Hockey Night In Allentown: Protecting the Sphinx 10/19/24

The Griffins are in town!  Get ready for some Live Hockey on a Saturday Night:

About Last Night

Over in Hartford last night the Phantoms dropped a back-and-forth overtime affair with the Wolf Pack.  Not much to take away, other than:  (A) The team does seem to keep playing hard when behind (B) They really are going to play Kolosov until the wheels come off (C) They were able to get a power play goal.

Records:

Overall: 1-2-1 (Last Place in the Atlantic Division)

Kolosov: 1-2-1

Home: 1-1

Away: 0-1-1

White Jerseys: 1-1

Orange Jerseys: 0-1

Black Jerseys: 0-0-1

Sunday 3/3: —

Post-Game Event Day:  —

Fridays: 0-1-1

Saturdays: 1-1

Sundays: —

Wednesdays: —

Player Center

Injury information is very difficult to come by this season.  I’ll continue to search for news, but the scratch list continues to be somewhat suspicious.

Transactions:

F Jacques Bouquot loaned to Reading (ECHL)

D Emil Andrae recalled by Philadelphia (NHL)

D Emil Andrae returned on loan to Lehigh Valley (AHL)

F Xavier Bernard loaned to Reading (ECHL)

Lines (from last night):

90 Richard 22 Gardner 15 Lycksell

13 Furry 18 Abols 27 Tuomaala

43 Eklind 16 Avon 91 Desnoyers

17 Wilson 56 Gaucher 36 Boulton

19 McDonald 7 Belpedio

6 Andrae 3 Grans

37 Ginning 5 Samson

35 Kolosov (Backup: 32 Makiniemi)

Scratches:10 Matt Brown, 12 Ronnie Attard, 20 Cooper Marody, 40 Cal Petersen, 57 Mason Primeau, 72 Alexis Gendron, 73 Massimo Rizzo, 74 Zayde Wisdom

Notes:  I continue to like Abols and Avon at the center spot.  Lycksell, Tuomaala and Desnoyers all getting the right wing on their own lines is probably a good thing. I like McDonald a lot, Ginning too.  The All-Sweden second pair is neat.  Makiniemi getting a bucket as the backup is nice.  

Player Spotlight

#43 F Oscar Eklind:  The lefty, left-wing Eklind is seeing his first action in North America.  He is 6’4″ and 220lbs, born in Sweden and came up through the Swedish junior leagues to play professionally in Sweden.  Last season he scored 17G/11A/28P in 48 games.  He is 26 years old.  He was signed by the Flyers back in April.

GAME DAY!

In Greek Mythology, the griffin is a creature with the body of a lion but the head and wings of an eagle.  Pretty tough looking and often seen as the protector for the sphinx.  Good name for a team.  Grad Rapids is the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings.  They are 4-1 on this young season.  This is the first-ever visit for them to the PPL Center in Allentown.  In fact, I believe this is the first visit of any team not from the Atlantic or the North divisions.  [Aside:  The reason for not seeing Central or Pacific Division teams is not on the AHL.  It’s up to the owners to decide how much they want to invest in travel expenses and find another owner to return the favor.  So kudos to Phantoms ownership for facilitating the new teams and the longer road trips this season to break up the 47 meetings with Scranton and Hershey.  I do hope it continues, and I think it helps engage fans and perhaps provides an opportunity to sell some gear along the way.]

On the roster for the Griffins is our old nemesis Joe “Whiplash” Snively, veteran of many battles with Hershey.  Veteran goalie Malcolm Subban is on the team but it looks like he hasn’t played.  By way of prospects, look for C #29 Nate Danielson, F #43 Carter Mazur, G #33 Sebastian Cossa, and D #22 William Wallinder.

It’s Saturday Night Hockey Live once again, so expect some special music tonight, as well as some post-game raffles at Chickie’s and Pete’s.  LOTS of good seats are still available and there are some deals to be had on the secondary market.  It’s Halloween Weekend downtown, so you may see some restaurant specials and/or parties.  The Phantoms costumed game is tomorrow afternoon.

They are collecting parking as soon as 4:00PM on a hockey night these days.  The website says 4:35 for. a 7:05 event time.  This has to be a pain for those trying to come and go from downtown on an event night if you’re not going to the event.  Many residents probably have parking passes, though, so I suppose they can get around it that way.

OFFICIALS

Referee Mike Sullivan (#47)

Referee Tyler Spott (#38)

Linesperson Ryan Knapp (#73)

Linesperson Jud Ritter (#34)

MEDIA KIT

Griffins 1

What To Watch

• Kolosov.  I know we play tomorrow, but it feels like they’re trying to prove something with old Kolly.  The problem is, the whole team goes as Kolosov goes when he plays absolutely every game.  Plus the other guys get rusty.  He hasn’t been horrible and he does need the work, I’m just getting impatient with how the season is going here early on–and it feels like they’re trying to get every last game out of him before he bolts back to Russia at some future time which may or may not have been pre-determined.  Perhaps they will give another goalie a shot tonight, but I’m not holding my breath.
• Special Teams.  I’m not looking up rankings and so on this early in the season because the sample size is so small.  But, I feel like they’ve been OK thus far and that makes me happy.
• Griffins.  I mean, I hope they lose, but I’d also like to make this a good experience for all involved so that we can continue to see other AHL teams.  Also I’ve never liked the Red Wings.

Up Next

Right back at it tomorrow as the Griffins will remain in town for the weekend.  Tomorrow is the official Halloween celebration for the matinee start at 3:05PM.  ‘Hockey Day’ preview column may or may not be available late tomorrow morning.

See you at the arena,

@Kram207