Staff photo / Brian Yauger Phantoms forward Ryan Botterill carries the puck into the offensive zone during Sunday's tilt against Muskegon.

YOUNGSTOWN — Looking to avoid the weekend sweep, the Youngstown Phantoms entered Sunday’s tilt with rival Muskegon with their foot on the gas.

A hotly-contested 60 minutes later, and the Phantoms got a much-needed 7-4 victory over the Lumberjacks.

“I thought it was great. It was an old-school hockey game,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “I think it’s a great stepping stone for us. I felt like we deserved a better fate. The last three games to be completely honest with you, I thought we were pretty dominant. I feel like we’ve been dominant at times this year and we’ve just been a little unlucky. Someone’s got the voodoo doll out for us, which is fine because we’ve fought through it.

“That’s a huge team win. Guys sticking up for each other, guys playing with passion and a purpose and you have all those young players that come together in moments like that, (it’s great).”

Michael Munroe got the Phantoms on the board three minutes into the contest, with his first-ever USHL goal.

“(Munroe) has got some serious juice. You talked about a kid playing with passion. I love that kid. He is going to be an unbelievable Phantom. I don’t know if there’s a player in the world more tailored to be a Youngstown fan of Michael Munroe. I think our guys did a great job identifying him in the draft and there’s certain players that we take a liking to, just because of how much energy and passion and juice that they have every day. That kid kicks down the door to get to the rink every single day. He’d walk a million miles to be a Phantom, and we love having him. He’s fantastic.”

Just a minute later, with a scrum in front of the net, Conner de Haro found the loose puck amongst the pile of bodies and tapped it in to extend the Phantoms’ lead to an early 2-0 advantage.

Sacha Boisvert responded, and got Muskegon on the board with a power play goal of his own, but that Phantom lead was extended once again with Adam Pietila connecting with Kuzma Voronin, who delivered a lethal slapshot to the top left corner.

And the goals didn’t stop there.

Youngstown connected with twine for a fourth time in the opening period, with Ryan Botterill beating out Lumberjacks netminder Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev to further extend that lead.

But Muskegon didn’t lay down easily.

Taking advantage of another power play opportunity, Justin Solovey cut into the Lumberjacks’ deficit with his 19th goal of the year.

That cutting continued before the first period closed, as captain Cody Croal put Muskegon within one before the first intermission.

The second period was all Phantoms as Youngstown potted a trio of goals.

Pietila sandwiched Charlie Cerrato’s 11th of the year with a pair of his own to take a 4-3 lead and make it 7-3.

Physicality reigned in the third as the teams grew tired of each other after playing three games in as many days. Both teams got their licks in, the Phantoms moreso.

Seven Phantoms ended their night early, receiving 10-minute misconducts during the fracas.

“I think for us, it was a statement. When (Muskegon) is one of the best teams in the league and for us to come out and bully them around like that was always good for us,” Ward said. I think it’s something. We have to play like that. I mean, at the end of the day, we’re from Youngstown, Ohio. We’ve got to be gritty. That’s just how we have to do things. For me, I was proud of the guys and how they stuck together.”

Jack Galanek scored the lone third period goal for either team, cutting into Youngstown’s lead, but the Phantoms held on to win.

The Phantoms (27-16-4-4, 62 points) take to the road the next two weekends with trips to Sioux City and a Clark Cup Finals rematch with Fargo. The team returns to Youngstown on March 29, when the Phantoms have a two-game set with Madison.

Have an interesting story? Contact Brian Yauger by email at byauger@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @_brianyauger.