The West Michigan Phantoms have received their mid-marks for the season and the grades are great for the yellow and black. Now that five regular season games have been completed, the Phantom squad can be proud of their work and effort during the first half of the regular season as the Phantoms sit in sole control of the leagues best record at 4-1. This season the bronze league is very competitive as five out of six teams are all within four points of each other. Numerous games throughout the league have been decided by the famous and well-liked shoot-out, unfortunately none including the Phantoms. At this juncture in the season, the Phantoms reside with a healthy offensive unit that has scored 20 goals which is ranked second in the six-team league. A complete turn-around from last season when the Phantoms struggled as one of the worst teams offensively. Multi-season Phantom forward Tim Czycyk leads the Phantoms with seven goals on the season, while Trent Kik rounds out the second spot with six goals. Other members on the Phantom score sheet include Justin Calkins and Chuck McCloud each with a pair and Darren Skuse, Matt Mead and Chad Manning all with a singleton. The defensive side, as was the case last season, remains the glowing bright side for the Phantoms success as the defensive unit alongside 26-season Phantom veteran goaltender Kevin Wootton reside as the top defensive club through the first five games. During that span, Wootton and his teammates have surrendered a league best 10 goals against and features the best goals against average at a microscopic 2.0 and a league best save percentage of .922. The goaltenders marks are no surprise for this crease master, as since early 2008 Wootton has back-stopped his Phantom-Silver and Phantom-Bronze leagued teams into one of the best teams in the league based on goals against and has led his Rivertowns Good Ole Boys to the top defensive mark for the past four seasons. The success that the Phantoms have enjoyed this season on the defensive end, are not all due to Wootton. The Phantom addition of longtime former blue-liner Brian Doctor is another main element to the success this season. Despite only appearing on the score sheet with two assists this season, Doctor is a workhorse that has allowed the Phantoms to shed the issues of last season and yield strong gains this season. While plenty of hockey remains on this Winter 2009 season, the Phantoms appear to be a well-oiled machine and can be proud of the success they have earned at this mid-point juncture.
