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Patterson, Noreen unsure about Classic
By Tom Williams
CRANBERRY, PA.
For two USHL coaches, the jury remains out on whether having the Fall Classic Games count in the regular season is a positive change.
Until this season, the league’s Fall Classic games were the final preseason tune-ups for the 17-team junior hockey league.
But for the 2018-19 season, the USHL added two games to the regular season for a 62-game schedule. The additional games are being played at a neutral site — the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the practice facility for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Brad Patterson, the Youngstown Phantoms’ third-year head coach, said it’s too soon to decide if the league’s new policy is on target.
“I don’t know, we haven’t done it,” Patterson said, adding that the Phantoms prepared this summer minus preseason games against USHL opponents. Their scrimmage games were against teams from the NAHL.
“I think the verdict is out on it,” Tri-City Storm coach Anthony Noreen said. “I think we’ve got to do it for a year or maybe two, then as a [general manager] committee talk about it. There are so many eyes in the stands and they’ve always been tight games.
“I think we need to wait and see.”
Noreen, who is in his second season with Tri-City, was the Phantoms head coach from 2011-15. Tri-City is based in Kearney, Neb., one of the furthest distances in the league from Youngstown.
Thursday, the USHL season began with the Storm edging the Phantoms, 5-4. Friday, the Storm edged the Madison Capitols, 2-1.
Noreen’s trip began Monday when the Storm left Nebraska. They spent Tuesday night in Youngstown and visited V2 downtown.
“They took care of us,” Noreen said.
Noreen said the USHL’s old format was like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
“The biggest difference is that last year you’d travel across the country and the points didn’t matter,” Noreen said. “You want to see the guys perform, you wanted to see them grow into [their roles].
“This year, we had to be really meticulous about traveling right,” Noreen said. “We had to be careful with out guys with their sleep and their eating right.”
The Phantoms finalized their roster last Tuesday.
“You’ve made your roster decisions already whereas last year we went in and still had to trim four-five guys,” Patterson said of the difference. “A month from now, there’s still going to be things we’re trying to implement and work on as a group.
“But everyone is in that boat.”
In May when the Phantoms and Fargo Force were playing the in Clark Cup Finals, Noreen was scouting players and unable to attend. But his sentiments was with his former club.
“I watched every single game on video and talked to Patty after each game,” Noreen said. “It’s probably about as hard as I’ve ever rooted in game that I wasn’t personally involved in.
“I don’t think that will ever change,” Noreen said, adding that there always will be a place in his heart for Patterson who was a Phantoms assistant coach for six seasons before taking charge. “When the puck drops, it’s war.
“But I couldn’t be prouder of him and how hard [the Phantoms’] play and they play the right way. And how he’s continued to build on that legacy and identity that Youngstown has.”