YOUNGSTOWN — The road to the Clark Cup goes through Youngstown. After claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Youngstown Phantoms will gain the benefit of home ice advantage throughout the playoffs as the team looks to earn its second Clark Cup.
“We feel good. We’re not going to change anything. We’ve got some guys that have been here before. Our coaching staff, we’ve been there before. We feel like we have a pretty good recipe here, and we understand this is the best time of year. We’re not going to take it for granted,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “I think our guys have been chomping at the bit to get to this point. They’ve worked extremely hard and have bought into what they needed to do to obviously get the bye and win the Eastern Conference.
“It hasn’t come easy for us all year. We’ve had to grind. We’ve had to work. And I think what’s most impressive is the consistency of their dedication to what we had to do to ultimately win the conference in the regular season. For us, nothing’s gonna change. We’re gonna prepare this week. Obviously we watched (the Muskegon-Cedar Rapids series), and we’ll be ready.”
First up though is a familiar foe in Muskegon.
The Phantoms saw plenty of Muskegon this season, facing them nine times during the regular season. Youngstown beat the Lumberjacks in five of those meetings.
Entering the postseason, the Phantoms are on one of their best stretches of the season. Over the final 15 games, dating back to March 1, the Phantoms are 10-4-0-1.
As the top half of the Eastern Conference frantically fought for that top spot, Youngstown won the day. But the postseason is a new season where no one can be taken lightly, especially when the top teams all finished just points apart in the standings. One goal could truly make all the difference.
“I think every team is gonna be a battle in its own right. I think every team is well-coached, they’re heavy, they play hard, they know what’s on the line, they can make plays,” Ward said. “I think for us, we need to just be really good at what we’re good at. I think we have a clear understanding of our identity and how we have to play. We have a clear understanding of what’s expected in each individual role, and I think we’ve got a bunch of guys that buy in. It always comes down to the team that wants to win, that wants to put their gear on and go out there and compete for each other. I feel like, when you’re talking about a locker room or a group of people, I don’t think it gets better than our group, and I think that showed through the duration of the season. I think that’s why we have the number one seed. I think our locker room carried us through the hard moments, and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Those hard times came in December. It was the Phantoms’ toughest stretch of the year, and most of the team’s top players were out for various stretches, participating in international competitions.
Without netminder Melvin Strahl, forwards Jack Hextall, Ryan Rucinski and defenseman Luke Osburn, amongst a slew of injuries and suspensions, the team was without some of its top talent at an inopportune time.
The Phantoms survived that stretch, going 3-4-0-0 in December, and came out a better team for it. It only bolstered the team’s depth.
“Our process has been next man up,” Ward said. “We always want to have a deep team and we truly believe that the depth of our team is what separates us from other teams. If a guy goes down or has to miss a game or gets suspended, we are fully confident in the people that we have as an organization to step up and fill different roles. Throughout the year, our depth has been tested, and that’s the one area of confidence I think we all have. We feel really good that our depth can be a huge asset for us as we come into the playoffs.
Their opponent, Muskegon, is no slouch either.
The Lumberjacks finished fourth in the standings with a 38-16-4-4 record, just two points behind the Phantoms at the top spot.
Muskegon was led this season by David Deputy, who finished 12th in the league in points with 57 (21 goals, 36 assists). Tynan Lawrence had 54 points (25 goals, 29 assists) during the 2024-25 campaign.
Jack Galanek scored four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in three postseason games to lead the league out of the remaining teams.
In net, Muskegon is set with two of the league’s top goaltenders by save percentage in Stephen Peck and Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev, each boasting a .909.
Finn McLaughlin, who played for the Phantoms last season before being traded to eventual Clark Cup champion Fargo, returns to Youngstown as a member of the Lumberjacks.
Game 1 of the Phantoms postseason run is set for tonight at 6:05 p.m. at the Covelli Centre. Game 2 will be on Sunday at 7:05 p.m.
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