BOX SCORE
YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Four unanswered goals for the home team after giving up the opener helped lift the Youngstown Phantoms (16-6-2-0, 34 points) to a 5-3 win over Team USA (U18) Friday night at the Covelli Centre.

"I can't stress how proud I am of this group of guys," said Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward. "We have a pretty special group here and I'm pretty excited we were able to get that one tonight."

After surrendering the opening goal to Cole Hutson at 5:10 of the opening frame, Youngstown scored the next four to take a commanding lead. Kuzma Voronin put home a rebound at 8:05 of the first for his fourth of the season. Mikey Burchill's powerplay one-timer from the left dot at 13:14 gave the Phantoms the lead that they would not relinquish. Adam Pietila scored the lone goal of the second period, a power play marker at 8:28, for his team-leading 11^th of the campaign. Sam Ranallo finished off a 3-on-2 break at 3:35 of the third with his sixth goal of the season to cap off the scoring run.

Team USA wouldn't go away quietly though, as Teddy Stiga got a flukey shot through the five-hole of Colin Winn (30 saves) at 7:40 to cut the Youngstown lead back to two at 4-2. The Phantoms' third power play goal of the night, a Miles Gunty backdoor tap-in at 14:47, gave Youngstown an insurance tally. USA answered back just over a minute later when Lucas Van Vliet snapped home a loose puck off a faceoff win, trimming the lead back to two at 5-3. The U18s pulled Jack Parsons (28 saves) to the bench with 3:11 left in regulation, but could not get anything further past Winn, who extended his point streak to six games (5-0-1).

Youngstown's three power play goals tied a season high and snapped a string of four games (14 attempts) without a tally on the man-advantage. Eight power plays was one off their season high.

The Phantoms have one game left before the Christmas break, the backend of this home-and-home series with the U18s, tomorrow at USA Hockey Arena. Youngstown returns from the break with a two-game set in Muskegon December 29-30 before returning home January 4-5 to take on the Omaha Lancers.

By the Numbers
Shots – 33
Saves – 30
Power Play – 3/8
Penalty Kill – 4/4
Goals – Burchill, Gunty, Pietila, Ranallo, Voronin
Assists – Botterill (2), Boumedienne (2), Clark, de Haro, Gunty, Ramos (2), Ranallo