The West Michigan improved to 9-2 on the Winter 2009 season and climbed to 1-0 during the post-season on Sunday as the Phantoms defeated the Hawks by the final of 5-2. The victory against the Hawks is the sixth overall victory and third in the post-season spanning five seasons. The Phantoms would waste no time getting the post-season express going, as the yellow and black would capture their first of five goals during the contest in the opening 1:17. Tim Czycyk would strike with his 16th goal of the campaign (assisted by Justin Calkins) to route the Phantoms into a 1-0 lead. Roughly ten minutes later, the Phantoms would continue their play-off flare as Matt Mead would strike (assisted by Chad Manning and Tim Vanoverloop) with his second of the season and first of the play-offs to put the Phantoms in charge of a 2-0 lead after the opening period. In a wild opening 16 minutes, both teams would combine to register 24 shots on goal, with the Phantoms outshooting the Hawks 13-11. In the second period, the Hawks would manage to capitalize on a disastrous Phantom line change just 1:30 into the second period. With the entire Phantom line changing at the bench, the Hawks would manage to break into the Phantom zone on a breakaway and Rick Strous would manage to beat the Phantom netminder Wootton high-stick side to narrow the contest to a 2-1 Phantom lead. Despite the Hawks applying great pressure in an effort to attain the equalizer, the Phantom's Tim Czycyk would restore the Phantom two-goal grip with 3:51 remaining in the second period. Czycyk would connect on a Matt Mead pass late in the period to push the Phantoms to a 3-1 lead. Late in the third period, the Hawks would be treated to a glorious opportunity. The Phantom's Trent Kik would be sentenced to the sin-bin on an interference penalty with 1:51 remaining in the middle stanza. The Phantom's second leading scorer would also tally an unsportsmanlike penalty to yield the Hawks a four-minute powerplay late in the period. The Phantom's penalty killing unit would deny the Hawks any goals during the remainder of the second period. The Hawks managed to out shoot the Phantoms 12-10 in the second period. With 2:09 remaining in the Kik penalties, the Hawks would begin the third period looking to make a comeback. Just 45 seconds into the period, the Hawks would net a powerplay strike to bring them back into contention trailing the Phantoms 3-2. An innocent looking shot from the Hawk's left circle would trickle between the pad and pipe of the Phantom goaltender to give the Hawks their second goal. The Phantom's would continue to fend off deep Hawk pressure in their zone and before long the yellow and black would again restore their two-goal grip. Trent Kik and Tim Czycyk would be paired for a rare encore line with nearly six minutes remaining in the third period. The two former Silver division teammates would gain control of the puck and rocket into Hawks zone. Czycyk would pass the puck over to Kik and the Sparta native would launch the puck screaming into the high left corner of the net to increase the Phantom lead to 4-2. The Phantoms would manage to add insult to injury late in the period, as the Hawks would not be able to lift their goalkeeper due to the great offensive pressure being applied by the Phantoms. Chad Manning would feed off a Brian Doctor pass with 55 seconds remaining in the period to give the Phantoms a 5-2 decision and seal an opening game victory in the post-season. On the game, the Hawks outshot the Phantoms 35-34. On the 96KBPS.com Internet Radio's Crime Watch, as would be expected, the Phantoms would receive all the penalties in the contest against the Hawks. Trent Kik would tally two minors for four minutes for the yellow shirts. The Phantoms will return to action on Sunday, November 29th to take on the Sharkies.
