The West Michigan Phantoms gave the crowd at the Cedar Rock Sports Plex another thrilling game on Sunday, as Phantoms and Coyotes went the distance and then some before a winner was finally determined. The Phantoms, who entered Sundays clash riding the wave of a season best two-game winning streak, were seeking revenge against a Coyote squad who dealt the Phantoms a shoot-out loss back on March 6th. The several weeks in between the only regular season meetings against these two clubs gave the Phantoms time to prepare and slip out of their slump that plagued the team at the start of the season. Jason Schemmel was able to put the Phantoms on the board early and give the Phantoms the upper hand against their younger brothers, as the longtime Phantom netted his fifth of the season (assisted by Nate Tyler) to put the yellow shirts in front of a 1-0 lead. Roughly 2:30 later, the Phantoms would strike again as star-studded defensemen Brian Doctor would unleash his first of the 30th season of Phantom Hockey and in the process hand deliver an assist to a fellow Mona Shores Alumni Chris Benedict to increase the Phantom lead to a pair of goals at 2-0. However, the Coyotes desire to continue battling and playing hockey would pay off with two goals in the final three minutes of the opening period to send both teams into the first intermission tied at 2-2. In the second period the Phantoms would go on a relentless charge, as the team would capture a tri-fectia of goals in the span of 6:54 to quickly rocket into a controlling 5-2 lead. Jason Schemmel would begin the charge 35 seconds into the period (assisted by Chris Benedict and Gordie Anderson), followed by an unassisted strike by Tim Czycyk and followed by a Chris Benedict team-leading ninth goal of the season (assisted by Jason Schemmel) to again record the 5-spot for the Phantoms with a 5-2 lead. The Phantoms would skate into the second intermission with a three goal cushion and a 21-17 shot advantage through two periods of play. Despite the healthy lead on the scoreboard, talk on the Phantom bench during the intermission was focused on the team preserving the lead, a task that has been very difficult if not impossible for the Phantoms this season. Entering Sundays clash, the Phantoms have been out-scored 16-3 in the third period this season. The Phantoms stats for third period play would not get any better on Sunday and in fact would continue to tumble into a nearly disastrous meltdown of third period miscommunication, laziness and bad-breaks. The Coyotes would register three goals in under four minutes midway into the third period to erase the Phantom lead and deadlock the duel at 5-5. The Coyote howl would not be done as 4:30 later the visitors would climb into their first lead of the night off a Steve Downing out-of-the-air swing that would send the Coyote bench and fans into a state of euphoria and into a 6-5. Following the four goal blitz by the Coyotes, the Phantoms would signal an early and uncharacteristic time-out in hopes of settling the troops. Despite some pressure, with just under a minute remaining the Phantoms would lift their goaltender Kevin Wootton for an extra attacker in a quest to attain the equalizer. A Coyote failure to clear the puck would allow the Phantoms to keep much needed pressure inside the Coyote end and with just 37 seconds remaining in regulation, the Phantoms Chad Manning would stage his fifth of the season to create a large sea-of-yellow rise on the home bench and dead-lock the tilt at 6-6. The Phantom comeback would excel the contest into the third shoot-out of the season for the Phantoms and give the yellow-backs another shot at creating shoot-out success. Dating back to last season, entering this shoot-out the Phantoms have scored only a single goal in eight attempts at Cedar Rock. With the Phantoms shooting first, the Phantoms home-grown Trent Kik would make a statement and give the Phantoms some much-needed offense in the one-on-one breakaway event. Needless to say, the Coyotes would equalize the match on their first attempt. In the second round, Chris Benedict would be called upon to keep the offense pumping and the Navy man would show just why he is the highest scoring Phantom in franchise history with his first shoot-out goal of the season to push the Phantoms ahead 2-1 in the three round battle. The Coyotes would be unable to match the Phantoms in the second round, however, a miss by the Phantoms Tim Czycyk in the third round would create a much needed and must-score situation for Kyle Clark of the Coyotes during their third round. Kyle, a member and captain of the Phantoms Rivertown Sports team, would beat his Phantom goaltender to force a sudden-death shoot-out at the Plex. The Phantoms would send Jason Schemmel over the boards and Jason would net his first shoot-out goal in two attempts and put the Phantoms in front 3-2 in the overtime frame. Again facing elimination, the Coyotes would look to former Grandville High School Senior Nate Skoboda to advance the extra frame, however, the Phantom netminder would not budge and cut off the high-glove side of the net ruining Skobodas and the Coyotes chance to attain a victory. The Phantoms would leap over the boards and celebrate a huge win against the Coyotes and a much needed three-goal shoot-out offense in an 7-6 win. The victory pushes the Phantoms overall record to 4-3-0-2 on the season. On the game, both teams registered 30 shots on goal and both teams were sentenced to a single minor for two minutes in penalties. The Phantoms played without the services of John Dykehouse who was placed on the teams injured reserve earlier in the week and Tim Vanoverloop who was sidelined due to family issues. Nate Tyler and Tim Czycyk received call-up notices for the Phantoms on Sunday. On a sidenote, the Phantoms third period record continues to get slammed as the opposition has outscored the Phantoms 20-4 in the third period. The Phantoms will return to action on Sunday, April 17th to take on a highly powerful and offensive-filled Team Jager at 4:00pm.
