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Category: Game Recap
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A pair of Phantom's losses were the only downside to the return of the USHL Fall Classic.The Fall Classic Returns! - A pair of Phantom's losses were the only downside to the return of the USHL Fall Classic.
First off, it was great to be back in Cranberry, PA for the USHL Fall Classic. Great hockey, great atmosphere, and great (but a little expensive) food. No, seriously, try The Training Table Cafe's chicken alfredo. If you've ever been curious to see how NHL and NCAA scouts work, this is the time and place. After not being held last year, presumably because the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't want to risk infecting their practice arena, the USHL and all parties involved put on a great event. 

Now onto the bad part of it. The Phantoms left the event sitting right where they left off last season in the standings - sole possession of the cellar. A pair of regulation losses left us with 0 points on the week to start the season. There isn't much to talk about, so I chose to break with the usual single game format of my reviews for a combined recap.

First up was Thursday's opener against the Lincoln Stars. Both teams looked a little tentative to start the game. Neither team had much going, save for some trips to the penalty box. (Lincoln with 2 trips and the Phantoms with 3)  Shots were 12-8 in favor of Lincoln but neither team scored. This wasn't unexpected for a pair of teams playing their first games of the season who haven't seen each other in well over a year.

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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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The USHL Fall Classic is back in Cranberry.The Fall Classic Returns! - The USHL Fall Classic is back in Cranberry.
A big hello to all the Phantoms Phans and Phollowers! Okay, enough with the cheesy spelling. We're back and hopefully this will be a better season all around for the Phantoms, the USHL, and hockey in general. While the pandemic is doing a rollercoaster of ups and downs, the USHL Fall Classic is this week. The Phantoms will kick off the campaign mid-week against some foes we haven't seen in a while - the Lincoln Stars and Waterloo Black Hawks. Neither opponent had a good season in 20-21, but none were quite as bad as us. Both won 10 more games, though they played 4-5 games more. Dear Hockey Gods, I hope we are done with the missed games.

With very little data on either team, this is going to be an odd preview. Starting with Waterloo, who's biggest change is on the bench. P.K. O'Handley, who had been the head coach since 02-03, stepped off the bench for a front office role. Matt Smaby steps into some big shoes in his first year of USHL coaching, and it will be very interesting to see how this affects the Hawks.

On offense, John Waldron has the experience. While not known as a prolific scorer, he's been a consistent depth player who might just take his offensive game up another notch. In terms of returning scoring, Michael La Starza is their top point getter from last season, or at least as far as I can find. The '04 forward notched 11g and 13a last season, and he'll be someone to watch this season. Carter Batchelder is an interesting prospect, having played in the Minnesota high school system and put up very good numbers at that level.

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Category: Podcasts
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This is the Season 4 Premier of the Dump & Chase Podcast! We go over a couple preseason games, break down the 21-22 Youngstown Phantoms organization, and look ahead to the Fall Classic. Thank you for joining us for another season!