I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, on these pages, I correctly predicted the result and score of last night’s rousing 4-2 win over the hated Penguins. The bad news is that I also predicted an 8-1 loss to Hershey tonight. *sigh* Let’s hope I’m as bad at this as I am at betting on football. The Phantoms are winless versus the Bears this season.
About Last Night
Yup. It was white pants as I had feared. I didn’t leave, so that was an empty threat. And, while I didn’t like them, I also didn’t hate them quite as much as when I was picturing it in my head. We’ll see them three more times this season–one each month.
The Phantoms made some plays last night. They scored two goals on power plays and kept the hated Penguins off the board on five penalty kills. To be fair, I think the Wilkes team has been depleted a bit by their parent in Pittsburgh and it’s starting to show up on the ice, mostly in their own zone with defending and goaltending.
As for the Hamilton Street Heroes, one of the key take-aways is that it’s the younger prospect players scoring points. Zamula had two assists, Attard with a goal and an assist and a +2 on the night telling me he wasn’t playing “matador defense,” Lycksell with three helpers and Foerster with two goals. That bodes well for the Flyers to have young guys in the American League performing at a high level.
Whether the Flyers keep and promote from their current talent base or use players in trades is yet to be seen. It is known that Philadelphia really likes Ersson and kinda prefers him over Sandstrom. It will be interesting to see if they use Sandstrom in a trade package as we get closer to the deadline, or if they try to sneak him through waivers in order to get Ersson back up. For now, enjoy watching Ersson in Allentown because it likely won’t last.
As we close out January’s slate tonight, the Phantoms are 6-2-1-1 on the month and in fourth place in the AHL Atlantic.
One last thought from last night. I did enjoy hearing Mr. Nolan on the PA in the first period. I haven’t been to a ton of Flyers games, but I certainly recognize his calls. It was funny that many around me in the stands didn’t like it at all, and prefer our own PA announcer. That’s great that we have our own stuff. It has to be difficult, though, with a certain portion of the fan base comfortable with “they way we always do it” and another, perhaps more vocal portion saying “I’m not going any more it’s always the same old thing.” That’s a fine line, man.
The Bear Market
Welcome Hershey Bears. Again. They are the second-best team in the entire league behind only Coachella Valley. They do it with defense and goaltending as they feature two of the best netminders in the league. #30 Hunter Shepard is 11-1-3 in 15 games started this season, allowing 2.12 goals against and sporting a .919 save-percentage. Meanwhile, Phantom-killer #35 Zach Fucale, formerly a second-round pick of Montreal, is 13-7-2-1 with 2.50 GAA and .901 Sv-pct.
Overall the Bears have the 18th ranked Power Play and the 16th ranked Penalty Kill. Nothing spectacular or horrible. Just solid hockey, don’t let the other team score, and capitalize on mistakes.
The Bears were off last night and haven’t played since dismantling the Phantoms on Wednesday at the PPL Center. Fucale was in net that night and since they seem to be alternating, the thought is that we see Shepard tonight.
Isn’t That Special?
We have a large enough sample now that we can parse out home/road splits in the special teams department. Tonight:
The #7-ranked (out of 32) Phantoms Home Power Play will face off against the #7 Hershey Bears Away Penalty Kill. The Phantoms were 0/1 Wednesday night.
The Bears have the #23-ranked Away Power Play which will face the Phantoms and their #30-ranked Home Penalty Kill–up two spots with the results from last night.
GAME DAY!
Saturday Night Hockey Live will feature a giveaway for the kiddos, a nice meLVin winter hat for those 12 and under.
Tickets still remain for tonight’s contest, but are selling fast. I’d advise purchasing in advance before heading downtown. Game-day pricing is in effect, so you’ll pay a bit more today than if you pre-purchase. Some savings to be had by purchasing tickets on the secondary market.
Nothing to report from the parking department. Things have been pretty predictable so far, which is a good thing when trying to defeat the parking overlords. Be sure to pull head-in when using the overlord-controlled parking facilities (read: not the arena deck; do what you want in there).
Broadcast: Catch tonight’s game on FMZ-69 if you don’t get Service Electric or AHL-TV.
OFFICIALS
Referee Mike Dietrich (#15)
Referee Michael Zyla (#4)
Linesperson Michael Magee (#41)
Linesperson Tommy George (#61)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- Watch to see who starts in net. They rode Sandstrom hard when he was here for conditioning. I’m thinking they go easier on Ersson and we see Nagle tonight.
- Watch to see if the somewhat-improved Phantoms Penalty Kill can build from last night’s game.
- Watch to make sure we don’t lose 8-1 like some yo-yo predicted (here)
- Expect crowded concourses tonight. Plan accordingly.
- Watch to see if the players and coaches of the Phantoms look like they’re as sick of losing to the Hershey Bears as fans are of watching them always lose to the Bears. They need to break through.
- Even so, watch to see if they have something they can build on for Wednesday, because guess who returns?
Up Next
The five-game home stand continues on Wednesday versus this same Hershey side. We’ll finish the Hockey Nights on Friday versus Providence before heading down to, yes, Hershey next Saturday prior to the All Star Break.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
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