The Mahoning Valley Phantoms are off to the North Division Finals in the 2009 NAHL Playoffs following their 2-1 over the Traverse City North Stars in Game Five of their divisional semifinal.
Phantoms goalie Jordan Tibbett turned away 23 of 24 North Star shots—including acrobatic saves in all three periods—and was named first star of the game as the Phantoms won the best-of-five series by a margin of three games to two.
"I’ve been telling the guys right from day one that this series was going five games," said Phantoms Head Coach and General Manager Bob Mainhardt, "and our guys were ready for it. They rose to the occasion and did a great job of going out and executing the game plan [Sunday]."
The two sides went scoreless through the first period as Tibbett and Traverse City counterpart C.J. Motte held both offenses in check through the opening stanza, stopping a combined 18 shots through the first 20 minutes.
The Phantoms eventually struck almost nine minutes into the second when Michael Pateras scored his first career playoff goal when he slapped home an Erik Higby rebound to give the home side a 1-0 lead with 11:13 left in the middle frame.
Seven minutes later, Mahoning Valley assistant captain Robert Harrison increased the Phantoms’ lead to 2-0 when he poked a Johnny Meo rebound past Motte in transition with 4:24 remaining in the second.
"It was a great play by Higby and Meo to get the puck up ice," said Harrison, "and I got to the post in time and got a nice tip on it and it went in the net."
Mahoning Valley nearly extended the lead moments later when Meo rang the cross-bar behind Motte off a Cole Schneider rebound. Stefan Salituro had a goal called back because the Traverse City net came loose in the second as well.
The two sides deadlocked through the first 18 minutes of the third period before North Star forward Eric O’Hearn batted a loose rebound over Tibbett to spoil the shutout and cut the lead to 2-1 with 2:00 showing on the clock.
The Phantoms dialed up some offensive pressure over the final two minutes to hold Traverse City at bay, as the North Stars had difficulty controlling the puck in the Mahoning Valley end.
The game ended when a Tyler Stephens shot was deflected in front of the net and rolled down the ice to the Traverse City zone as the final four seconds ticked off the clock, sending the Phantoms onto the second round.
Tibbett improved his career playoff record to 2-2 with the win.
"I can’t say enough about Jordan," said Mainhardt. "Coming off a tough overtime loss [4-3 in Game Two], he was able to recover physically and emotionally over the last week and came out [Sunday] and was just fantastic."
Motte, who played all five games for the North Stars, finished the postseason 2-3; the All-North Division netminder made 24 saves in the loss.
The Phantoms will face the U.S. National Team in the North Division Finals; the Nationals bumped the Alpena IceDiggers in the first round three games to one to advance.
Mahoning Valley went 5-5-0 in ten games against Team USA during the regular season.
COURTESY: MAHONING VALLEY PHANTOMS
