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Category: Game Recap
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Owen Bartoszkiewicz celebrates his first win at home as the Phantoms start off 2022 with a 3-1 win over Cedar Rapids.Ringing in the New Year With a Win! - Owen Bartoszkiewicz celebrates his first win at home as the Phantoms start off 2022 with a 3-1 win over Cedar Rapids.
The Phantoms returned to the Covelli to kick of 2022. But with the new year comes a new wave of Covid virus issues. Last weekend it hit the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, who had to postpone a couple games while the Phantoms played somewhat shorthanded to finish out 2021. The good news for the Phantoms was players like Trey Taylor, Adam Ingram, and Ryan Alexander were cleared to play this week. The bad news is that Jaden Grant, Kyle Bettens, Bayard Hall, Kyle Chauvette, and several others were added to the list leaving the Phantoms scrambling to call up enough players to hold the game. The good news is that we managed to fill enough gaps and the 'Riders still had issues of their own. The result was a great game and a big win for the Phantoms.

It was the 'Riders who scored first. Martins Lavins nabbed his first of the season and USHL career at 11:04 of the first, throwing a harmless looking backhander at a sharp angle from the left faceoff circle. Owen Bartoszkiewicz seemed to have the post well defended, but the puck seemed to roll up off him and in as he lost his footing, falling backwards trying to handle it.

The Phantoms tied it later in the period on the power play. Trey Taylor danced around the 'Riders perimeter defense from the blueline to behind the goal where he threw no-look behind-the-back pass to Shane LaChance who fired a one-time cannon beating 'Riders netminder Geno Pichora. The Phantoms took the lead 1:14 later. Pichora went far out of his crease, almost between the face-off circles, to clear a dump-in away from the oncoming 2-on-1 Phantoms rush. The puck hit a body and instead went to the corner where Justin Varner retrieved it. Varner, without a second thought, threw the puck towards the crease and the back sliding Pichora, and the netminder's right skate deflected the puck into the net.  Shots were 10-8 Phantoms in the first period.

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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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The Phantoms Return to the Covelli!
Happy New Year, welcome to the 2022 part of the 21-22 season. The Phantoms (10-11-2-3) finished last year with points in their last 3 games, 2 OT wins and an OT loss, and are looking to start the season improving upon that. The first step in that will be beating a team we've locked horns with a few times already, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (12-12-1-0). This will be the first games at the Covelli Centre since November 26th and I'm sure we're all missing live action. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, I'll explain that later.

The 'Riders are the lowest scoring team in the East. They're lead by Adam Flammang with 12g and 10a. Flammang has decent size and a wicked shot and scores a lot of his goals on the rush. Second on the team is one time Phantoms forward Coal Burtch (9g, 9a). Phantoms fans know well that Burtch can shoot the puck. We also saw Burtch leave on a streatcher last the last time these teams met, a late October game at the Covelli. The injury was not major and he played the next week. Curious enough, he was a healthy scratch the last game the 'Riders played in favor of an 8th defenseman. Since I mentioned both of these guys in the Week 4 Preview, let me mention Zaccharya Wisdom. Wisdom was a rookie ('04) player I saw a lot of potential in at the Fall Classic. He hadn't put up anything on the scoresheet yet last time these teams played. Since then he's posted 3g, 7a. He earned an early C ranking on the NHL CSS Players to Watch List and is an exceptionally smooth skater with soft hands, and given he's finally getting on the board I think he's someone you don't want to take your eyes off of when he's on the ice.

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Category: Podcasts
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S4E14 - Welcome to 2022! The Phantoms finished out last year with a good swing through Michigan, albeit shorthanded. We’ll break those games down, and look ahead to a return to the Covelli Centre!

 

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