Phantoms coaching reunion set in January

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Phantoms are going to stage a reunion on Jan. 9 at the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Kearney, Neb.

The United States Hockey League and the National Hockey League have named Phantoms head coach Brad Patterson as the head coach for Team East.

Coaching Team West will be Anthony Noreen, who was the Phantoms head coach for four seasons. Noreen is the head coach of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, which is based in Kearney.

Phantoms forwards Max Ellis and Curtis Hall and goaltender Ivan Prosvetov will be playing for Team East in the Prospects Game.

Patterson’s Phantoms (12-6-3-1, 28 points) lead the USHL’s Eastern Conference and have a two-point edge on the Green Bay Gamblers.

Noreen’s Storm (16-6, 32 points) are in second place in the Western Conference, two points behind Fargo.

Noreen and Patterson were Phantoms assistant coaches before getting their first head coaching assignments. In 2011, Noreen and Patterson were on Curtis Carr’s staff for the Phantoms’ second season in the USHL.

In August 2011, Carr left the Phantoms to become an assistant coach for Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. Noreen was promoted to Phantoms head coach and guided them to three playoff berths in four seasons. Patterson, who played two seasons with the Youngstown SteelHounds, was one of his assistants.

The 2014-15 Phantoms set the USHL record for 17 consecutive wins and won the Anderson Cup as the league’s best regular-season team.

In June 2015, Noreen left the Phantoms to become head coach of the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, an affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Midway through his second season in Florida, Noreen was fired. He returned to the USHL last summer.

Patterson was an assistant to John Wroblewski who replaced Noreen for one season. When Wroblewski left Youngstown for Team USA in June 2016, Patterson was promoted to Phantoms head coach after seven seasons as an assistant.

He guided them to a fourth-place finish last season, earning the Phantoms’ fourth playoff berth.