The West Michigan Phantom's hope for back to back championships fell short on Sunday, as the Yellow and Black fell to Howies by the final of 8-5.  The Phantoms started the game a little on a sluggish side, as the Phantoms managed only a mere five shots on goal during the opening period.  The sluggish play for the Phantoms was felt from the offensive end all to the way to the team's goaltending, as Howies took control of the championship tilt and tallied two goals in the span of 4:35 to climb into a 2-0 lead.  Howies would capitalized on a Phantom turnover in the neutral zone late in the opening period, as the Calvin College Kids would climb into a 3-0 lead with just three seconds remaining.  In the second period, the Phantoms began the same way it concluded the first, allowing Howies to mark another tally on the board.  Just 1:52 into the middle stanza, Howies would climb into a 4-0 lead, a lead that appeared to take all of the wind out of the already deflated Phantom sail.  The Phantom's Gordie Anderson would start the team's offense roughly two minutes later, as the Norton Shores resident would put the Phantoms on the board.  However, Howies would quickly regain their four goal grip over the Phantoms 1:20 later, as Howies would again silence the rather large crowd of the Phantom faithful as they bounced into a 5-1 lead.  The Phantoms would again watch as the high-powered Howies offense would capitalize on yet another opportunity with 5:07 remaining in the second period to increase their grip to 6-1.  Despite trailing by five goals, the Phantoms would not go away silently.  As he did in the opening period, the Phantoms Gordie Anderson would keep the dream alive as Mr. Anderson would strike with his second of the contest (assisted by Scott Vandonkelaar) to give the Phantoms their second goal of the game.  Despite being out shot 13-5 in the first period, the Phantoms showed some life in the second as they managed to win the shot total in the second period 12-11.  With only 16 minutes remaining in the Phantom's hope for a repeat, the team focused itself and began the third period riding high.  Sean Wert began the third period swing for the Men of Phantom Nation 51 seconds into the period (assisted by Nate Tyler and Brad Zehr), as Wert brought the Phantoms to within three at 3-6.  Roughly four minutes later, Scott Vandonkelaar continued the Phantom push with his first of the night 4:45 into the period (assisted by Sean Wert and Brad Zehr) to bring the defending Silver champion Phantoms to within two.  Yet, that momentum would be lost 1:44 later as Howies would end the Phantom push, as the Calvin Kids would capture a huge momentum goal of their own to increase their lead to 7-4.  With 6:31 remaining in the period, the Phantoms would be presented a huge opportunity to climb back into the game as Howies would be ticketed with a two minute minor penalty.  The Phantoms would then create a four-man-power-play-band in an effort to notch goal number five.  However, the Howies penalty killing unit would be masterful for the full two minutes as the Phantom power play unit would be held scoreless.  With time running out, the Phantoms continued to try to achieve the monumental task of tying the contest.  With 3:36 remaining in regulation, the Phantom's leading scorer and point producer Chris Benedict would find a seam through the Howie defense and rocket a roof-top riser into the back of the net to bring narrow the Howie lead to 7-5.  That goal by Benedict would break the franchise record for most points in a season and set the new record to 52.  With the clock against the Phantoms, the team would face some difficultly in lifting Phantom netminder Kevin Wootton for the extra attacker.  Yet with just under a minute remaining, the 6-year Phantom veteran would make a bee-line to the bench.  The Phantoms hope for a stunning rally would be hand-cuffed with 38 seconds remaining as Howies would seal the deal with an empty net goal to ultimately win the game 8-5.  Despite the loss, the Phantoms for the most part handled the defeat relatively calm.  Despite starting a little weak, the team was able to make a game of it and making it this far in the season was a success.  On the game, the Phantoms were out shot 36-28.  On the Nauty's Penalty Minute Board, the Phantoms were ticketed with a single minor to Trent Kik (who completes the season as the most-penalized Phantom player) for two minutes, while Howies was ticketed on two minors for four minutes.  The Phantoms played without the services of Matt Zehr, who was on business in Chicago and Dave Trahan who was out of the area for a Grand Valley Hockey tournament.  Chris Benedict played with the flu for the Phantoms.  Chris missed nearly half of the third period as a result of the sickness.  And Sean Wert played, despite a severe injury to his foot that was incurred nearly 1 1/2 weeks ago.  On this final game of the Summer 2008 season, the entire West Michigan Phantom crew would like to say a special thank-you to Nauty's for sponsoring our team this season.