Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Youngstown Phantoms have already clinched both the Eastern Conference regular season title and a share of the Anderson Cup, awarded to the overall regular season champion.
While regular-season accomplishments are great, the Phantoms still want more.
“These guys, they’ve been through a lot as far as challenges with our schedule. I think they’re just battle-hardened. I think they’re tested. They’re a veteran group, an older group that has been through wins and losses,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “You talk about the playoffs last year, I think that they’re just not taking it for granted. I think that they want to win. They want to leave their mark in Youngstown, and they want to make sure that their legacy here is winning a Clark Cup, and that’s been our goal from day one.”
This Phantoms team has multiple veterans who remember the sting of last year’s early exit from the postseason.
Not taking things for granted is the theme for this year.
“The biggest thing is that you can’t take it for granted,” Ward said. “It’s a whole new season. We can’t look at the success we’ve had in the regular season and think that it’s automatically going to happen for us. We have to make sure that right from the first drop of the puck in the second round, we have to be sharp and ready to go, and we have to make sure that our work ethic meets and exceeds our aspiration.”
The Phantoms last won the Anderson Cup in the 2014-2015 season under head coach Anthony Noreen and with a roster of future NHLers like Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets), Kiefer Sherwood (San Jose Sharks) and Ryan Lomberg (Calgary Flames).
This year’s group is led by NHL draft picks Cooper Simpson (Boston Bruins) and Ryan Rucinski (Buffalo Sabres).
Simpson is second in the league in points with 74 points (34 goals, 40 assists), with Rucinski following close behind at seventh place with 62 points (27 goals, 35 assists). Forwards Evan Jardine and Jack Hextall are just outside the top 10 in the USHL, placed at 12th and 15th, respectively.
Special teams has been arguably the Phantoms’ biggest strength. Youngstown has the second-best power play in the league, converting on 27.7% of its opportunities. Dubuque leads the way with 27.9%. The Phantoms have the best penalty kill in the league, killing 83.9% of their penalties.
“It’s the right pieces and the right fits,” said of the offense. “We have guys that have played in the league, we have experience, we have guys that have played with each other, we have good chemistry. I think that when your special teams (is good), your power play is good, guys are going to get more points. I think the power play has been really, really good, and that’s something that we haven’t changed a whole lot all year. I think the consistency of that has been good for the guys. And honestly, they just love playing with each other, and they love putting in the work to get better. I think offensively, you’re seeing a little bit of the fruit of their labor.
Blueliner Jack Willson is second in the league in scoring for a defenseman, sitting at 47 points (12 goals, 35 assists) in 56 games. Youngstown boasts two of the highest-scoring defenseman, with Carter Murphy not far behind Willson in fifth. Murphy has 41 points (6 goals, 35 assists).
After missing significant time last season due to injury, Willson has flourished this year.
“We needed him to be our number one defenseman, and he’s taken that seriously,” Ward said. “He had a good summer, and he’s been ready to go every day.”
In net, the Phantoms have a solid duo, led by Tobias Trejbal. Trejbal has picked up steam as a name to watch in the upcoming NHL Draft. In 41 games, Trejbal has posted a .915 save percentage, third-best in the USHL. Owen Lepak has backed him up with a .904 save percentage. Lepak would be just outside of the top 10 in league-wide save percentage if he met the minutes requirement.
“Those guys have been great, and I think that they give us a chance to win every night,” Ward said of his duo. “(Trejbal is) probably gonna be the first goalie drafted in the NHL this year, and Owen’s a veteran netminder that has done his job. Couldn’t be happier with our goaltending. I feel like when you have that foundation in the net, the guys play a lot looser. They play confident, and I think our offensive numbers and the way we play the game has been positively affected by that.”
The Phantoms close the regular season out on the road with a two-game set against Cedar Rapids. Sitting at a 42-13-3-2 record going into the final two games, just one win would set a new club record for wins in a season, surpassing last year’s high.
“We take a lot of pride in having done our job. Obviously, being the regular season champions, winning the East, those are micro goals that we set out for at the beginning of the year,” Ward said. “I think for us, we just want to keep building our consistency. Cedar Rapids is a really good team. They’re well-coached. They’ve had a wonderful run here at the end of the year. I just want to see the consistency of effort. I want to see us going into the playoffs as sharp as possible and just playing the game the right way.”
Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday’s contests is set for 8:05 p.m.
The Phantoms’ first playoff series is scheduled to begin April 17 at the Covelli Centre.
THE GAUDREAU AWARD
Last week, the Phantoms announced their nominee for the USHL’s Gaudreau Award. The award was established last season with the goal to recognize the player who best embodies the traits and attributes of Matthew Gaudreau, who spent two seasons in Omaha, and Johnny, who spent the 2010-11 season with Dubuque.
This season, the Phantoms nominated Hextall for the award.
“Jack is a kid that loves hockey, that’s a leader, and someone that when you look at what he does every day and how he approaches his work, he has fun doing it, and he takes it very seriously,” Ward said. “To me, it was the perfect fit. Obviously, we have a locker room full of people that you know, quite honestly, could have won every award out there. But at the end of the day, we thought that given Jack being a tender here in Youngstown, working as hard as he does, and bringing the leadership aspect that he does, we thought that it was a perfect fit.”
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