Saturday, February 25, 2017
Phantoms steal game from Fargo
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Gallery
Phantoms defenseman Dominic Dockery said it was more than fitting that assistant captain Austin Pooley scored Friday’s overtime goal to defeat his former team, the Fargo Force.
“He’s obviously had this game circled on his calendar for a while,” Dockery said. “It was great for him and I know it means a lot to the boys.”
Last season, Pooley was one of the Force’s assistant captains, then was traded to Youngstown in the offseason. It was a great move, considering his family lives in Columbus and now regularly attends games at Covelli Centre.
By the time training camp closed last summer, Pooley was named one of the Phantoms’ assistant captains.
With 2:24 remaining in overtime and both teams skating just three, Coale Norris found Pooley alone in the faceoff circle to Force goaltender Ryan Bischel’s left. Pooley took the pass, sized up his target and fired the puck over Bischel’s shoulder to end the game.
“Cole made such a hard-working play, took the puck from the [Force defenseman],” Pooley said. “I had a little time and space, and tried to make a good shot on goal. “Three-on-three, there’s not a ton of guys on the ice so I had a little extra time to load it up.”
Phantoms coach Brad Patterson called it a “terrific shot. He’s had a hot stick of late and I know that one was a big one for him personally.”
Pooley said about 10 of the Force players were his teammates last season. He visited with them when they arrived Thursday at the team hotel.
“I’ve got some really good friends on that team,” Pooley said. “We had a really close team.
“But I was pretty excited to beat those guys,” Pooley said.
“Not only is it a big game in the standings but it was a big game for me because they traded me. I felt good contributing.”
The win gives the Phantoms (27-14-5, 59 points) a nine-point lead over fifth-place Green Bay in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Asked if the Phantoms stole the game, Patterson replied, “Absolutely. More accurately, Ivan Kulbakov did. We need to be much better than that.”
The Phantoms and Force were sluggish in the first two scoreless periods.
Starting his 18th consecutive game, Kulbakov stopped 25 shots to pick up his 23rd victory of the season.
“He’s our rock,” Patterson said.
A rare penalty by Kulbakov led to the Force goal early in the third period. The goaltender was whistled for delay of game when he shot the puck into the stands trying to clear it.
Paul Washe redirected a shot by Lukas Kalble through Kulbakov’s legs for the 1-0 lead and power-play goal.
Three minutes later, Dockery rescued the Phantoms when he blistered a shot from the point that eluded Bischel. Curtis Hall and Max Ellis assisted.
“It was a great play by ‘Hallsy’ to draw more than one guy,” Dockery said. “I wasn’t aiming at any particular area. We had a lot of guys in front, great screen.”
Dockery said the puck beat Bischel low on the glove side.
Tonight, Kulbakov will be back in goal when the Phantoms and Force (26-15-4, 56 points, fourth in Western Conference) play again.
With Sunday’s trade deadline looming, Patterson said the team is very unlikely to trade for a backup goalie even though Britt League is still recovering from a groin injury.
Patterson said League should be able to resume practicing soon.
“He’s on the mend and he should be back here within the next week,” Patterson said.
Since Dec. 31, the only break Kulbakov has had was in the Jan. 6 game in Muskegon, Mich., when he was lifted after the fifth goal of a 6-3 loss to the Lumberjacks.