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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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Still treading water - that's how I would describe last weekend's performance with the Phantoms (14-15-4-1) splitting the weekend against Tri-City to start the second half of the season. The Phantoms remain a game below .500 and have slipped into 6th place in the Eastern Conference, the last playoff slot. There is still a lot of hockey to be played, but this is the time of the season that if you slip against the teams that you're fighting for those spots with, you might not make it back up by the time you right yourself. That's why this is a big week, we're facing the Green Bay Gamblers (15-13-1-3) who are a single point ahead of us with 2 games in hand. And to add weight to the weekend, we're playing them 3 games in 3 days for 6 total points.

In terms of forwards, they will be missing their 2nd leading score and team captain, McKade Webster, who had 7g and 16a on the season. The Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick will miss the remainder of the season with an inury, something that has hampered his USHL career the past two seasons. That still leaves Jesse Tucker (15g, 17a), their leading scorer. Tucker, from my viewing, seems to find open areas and make himself available to finish a play as well as being just as capable at starting the play. Sneaking into this week's preview is Nicholas Zabaneh (8g, 14a). He's got great speed and skating and has used that to produce on offense, and they'll need that more now that Webster is out. Ryan O'Reilly (11g, 10a) is a capable forward and a Detroit Red Wings draft pick. I think O'Reilly is a player the Gamblers expect to produce more on offense and we'll see if he strives to pick up in the second half of the season.

On defense, the Gamblers have some interesting parts that add up to a decent defense. One player I did not mention the last time I covered the Gamblers was Mason Lohrei, who has elevated his game lately. Lohrei has 6g and 17a on the season, 23 total points. He's picked up 13 of those points in the last 10 games, including 4 of his 6 goals. Well traveled veteran Michael Ferrandino (1g, 8a) is holding the fort on the blueline. Ferrandino has played 200 USHL games and has a +/- of +10.

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Category: Game Recap
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Dominic Basse flashes the glove as he makes the save in a 5-3 win over the Tri-City Storm.Gloved! - Dominic Basse flashes the glove as he makes the save in a 5-3 win over the Tri-City Storm.

The Phantoms were not happy with the way they played on Friday night. If you needed evidence of that, it was on display last night in the rematch. For the second consecutive week, the Phantoms managed to earn a split in a weekend series after a poor showing the the first game. This week it was the Tri-City Storm, a team that is hard to generate offense against.

The Phantoms came out flying in the first. They played with a lot more energy and more importantly, they played with a lot more purpose. Puck support looked to be remarkably better early on, multiple players converging on the puck instead of watching one guy try to pull it out of a crowd of Storm players.

Despite the increased effort, the Storm struck first. Phantoms defenseman Artyom Borshyov got trapped deep in the Storm zone as the puck went back up ice. Forward Georgi Merkulov was unable to keep up with speedy forward Matthew Knies, and the puck carrier, Chase McLean, slid the puck over to Knies in the slot for a one-timer that beat Dominic Basse at 11:30. That didn't take too much of the starch out of the Phantom's sails, but a late PP goal by Cole McWard, hammering home a loose puck from the left faceoff circle with :26 left in the period, didn't help. Shots were 9-4 Tri-City after the first.

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Aiden Gallacher and company dig out a puck along the boards in a 4-1 loss to the Tri-City Storm.The Grind! - Aiden Gallacher and company dig out a puck along the boards in a 4-1 loss to the Tri-City Storm.

Well, it wasn't the energy game we were hoping for the week after beating the U17s in an OT thriller. Last nights loss to the Tri-City Storm was a pretty lackluster performance for the Phantoms in general. In particular, with Trevor Kuntar suspended for the evening the offense seemed to sputter and the Phantoms fell 4-1.

Mitchell Miller got the Storm on the board first, just 1:35 into the game. Miller just launched a wrist shot from near the blueline while Nick Portz skated in front of the Phantoms netminder, Colin Purcell, for a screen with Georgi Merkulov engaged with Portz. Purcell probably did not even see the shot until it was by him. This was just the second shot of the game for the Storm

The Phantoms answered back quickly. Jayson Dobay took a Garrett Dahm pass off the boards and blasted it from well above the left faceoff circle and by Storms goaltender Todd Scott at 4:45. That was it and the Storm outshot the Phantoms 14-7 in the first period but we were still tied going into the second.

Despite being outshot, the Phantoms were still hanging in towards the end of the second. A failed powerplay and an icing call set up a defensive zone faceoff for the Phantoms. The Storm won it and Miller got a shot on goal. Purcell was unable to control the rebound and a scrum of players crashed the front of the net and the puck went behind Purcell off of Colby Ambrosio's stick at 17:14. Miller would add another off a backhand from the slot on the powerplay with 0:13 left in the period to make it 3-1 late in the period. Shots were 13-6 in the middle frame.