Game played on 1/10/2025.
General Game Notes: This was a rough game between these two teams with tons of penalty minutes but with that came a lot of chances at the net. Regulation and overtime were not enough time to find a winner while Youngstown showed up for the shootout with every player netting a goal.
Jacob Toll (D, L, 6’2″, 180, Muskegon Lumberjacks, 10/30/2004, Minnesota Duluth)
Grade: B
Comments: Toll makes himself hard to play against. Defending the rush is where he is at his best. He has very good gap control and finds himself in good initial positions to play to his strengths. Toll does not close gaps aggressively, rather he uses his good backwards skating and length to corral would be entries and uses the boards to seal off the play. A lot of his game goes unoticed because not a lot of it ends up on the score sheet. But when he is able to transition the puck quickly back into the offensive zone, that is when his forwards can go to work. Toll does a good job at getting third assists, if they were a thing, meaning his quality puck touches are usually in his own zone or the neutral zone.
David Deputy (C, R, 5’9″, 182, Muskegon Lumberjacks, 06/25/2004, Miami (Ohio))
Grade: A-
Comments: Deputy continued his dominance as one of the Lumberjacks best offensive weapons. He scored two goals tonight, one of them coming a minute after his teammate and put his team within one. Deputy is smaller in stature but he is thick. His base is strong and has a skating stride that allows him to be quick as well as have fast top end speed. He showed this in his goal beating a defenseman to the back post for an easy tap in. This goal was an easy tap in for him because how hard he was able to get to a space where the puck had to be passed to him. His feet work well with his hands both seem to be firing at the same time when working in small spaces.
Jack Galanek (C, L, 5’11”, 180, Muskegon Lumberjacks, 06/04/2006, UMass Amherst)
Grade: B+
Comments: Six on five with a minute left in the game, Galanek got the puck at the point, and with a fake slap shot he took down the blocker taking away his lane to the net. After his pump fake, he stepped more into the middle of the ice where he floated a puck at the net and with multiple screens, was able to sneak one by the goalie. This was impressive because he had the wherewithal to possess the puck instead of blasting away into a lane that was not there. In this situation of the game, a lot of players will panic with the puck and take one timers just because they are set up to take one. Galanek surveyed the offensive zone, controlled the puck, and took option two, and it worked out well for him, sending his team into overtime.
Jack Christ (LW, L, 5’10”, 180, Muskegon Lumberjacks, 12/22/2005, Minnesota State)
Grade: B+
Comments: Christ is a smaller but extremely quick forward who thrives at getting the puck north with his feet. Christ scored a nice goal tonight showing off his feet and beating out a defenseman to a loose puck for a slap shot goal. Off the face off in his own zone, the puck got shot out into the other teams zone and the footrace was created. Christ skated into the puck and took a slap from the cirlces and beat the goalie low glove. This goal showed not only his feet, but his instincts on the puck as he was able to beat out a guy that started about ten feet closer to the puck. He obviously has a great jump and can get some power behind his shots.
David Klee (C, L, 6’3″, 182, Muskegon Lumberjacks, 05/10/2005, North Dakota)
Grade: B
Comments: Klee is not afraid to be in puck battles on the boards and he can fish the puck by smart and crafty play, not only by his strength. He created a couple turnovers this way as well. Getting his stick in as a last ditch effort where he was able to fish hook the puck free from his opponent. Where Klee was at his best is along the wall, pre scanning ice to check for pinching defensemen, then using his feet first to break out the puck. He has the size to dominate the net front, couple times tonight he would mohawk his body around the puck without stick handling and get the puck at the net. He is able to do this all while receiving contact, he has a sturdy foundation that allows him to take hits, but still be able to coral the puck in spots he wants it.
Melvin Strahl (G, L, 6’3″, 166, Youngstown Phantoms, 03/18/2005, Michigan State)
Grade: B
Comments: Strahl did not have his best game tonight but could argue that he was one of the bigger reasons for the win. Not just because he was able to make saves on the shootout but he was also able to blank the other team on the penalty kill, four times. did a great job against the grade A chances that he faced. Where his game kind of trialed of was how he handled simple shots from a distance. Too many times tonight he had chances to freeze the puck and control the flow of the play. With his teammates out for an extended shift, he batted away too many pucks into the corner when they should have been smothered.
Luke Santilli (D, R, 6’4″, 215, Youngstown Phantoms, 12/05/2004, St. Lawrence)
Grade: B-
Comments: Santilli has two way potential but showed that he can be great in his own zone. He can slice a defense open down the center ice seam with hard and accurate stretch passes, but he was also able to show adeptness to make creative bank passes and subtle touch passes through the neutral zone. These area passes are harder than they look, and he seems to be able to do them often. He may not boast elite north and south speed, but he does have decent top end speed, when he eventually builds up to it. His first few strides are not by any means explosive, but in a way it does not hamper his transition efforts. If anything, it allows for him to approach the neutral zone with more poise and a plan on where his point of entry will be.
Evan Jardine (LW, L, 5’11”, 180, Youngstown Phantoms, 10/23/2007, Harvard)
Grade: A
Comments: With a hat trick tonight, Jardine was player of the game. His natural hat trick opened the scoring of the game and started with just a hard nosed goal banging away at the net front. On the power play, a shot was able to get through from the point at which point Jardine immediately crashed the net for loose pucks. Scored another one of his goals also on the power play, off a fast break and mini two on one at the net, he was able to make this quick fore hand back hand move and beat the goalie six hole. Both these goals showed one thing for sure, he is good in tight at the net. He does not hesitate with what he wants to do, some players just have good instincts in close to the net and Jardine seems to be one of them.
Luke Osburn (D, L, 6’1″, 172, Youngstown Phantoms, 09/09/2006, Wisconsin)
Grade: B
Comments: Osburn is very prominent in being a reliable yet creative facilitator out of his own end. Either by pass or by foot, he was able to show tonight that has a great skill in finding ways to feed transition for his team. His vision is best utilized when he has the game in front of him, recognizing where the space is and where his teammates are to make a clean break out of the zone. He is able to do this so well with a combination of pre scanning the ice under pressure and some quick feet to get back on pucks. When attacking up ice, usually from behind the net, he is not afraid to throw a fake looking to beat F1. He is confident in his puck handling and skating that he wants to beat that first forward to open the ice.
Kade Stengrim (C, L, 6’4″, 205, Youngstown Phantoms, 06/09/2007, St. Cloud)
Grade: A-
Comments: As the only other Phantom to score in regulation tonight, Stengrim was able to also be effective on the power play. Scored a nice goal getting a cross ice pass of the rush where he was able to catch and release and display his absolute rocket of a wrist shot. The combination of Stengrims shot and size make him very hard to defend, below the goal line for sure, but more obviously, off the rush. He has other options other than shooting. He was able to showcase his solid skating ability to gain the zone, then evaluate his options and while the clear play was to dump the puck and let his line mate go and get it, Stengrim, made a very quick fake to throw off both defensemen and cleanly set up in the offensive zone.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
