Kelly Pavlik is working hard, perhaps harder than he ever has, to make weight for his April 17 fight with Sergio Martinez.  The fight, which will be televised live on HBO, is Pavlik’s biggest test since Bernard Hopkins and will either thrust ‘The Ghost’ back into the national boxing spotlight or bury the champ in mediocrity.  Top Rank Promotions and Bob Arum are handling the specifics, so all is well in that department.

Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer, spoke about the magnitude this fight holds for Pavlik.  “This is the most important fight of Kelly’s career.  Last year was a tough year for us and Kelly had a hard time keeping his focus.  Staph infection, fights being cancelled, even the medicine he had to take affected his performances and capabilities.  He is really focused right now and stronger than ever.”

Loew, when asked about the weight Pavlik has to lose, did not see any problems.  “He is right where he usually is at this point of training camp, right around 169 or 170.  The difference is the muscle from all of his hard work and preparation coming into camp in shape.  It’s a tough situation, but it always is.”

Should Pavlik win convincingly, bigger doors should open.  Sergio Mora just won his fight on the Jones-Hopkins undercard.  Arthur Abraham and Paul Williams would also draw a big gate. 

Sergio Martinez (44-2-2) will not be a pushover.  Martinez just took Paul Williams to his limits and lost a very controversial decision.  For all who say Pavlik ducked Williams, let this fight be a measuring stick of a common opponent that will yield answers in the comparison.

I respect the work of the great Neil Diamond.  He was already a legend in the 1970’s and kept gaining popularity.  He is what every artist wishes to be, both authentic and original.  The best compliment you can pay to any singer is that he has his own sound.  Kudos Neil Diamond, nothing but respect.

Sweet Caroline is one of the big Diamond tunes.  It’s a catchy song with a cool melody and has one of those easy to sing with tones.  The song was released in 1969 and I can still remember the hit from my elementary school days.  The origin of Sweet Caroline came from Diamond’s affection for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her in an equestrian outfit on the cover of Life Magazine.  He wrote and composed the song in about an hour in a Memphis hotel room.

I am confused, however, on when Sweet Caroline became a sports anthem.  There is no mention of sport whatsoever in the song about a girl named Caroline.  Maybe Caroline was a good right fielder in the forties when Diamond was growing up.  So good they called her Sweet Caroline.  Maybe not.

I can accept that maybe in the Carolinas, the song would be better understood as a timeout filler and the kids could go nuts.  Is it that big of a deal to go Ba-Ba-Ba while shaking your arm in the air three times?  I am lost on this whole movement.

Maybe Neil Diamond can issue his whole catalog to sports usage.  Here are some examples of better suited songs and where they might be used.

•  He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – WWE’s Mark Henry can use this as his new entrance song.
• Song Sung Blue – Even sounds like Sweet Caroline a bit if you lift the lyrics.  Duke could use it.
• You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – Would be a heck of a backround song while showing Tiger Woods putting in slow motion to promote the Masters.

I could go on and on.  The Mets, Red Sox, New York Rangers, Boston College, and Pitt are all using the song.  Diamond performed it live at the Red Sox home opener against the Yankees Sunday night.  Mitch Miller would have been proud, but Simon Cowell would have ribbed Diamond and said his performance was pitchy and self-indulgent.

The inaugural season of the Youngstown Phantoms USHL membership came to a close on Saturday.  The Phantoms came out on the short end of the stick, losing to Cedar Rapids, 4-1.  Cedar Rapids is a strong team already locked in as a #2 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.  The Phantoms played hard and have nothing to be ashamed of in losing to the Roughriders (38-19-3).  In fact, I am sure Cedar Rapids is happy to be leaving Youngstown.

The first period did not produce a score for either team and the Roughriders outshot the Phantoms 11-5.  Both teams had powerplay opportunities, but the man advantage would yield no goals either way.  Hits were plentiful and the refs were busy in a physical game picking up right where it left off Friday night.

At the 8:10 mark of the second period, the Roughriders took a 1-0 lead.  Michael Parks knocked in the puck to record his 11th score of the season.  Derek DeBlois recorded an assist on the only even-strength goal of the night.

Stu Wilson, who scored his second goal of the year on Friday, connected again Saturday.  Wilson’s goal was assisted by Thomas Fallen and helped the Roughriders capitalize on the two-man advantage powerplay chance.  Tibbett could not have done much to stop this goal as he was shielded and leaning the wrong way when Wilson let it rip.

With just 14 seconds elapsed on the goal that made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors, Cedar Rapids connected again to increase their lead to 3-0.   Max Bennett tallied at the 12:32 mark from close range.  The Roughriders were still on a powerplay, it just turned into a one-man advantage after the Wilson goal.

Jordan Tibbett stepped up and made a diving save, perhaps the save of the year, for the Phantoms.  Tibbett was blocked away by a crease camper and picked up on a flying puck coming his way.  The reaction to dive across the crease to glove the biscuit and rob Jeff Costello was brilliant.

Ty Loney, in his 17th game for the Phantoms, cut the Cedar Rapids lead to 3-1 with 3:25 left in a busy second period.  Dylan Margonari and Nick Czinder picked up assists on the Phantoms powerplay goal.

Cedar Rapids held the attacking Phantoms at bay in the final period.  Bryce Aneloski dumped an empty-netter in with ten seconds remaining in the contest to close out the scoring and insure a 4-1 victory for the playoff-bound Roughriders.

After the game, Phantoms Coach Curt Carr reflected on the team’s strong finish.  “We will be getting alot of these guys back next year, and these last ten games have shown people what they are capable of.  I would give them a grade of B+ over that span.”

The Phantoms finished the season with a 20-36-4 record.  After the game, which was donned “Fan Appreciation Night“, a jersey auction was held.  As I shook hands with many of the players, some of which will return to Youngstown next season, I realized how it is possible to take young men from all walks of life and geographically distant locations and assimilate their focus to a common goal. 

Some, like Jefferson Dahl, will play college hockey next season and will not be back.  Dahl enjoyed Youngstown and reflected on the up-and-down season.  “It is looking pretty positive here for next season.  There is a real good core of guys who will be back next year and there are some leaders, they will do some damage.”  Dahl is off to Wisconsin to continue playing hockey while he attends college.

Over a six month stretch, I was never bored at a Phantoms game, not once.  The staff and management worked hard to provide wholesome family entertainment.  The one complaint was that the attendance was not what I envisioned.  Dollar beer night at a Scrappers game packs the house.  At a Phantoms ‘bargain beer night’, attendance numbers stayed steady but never exploded.  With a beautiful facility to play in, I would only hope for increased attendance next season. 

With that being said, thank you to the Zoldans for the access and hospitality.  Thank you Bob Mainhardt for all of the great quotes and insight on what to expect at his level.  Thank you Curt Carr and good luck with the baby.  Thank you Matt Gajtka for being the ultimate professional and a friend at all times.  Thank you Richard Young for reminding me that there are consequences when you go on tilt.  A big thank you to all of the players and the very best wishes as you pursue your dream.

The YSU Men’s Basketball Team is doing it’s best to bolster the confidence of the women’s program.  Having lost five to graduation, the Penguins are now without four underclassmen who were expected to be big pieces in the 2010-11 puzzle. 

Juniors Vance Cooksey and Tom Parks and freshmen Eddie D’Haiti and Lamar McKnight have informed the program that they will not return next season.  No explanations were given as to why the foursome have walked away.

Cooksey and D’Haiti both played adequately this season.  Cooksey started 10 games, but more  importantly, would have been the sparkplug next season.  D’Haiti was more of a physical work in progress.  He played, but very sparingly, and admitted himself that he needed to get stronger to compete at this level.

Parks broke his ankle in December in a snow-related accident and missed all but 11 games.  McKnight redshirted and did not play at all.

This leaves six players, ala YSU Women circa 2010, and that experiment did not yield any wins.  Ashen Ward, Vytas Sulskis, and Dan Boudler are the only three carryovers with any true playing experience for Youngstown State.  Andy Timko (above) appeared in three games, and Sheldon Brogdon and Damian Eargle never saw the court this season.  Fletcher Larson and Kendrick Perry are incoming recruits who have committed.  Aaron Anderson is another potential recruit who is close to signing with the Penguins.

Coach Jerry Slocum has not talked on the matters as of yet.

*** Thanks to Letsgoguins.com for updating a mistake that I printed.  Aaron Anderson signed with North Dakota, not YSU.

Youngstown State could not hold a 5-0 lead after six innings as UIC rallied to post a 9-7 Horizon League win at Eastwood Field on Saturday afternoon.  The bullpen for the Penguins surrendered three home runs over the last three innings, which were the difference in the game.

Sean McDermott, a coach for UIC got tossed in the fifth for calling out the umpires one too many times.  McDermott (below) shouted a host of expletives toward home plate umpire, Paul Lancaster, about the inconsistent strike zone and displeasure toward a called third strike to end an inning for the Flames.

YSU starter, Phil Klein, flirted with danger in his six plus innings loading the bases twice before eventually escaping unharmed.  Klein surrendered five hits over six innings before allowing the leadoff man to reach base in the seventh inning.  Bill Turosky was called in from the bullpen to relieve Klein.  Turosky struck out one batter but allowed the bases to get full yet again. 

Kevin McCulloh was next to pitch for the Penguins.  McCulloh struck out the first batter he faced.  With the bases loaded and two outs, UIC used their biggest weapon, Chris Rutta, to make a pinch-hitting appearance.  Rutta, on an 0-2 pitch, launched a bomb deep into left field which tied the game at 5-5.

Still tied at five runs apiece in the eighth, UIC had Steve McGuigan standing on second base with one out.  On a ball hit to the warning track in right, McGuigan got greedy and tried to score from second but was thrown out at the plate.

Jeremy Banks, who was 3-4 with three RBI’s for Youngstown State, started the bottom of the eighth with a single.  Joe Iacobucci was next, and he also singled moving Banks to third with nobody out.  Anthony Porter then slapped an outside pitch to left which appeared to be trapped.  The umpires ruled it a catch and it ended up being a double play.  Despite the shoddy umpiring, Jacke Healey scored from third to give the Penguins a 6-5 lead.

Alex Oles came into the game to pitch the ninth for YSU.  After getting the leadoff man to ground out, everything fell apart.  Penguins RF Tom Clayton slipped in pursuit of a high fly ball which ended up being a gift triple for UIC’s John Rosinski.  The next batter, Joe Betcher, homered to left-ceneter staking UIC to a 7-6 lead.

Trent Wood was called out of the Penguin bullpen to try and douse the flames and give YSU a realistic chance in the bottom of the ninth inning.  UIC catcher, Ryan Meehan, took Wood’s very first pitch out of the park.  When the top of the ninth ended, YSU trailed 9-6.

Freshman Zac McFarland hit his first career home run for Youngstown State to pull the Penguins to 9-7, but that is where the scoring ended.  YSU dropped to 11-12 (3-2, HL) and UIC improved to 7-15 (3-2, HL).  The teams won a game apiece in the three-game set. 

For Klein (above), who was effective for 2/3 of the game, the result had to be a disappointing no-decision.

Cedar Rapids rolled into Youngstown with the #2 seed in their Western Division already locked up.  They had a 3-0 record against the Youngstown Phantoms on the season, and the Phantoms were 1-7 in their vibrant orange jerseys.  Throw all of the statistical logic out the window and ignore the past.  Youngstown physically smacked Cedar Rapids around and did anything but take on the role of a playoff tune-up in beating the Roughriders 4-1.

The game featured everything including a fight at center ice between the two goaltenders, two shorthanded goals on the same two-minute powerplay, seven players who are done for at least the regular season for a fight at the end of the second period, and a new coach, as the “interim” tag was taken away from Curt Carr’s name.

Cedar Rapids struck first as Stu Wilson knocked in his second goal of the year with 5:49 left in the first period.  Wilson got assists on the goal from Casey Hohmann and Andy Simpson.

With 3:46 left in the first, Scott Mayfield poked in his tenth goal on the season to tie the contest at one goal each.  Ryan Jasinsky was credited with an assist on Mayfield’s even-strength chance.

The Phantoms outshot the Roughriders 14-10 in a first period that went fast and had only one penalty, a two-minute minor. 

In the second period, the Phantoms picked up where they left off in Chicago as Adam Berkle scored two consecutive goals.  The first Berkle tally came at even-strength and Ben Paulides picked up an assist with 16:39 to go in the second period.  Berkle’s second goal came while Cedar Rapids was on a powerplay with 13:33 left in the second, Mayfield was given an assist. 

Berkle had a chance for a hat trick but whiffed on a nice centering pass, and he knew it.  “It happens”, declared a joyous Berkle after the game.  “It felt good, our line has really been playing well.  We want to go out the real deal, not an expansion team that is just here to be kicked around.”

Less than a minute later, Paulides connected shorthanded putting Youngstown ahead, 4-1.  The two shorthanded goals were only the sixth and seventh given up all year by Cedar Rapids.  Youngstown scored two shorthanded at Chicago on Wednesday night.  For Ben Paulides, it was goal #3 on the season with an assist from Mayfield, his third point of the game.

As the second period was coming to an end Cody Strang took a cheap shot to the back of the head.  Nobody stood still as a chain reaction of fights broke out everywhere, including center ice where Matt Mahalak and Cody Campbell battled in a rare fight between goaltenders (pictured).  As soon as Mahalak landed on top two more fights broke out with David Donnellan and Andrew Lamont involved.  When the teams were shuffled back to their respective locker rooms, seven players showered and are done for at least the regular season.  The Phantoms ejected for fighting were Mahalak, Donnellan, and Lamont.  Cedar Rapids lost Campbell, Stephen Collins, Jordan DiGiando, and Nick Lappin.

Mahalak talked about his first fight.  “We [he and Campbell]  have known each other throughout the years a little bit.  There really isn’t too much bad blood.  I got knocked into the boards a couple of times, he got rung too.  I was looking at him, and he was looking back and we met at center ice.  It was a decent fight, he had me tied up and I ended up taking him down.”

Donnellan talked about the fight as well.  “At the end of the period, one of their guys hit one of our guys and Mayfield grabbed him.  A kid asked me if I wanted to go, so I did.  We had to stick up for our teammates and showed the deep character of the team right now.”

The Phantoms (20-35-4) were outshot 41-29 but spent most of the third period in their own zone and played a defensive keep away game with a three-goal lead.  Jordan Tibbett did a nice job stepping in and made a few great third period saves to preserve the lead for the rejuvinated Phantoms.

These two teams lock it up in the season finale for Youngstown.  The inaugural Phantoms will not make it to the postseason, so they are treating these two games against the Roughriders as a notice server to the rest of the league to beware next year. 

As these guys have played their hearts out all year, Saturday’s finale deserves a nice crowd.  I encourage all Youngstown hockey fans to come and cheer the Phantoms on because hockey season doesn’t happen again for about six months.  Show support to the local team, they have been very active in the community all season.

Youngstown State’s softball team felt both ends of a comeback against Canisius on Tuesday.  The Penguins ended up gaining a split in two wild games where no lead was big enough for either team.  Canisius (12-12) took the first game, 7-6, in 10 innings, and YSU rallied late in the nightcap to garner a win, 10-8.

In the first of two games, YSU was unable to hold a 5-1 lead after five innings.  Canisius rallied with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to hold a 7-6 lead.  YSU tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.

Exposure to a new rule in a sport I know something about is rare.  In the tenth inning of a non-league softball game, the “International Rule” comes into play.  This rule means that the batter that made the last out for a team batting an inning later, starts at second base with nobody out.  With bunting a routine part of fast-pitch softball, the object of the first batter, unless it is your best hitter, is almost always a sacrifice bunt to move the runner on second to third with no outs.  Kind of reminds me of kickball, when there were not enough kids you had to employ the popular “ghost runners”.

Canisius scored in the top of the tenth.  YSU did not score in the bottom.  Ball game, 7-6.

In the first game, Danielle Chase pitched 9 1/3 innings for YSU.  Chase was sore and yielded to Hana Somogyi in the tenth.  Somogyi took over with one out and gave up three consecutive hits before being pulled.  Chase was pinned with the loss.  Kim Klonowski homered for Youngstown State, and Amanda Palmore, Autumn Grove, and Haley Thomas each had two hits.

In the second game, the roles were reversed.  Canisius held an 8-3 lead in the fifth.  The Penguin bats got hot in a hurry as Klonowski (pictured above) hit another homer.  Palmore and Sarah Gabel then socked back-to-back homers to left field, both solo shots, both career-first home runs.

Kayla Vallery (pictured) pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief of starter Cheryl Cale to pick up the win.  Vallery held Canisius to just three hits.  With the win, Youngstown State improved to 6-15 on the season, but showed great determination to fight back and gain the split.

Coach Brian Campbell reflected on what he saw.  “One of the biggest things is that this group has an ‘I don’t give up’ attitude.  The offense has been pretty good all year, but we have to bring the other parts with us.  We can’t expect our offense to explode for that many hits and runs all of the time.  I’m glad they did step up to the table, but we need to bring the other parts of the game.” 

Youngstown State University basketball senior player, Dallas Blocker, has been awarded the V Foundation Comeback Award.  ESPN will present the award for the tenth time on April 27th at YSU’s Scholar-Athlete Banquet.  The award will be formally announced tonight, March 30, during ESPN’s coverage of college basketball.

 “It is a great honor to be named the recipient of the 10th Annual V Foundation Comeback Award,” said Blocker. “There are no winners or losers in this. All of the finalists overcame a great deal of adversity and are deserving of this recognition as well. I’m fortunate to have had a tremendous amount of support over the past year. I need to thank my family, Coach (Jerry) Slocum and the entire Youngstown State coaching staff, and our athletic trainer Todd Burkey, who was with me every day during my chemotherapy treatments. I also want to thank The V Foundation, not only for this award, but for all of the work it does for cancer research and saving so many lives of those affected by cancer,” he concluded.

The award is open to all male and female student athletes at all levels and is presented in the honor of the late Coach Jim Valvano.  Valvano was courageous while battling with cancer, inspiring the creation of The V Foundation.

Blocker was profiled earlier in the year on Paneech.com. To read his profile interview, click here.  In the profile, Blocker gives a recounting of his battles with cancer in its early stages, what chemo was like, and how he was able to bounce back.

On behalf of the Greater Youngstown Area, extended congratulations to Dallas for having the courage to fight!

Shots on goal usually reflect the type of hockey game that was played.  On Saturday night, Team USA only took 21 shots on goal.  Unfortunately for the Youngstown Phantoms, six of those 21 shots hit the inside of the Phantoms net.  Team USA rode their offensive outburst to a 6-2 win in Youngstown.  The Phantoms outshot Team USA 28-21, but the quality of the Phantoms shots were mostly routine saves for Team USA goaltender John Gibson.

With 3:39 elapsed in the game, Team USA struck first when Cole Bardreau connected on a shorthanded chance.  Austin Wuthrich picked up an assist on the goal which gave the 17-year old version of  Team USA the lead for good.

Team USA would tack on another goal with a powerplay score.  Alexx Privatera connected from almost straight on beating Jordan Tibbet.  Privatera’s shot was from about 15 feet and may have deflected off of Tibbet’s shoulder as it bounced the Gatorade bottle resting on top of the net as the puck hit the inside top for the score.  Travis Boyd and Robbie Russo gathered assists on the man-advantage connection.

The Phantoms would cut the margin to 2-1 when Jefferson Dahl scored a shorthanded goal.  Dahl’s interception and tally were good for his 16th goal on the year tying him with Tom Serratore and Brett Gensler for the team lead in that category.  The noisy crowd of just over 2,500 had little to cheer about after this goal.

In the second period, the Phantoms looked good in killing off a two-man penalty, but failed to score on three consecutive powerplay chances.  During the second powerplay, Youngstown did not even get a shot off.  Reid Boucher knocked in his tenth goal of the season to put Team USA ahead 3-1 with 4:37 remaining in the period.

Dylan Margonari picked up his third goal in his twentieth game as a Phantom to cut the Team USA lead back to a single goal at 3-2.  Margonari found twine with 1:57 left in the period while the Phantoms were enjoying yet another powerplay opportunity.

In the third period, goals by Dan Carlson and Travis Boyd hiked the Team USA lead to 5-2.  The two goals were scored less than two minutes apart and put the Phantoms in too big of a hole.  Wuthrich would add another goal with 4:46 left in the game to seal the deal for Team USA (25-29-4).

East Palestine native, JT Miller (above), talked about coming home.  “It is a pleasure to come home and play in front of my family and friends.  We don’t get to come back much during the year, so it is good when we get here.  It is a confidence booster to play here and you always want to be accounted as playing hard in front of people you know.”  Miller will move up to Team USA 18 year-olds next season saying he likes the two-year developmental program.

The Phantoms dropped to 18-35-5 with the loss.  When asked if the last couple of games left in the season were going to be experience builders for the Phantoms rather than trying to actually win, Coach Curt Carr responded, “We are still going to try to win.  I think if the guys know that we as a staff are just building for next year, it sends the wrong message, so we will be battling each day as if we were competing for a playoff spot and do everything we can to win.”

There was a little bit of everything going on at Stambaugh Stadium Saturday afternoon.  A situational scrimmage was held in the midst of Spring football.  There were plenty of bright spots for new coach Eric Wolford to bask upon.  Unfortunately for the players, Wolford is the guy who will go nuts for a couple of days trying to fix things that did not go as planned. 

The players in this environment are almost in a no-win situation.  The offense is going to gain some yards sooner or later.  The defense will nab an interception or record a few sacks.  Every play, someone had to do something wrong.  Unfortunately for the players, Coach Wolford stood comfortably 15 yards behind the offense with his whistle in his mouth and a tablet and inkpen in his hands.  Every play, Wolford would scribble some notes until the next play was ready to go.  Those notes combined with a weekend of film study will give Wolford all the ammo he needs to better prepare his team for the Spring game to be held on April 10. 

Wolford was satisfied with aspects of the practice game but says there are alot of things that have to happen.  “I told the refs before we started if anything was close to call it because I think that was a major problem from last year.  If you don’t get that corrected now, it is going to continue to be there.”  As whistles blew in the backround, Wolford went on to say, “They got backed up enough and put in second-and-long from penalties.  In fact, those boys (pointing to his offense) are over there doing up-downs right now for the penalties.  That’s good, they need that.”

Dominique Barnes (above), coming off of a solid year, had a nice afternoon for the Penguin offense.  Barnes scored three touchdowns and had 166 yards on eight receptions.  The big play from Barnes came when he  lined up split left and ran a post.  Kurt Hess threw a perfect ball hitting Barnes in stride on the 70-yard touchdown.

Marc Kanetsky and Hess split most of the time at quarterback.  The cerebral Kanetsky is proving that he can control a game by reading a defense and making good decisions without turning the ball over.  I think once the smoke clears that Kanetsky will be given the chance to run this offense.  Hess and Kanetsky both played well Saturday mixing snaps with the first and second units.  Both quarterbacks also had receivers drop a couple of passes that they threw.

Defensively, DB Brandian Ross (above) enjoyed the enthusiasm and competitiveness exhibited in the scrimmage situation.  “The receivers and the linemen have the biggest mouths.  When we get to shut them up it is the best feeling in the world.  That was like a conference game to me today.  It was physical, it was fast, and it was alot of plays, just like a normal game.”  

All-in-all, Wolford seemed pleased with the effort.  “There are obviously positives at some positions and negatives at others.  Usually, what happens is you compliment someone, and the next scrimmage it goes the other way.  When you compliment somebody, usually they come back the next day and  disappoint you.  We are going to see how the defense responds to a compliment.  Our linebackers played well running downhill and hitting their gaps.  I like what [Deonta] Tate is doing back there for us, he is showing potential.  [Jamaine]  Cook (pictured) may not have had alot of yards, but he makes guys miss.”

When asked about Dominique Barnes making some big plays, Wolford said, “Yeah, he needed to step up and make some plays here.  I think Dominique now understands that no one is grandfathered in around here.  In the past when you were ‘the guy’ around here you might have had a long leash, well,  these guys are all on a short leash nowadays.”