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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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Well, that was a weekend to forget. The Phantoms put up a goose egg in their trip to the land of cheese and cholesterol medication. I think it’s safe to say at this point that the best players available at the beginning of this June’s Phase I & II draft will be heading to Youngstown. The hole has been dug so deep that even the team’s trademark late-season pushes we’ve become accustomed to the past few years wouldn’t be enough to make any type of climb up the rankings. With only 22 games remaining, and the argument could be made that games that need to be made up could be forgotten about if a playoff spot or playoff seeding is not in play, the window on this season is closing fast. So at this point, just sit back and enjoy the fact there is hockey to watch. Because in a couple months the off-season begins and who knows what unsavory people will be sitting in our seats between then and the fall. 

 

Phantoms Season Chart last 11 games

 I made the point a few weeks ago that even though wins were still socially distancing themselves from the Phantoms, they were playing tighter games and were within striking distance late in games. That has all but gone away in the past couple weeks. In the past 6 games, Youngstown has only held a lead in two. It’s as simple as this, morale is low all around. Will this be the week when the losing streak ends? Let’s take a look at this week’s opponent.

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Category: Opinion and Editorial
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Bad hockey is still better than baseball!
Well, it's week... something. It's funny how days and weeks have started to blend together, and I'm one of the lucky ones who have had steady work since the start of this pandemic. I can't imagine those who have lost their jobs, or have otherwise had their whole lives turned upside down in the past year. Since then, hockey has returned. It's a little different but it, for me, was the one little bit of the old normal. So, yeah... I'm not enjoying the whole 10 game losing streak. This is probably the worst I've seen since I started following the team. 2013-14 was rough, but this might be worse.

But, with the one year mark of the last game of last season, a 3-1 home win in front of 2,467 fans over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders who aren't even playing this season, it's hard not to look back and reassess. This weekend we are playing Dubuque in the "Irish Night" game, the same team and promo that was next on the calendar when last season was canceled. It's almost a full circle mark, except we are still have a long way to go in regards to the virus and a normal life. Still, some free green t-shirts and some hockey - regardless of the outcome - will be a small step forward for Valley hockey fans.

It's been a rough season. Overall, we're 6-21-3-2, 0-7-2-1 in our last 10. But hey, we're playing. As I mentioned, the 'Riders aren't. Their barn was damaged in a derecho last summer, many people lost their property and 4 people lost their life. Cedar Rapids isn't the only team not playing this season, also going dark was the Madison Capitols. The Caps could not sustain a season with no fans. They were struggling before the pandemic, and this was a major blow to their organization. Three other teams, Sioux Falls, Waterloo, and Chicago are biting the bullet and playing with no fans - 0 attendance. USA and Muskegon are both averaging less than half the Phantoms 532 people per game, 192, 234 respectively. Dubuque is not even tracking attendance.

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What's worse than losing hockey games? Listening to a couple jerks talk about it before going off topic and talking about WandaVision and The Madalorian. But here we are.