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S4E8 - The Phantoms split their weekend series with Madison, and are traveling to Cheeseland for a Lipi-Tour! We’ll break this all down, and take a minute to chat with the Phantoms captain Jaden Grant!

 

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Category: Game Recap
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The referee signals no goal after a frantic scramble in front and behind Kyle Chauvette.The Phantoms started a 4 game point streak at the Covelli a couple weeks ago with a win over Cedar Rapids, a team that handed us a few losses earlier. We still had another outstanding debt to pay this season, a check payable to the Madison Capitols. That bill came due last night.

Jaden Grant got things going early. After an earlier powerplay was cut short due to the Phantoms taking their own penalty, the Phantoms second attempt at the man advantage was successful when Adam Ingram found Grant in the slot. Grant had just enough space between defenders to backhand the puck behind Caps netminder Marino Ramirez 4:52. The Phantoms added another powerplay goal late in the period, Grant assisting this time with a nice pass from the left halfboards to the slot where Morgan Winters deflected the pass in behind Ramirez for his first USHL goal at 17:32. Shots were 12-9 Phantoms who had a 2-0 lead.

Any thoughts that the Caps were going to just roll over and go down without a fight were extinguished quickly into the second frame. An early powerplay for them lead to Nick DeSantis snapping a shot through traffic, beating Kyle Chauvette who was well screened on the play at 0:48. A bit after the 5:00 mark, the Caps thought they had tied it. A loose puck near the crease lead to a mad scramble of players, Tyler Catalano laying on the goal line across the goal mouth, Chauvette somewhere in a pile of players, and the Caps trying to shove the whole mess into the goal cage. The puck somehow went across the line, the goal light went on, and the Caps celebrated but the ref immediately waived it off. The best guess is the puck had been deemed covered by a Phantom player and the ref was in the process of blowing the whistle.

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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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The Phantoms (5-6-0-2) return to Covelli this week, this time with some wind in their sails. The Phantoms are on a 4 game point streak, with 3 wins out of 4 and 7 out of 8 points in that stretch. They'll need every bit of momentum they can muster this week, facing a Madison Capitols (9-2-1-0) team that is exceeding all expectations and put a couple of beatings on us a few weeks ago in their barn. The Caps have become a dark horse favorite in the league, surprising everyone with their best start in team history, good for second place in the Eastern Conference and the USHL overall. All this with first year head coach Tommy Upton, a familiar name for Phantoms fans, and after sitting out the last season due to the pandemic. 

I'll be honest, I tried not to underestimate this team after seeing their return to the league this season, but it's the players I didn't really get strong reads on that are doing most of the scoring. A few of the players expected to be the reliable scorers have been more like role players. Others, like third year veteran Jack Horbach, have gone from role player to playmaker with 3g and 11a. This leads the team in points and ties his career season high in just 12 games. Goal scoring has come from a few players that weren't on scouting radars. Jack Musa has had respectable numbers in AAA (AYHL North Jersey Avalanche) and the NAHL (Odessa Jackalopes), but his 8g leads the Caps along with 5a to put him just behind Horbach in points. Jake Dunlap had a few affiliate stretches in the past 2 season in Fargo, along with solid play in the NAHL (Janesville Jets). But his 6g, 1a have been a big boost to the Caps. I could also mention Nick DeSantis (5g, 5a) and Tyler Haskins (4g, 9a) for stellar play, the latter also on the NHL's CSS Players to Watch List.

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