Details
Category: News
Hits: 2247

The first USA Hockey protected lists for the 2016-2017 campaign are now public. The up-to 30 player list for the Phantoms is only at 22 players for now and we're likely not to get much in the way of updates until the Phantoms release their camp roster and/or when the August 19th deadline for final cuts to bring the list down to 23. That 23 man mark is actually 1 more than the 22 players actually on the list. Don't worry, most other teams don't protect a full 30 player list, as of now Sioux City only shows 7 players protected.

What's surprising is a couple players that aren't on the list. Ty Farmer and Eric Esposito were both cited as players returning from last season and were both in tryout camp. I'm not counting them off the roster yet but I do find this curious. Also curious is that we only list 2 overage (1996 born players) and no import players, both of which we're allowed 4 on the roster. 

I've copied the list as of this morning here and updated the roster page. As any updates come in, I'll keep posting them here. Hopefully, the Phantoms will release their camp roster soon.

Edit 1: Full camp roster is here.
Edit 2: I updated the table with the addition of Ty Farmer, Eric Esposito and Coale Norris from the USA Hockey protected lists. The USHL Protected/affiliate list had Farmer and Esposito on the affiliate list. 

Details
Category: Opinion and Editorial
Hits: 1453

It's that time of the year, that awkward period called preseason. Initial rosters have been submitted and now we're just waiting to see how they look on the ice. For me it's that time between having names and actually having some usable data. I'm not going to lie, I don't have a lot of info or insight going into this season. The team turnover has left us the least amount of returning players in the teams history, only 7 players from last years squad are in camp. The Phantoms aren't even the worst off in the league. Add to that the protected/affiliate lists from USA Hockey and the USHL haven't helped much. Tomorrow we hit the ice for the Fall Classic East at the UPMC/Lemieux Sports Complex I've got to come up with something to say here. If I had to put an emphasis on these 3 games it would be on the selection of over age ('96 birth year) and import players, both if which we're allowed up to 4 after the final roster cuts.

I guess I'll start with our offense. Alex Esposito stands as our top scoring returning forward. The elder Esposito brother, one of 5 '96 birth year players on the roster, was actually drafted by the Muskegon Lumberjacks but cut from camp. After making the roster in Youngstown he tallied 11 goals and 14 assists in 58 games. That's not burning out the goal lights but it's a solid start. Also returning are Eric Esposito, Noah Lalonde, Tommy Apap and Garrett Hall. In the offseason we traded to acquire Asutin Pooley from the Fargo Force, a defensive forward who could really make an impact on the penalty kill. Pooley is also a '96 born player. Of the remaining forwards on the roster, my eye is on Samuel Solensky. Solensky is a '98 birth year player from the Czech Republic with a stellar record in the Czech juniors. Most recently he posted 27g, 20a in 41 games (including playoffs) in the Czech U20 league. Another import to watch is Brett Murray, a big (6'4", 210lbs) forward who was a 4th round pick of the Buffalo Sabers. Last season in the CCHL (Junior A) he posted 19g, 40a in 64 total games. Of course I'll also be watching our 2 tenders, Curtis Hall and Max Ellis, both of which are expected to be a big part of the Phantoms future.

Defense is the one area I'm concerned about, with just Ty Farmer and Cater Ekberg returning. Farmer was hampered by injuries last season and only played 19 games. Ekberg played 10 games in the USHL total, 8 for the Phantoms. To bolster the blueline experience the Phantoms picked up free agent Jake Gingell who has played over 100 USHL games for the Omaha Lancers the past 2 seasons. The Lancers are in what I'll just call a restructuring and the Phantoms may be the beneficiary. In terms of prospects, I'm watching Daniil Bokun. Bokun is a big (6'1" 210lbs) '96 born import from Belarus, one of 2 overage players from Belarus. Brandon Estes is another player to keep an eye on, he's played solid in the NAHL for the Lone Star Brahmas and hopefully can make a quick transition to the USHL.

Details
Category: Opinion and Editorial
Hits: 1537

Well, we're just a couple days away from the puck drop on the regular season. I joked around last season about it being a tradition to kick off the new season against the NTDP U18s, since last season was the third year in a row we had done so. I'm not joking anymore. For the fourth year straight we're going to face the USA Hockey's best of the best, or at least they would like to think so. And if you're keeping track, we've lost all 3 previous openers. The first 2 were in Ann Arbor at the Ice Cube with the scores being 9-3 and 4-2. Last season we kicked things off at home losing 6-4. This seasons opener is on the road at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, where the NTDP moved to last season. After last season, the NTDP lost head coach Donny Granato who went to the University of Wisconsin to be an assistant for his brother Tony. Their replacement, last years Phantoms bench boss, John Wroblewski. With Brad Patterson promoted to the vacant position for the Phantoms we'll certainly have an interesting match up between the two former benchmates. It will also be the first regular season game for both in their current positions.

Honestly, I don't have the best info on the NTDP U18s. Most of the squad is last years U17s who we only played twice, once at home and once on the road and I wasn't able to make the road trip. What I saw in preseason was a mixed message, they lost 3 of 4 games but the one they did win was an 8-2 blowout of Dubuque. Several of the forwards looked like they could turn into strong offensive threats but no one had a real breakout game. Michael Pastujov, Scott Reedy, Brady Tkachuk, Grant Mismash, and Sean Dhoogie all showed potential but I couldn't point out any as a dominate scorer. Surprisingly quiet is former Phantoms tender, Jacob Tortora. On defense, the only player I really noticed was Tyler Inamoto, who plays a solid game and is one of those players I might be keeping an eye on. In net, Dylan St. Cyr is an outstanding goaltender and may be the big equalizer against the regular USHL clubs. As I mentioned last week in the Fall Classic Preview, St. Cyr is the son of womans hockey pioneer Manon Rheume. He's also the nephew of Pascal Rheume, a stalwart NHL/AHL veteran. His pedigree is good and he posted good numbers in preseason, a 2.41 GAA and .906 SV%. Backing him up is Adam Scheel, who we put up 4 goals against in Cranberry and has posted a 6.26 GAA and .763 SV%. It's only preseason but those numbers aren't going to get you into to many games, I expect we'll see St. Cyr on Friday.

This years Phantoms look to be an outstanding squad, bigger and faster than last year. All the returning forwards that played in preseason looked to have upped their games. Alex Esposito lead the way. After coming to the Phantoms just before preseason last season, cut from Muskegon's main camp, the elder Esposito mildly surprised many and continues to improve in speed and aggressiveness. And he has good reason, his younger brother Eric was by far the most improved returning forward and clearly has closed much of the gap between him and Alex with speed and creativity. Among the new faces there were quite a few very impressive new names. Griffin Loughran and Coale Norris, both smaller forwards, displayed similar speed and creativity on offense but the standout was Max Ellis, the 2000 born tender, who'se hands and vision will make him an immediate impact player on offense and also displayed excellent backchecking ability. The other 2000 tender, Curtis Hall, wasn't as visible on the radar but played solid enough to have notable hockey writers putting him in the 2nd round or higher of the 2018 NHL draft. Add in some larger, 200+ pound forwards like Austin Pooley, Nicholas Werbik and Brett Murray and we have a very formidable offense.