A bit of a let-down last night in the fourth game of the 5-game home stand. Syracuse is a good team and they’ve been playing some good hockey lately. The box score suggests refs who were more than willing to insert themselves into the game and then have thin skin doing so.
It will be interesting to see how the team responds. Providence comes in having crushed the Penguins affiliate last night.
Records:
Overall: 31-24-5-2 (5th Place in Division)
Current First Round Opponent: 1-1-1 vs Wilkes-Barre
Regulation Wins: 20
Home: 17-11-2-1
Away: 14-13-3-1
White Jerseys: 15-9-1-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-2
Orange Jerseys: 8-7-1
Black Alternate Jerseys: 4-3-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 1-1-1
Black on Steel Gray Jerseys: 1-2
Fridays: 9-6-2-1
Saturdays: 11-7-2
Sundays: 1-6-0-1
Wednesdays: 8-1-1
Tuesday/Thursday: 1-4
Sunday 3/3: 0-4-0-1
Post-Game Player Event Day: 2-1
October: 2-3-1-1
November: 7-3-2
December: 4-7-1
January: 8-4-1
February: 5-3-0-1
March: 4-4
Players and Roster
Lines last night versus Syracuse:
29 Grebenkin 56 Gaucher 90 Richard
16 Avon 91 Desnoyers 74 Wisdom
13 Furry 73 Rizzo 72 Gendron
56 Smith 22 Gardner 43 Eklind
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
37 Ginning 3 Grans
8 Gleason 5 Samson
40 Petersen (Backup: 35 Kolosov)
Discussion: That top line looks like a true top line as rosters and lineups go. Let’s see if it continues. From there you can line up the centers–and maybe we’re a bit out of order here–but that gets you the framework from everthing else with energy guys maybe paired with finishers. No Wilson because of an addition to his family (Congrats to him!). Kolosov gets a break from “wheels fall off” mode.
GAME DAY!
Providence is in town–with their fan club! They are 34-19-4-3 and in second place in the AHL Atlantic right now, as Charlotte climbs into third. Second place through fourth are plenty tight, though. Providence comes in on a three-game point streak and 6-2-0-2 in their last 10. As mentioned above, they drubbed Scranton last night.
As you would expect, they have good special teams. They have a decent power play and a very good penalty kill. Mason Millman is an old friend on this squad.
It’s Saturday Night Hockey Live and Phan Con all the same time. Wear your super hero garb (“no capes!”) and look forward to taking pictures with some of the other heroes about the concourse. Expect some musical entertainment as it goes. I didn’t read a weapons warning, but I’d recommend bringing only your super powers and leaving the weapons at home just to keep security happy.
There are a smattering of tickets available on the secondary market. But this might be one to buy from the arena. Leave a little extra time for the costumes and photos and so on.
MEDIA KIT
OFFICIALS
Referee Riley Brace (#49)
Referee Phillip Kasko (#93)
Linesperson Jud Ritter (#34)
Linesperson J.P. Waleski (#14)
Same refs as last night. Are we in for another ‘Ref Show’?
What To Watch
- Watch for a Kolosov game. How does he respond to having some time off?
- Watch to see if Providence comes out a little flat. I’m predicting a Phantoms win tonight.
- Watch to see if the Phantoms lines continue to develop a bit of hierarchy headed towards the playoffs.
- Watch to see if Wilson returns or if they give him the whole weekend with his young family
- Watch to see if meLVin defeats any of the “bad guys.”
Up Next
The Phantoms will have the week off before Belleville and Laval next weekend–Friday and Saturday–in Canada. Need hockey? Grab some NCAA tix for next weekend!
The Phantoms return on April 4, Friday, for Hershey.
Blog notes: Baseball is upon us which may cause the hockey to take a back seat at times. We’ll try to keep you updated on the important stuff.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207