Staff photo / Brian Yauger Goaltenders Jacob Fowler, left, and Kyle Chauvette embrace after capping off the team’s regular season with a 7-3 win.
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YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Phantoms capped off the 2021-22 regular season with a bang, nearly setting a season high in goals while taking down the US National Team Development Program U-17s, 7-3 at the Covelli Centre.
To say the Phantoms came roaring out of the gates might be an understatement. In the first three and a half minutes of Saturday’s contest, the Phantoms registered three shots on goal, all of which went into the net.
From Kyle Bettens’ opening goal 30 seconds in, the Phantoms were driving the bus.
Bringing in fresh bodies that didn’t play Friday was crucial to the hot start. Two of the three players rolling out on the first line tonight are affiliate players making their first appearance since January.
“Obviously we got off to a big jump,” Phantoms coach Brad Patterson said. “The start was key, and part of that was some fresh legs didn’t play with us last night. … Ultimately, some of the things that we didn’t do last night, I didn’t love some of our habits last night, I thought through 30 or 40 minutes I thought we executed them very well.”
They and linemate Braiden Clark filled the scoresheet. Both Clark and Justin Stupka recorded a goal and an assist and Brandon Svoboda tacked on a goal.
Svoboda and Stupka are both so fresh in the lineup that neither had a nameplate on the back of their jersey or practiced with the team, but that didn’t stop them from making a huge impact.
“I thought they were tremendous for jumping in,” Patterson said. “With the Pittsburgh kids, at least not practicing with us — Clark has been here for a while — I thought that the three of them were great up front.”
Another name returning to the lineup is defenseman TJ Schweighardt, who has not only been a key cog for the team on the ice, but off of it as well.
“He’s huge,” Patterson said. “He’s been ready for a while. He’s a guy who is a huge part of our leadership core, who has been through a lot of experiences in junior hockey. He’s been practicing for weeks, so it wasn’t wasn’t a shock to the system to see him have a good game.”
It took five minutes for Team USA to register its first shot on net, which was quickly grabbed by goaltender Jacob Fowler. That trend continued through the first two periods as the Phantoms went into the second intermission with a 5-0 lead.
Team USA began its push in the third, scoring three goals, two of which in the opening five minutes. Two minutes after the U-17s cut the lead to 5-3 however, Adam Ingram potted his 26th of the year to put the Phantoms back up by three.
Grant Porter capped off the regular season with an empty-netter not long after for the team’s seventh and final goal of the night.
There’s not much time for rest as the Phantoms are back at it again Monday, hosting the Madison Capitols in the first round of the Clark Cup playoffs.
Games 1 and 2 are set for 7:05 at the Covelli Centre on Monday and Tuesday. If necessary, the third game will be Wednesday in Youngstown as well.
It’s the first time in two seasons the Phantoms will see Clark Cup postseason action. After COVID canceled the end of the 2019-20 season and missing the playoffs in the 2020-21 season, everyone in the building is excited to get back at it.
“Obviously we start here on Monday,” Patterson said. “I know the guys are excited. We were probably going into Friday’s game thinking about Monday, so those are hard games to get through but I’m definitely excited. I know the group is as well. We’ll prepare the guys the right way and get ready for Monday.”
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