Madison Fessler / The Jambar
Oct. 18 was the home opener for the Youngstown Phantoms, and subsequently, the return of my serotonin production.
Something about watching a bunch of guys hit a puck, and each other, is extremely entertaining to my pea brain. I believe it has something to do with the primal urge to watch people compete for attention.
While I’m excited for hockey to be back, this game was depressing. Like any sport, there’s going to be referees who need to see an optometrist, but to neglect so many calls is baffling.
The refs were missing blatant tripping, hooking, cross-checking and holding calls, yet they went feral over the icing and offside calls. Both teams deserved more penalties than they actually received, which makes for a frustrating game.
The Lincoln Stars won, not fully because they’re better at hockey, but the goalie couldn’t keep the net on the ice. Every opportunity the Phantoms had at scoring was ruined because the net was knocked out of place and the play had to end.
The lack of penalties and the Phantoms’s score, created a hostile atmosphere towards the refs to the point where the entire third period was full of people booing them. I hope they made it home safe.
I, for one, had fun participating in the booing, “Ref you suck” chants and taunting the Stars. There is a player for the Stars that looks like Zachary Gordon when he portrayed Greg Heffley in the 2010 ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ movie adaptation and I have not stopped thinking about this.
I watch hockey for a reason, to see people fight. I was disappointed by the number of fights on the ice, not because the players didn’t want to, but again the refs wouldn’t allow it.
I understand why. Most of the players are under 18, but a few punches should be allowed especially when a game is going horribly. The fans paid for entertainment and if it won’t be good hockey, at least let it be a good fight.
There’s typically two games against the same team so more fights happen on the second day, the teams have built up animosity between them. However, there’s usually a good fight in the first game too.
The game got so bad I left early, something I have never done before. Even if my team is losing horrendously, I stick it out until the bitter end, but this was unbearable.
I still love the Phantoms. I’m delighted to see how the team develops over the course of the season.
The team lost a lot of core players from last year, so they will have to rebuild the chemistry there once was.
Go Phantoms!