The boys are back in town following the All Star break, and still rolling. Everybody, let’s keep it going!
Since Last Time
After finally solving the Bears in a mid-week clash on February first, the Phantoms stayed home to face second place Providence and lost. But, they rebounded with a very strong effort down in Hershey to take a second game from the brown team. Then Foerster and Attard headed to the All Star game. Following the week off, the team was in Hartford last night where they notched a big win behind a strong game in net for Ersson and two goals from Max Willman and a key tally from Zayde Wisdom.
Team Notes
D Linus Hogberg was promoted to Philadelphia for the purpose of his return to Sweden. F Olle Lycksell promoted for depth. F Kieffer Belliws returns to the Phantoms. F Elliot Desnoyers returned to the lineup last night after missing a couple games with a minor injury. F Cal O’Reilly has missed a couple games with “illness” but returned to the rink and should find his way back into the lineup tonight. F Hayden Hodgson is nicked up and missing time due to injury. G Troy Grosenick is out long-term; his season may be in jeopardy. F Isaac Ratcliffe, as we’ve discussed, is dealing with the sequelae of a couple injuries, old and new.
The Phantoms are currently in fifth place at 23-17-3-2. Providence has taken over the top spot from the Hershey All Star Swoon. Hartford is out of the cellar, while Wilkes-Barre and Bridgport have fallen back. It’s really tight, though, and all these games are important.
Lines last night in Hartford:
28 Lycksell – 51 Anisimov – 71 Foerster
17 Wilson – 91 Desnoyers – 25 Marody
20 Willman – 18 J Cates – 23 Brink
15 Bellerive – 24 Brooks – 14 Wisdom
4 Zamula – 47 Belpedio
37 Ginning – 12 Attard
44 Connauton – 3 Karashik
30 Ersson (35 Nagle)
Reading Royals
Reading is currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference (8/14 make the playoffs) with a record of 24-15-2-3.
GAME DAY!
It’s “Hockey for Everyone” night at the PPL Center! Also, Saturday Night Hockey Live as we’ll likely have some musical entertainment for the second intermission.
Bridgeport is back in town. They’ve dropped back to 7th place in the division playing perfectly average hockey at 5-4-1 in their last 10. But in a tight division, that’s not enough. We remember they have Andy Andreoff and Cole Bardreau and Ryan MacKinnon. They are above average on special teams on both sides of the puck and tend to play better on the road, in that area.
Parking and Traffic: There’s been word of some parking difficulty lately. The arena deck “orange lot” has been more heavily promoted lately because it’s cheaper than the nearby parking authority decks and lots. But, that’s caused the usual bottleneck at 7th/Linden to become even worse. Then, add that we’ve lost the Farr lot as an option and that walking to and from the spiral is now more difficult, too, due to the construction. There doesn’t seem to be the traffic control to help out, either. Plus, other bottlenecks in the arena make the arena deck difficult to access following the game. I have some ideas, but there’s no easy solution here right now. Help from the team, the arena, and the city would be appreciated–but I’m not holding my breath.
Special Teams: The good news is that the team only took one penalty last night. The bad news is, they promptly gave up a power play goal. There’s only one team in the country with a weaker Penalty Kill. Thankfully, the power play has been really good.
OFFICIALS
Referee: Dominic Cadieux (#67)
Referee Stephen Hiff (#56)
Linesperson Ryan Jackson (#84)
Linesperson Jud Ritter (#34)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- I’m watching to see if Ersson is in net again. It’s back to back, but then they’re off for a few days.
- I was very critical of Brink following the game a week ago Wednesday. I thought the faster pace was part of why they were able to finally beat Hershey, but that Brink looked a step slow. Credit where due, I thought he looked pretty good at times last Saturday against Providence. Watch to see how he looks tonight. Is he playing fast? Is he in position? Making plays? Higher line?
- Watch the penalty kill. I think we mostly play a kind of 1-2-1 diamond. Do we lose shape? Do we allow too much traffic in the slot? Think of how a defense normally looks on a 3 vs 5: nice and tight in front of the goalie. Do we need to tighten the formation up a bit? I’m not a hockey expert so I’m really asking.
- Watch Wisdom. Does his goal last night earn him more ice time? Is he making plays?
- Watch Attard. The all star absolutely makes plays and moves the puck. But how does he look in his own end? How about on the penalty kill?
- Watch to see the team come out in Orange or Black tonight, as they wore white on the road last night–I believe it has switched for the remainder of the season.
Next Up
The team gets tomorrow off and heads down to Charlotte for a pair with the Checkers on Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ll be back here in a week, Saturday, for the suddenly struggling Wilkes-Barre Penguins then on Sunday for Hartford.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207