Youngstown, OH – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (33-16-3-0, 69 pts) visit the Youngstown Phantoms (37-13-3-2, 79 pts) to open a series on Friday night.
Here are five things to know ahead of the matchup:
1. East Beast
The Fighting Saints enter the weekend in third place in an Eastern Conference that features seven of the top-nine point totals in the USHL. Dubuque's 69 points trail only Youngstown (79) and Green Bay (71) in the conference.
The Saints' three remaining Eastern-Conference opponents (Youngstown, Green Bay and Muskegon) have a combined 102 wins and a .668 Point Percentage. Dubuque has 10 games remaining, while Green Bay and Muskegon have nine and Youngstown has seven.
2. Saints Specials
The Saints power play leads the USHL at 28.3%, while their penalty kill enters the weekend with 12-straight kills and two shorthanded goals in the last four games. Overall, the penalty kill is sixth in the USHL at 81.3%.
On the power play, Colin Frank scored twice last weekend in Des Moines to eclipse 100 points for his USHL career. Dante Josefsson-Westling helped the Saints break their team record with the squad's 10th shorthanded goal of the season in last Friday's win over Des Moines.
3. Big Backstop
Vojtech Hambálek has allowed just three total goals over his last three appearances, logging a .957 save percentage in that span. During that stretch, Hambálek has made 66 saves over seven periods of play.
Hambálek has a 6-2-0-0 record over his last nine contests for the Saints, and has a .904 save percentage dating back to Jan. 31.
4. Road Rundown
Since Jan. 31, the Fighting Saints have a 6-0-1-0 record on the road and have an overall road record of 15-8-2-0.
The Saints have a 7-3-0-0 record over five road series with back-to-back games against the same opponent. Since the start of December, the Saints are 4-0 in that scenario with sweeps in Lincoln, NE over the Stars and Plymouth, MI over the U17s.
5. Haunted House
The Saints have a 3-0-0-1 record over the last two seasons in Youngstown despite the Phantoms strong track record at home. This season, Youngstown has a 17-8-1-1 record on home ice. Over the last four seasons under Head Coach Ryan Ward, the Phantoms have an 80-25-4-5 record at the Covelli Centre for a .702 winning percentage and a .741 points percentage.
The Phantoms, however, dropped two of three at home last weekend to the Madison Capitols, scoring just six goals over three games.
Friday's game begins at 6:05 p.m. CDT at the Covelli Centre. The game can be found on Eagle 102.3 and FloHockey.
