After over a month of waiting and anticipation the Jr. Phantoms kicked off the team's inaugural season at Lazerskate Sports Plex and the Jr. Phantoms lived up to all expectations, as the Yellow Shirts skated to a 5-5 shoot-out tie against the Wheelers. In a game that welcomed six players to Lazerskate for their first time and the return of three players to Lazerskate in months, the Jr. Phantom's displayed a great first effort and held their heads high as the players departed for the locker room after a hard fought and thrilling shoot-out. The Jr. Phantoms erupted to a 3-0 by the early stages of the second period, as Jason Schemmel, Patrick Ewerth and Keith Mooreman registered goals to lift the Juniormen to the commanding 3-0 lead. However, during the second period the Jr. Phantoms would begin to back-off as the Wheelers would begin to mount their comeback with 7:51 remaining in the middle stanza. The singleton by the Wheelers would create the energy and desire to press on and with the Jr. Phantom's Steve Downing in the penalty box for a cross-checking minor, the Wheelers would close the score to within one as a power-play goal with 1:07 remaining in the second period would close our the period with the Jr. Phantoms leading 3-2. As the third period began, the Jr. Phantoms knew they had to continuing battling to preserve the lead. That battling would pay off as the Jr. Phantom's Team America refugee Patrick Ewerth would tally his second goal of the evening with 7:30 remaining in regulation to give the Jr. Phantoms an insurance goal and a 4-2 lead. However, the longtime Lazerskate Wheeler team knew the game isn't over until the final buzzer. Despite a late penalty by the Jr. Phantoms Brent Vandonkelaar with 4:48 remaining, the penalty killing unit would handle the task. Yet, just over a minute after the penalty expired, the Wheelers would strike with a goal deflected off the stick of the Jr. Phantoms Mike Devore and the Wheelers would be back to within one with a mere 1:26 remaining. With the netminder pulled for the extra attacker, the Wheelers would complete their monumental comeback with 9 seconds remaining to tie the game at 4-4. During the shoot-out, the Jr. Phantoms would send Keith Mooreman, Mike Devore, Justin Calkins and Brent Vandonkelaar over the boards and Justin Calkins would capture the lone shoot-out strike for the Phantoms. The Wheelers would also capture a lone goal against the Jr. Phantom netminder to complete the game deadlocked at 5-5. On the Nauty's penalty minute board, the Jr. Phantoms were ticketed with two minors for four minutes and the Wheelers ticketed for a mere one penalty for two minutes. One area that needs improvement is the fact that the Jr. Phantoms were outshot by the Wheelers 42-31, including being outshot 18-14 in the final period alone. The Jr. Phantoms were without the services of Tim Vanoverloop, Tim will rejoin the team next Sunday at Lazerskate. The schedule for the balance of the season will be announced soon. One interesting fact is that even with an 11-team league, the Jr. Phantoms will not have any double headers during the regular season.
