Fargo Force swept at home

The Fargo Force did not have a happy Halloween this weekend as they were swept by the Youngstown Phantoms.  Fargo outshot Youngstown 29-13 in the loss but were unable to defeat the inaugural USHL hockey team. 

Corey Leivermann started off the game with a goal midway through the first period on a beautiful feed from former St. Cloud Cathedral standout, Nate Schmidt.  The Force outshot the Phantoms 13-2 in the opening stanza but Jordan Tibbett for Youngstown was stellar in net, holding the Force to only one goal.
 
Youngstown was able to even up the game on a power play goal by Stuart Higgins with assists to Dan Senkbeil and David Donnellan.  Brett Gensler scored with 2:21 to give Youngstown the lead and the momentum going into the third and final period.
 
Alex Lippincott and the Fargo Force were able to tie the game back up early in the third period on a power play goal from Nate Schmidt and Corey Leivermann for their second points of the game.  Youngstown then answered with a goal of their own about two minutes later on a goal by Adam Berkle.  The Phantoms pulled away and never looked back with an insurance marker another two minutes after Berkle's goal with a goal by Tom Serratore. 
 
Youngstown had control on the scoreboard, leading 4-2, but Fargo maintained pressure and continued peppering Tibbett with shots througout the game.  They were finally able to manage a goal to pull within one of the Phantoms with a rebound goal by Joe Rehkamp that was set up by the play of Chase Grant. 
 
Fargo had many opportunites to tie the game later in the third period, but were unable to capitalize as Tibbett continued to stymie the Force offense.  Fargo pulled Holfeld late in the third period and Youngstown scored two empty netters to ice the game 6-3. 
 
Ryan Holfeld stopped 9 of 13 Youngstown shots.  Jordan Tibbett stopped 26 of 29 in net for Youngstown.
 
Fargo is back in action on Friday and Saturday, November 6-7, against the Chicago Steel.  The Force will once again be relying heavily on younger players as Matt Leitner, Colten St. Clair and Eamonn McDermott will still be participating in the Junior A Select Tournament.  The good news for Fargo:  Kevin Lind, Chicago's top defenseman, will also be participating in the tournament.
 
Fargo might find a lot about themselves after this past weekend and the upcoming series versus the Chicago Steel.  They will find out a lot about how their younger players will step up and what they plan to do with the roster going forward as they have added Ryan Ladouceur temporarily to cover for the missing Force players.  It will be interesting to see how the upcoming games will shape the roster for the season going forward.