Details
Category: Opinion and Editorial
Hits: 64

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.

Details
Category: Podcasts
Hits: 42

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!

 

Details
Category: Team Info
Hits: 254

July is winding down, and the 2021-22 USHL season is fast approaching. As of this writing, there are 58 days until the Phantoms’ first regular season game against the Lincoln Stars at the Fall Classic in Cranberry, PA. The news came on June 1st that the USHL schedule had been released, about 1½ to 2 months earlier than it typically is released in a non-Covid year. We have done a couple of D&C Podcast episodes since then but did not cover the schedule. Why? Quite simply, we forgot. Again, it was a much earlier release than we are used to. <

So, in this edition of By The Numbers, I will break down the Phantoms’ 2021-22 campaign. There are two items I want to point out that will come up during this article. First, the Phantoms will play two games in Cranberry, PA as part of the Fall Classic (Sept. 23 & 24), one against Lincoln where they are designated the ‘Away’ team, and one against Waterloo where they are designated the ‘Home’ team. Second, on Dec. 3 & 4 the Phantoms will take part in the Inaugural American Cup in Rochester, NY. This will be two games against the Green Bay Gamblers, with the teams swapping ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ designations. 

So, to kick this off, I will first provide the link where you can view the complete Phantoms schedule for the upcoming season:

Youngstown Phantoms 21-22 Schedule

Now for the fun stuff. This first chart breaks down the season schedule by team.

Phantoms 21-22 Schedule Breakdown