BOX SCORE

CRANBERRY TWP, PA – A four-point night from Cooper Simpson and 28 saves from Tobias Trejbal helped lift the Youngstown Phantoms (1-0-0-0, 2pts) to a 5-0 win over the Tri-City Storm Friday night at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex as part of the 2025 USHL Fall Classic.

"I thought we did a lot of really good things that we can build on," said Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward. "A lot of really positive things, especially for the first game. I thought we made good puck decisions. I thought we were simple on our exits. I thought we worked. It took us about 10 minutes to get going, but overall, a lot to build on."

A dogged forecheck late in the first period led to a highlight reel goal to open the season for Youngstown. Jack Hamilton and Ryan Rucinski teamed up to work the puck free for the Phantoms, finding Simpson in the slot. Pulling the puck to his backhand to get around a defender, Simpson then deked to his forehand to wrap the puck around the outstretched leg of Michal Pradel (23 saves) for his first goal as a Phantom and a 1-0 Youngstown lead. "I got a good pass from (Rucinski), guy tried to step up, I went around him and tucked it," said Simpson. Simpson has now scored in 9 straight games and has a goal in six straight games dating back to last season, which he spent with Tri-City.

The Phantoms added on to their lead with a power play goal from Jack Hextall at 16:45 of the second, doubling their lead. Youngstown netminder Trejbal stood tall with 2:18 left in the frame, stopping a penalty shot from Lincoln Hjelm.

The floodgates opened for Youngstown in the third period, where they managed to get three behind Pradal. Matouš Kucharcík was the beneficiary of a fortunate bounce at the side of the crease as Melker Morin's shot from the left point hit off the shoulder of Pradal, off Kucharcík, and into the cage at 1:59 for Kucharcík's first goal in the USHL. 51 seconds later, Matti Butkovskiy put home a rebound off a Sean Miller shot to make it 4-0 Youngstown. Simpson found Rucinski wide open for a one-timer off a faceoff win at 18:06 to make up the final margin.

Youngstown will wrap up their Fall Classic Saturday night against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders, where 'Riders Head Coach Mark Carlson will look to tie PK O'Handley atop the USHL Head Coaching Wins list at 778.

By The Numbers
Shots – 28
Saves – 28
Power Play – 1/5
Penalty Kill – 6/6
Goals – Butkovskiy, Hextall, Kucharcík, Simpson, Rucinski
Assists – Hamilton, McKinnon, Miller, Morin, O'Leary, Simpson (3), Rucinski
Box Score - https://ushl.com/ht/#/game-summary/12956