game winning streak — still an NHL record — is that the team was finding different ways to win what seemed like every night.

Sound familiar?

It should because that’s exactly what the Phantoms have been doing over the last 47 days and counting during their USHL-record win streak of 17 games.

“Sure, that Penguins team had [Mario] Lemieux, who won the Hart Trophy (awarded to the league’s MVP), but that team was all about finding ways to win,” Loney said. “I think there’s a lot of that in this Phantoms team. [Head coach] Anthony [Noreen] and those guys have done a very good job with the players.

“I’m just enjoying watching what these guys are doing on a nightly basis, because it’s pretty special.”

He would know.

RECORD SAVING

Over the weekend, Phantoms goaltender Colin DeAugustine made a diving stick save to preserve the team’s win streak. Since then, the video has gone viral in the hockey community.

Video of the save first made it’s way onto YouTube, then social media and eventually into hockey blogs like Yahoo’s “Buzzing The Net” and “The Hockey News.”

If you haven’t seen the incredible save yet, there are replays with multiple camera angles online — all equally impressive. And while DeAugustine didn’t want to focus too much on his one play Tuesday afternoon after a team practice, his teammates were more than willing.

“There’s really no way to put into words what he did,” forward Josh Nenadal said. “I mean he came across the crease from a dead stop — there’s no real way to describe that save.”

And it could not have come at a more pivotal time in Friday’s game at Waterloo. The score was tied at 1 with 1:01 remaining in the third period, when DeAugustine stuck out his paddle and swatted the puck out of mid-air. On the ensuing counter-attack, Nenadal scored the game-winning goal to extend the team’s win streak to 15 games.

“I was literally on the back check when it happened and he kind of saved me there, because I didn’t really come back too hard,” Nenadal joked. “And then we were fortunate enough to come down, I got a nice pass from Chase [Pearson] and put it in to win it, but I mean all credit goes to Colin for making that save.

“It was out of this world.”