The Youngstown Phantoms are part of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The USHL is the country’s top junior hockey league, classified as Tier I, which is the highest, and only junior hockey league in this category in the United States. Prior to the 2009 season, the Phantoms were a member of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) for six seasons. The USHL league is made of 17 teams, which range from North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Youngstown Phantom team objectives are to win the USHL Clark Cup, presented to the USHL’s playoff champion, and the Anderson Cup, presented to the League’s regular season champion. Home games are played in the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, which seats 5,000 fans.

The Phantoms have seen over 100 players commit to NCAA Division I schools, and three players drafted by National Hockey League (NHL) teams in Max Letunov, JJ Piccinich, and Nathan Walker. Also, a total of five alumni have signed NHL contracts including Walker, Scott Mayfield, Brandon Saad, Jiri Sekac, and Andrej Sustr. In addition, Mayfield, Saad, Sustr and Sekac have seen action with their respective NHL clubs, and Saad has had the honor of lifting the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.