Phantoms conducting selection camp this weekend

By Charles Grove | June 3, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

USHL team hosting preseason selection camp this weekend

BOARDMAN

It’s been a mere month and nine days since the Youngstown Phantoms had their season end in the Clark Cup playoffs, but the team is back at it again with their selection camp at the Ice Zone in Boardman.

Friday and today mark the Final Camp where returners, draft picks and invited players all try to make one of the “All Star” teams which will play tonight and Sunday. From there, the Phantoms will decide who makes their roster.

“Everyone is in the same spot so they’re giving it their all,” Eric Esposito, a returning forward from last year’s squad said. “It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been in the league.”

Last year, the Phantoms finished the year at 34-20-5-1, good enough for fourth place in the league standings, clinching the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Youngstown took top-seeded Chicago to a fifth and decisive game in the playoffs, but lost 2-0.

Esposito said last year’s success was based on strong team chemistry, which is what the team will begin to do when final selections are made on Sunday.

“That’s how you win, when everyone’s tight knit,” Esposito said. “[You win when] you want to come to the rink and play for each other. That’s the way we played last year and that’s the way we want to play this year.”

Andrew Petrillo, who was in and out of the lineup last season, said last year’s team had less experience than the one head coach Brad Patterson is likely to suit up this upcoming season. And more veterans mean a larger role for him from a leadership perspective.

“We’ve got a good mix of guys coming back and new guys coming in,” Petrillo said. “But this year I have to step up and be a big contributor in the lineup.”

While the roster isn’t technically set yet, Petrillo said incoming forwards Trevor Kuntar, whom the team signed in April, has impressed him.

Kuntar had 12 goals and 15 assists in 32 games with the Buffalo Junior Sabres 16-U team.

“He’s a really young kid but he’s playing really well already,” Petrillo said. “He’s phenomenal and he’s going to be really good for us.”