Posts Tagged ‘Dylan Margonari’

The Youngstown Phantoms have named their captains for the 2011-2012 season, Head Coach Anthony Noreen announced Friday.

Left wing Mike Ambrosia will serve as the team’s captain while right wing Ryan Belonger, center Dylan Margonari and defensemen Chris Bradley and Mike Gunn will serve as assistant captains.

Ambrosia, a native of Chatham, N.J., is in his second season with the Phantoms. The Princeton University commit appeared in all 60 games for the Phantoms last season, putting up 10G-18A-28PTS. He was voted captain by his teammates and the coaching staff.

“It’s a great honor to be chosen by your teammates,” Ambrosia said. “I’m joined by four great guys but this team is full of leaders and we’re all going to help each other. Coach Noreen always stresses team leadership and we need 20 guys to win every night.”

Noreen said Ambrosia has grown into a leader on the ice and in the locker room and was an excellent choice to wear the ‘C’.

“Mike embodies everything we want this program to be,” he said. “He’s not a guy who says a whole lot, but when he does the other players listen.  An individual act doesn’t make you a leader – it’s about how you conduct yourself all the time. I think Mike really represents that.”

O’Connor Named Goalee of The Week

Matt O’Connor was honored by the USHL last week.  The second year Youngstown Phantom was named the top goaltender for the week as he posted a shutout, on the road, to garner the award.

O’Connor backed up the choice on Friday night against Des Moines as he stopped 30-32 shots and recovered from a sluggish first period to keep the Buccaneers scoreless in the final two frames.  The 6’5″ net minder is very competitive, works hard, and seems poised to be the guy between the pipes for the 3-1 Phantoms this season.

The Youngstown Phantoms (23-30-7,53 pts) did their part by winning their last two games of the season, but unfortunately Waterloo also picked up a win which has eliminated the Phantoms from the playoff picture. On Fan Appreciation Night, the Phantoms defeated the Chicago Steel (9-43-8,26 pts) 8-2 and they were led by Ryan Belonger who recorded the second Phantoms hat trick in as many nights.

Danny Mattson and the Phantoms got on the board first with ten minutes left in the first period after Mattson put a rebound shot past Chicago netminder Connor Wilson to give the Phantoms the early lead. It did not take the Steel long to answer when Joel Benson put a wrist shot in the back of the net to tie the game up at one just two minutes later. After the Benson goal, the Phantoms took control of the game for good. Dylan Margonari scored once and Belonger scored twice for the Phantoms to close out the first period. Youngstown took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.

“Our guys played well and it was nice to see them get rewarded for their hard work,” said Phantoms head coach Curtis Carr. “We said the whole way that we need to win these two games to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately it just did not work out for us.”

In the second period, only two goals would find the back of the net.  Ben Paulides, who has been pushing for a goal this whole season, found the back of the net with a slap shot from the point that beat Wilson low on his glove side.  The Steel would come back :44 later and cut the lead back down to three goals as Aiden Cavallini scored on a rebound in front of the Phantoms crease. The Phantoms went into the second intermission leading Chicago 5-2.

In the third period, the Phantoms would add three more goals to bring their total to eight.  Chris Bradley scored his first of the night with a slap shot from the point and Margonari would score the Phantoms third power play goal of the game but both would be out done by number 16. Belonger tipped a Justin Stevens slap shot past Colin Brennan to secure his first career hat trick and the Phantoms second trick in as many nights.

“I felt like I was one uped by Ambrosia last night,” said Belonger. “I felt like I had to get him back, he had his three, so I felt like I needed to get my three.”

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, their hard work and scoring prowess will still leave them just shy of the playoff after Waterloo defeated the Dubuque Fighting Saints 2-1. Even in defeat there are still positive lessons for both the returning and graduating Phantoms to take with them as they depart for the summer.

The Youngstown Phantoms (18-24-4, 40pts) scored two goals in the first and two in the third on their way to a 4-1 victory over Team USA.  Ty Loney extended his goal scoring streak to four games and Ben Paulides earned his second multi-point game of the season with two assists.

The Phantoms held Team USA to just four shots on goal in the first period and they were able to find the back of the net twice on 12 shots of their own.  At 7:53 of the first period, Dylan Margonari skated the puck into the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot from the left circle that went over the glove hand of Jared Rutledge and into the back of the net.  Margonari’s goal was his fourth of the season and his first since December 10 against Green Bay.  Just three minutes later, Scott Mayfield intercepted a pass at center ice and like Margonari, he put the puck past Rutledge on the glove hand side.  Like last night, the Phantoms continued to press Team USA in the neutral zone as they generated turnover after turnover.

“We talked about it before the game,” said Carr. “We knew they would come out pressing on offensive, we knew if we played like we did last night that we could shut them down in the neutral zone. We smothered them at times, forcing the turnovers and generating chances off of them.”

The Phantoms came out in the second period looking to feed off of their momentum from the first but neither team was unable to generate those five-on-five chances because of the six different penalties in the frame. In the middle frame, neither team could capitalize on their power play chances and with a shot total of, 10-8 in favor of Youngstown, there was a clear sense of how the style of the game had changed.

“We told our guys between periods to stay within our systems,” said Carr. “With Team USA trailing by two we knew they would need to change their style in order to climb back into the game. It was very important for us to keep playing our game.”

Going into the third period the game had the same special teams style like the one seen in the second period. A total of seven penalties were issued, but one in particular swung the game further away from Team USA. Austin Wuthrich, was issued a five minute major and a game misconduct for his hit from behind on Margonari. On the ensuing five minute power play, Danny Mattson found the back of the net for his first goal as a Phantom. The power play goal put the Phantoms up 3-0 and five minutes later Loney scored on a feed fromAdam Berkle to put the Phantoms up by four. Team USA would deny Jordan Tibbett his second shutout of the season when Frankie Vatrano scored with just 1:49 left on the clock. The Phantoms 4-1 win was their third straight over Team USA. Paulides tallied his second multi-point game of the season with two assist during tonight’s game.

“Getting the points are great,” said Paulides. “What is even more important is that we picked up two more points in the standings. Tomorrow I will go back to playing my defensive style of hockey and we will hopefully pick up two more points.”

Ty Loney is still learning how to put on a serious face when he has to.  His father, Troy Loney, was a member of the great Pittsburgh Penguins championship teams of the 1990’s.  Loney, like his team, has been through an emotional circus this season.  He missed some games when he was injured, but says he is healthy and ready to go.  Don’t think Ty is getting a chance to skate at this level because of his last name, he is good on his own merits.  College scouts, pay attention, he is unsigned.  The thing someone who doesn’t spend much time around Loney would notice is that he battles not to smile.  I got to catch up with Ty after a recent practice at the Ice Zone.

Paneech: Do you have a college in mind, or are you open to whoever offers?

Loney: Not really.  Obviously, the big name schools are in the back of your mind.  It is all pretty much based on what the school is looking for at that time.  I am talking to schools, it’s not like anything isn’t happening.  Hopefully, within the next couple of months, I will know more.  If I don’t get a scholarship this year, I would probably keep playing in the USHL.

Paneech: Do you think scouts are waiting to see if you can play a healthy stretch?

Loney: I guess, yeah.  I have been under the radar a little bit, so I have to keep playing hard.  As long as the team is playing well and we can keep winning, that would be the best thing for me.

Paneech: You are on a real productive line with Jiri Sekac and Cody Strang.  Is the chemistry natural or do you guys work hard at practice to be in sync?

Loney: It is chemistry.  On and off the ice, me, Strang, and Jiri gel really well together.  The coaches help us out a lot and I think we all gain confidence by feeding off of each others energy.

Paneech: Your father was an NHL All-Star in Pittsburgh.  Does he push hockey or college on you, and what is he doing these days?

Loney: My father is in pharmaceutical management.  He is still around the game and coaches my little brother.  He coached me all of my life.  As far as the education part goes, I don’t know.  I might get involved in marketing or teaching, I’m really pretty wide-open.  My goal is to get the best education at the best possible hockey school.

Paneech: All of those big names:  Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Kevin Stevens, Mark Recchi…  Who did you get to like out of those guys?

Loney: Well, I was about two years old whenever that happened.  I skate with the alumni guys and have gotten to know a lot of them pretty well.  Bryan Trottier, um  Mr. Trottier is a really nice guy.  He is a lot of fun to be around and is very energetic and he was a great player.  He has been very fun to skate with at the alumni practices.

Paneech: Current NHL Hockey, are you a fan and do you watch?  Who do you like?

Loney: Yeah, I watch all the time.  My favorite player has got to be Rick Nash or Jerome Iginla.  I have always loved Iginla ever since he started in the league.  Both of my parents are from Alberta, and the Flames were the Alberta team, so I grew up on Iginla.  He is a hard worker and a goal-scorer, just a great guy to be around too.  I was lucky enough to meet him when I was younger.

Paneech: What has been your favorite part about Youngstown?

Loney: I love doing the community service stuff.  Me and Dylan [Margonari] were talking about it and we both really enjoy that.  We helped out at a school the other day, and it was just fantastic.  We would do as much of that stuff as we had the chance to.  As far as what we do when we aren’t tied up with hockey stuff, we just all like to hang out.  I’m 18 years old, so it’s not like we go hang out in bars as we are not old enough, nor really want to.  We will go eat, hang out at the mall, or play some video games.

Paneech: What is life on the road like?

Loney: I love the bus.  I don’t know what it is, but as soon as I get situated, I pass out on that thing.  I hit my bunk and it’s over.  Jiri [Sekac] doesn’t like the bus much.  He is right across from me and gets bored watching me sleep. I don’t mind the bus trips at all.

Paneech: What has it been like playing for Coach Carr?

Loney: He is a great coach and a great guy.  He wants the best out of all of us and even when it seems he is being hard on us, he is always right.  He is fun to be around and gets serious when he needs to be serious.  All of the coaches we have are positive role models trying to put us in the right direction.

Paneech: Who are the people on the team you are closest to, and conversely, who have you had problems with?

Loney: I get along really well with Jiri [Sekac].  We are both jokesters and like to have some fun when the time is right.  Me and [Ben] Paulides have some battles.  We are good friends, so everything always ends up fine.

One Word Answers

Favorite Meat: Steak.

Favorite Fast Food: Chik-Fil-A.

Toppings On A Pizza: Pepperoni.

Favorite Movie Ever: Anything with Will Smith. iRobot.

Ultimate Statistical Goal: A point per game.

Favorite Cereal: Captain Crunch.

Favorite Cartoon Character: Goofy or Bugs Bunny.

Favorite Season: Winter.

Sport You Played Other Than Hockey, Position: Baseball, Shortstop.

Whats Worse, Dentist Or Doctor? Doctor.

A Fruit You Absolutely Hate: Bananas.

The Youngstown Phantoms needed a break.  Heading into this contest with the Indiana Ice, the Phantoms had dropped four contests in a row, all on the road.  It seemed like an eternity since the Phantoms had a home game (December 4), which incidentally was the last time this team won.  A three-goal second period doomed the home team as Indiana collected an even-strength, a powerplay, and a shorthanded goal over the last seven minutes of the frame to post a 7-2 win Tuesday.

Indiana scored at the 13:36 mark when Blake Coleman fired a shot that hit the post and apparently went in.  Coleman’s goal was a powerplay score and he was assisted by Brian Ferlin and Danlil Tarasov. For Coleman, it was the 11th goal of the season.

The Phantoms wasted little time knotting the contest at the 14:39 mark of the opening period.  Dylan Margonari connected for his third goal of the year, an even-strength chance.  Mike Ambrosia picked up an assist on the Phantoms game-tying score.  The first period would come to a close in a 1-1 deadlock.  The Phantoms and Ice were playing very physical hockey and there was no shortage of hits or near fights throughout the game.

Youngstown would grab a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Ryan Belonger stayed hot and scored for the fourth time in the last ten games.  Ambrosia picked up his second assist of the night and sixth of the year.

The roof then caved in on the Phantoms.  Indiana scored three second period goals in the last seven minutes of the stanza to take a 4-2 lead into intermission.  Adam Erne connected for an even-strength goal with an assist from Peter Schneider to tie the game.  Sean Kuraly then broke loose for the Ice to net a shorthanded goal.  Kuraly gathered a loose puck near center ice and raced toward the net beating Matt O’Connor for the go ahead goal.  Tarasov put an exclamation point on the strong period connecting on another powerplay, this time Ferlin got the assist to put the Ice in front 4-2 after two periods.

At the 18:32 mark of the final period, Indiana tacked on another goal to increase the lead to 5-2. Jarrod Rabey picked up the third powerplay goal of the night for the Ice.  Just over a minute later, Coleman got his second of the game, an even-strength tally, and the rout was on.  Chris Martin (not from Coldplay) tacked on a late goal to wrap the scoring up at 7-2 in favor of the Ice.

With the loss, the Phantoms fell to 9-15-1.  Indiana improved to 12-10-2 with the victory.  The Ice outshot Youngstown, 30-25.   Youngstown welcomes Des Moines for a rare Wednesday night game at the Covelli Centre.

“We have to come ready to play 60 minutes.  It seems like something goes wrong that we do not recover well, and we need to”, said Curtis Carr after the game.  “We compete with the best teams in the league and what happened here tonight does not reflect what kind of team we have.”

• The Youngstown Phantoms continued to struggle over the weekend going 0-3.  The road trip started with a 4-1 loss at Waterloo on Friday.  Jiri Sekac scored the lone goal in the loss.  Sioux Falls hammered the Phantoms, 8-4, on Saturday.  After jumping out to a 1-0 lead, Sioux Falls scored four unanswered goals to take control of the game.  The third game of the trip on Sunday was a 5-2 loss to Sioux City.  Andrew Sinelli scored his first Phantoms goal in defeat and Quinn Smith stayed hot tallying his fifth point in four games for Youngstown.
• Dylan Margonari (pictured) has made a commitment to play at Minnesota State at Mankato next season.  He plans on studying business management while attending college.  Margonari is the tenth Phantom on the active roster to commit to a college already this season.
• Scott Mayfield will skate for Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge.  The Team USA roster is made up of 22 players, all coming from current USHL rosters.  The tournament goes from from November 8-14 and the Phantoms fine defenseman is playing in the challenge for a second consecutive year.
• The Youngstown Phantoms have acquired former Dubuque Fighting Saints forward Andrew Sinelli in a trade. The Phantoms exchanged their 2011 third round pick to acquire the Michigan State University commit. With Andrew Lamont on injured reserve, Sinelli will be placed in the Phantoms lineup almost immediately.

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.”

 

Jordan Tibbett set a team record with 50 saves on Friday night as the Phantoms won a dramatic 3-2 OT thriller. Tibbett faced another 40 Saturday but was on the wrong end of the 3-2 score 24 hours later. To sum it up, Tibbett stopped 90 shots in two games, seemingly too many.

“It looks like a lot of shots, but we did a good job taking away the prime scoring areas.  They [Sioux City] are a team that does not score a lot of goals, and if you look at their shots they were just coming across the blue line and throwing the puck on net”, remarked Coach Curt Carr after the game.

Despite being outshot 17-3 in the first period, the Youngstown Phantoms found themselves in a scoreless game.  Credit  Tibbett for a couple of nice saves in the opening period.

Brett Gensler got Youngstown on the board first with 16:54 left in the second period. Gensler’s 16^th goal, which leads the team, came on a power play. Taylor Holstrom and Tom Serratore picked up assists on the man-advantage tally.

Nick Sorkin snuck the puck past a heavily screened Tibbett with exactly four minutes to go in the second period.  Dan Ford picked up an assist on the game-tying power play goal.  Sorkin fired from in-between the right face off circle and blue line around moving traffic.

Ryan Jasinsky, who was recently hampered with shoulder problems forcing him to miss several games, attempted to stuff the puck in from close range but was denied by Musketeer Goalee Jake Hildebrand. Jefferson Dahl collected the rebound from close range and knocked it in with 12:14 left in the game. Jasinsky was credited with an assist on the even-strength chance.

With 9:38 left, Adam Schmidt tied the game at 2-2 on a power play goal.  Stephan Vigier and Sorkin collected a point each with assists on the goal.

Mitch Zion put the Musketeers ahead 3-2 with 8:09 to go in the game.  The even strength goal gave Sioux City their first lead in the game.  Zion gathered the puck just outside of the goal crease on a rebound and drove it past Tibbett who was shaded left from the save he had just made.  Tommy Olczyk and Matt Paape were credited with assists on the goal.

Time ran out on Youngstown and pulling the goaltender as a last resort neither helped nor hurt the outcome for the Phantoms.  Put it in the books, Sioux City 3, Youngstown 2.

 

Interestingly, Coach Carr opted to start Ty Loney (left) and Dylan Margonari (right), two youngsters who have not been Phantoms very long, over experienced players.  “We are walking a fine line right now because we want to continue to perform and win games, but we also have some young guys who can return next year, so we want to make sure we do what we can to develop them for next season.  Dylan and Ty played hard and earned the ice time that they are getting.”

The Phantoms dropped to 17-33-3 in their inaugural campaign, while Sioux City improved to 21-23-8 on the season.  The Phantoms take to the road next weekend to face Omaha and Sioux City on consecutive nights.  Be sure to tune in to AM-1240 to catch Matt Gajtka as he calls the action from afar.

Friday, The Curtis Carr Era was officially kicked into ‘go‘ mode.  Unfortunately for the Youngstown Phantoms, the opponent was the Western Conference leading Omaha Lancers.  The Lancers beat the Phantoms earlier in the week, 6-1, in Omaha.  Much had changed since that game.  Bob Mainhardt was out, Carr was in, and Troy Loney’s son was now a Phantom. 

All of the changes were not a factor as Youngstown dropped their sixth consecutive home game, 4-1.  Matt White had a pair of goals for the Lancers and Jeff Teglia turned away 24 of 25 Phantoms shots to garner the win between the pipes. 

Carr thought that Youngstown played better than they have in awhile.  “We had opportunities to win the game and that is all you can ask for.  I’m very happy with the effort of the guys and they battled until the end.”  In reality, a goal was taken away and a couple of bad breaks were the difference in a very hard-fought game.

Action was fast in the first period.  It seemed like most of the opening stanza was played between the blue lines near center ice.  Matt White, tied for the league lead in goals scored in the USHL coming in, missed a wide open net, but about three minutes later, at the 18:12 mark of the first period, White made up for it.  Erik Haula picked up the assist, his 38th of the season.  For White, it was goal 27 on the season.  At the end of one, the Lancers were ahead of the Phantoms 1-0.

Jiri Sekac appeared to tie the contest after a controversial goal chance at the 9:20 mark of the second period.  Sekac was just on the border of the goal crease and Lancer Goaltender Jeff Teglia was close to having possession of the puck when Sekac knocked it barely over the line.  The goal was not allowed after a five-minute delay and discussion as the referee, Boone Bruggman, ruled the play was dead before Sekac got the puck over the line.

Dan Senkbeil couldn’t handle a puck cleared to center with 4:56 left in the second period, and as a result White had his second goal of the game, a beautiful breakaway that beat Jordan Tibbett.  Seth Ambroz picked up the assist on White’s 28th of the season which put Omaha up 2-0.  The pair of goals by White broke a tie atop the USHL Goal Leaders with Green Bay’s Anders Lee and in all probability was enough to claim the top spot in that category.

Omaha’s Teglia opened the third period looking for his fourth shutout of the season having stymied the Phantoms to this point of the game.  With 11:42 left in the game, the former Pittsburgh Hornet, Dylan Margonari, collected his first Phantoms goal to cut the lead to 2-1, breaking up Teglia’s shutout bid.  Cody Strang got an assist on the goal.

A minute later, the Lancers reclaimed the two-goal lead and went up 3-1 when Tom Craig snuck a short drive past Tibbett off of a faceoff.  Camden Wojtala was credited with an assist.

With 6:03 left in the game, Omaha pushed their lead to 4-1 as Seth Ambroz’s wrist shot snuck in just under the crossbar.  Dakota Eveland and Greg Wolfe were given assists on the score, an even-strength tally.

The Phantoms (15-28-2) were outshot by the Lancers (31-12-3), 30-25.  The two teams will reset the scoeboard and face off again on Saturday.

Richard Yound Tilt-O-Meter:

Coming into 2-19 game vs Omaha:  149 penalty minutes (USHL leader).

After 2-19 game vs Omaha:  151 penalty minutes.

Richard Young barely played Friday night, but still managed to head to his Summer home for a couple of minutes.  Young picked up a two-minute minor for boarding in the second period.