“Hello there ladies and gentlemenHello there ladies and gentsAre you ready to rock”
-Cheap Trick
Let’s Try This Again
Tuesday night the team looked like a group that had only had two practices together before playing the game. And, it showed in a blow-out loss to the Penguins 6-1. But that wasn’t the real Phantoms–we’ve since had reinforcements arrive from Philadelphia and some of the tryout players have moved on. I will tell you, though, that every time Tuesday night that I saw a player really hustling and moving his feet it was usually a tryout player. Alas, it wasn’t enough, but I appreciated the effort nonetheless. Hershey arrives tonight. Here are some random thoughts to get you ready for tonight’s game:
- Print out a roster. In fact, this “media packet” works pretty well: 2024_10_05-Phantoms-Preseason-Packet
- Prefer the regular “Media Kit” from the AHL? Here: hershey preseason kit
- I hope we see a better crowd tonight, compared with Tuesday. Hockey in a deserted barn is only OK if there’s three feet of freshly fallen snow or if you happen to be in Wilkes Barre.
- Parking appears to be unchanged, but you never know. Pre-pay with Park Mobile App or at the venue–in some cases it’s discounted with Park Mobile. If it’s the Allentown Parking Authority then pull head-in so that they can spy on your license plate.
- The arena is not completely cashless, but it’s getting there. Tuesday I was able to use cash at Burger Prime, the Bru Daddy Bar, and at Chickie’s for fries. They’ve got a fancy new POS (point of sale, but the other thing too probably) system but they didn’t decide about going cashless? Or how to manage it? This is the arena we’re talking about, not the Phantoms–they are as frustrated with the arena folks as we are.
- No preseason jerseys it seems, this season? Whatever will they auction off now? (Oh, yeah, chintzy warm-up shirts)
- If you see G Alexei Kolosov around, give him a warm greeting. Maybe buy him a vodka (disclaimer: although he’s 22, I do not know if he drinks what he prefers) and welcome him to Allentown. No need to be homesick there’s plenty of good people around. And, Downtown Allentown isn’t nearly as bad as Flyers’ writer Charlie O’Connor says it is.
- I wrote Tuesday that this season feels different somehow. Still don’t know how. Maybe we’re going to be historically bad at hockey? I hope not. Can’t put my finger on it.
- Yeah, Hershey won another cup. Wonderful. I feel like we gave them all they could handle in the playoffs before they won–but they moved on pretty easily from there. ‘Beat Hershey’ probably needs to be a theme and a point of emphasis this season.
- The Ticketmaster conversion seems to be going pretty well. If you haven’t logged in to get your tickets yet, do it before you arrive at the arena. Remember to download the season ticket card as well so that you can get in early and get discounts on gear and such.
We’ll return to the regular ‘Hockey Night’ format for the first game next Saturday night. The team will also play one more preseason game tomorrow afternoon in Wilkes Barre.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
Featured Image by Jack Mitroka
Bonus:
