Archive for February, 2011

Youngstown State University’s Lady Penguins returned home to face Butler Thursday.  The Bulldogs wore there special pink breast cancer awareness alternate road jerseys on the visit.  Butler got 34 points from Chloe Hamilton and came away with a 73-56 victory over the Penguins.

The Bulldogs came out of the gates fast with a 10-0 start.  The Butler lead would be as high as 16, but give Youngstown State some credit for hanging in there and cutting the halftime margin to 11.  Butler got big numbers from Hamilton who posted 20 first half points, five rebounds, and an assist.  Youngstown State, trailing 32-21 at the break, got eight from Brandi Brown.

In the first ten minutes of the second half, Butler outscored Youngstown State 24-12 to open up a 56-33 lead.  Alyssa Pittman hit a couple of threes for the Bulldogs to help compile the big lead for Butler.  Youngstown State cut the lead to 14 on some good defense when Kenya Middlebrooks and Macey Nortey each had a steal and Brandi Brown got a couple of transition baskets.  Hamilton (above), however, hit a couple of free throws to put Butler ahead 59-43.

Tieara Jones fouled out with 7:25 left in the game.  Jones had 12 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist for YSU.  With 5:21 left in the game, Hamilton again got fouled and hit two more free throws to put Butler ahead 66-46.  Monica Touvelle had one of her best games as a Penguin with 9 points.

When asked why he left Jones in the game with four fouls, Coach Bob Boldon replied, “I looked down the bench for our 6’4″ replacement player, but she wasn’t there, so I had to leave the 6’1″ player with four fouls in the game. Call it insanity for leaving the 6’1″ player in the game with four fouls, but I am insane.  If we don’t have both Brandi and Tieara in the game we get eaten alive on the boards, so I have to take my chances and leave them in as much as possible.”

With the loss, Youngstown State fell to 3-20 and 1-11 in conference play.  Brown took high scoring honors for YSU, while limping with an apparent right leg injury most of the game,  with 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Butler improved to 15-9 and 9-3 in Horizon League play.  Hamilton finished the game with 34 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs in the win.  Senior, Brittany Bowen (below) also had 12 points and eight rebounds for Butler.

After the game, Coach Boldon talked about the struggles his team faced for a second consecutive contest.  “We just miss shots and turn the ball over.  I have never lost that many games in a season in my life.  Apparently, we are coming out not ready to play.  If an athlete comes not ready to play, there is something seriously wrong.”

Tisha Hill, former Youngstown State Coach, returned to Beeghly as a Butler assistant coach.  ” I have very fond memories of my time here.  It was weird being in the visitors locker room, it’s noisy in there. It felt good to come back and everyone welcomed me back with open arms proving just how special of a place this is.”

The Youngstown Phantoms (14-22-4,32pts) had a two goal lead in the second period but were unable to hold on as the Indiana Ice (24-12-3,51pts) stole a 5-3 victory on Wednesday morning.   The Ice have only lost four times since November 26.  Goals by Scott Mayfield, Mike Ambrosia and Stephen Collins were not enough against the Ice.

The Phantoms, for the third game in a row, scored the first goal. While on a power play, Mayfield rushed the puck down the near side boards and as he made his way behind the net he banked a shot off the back of Indiana netminder Jon Gillies for his third goal of the year. With less than six minutes to play in the opening period, the Ice were able to tie the game at one on a goal by Blake Coleman, the USHL’s leading scorer.   The Phantoms were outshot in the first period 15-6, despite the difference the first period was  evenly played.

The Phantoms wasted no time in the second period as Collins found the back of the net just 1:43 into the middle frame.   Collins gathered the puck in the near corner and walked out in front of the net where he beat Gillies on a wrist shot that was placed in between the blocker and his right leg pad. The goal was Collins’ third as a Phantom.  The Phantoms then extended their lead to two when Mike Ambrosia found the back of the net as he capitalized on a rebound that was put on net by new Phantom Danny Mattson.   The goal was Ambrosia’s seventh of the season and Mattson’s first point as a Phantom.   Later,  in the second period, the Phantoms drifted away from their game plan and Indiana was able to take advantage with two late goals to end the period.  At 4:31, Brian Ferlin scored to bring the Ice within one goal. Just over two minutes later it seemed as if Jordan Tibbett had covered the puck, but after a scrum in front of the Phantoms net Peter Schneider was able to flip the puck over Tibbett to tie the game.

“After we went up by two goals we got away from our game plan,” said Carr.   “We have done this a few times this season, we get up by a few goals and decide to play like a finesse team and not stick to our system. We are not a finesse team and we need to understand that to win we need to play within in ourselves and within our system.”

The Phantoms came out in the third period looking to regain their form from earlier in the game but just :36 into the final frame, Schneider was able to beat Tibbett to go up 4-3.   The Ice improved their lead to two goals when Coleman scored his second of the game on an Ice power play with 9:10 remaining in the contest. The Phantoms tried to pressure the Ice late but the with the four unanswered goals against and a shot disadvantage of 42-25, the hill was too high for the Phantoms to climb.

The Youngstown Phantoms (14-21-4,32pts) skate back to Youngstown with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Steel (7-25-7,21pts). The Phantoms were carried by two goals performances by both Ryan Belonger and Ty Loney.

The Phantoms for the second game in a row scored the game’s first goal to go up 1-0. 6:01 into the first period, Phantoms forward Belonger scored on a rebound opportunity right in front of the Chicago crease after the shot from the point went on net. The goal was Belonger’s tenth of the season and the assists were credited to Stu Higgins and Quinn Smith. Belonger extended the Phantoms lead to two after he took advantage of a neutral zone turnover and a buried the puck over the glove hand on Steel netminder Connor Wilson on a breakaway. The goal came at 13:39 and it was Belonger’s second goal and Smtih’s second assist of the game. With 1:08 left to play in the first period, Loney picked off a pass at the top of the right circle in the offensive zone and put his the shot past Wilson to go up 3-0. It was the first time this season that the Phantoms went into the first intermission leading by three goals.

“We had a good first period,” said Phantoms Head Coach Curtis Carr. “We capitalized on our chances and we picked up the two points with the win.”

The Steel were able to close the gap to two after a shorthanded goal by Tucker Brockett. Tim Weber skated into the Phantoms zone and fed Brockett who finished off the 2-on-1 play with a goal at the 13:00 mark. The Steel continued to pressure the Phantoms but Jordan Tibbett did not allow another goal as the Phantoms went into the intermission up 3-1.

The third period started with the Steel bringing the game within one goal just four minutes into the frame on a goal by Sam Povorozniouk. The Phantoms would extend their lead back to two goals as Loney scored his second of the game off the assist by Cody Strang. A turnover in the Phantoms defensive zone led to a Joel Benson goal that brought Chicago back within one goal with under five minutes left to play. The Steel came within inches of tying the game with 2:30 remaining on the clock but a sprawling save by Tibbett denied the equalizer. Tibbett again denied a tying chance, this time on a shorthanded attempt by Alex Kubiak.   A late power play for the Phantoms put them up a skater and even with the empty net the Steel were only able to play 5-on-5 as the Phantoms picked up the one goal victory.

Senior Vytas Sulskis (above) tied a career scoring high with 26 points but the Youngstown State men’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought decision to Wright State, 74-70, on Monday evening at the Nutter Center.

Sulskis, who scored 20 points in the first half, made his first nine field goals and six 3-point attempts while freshman Kendrick Perry scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and dished out seven assists.

The Guins also made 11 3-pointers and shot 42.3 percent from behind the arc. It marked the sixth time this season the Guins made at least 10 3-pointers in a contest.  The Penuins, who shot 52.1 percent from the field fall to 8-16 overall and 2-12 in the Horizion League while Wright State improves to 17-9 overall and 8-4 in the league.

In a game that featured 15 ties and 16 lead changes and a lead of no more than five points by either team, Wright State’s Cole Darling converted two free throws with 1:18 to go to give the Raiders a 69-68 lead for the games final lead change.  WSU’s N’Gai Evans’ steal and layup gave the Raiders a 71-68 lead with 1:01 to go.

Perry brought the Penguins within one, 71-70, with a at jumper with 37 seconds remaining, but Evans added two more charity tosses to extend the lead back to three points, 73-70,, with 17 seconds to go.  Junior Ashen Ward’s game-tying 3-point attempt with 12 seconds left was off the mark and the Raiders’ Matt Vest made one of two free throws for the final score of the game, 74-70.

The Guins shot a blistering 62.5 percent in the first half but committed 11 turnovers that the Raiders turned into 15 points and the first half had nine ties and six lead changes.  The Raiders’ largest lead was four-points, 11-7 on a 3-pointer by Vest while the Guins’ largest lead was four points at three different times in the first half.

Ward made a jumper at the 7:11 mark to go up 25-21, then made a 3-pointer with 5:00 to go to take a 31-27 advantage and Perry made a layup with 4:05 left to to up 33-29.  The Raiders outscored the Guins, 11-7, to close out the half to take a 40-38 lead at the intermission

Fresh off the heels of a huge victory over Butler, the Youngstown State Penguins welcomed Valparaiso to town for their second monstrous challenge in three days.  Having lost 11 in a row to the Crusaders and Valpo’s Homer Drew breathing down Jerry Slocum’s neck on the active coaches wins list, the Penguins pushed the Crusaders to overtime, but fell 86-78.

“”I am disappointed with 16 turnovers, 12 of them in the second half.  There was a four minute stretch that we didn’t even take a shot and when you are playing the best teams in the league, we can’t afford things like that”, remarked Coach Slocum after the loss.

In the first half, Youngstown State jumped out to as large as a 12 point lead and was ahead 38-33 at intermission.  Damian Eargle picked up a couple of quick fouls and only logged five minutes on the floor, but the Penguins were not needing many offensive rebounds in the half as they shot 53.8% from the floor and even shot over 85% from the free throw line, a recent sore spot.  Kendrick Perry and Ashen Ward had eight points each in the half. Valpo got 11 from Brandon Wood and struggled from the charity stripe shooting 7-18 (38.9%) but stayed in the game thanks in part to an 18-10 rebounding edge.

In the second half, Valpo tied the game for the first time all night at 43 apiece with 15:06 left in the game.  Eargle was fouled with 14:17 remaining and hit a pair of free throws to give YSU a 47-46 lead.  Perry (above) hit a short runner in the paint with 12:49 left in the game to extend the Penguins lead to 52-47.  YSU pushed the lead to 56-49 on a 20-foot Perry jumper on the baseline with 10:45 left.  Vytas Sulskis nailed a three from the corner to push the Penguins lead to eight, and the home team smelled another upset brewing.

Valpo took a timeout with 9:01 remaining when DuShawn Brooks received a nice feed from Perry to push the lead back up into double digits at 63-53.  However, Wood picked Perry’s pocket and went the length of the court for a layup to pull the Crusaders to 63-59 with 8:18 left.  Eargle picked up a couple of cheap fouls in the span of a minute giving him four with 7:43 left in the game forcing Coach Slocum to sit the shot-blocking specialist.

With YSU ahead 66-65, Wood hit a three to give the Crusaders a two-point lead.  Another Valpo bucket with 4:52 left in the game gave the Crusader their biggest lead of the night at 70-66.  Sulskis hit one of two free throws with 2:54 left in the game to bring YSU to within two at 70-68.  Dan Boudler was fouled with 1:30 left but could only hit one of two.  Valpo had a 70-69 lead with 1:01 left in the game and the ball when Boudler blocked a shot and got YSU the ball back with 38.4 seconds left in the game.

YSU had chances in the last 38 seconds.  Perry lost his dribble and fell, but the Penguins managed to tie the ball up to keep possession thanks to the arrow pointing toward the Youngstown State bench.  With 11.3 seconds left in the game YSU got Sulskis a 1o-foot baseline jumper that spun around the rim but wouldn’t fall.  Ryan Broekhoff was fouled and hit one of two to push the lead to 71-69 with 6 seconds left.  Kendrick Perry got the inbound, dribbled the length of the floor and hit a 15-footer thanks to a friendly roll to force overtime.

In the extra five minute period, Youngstown State drew first blood when Ward connected on a clutch three to put YSU ahead 74-71 with 3:41 left.  Cory Johnson hit a reverse layup to cut the YSU lead to 74-73.  Sulskis (above) then drew a blocking foul to go to the line where he hit both charity tosses to increase the Penguin lead to three.  Wood was fouled on a drive and got to the line for Valpo where he nailed one of two.  Wit YSU ahead 76-74 with half of the overtime gone, Sulskis threw an errant pass and then fouled out trying to draw a charge.

Broekhoff hit a three to give Valpo a brief 78-76 lead and YSU responded with an Eargle basket to tie the game with 1:27 left in the contest.  Johnson hit a short range shot off of the glass to put Valpo ahead 80-78.  With 50.4 seconds left Broekhoff was fouled but missed both shots.  YSU trailed 82-78 with 18 seconds left.  Perry fired a three that missed the mark and Eargle picked up a quick foul to stop the clock, his fifth.  Wood hit a pair of free throws to put Valpo up six to ice the game.

Youngstown State got 17 points and ten rebounds from Sulskis and 15 points from each Brooks and Perry.  With the loss, Youngstown State dipped to 8-15 and 2-10 in the Horizon League.

A disappointed Vytas Sulskis commented on the crushing loss.  “They didn’t beat us tonight, we beat ourselves with turnovers.  We played hard, but we have to get better and not give games away.”

Valpo got a great effort from Wood, who finished with 31 big points for the Crusaders who improved to 17-7, and 9-4 in the Horizon League.  Broekhoff hit for 11 points and gathered 14 rebounds for the visiting team.

I consider myself fortunate to have met some good people both in Youngstown, and nationally.  I couldn’t get a hold of quite a few of them, but was very happy to reach the ones that I did.  The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers tee it up tomorrow in Super Bowl XLV.  Here are predictions from a few folks with some star power on how the game will end.

Will Murray – Howard Stern Show Segment Producer

“I think Green Bay is going to win a very high-scoring game.  I will say the Packers beat the Steelers, 31-24.  That might be a little low on the score, but I do like the over and the Packers and expect a bunch of points.”

Joe Scalzo – Youngstown Vindicator Sports Reporter

“Green Bay Packers 823 kajillion, Pittsburgh Steelers 0.  I wanted to predict that the Steelers would end up with negative points, but I don’t want anyone to think I am biased.”

Donald Jones – Buffalo Bills and Former YSU Receiver

Donald Jones is attending the game in Texas after a stellar rookie season with the Buffalo Bills, where he started the last eight games and expects to play a bigger role in the offense next season.  “I think Green Bay is going to win.  It should be a good game and it is really great being a part of this atmosphere.  It’s a different world, just crazy down here.  I’ll say the final score will be Green Bay 28, Pittsburgh 21.

Larry Snyder – Voice of The Phantoms

I think the Steelers will beat the Packers, 24-21. The Packers will make it close in the second half, but ultimately, the clock will be their enemy as Pittsburgh holds them off to get the close win.

Curt Carr – Head Coach of The Youngstown Phantoms

“Everybody wrote the Packers off when Aaron Rodgers got hurt.  I think he will lead his Green Bay Packer team to a 24-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in a close game.  It’s a really tough prediction, but they are the hot team.”

Trevor Parks – YSU Sports Information Director

“Packers 27, Steeelers 21.  Charles Woodson will be named the MVP at the end of the game for the Pack.”

Jack Loew– Southside Boxing, Trainer of Kelly Pavlik

“My wife likes Pittsburgh, so I will say that Green Bay wins 24-17.”

Anthony Paneech – Owner / Editor of Paneech.com

Pittsburgh has a great defense, but the Packers have a great linebacker.  Clay Matthews is the best linebacker in the league right now.  I know Steelers fans will haggle that Troy Polamalu was the NFL Defensive Player of The Year, but linebackers have bigger impacts on the majority of the plays from scrimmage.  Having kicked the outcome around for a few days, the prediction here is Green Bay 30, Pittsburgh 20. Clay Matthews will have at least two sacks.

The Youngstown Phantoms have acquired former Chicago Steel forward Danny Mattson in a trade that was completed last night. The Phantoms exchanged their sixth round pick with conditions to become a fourth round selection to acquire the Bemidji State University commit.

Mattson is a native of Minneapolis, MN and in 23 games with the Steel he has tallied five goals and seven assists for a total of 12 points. Mattson is in his second year in the USHL and his career has been split between the Omaha Lancers and Chicago.

“We traded for Danny because of his age and experience in the league,” said Phantom head coach Curtis Carr. “He is a twenty-year old in the league and we feel that since he is getting ready to go to college a playoff run will be the perfect thing to motivate him. He also gives us some veteran experience with his time spent in the USHL.”

Mattson brings experience to the Phantoms locker room but he also brings a knack for scoring to the Youngstown line-up. The Phantoms top line of Jiri Sekac, Cody Strang and Ty Loney has put up consistent numbers all season. For the Phantoms other forward lines, Mattson has the opportunity to come in and give the Phantoms scoring depth beyond that first line.

“He is a half a point a game producer,” said Carr. “With a lot of our close games he could be a guy that plays a role in any outcome. We do not expect him to come in as ‘the guy’ but he can help our top six by adding a little firepower.”

During his senior year of high school Mattson established a new career points record of 213 points at Holy Angels and during that season he produced 76 points (25g,51a) for the Stars. He was also a finalist for the Mr. Hockey Award, given to the top high school player in the state of Minnesota.

“We feel that we have not had someone step up on our second line and dominate the way we would like,” said Carr. “It is nothing against our players but Danny comes in proving he can put up consistent offensive numbers.”

Mattson will make his debut with the Phantoms this Saturday when he and his new teammates take on the visiting Dubuque Fighting Saints. Mattson is traveling from Chicago and the winter weather that hit that region has slowed the forwards move here to Youngstown.

The Youngstown Phantoms welcomed an old friend back into the crease.  Jordan Tibbett (above) has not played a game for the Phantoms since last season, has not even played in a hockey game since October,  but popped up on the roster Friday night.  Even more fascinating, he started the game looking like a rent-a-goalie with his #41 shirt, no name, and green shorts that would make the Irish jealous on St. Patrick’s Day.

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, Tri-City’s Scott Diebold (below) was also “locked” in.  The two goaltenders combined to stop 48 shots through the first two periods of a scoreless game.  Through those first two periods of the game, Youngstown had more shots (25) than Tri-City (23) but nobody could slip the puck past either net minder in a classic defensive battle.  Tri-City mustered two third period goals to get a 2-0 win on this night behind a great effort from Diebold.

The Phantoms did not put a shot on goal in the third period until the 12:53.  It seemed like so much of this game was spent in transition from one side of the rink to the other and neither squad was getting a second chance to get a shot off and the action progressed to the other end, very tennis-like.  Andrew Sinelli picked up a two-minute minor to put the Storm on the power play.  At the very tail-end of that man advantage, Tri-City got the first score of the game with 10:28 remaining.  Alex Carpenter connected unassisted just to the left of Tibbett’s crease and the puck appeared to deflect in off of Tibbett.

Brian Ward gave Tri-City a 2-0 lead when he struck gold on a quick takeaway from short range.  Danill Zharkov was credited with an assist on Ward’s third goal of the season with 6:58 left in the game.

The Phantoms only managed to take seven shots in the third period, and five of those were in the last 1:30 of the game.

With the win, Tri-City improved to 16-13-7.  Diebold posted the shutout for the Storm and did nothing to hurt his goals against average or his save percentage stopping all 33 Phantoms shots he faced.  The Phantoms dipped to 13-20-4 and played well for the most part.

After the game, Coach Carr commented on the lack of offensive production.  “I thought we came out really strong in the first period, it almost felt too easy.  In the third period, we panicked and made some costly mistakes.  Jordan played well enough to give us a chance to win but we couldn’t do much offensively in the third period.”

Carr explained why Tibbett is back and what happened to Greg Lewis.  “We activated Jordan based on his experience.  Greg played exceptionally well with us but we sent him away to develop hoping he will return next year with more experience.”

Jack Loew has confirmed that Kelly Pavlik is tentatively scheduled to hit the ring on May 7.  Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO) has been inactive since his loss to Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City last April.  Although nothing has been confirmed and no specific opponent has been named, Bob Arum and Top Rank have said they would like to see Pavlik on the undercard of the “Sugar” Shane Mosley – Manny Pacquiao fight to be held in Las Vegas on the night of May 7.

Pavlik has confronted his demons and entered himself into the Betty Ford Clinic for alcohol rehab.  This all happened right before he was set to fight on the undercard of the last Pacquiao fight against Bryan Vera.  He is still a very highly-ranked contender in the middleweight division and poses a threat to anybody else listed with a similar status.

“We don’t know who Kelly will be fighting yet, but the May 7th date is pretty well locked in.  We know that the fight will take place in Las Vegas and will be on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao – Shane Mosley undercard.”, said Loew.

One of Youngstown’s favorite sons, Pavlik cannot be overlooked by anyone who steps into the ring with him.  Pavlik seems to have it together and can make a splash back in if he can dedicate himself to the sport he ruled again.  He will probably fight a couple of tune-ups before challenging anyone else in contention for the WBC Championship vacated by Martinez.

Loew has been busy training Dan Williams (15-1) who will challenge Harrison Cueto on February 19.  Williams is also getting a crack at the WBC Intercontinental Championship in his hometown of St. Louis on April 14.

Milwaukee shot 58 percent and hit seven 3-pointers in the opening period, and the Youngstown State women’s basketball team could never recover despite a strong second-half performance in an 81-66 loss at the Klotsche Center on Thursday.

UWM’s Sami Tucker scored 21 of her career-high 23 points in the first half as Milwaukee built a 51-28 halftime advantage. YSU trimmed the deficit to 15 several times midway through the second half and had the lead down to 68-54 with five minutes remaining. The Penguins never got closer than 14 points.

Brandi Brown finished with 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Youngstown State, which recorded 16 steals. Tieara Jones added 15 points and nine rebounds, and Bojana Dimitrov scored all 10 of her points in the first half.

Tucker was 9-for-11 from the floor in the game and 8-for-9 in the first period. Lindsay Laur was an assist shy of a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Milwaukee cooled down in the second half, shooting 38 percent as the Penguins outscored UWM 38-30 in the final 20 minutes. YSU shot 34.3 percent for the game and was 7-for-26 from 3-point range.

Angela Rodriguez had 15 points behind 6-for-8 shooting, and Courtney Lindfors had 11 points for UWM. Milwaukee finished shooting 10-for-20 from 3-point range as Tucker and Rodriguez combined to go 7-for-9. The Panthers held a 40-32 rebounding advantage after owning a 26-10 edge on the glass in the first period.

YSU led 4-2 early, but two Lindfors free throws and the first of four treys in the period by Tucker gave the Panthers a lead they would never lose. Two more Lindfors free throws put UWM up 24-14 with 10:23 left.  YSU increased its pressure on the ball, and a series of Milwaukee turnovers helped the Penguins trim the deficit to 24-21 with 8:45 remaining. From that point, the Panthers closed out the half by outscoring the Penguins 27-7.

Youngstown State will travel to Green Bay on Saturday to play the first-place Phoenix. Tipoff at the Kress Center is set for 3 p.m. Eastern.