“Hey, kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight’s hitting something
That’s been known to change the weather”
-Elton John and Bernie Taupin
The Phantoms split their two games in Canada last weekend losing the easy one before winning the hard one. Then, they took care of business in a morning affair against lowly Bridgeport. The new-look Phantoms who have received some reinforcements from college and juniors will now need to clinch their playoff spot and try to avoid spending a week in Charlotte for the first round of the playoffs.
Scoreboard Watching: Catching Providence will be tough, although that would secure home ice in the first round. The team to watch on the scoreboard is Springfield; If they stay behind us we can avoid Charlotte. The other thing to cheer for is Charlotte themselves grabbing the second seed from Wilkes.
Records:
Overall: 33-26-5-2 (5th Place in Division)
Current First Round Opponent: 1-2 vs Providence
Regulation Wins: 22
Home: 17-12-2-1
Away: 16-14-3-1
White Jerseys: 17-10-1-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-2
Orange Jerseys: 8-8-1
Black Alternate Jerseys: 4-3-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 1-1-1
Black on Steel Gray Jerseys: 1-2
Fridays: 9-7-2-1
Saturdays: 12-8-2
Sundays: 1-6-0-1
Wednesdays: 9-1-1
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: 5-6
April: 1-0
Roster / New Additions
F Alex Ciernik signed to ATO. Born in Germany, he was a 4th round pick by the Flyers in 2023. He has not yet appeared with the Phantoms since his signing, but played 46 games in Sweden this season. He should be on the team next season.
F Jett Luchanko was reassigned from his juniors team to the Phantoms. He did make the Flyers out of preseason but was then returned to juniors for the bulk of the season. He was a first round pick–#13 overall–in last year’s draft. He has played in all three game from this past road trip and already has two assists.
D Ty Murchison signed his entry level contract and has joined the Phantoms on an ATO. He was a 5th round pick back in 2021 and spent the last four years at Arizona State University. He has yet to appear in a game.
G Parker Gahagen is back from Reading as Alexei Kolosov was called back to the Flyers for no real hockey reason. He’ll get his NHL paychecks and head back to Russia when the season is over I guess. Really, he had the one good game here and I don’t need him for the playoffs. We ride with Parker.
Lines Wednesday Morning in Bridgeport:
29 Grebenkin 56 Gaucher 90 Richard
17 Wilson 77 Luchanko 72 Gendron
91 Desnoyers 73 Rizzo 74 Wisdom
16 Avon 22 Gardner 13 Furry
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
37 Ginning 3 Grans
55 Bernard 5 Samson
31 Gahagen (Backup: 40 Petersen)
Discussion: Wilson on the line with Jett and Gendy helps keep the other team from taking liberties. That fourth line is underrated as all those guys can finish. I think we’re starting to see some playoff lines come into focus. Start to think where you’d like to see Lycksell and Abols when they return from the Flyers. I think it’s on the third line as they’re listed above. I think Wisdom has earned playoff ice time, but I’d also like to see Tuomaala out there if he gets healthy.
Scratches:
4 Ty Murchison
8 Ben Gleason
20 Cooper Marody
27 Samu Tuomaala
36 Sawyer Boulton
43 Oscar Eklind
46 Alex Ciernik
56 Givanni Smith
32 Eetu Makiniemi
GAME DAY!
Hershey is in town, so a nice measuring stick for the team headed for the playoffs, and good exposure for the new guys to what the standard is at this level.
Dollar Dog Night tonight, through the first period. Good seats are still available for this game, on both the primary and secondary markets.
MEDIA KIT
OFFICIALS
Referee Jack Young (#24)
Referee Mason Riley (#79)
Linesperson Dylan Blujus (#70)
Linesperson J.P. Waleski (#14)
Scouting the Refs: Young and Riley have both received high marks from me in the past. It should be a well-officiated game tonight.
What To Watch
- Watch to see if Gahagen gets the net again tonight, preparing for the playoff workload.
- Watch to see how Luchanko looks. If I remember from preseason he’s a very hard worker and plenty of energy on the ice. Look for him to get his first AHL goal tonight.
- Watch to see if either of the other young guys get in the game tonight.
- Watch to see if the team looks like a group that is ready to take it up a notch in the playoffs.
Up Next
Right back here for Springfield tomorrow. That will be a good chance to try to solidify our spot in the standings.
Then, off until next weekend where the team heads up to Syracuse on Friday before returning home for another Hershey game on Saturday
Column Update: ‘Hockey Night’ column may go missing for a game or two here down the stretch, due to baseball. My presence at the games will depend on the weather. We’ll crank things up for the playoffs thought, no doubt, should we be so fortunate as to host a post-season game or 10.
See you at the arena, maybe, or the ballpark,
@Kram207
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