After helping his team secure home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs over the weekend, Youngstown Phantoms goaltender Sean Romeo captured some accolades of his own on Monday. The Cary, N.C., native was named USHL’s Reebok Goaltender of the Week the league announced Monday evening.

This is the first time that Romeo, 17, has earned the league’s weekly honor and he is the ninth different Phantoms player to do so this season.   Playing time has been tough to come by because Matt O’Connor has played solidly between the pipes all season.

“He really deserves this,” Head Coach Anthony Noreen said. “Nobody works harder in practice than Sean. If he was sitting behind anyone else in the league he’d probably be seeing a lot more time but everyone got a glimpse of what we know he’s capable of this weekend.”

Romeo, making his 12th start of the season, turned away 38 of 39 shots (.974 save percentage) on Saturday to backstop the Phantoms (31-20-7, fourth East) to a 2-1 overtime victory over the Indiana Ice. The second-year netminder held the Ice, the USHL’s second highest scoring team averaging 3.66 goals for a game, to just a single goal in 60-plus minutes between the pipes.

“It felt good to clinch home-ice for the team and getting the win in overtime made it that much better,” Romeo said after the game. “My defense played really hard for me and they deserve a lot of the credit.”

The Phantoms wrap up the regular season this weekend when they take on the Green Bay Gamblers in a pair of games this Friday and Saturday at the Covelli Centre. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m. EST both nights.

It’s Fan Appreciation Weekend at the Covelli Centre and the Phantoms will be holding a game-worn jersey auction while the Eagle Wear Team Shop will be offering a 25 percent discount on all merchandise as well as buy one, get one free deals Phantoms T-shirts.