The Phantoms have been shuffling along as November turned into December. It’s been a somewhat wonky schedule with a ton of road games, and the Flyers have made some moves. There’s been another puzzling trade. The consistency just hasn’t been there.
But, the next six games are at home. It’s time to get on a roll as we head towards 2026. It starts tonight against a Springfield team coming in off a couple straight road wins and in the middle of five in a row away from home.
There was a graphic promoting upcoming games that listed tonight’s promotion as “Happy Hour.” I thought it had returned. Alas, it doesn’t appear so. Reached for questioning, a team official told me it “wasn’t selling tickets.” Bottom line. That’s fair, but if it does return, and they don’t promote it? Then that’s on them.
Photo: Jack Mitroka
Last Weekend
Following a trade that brought in a Syracuse player (more on that later) we head up to the Northern Tier of New York to take on the Crunch. A Friday game in the black jerseys and it didn’t go great; they got off to a slow start and by the time they turned things on in the third period it was too late.
On to Rochester. The Phantoms ran into a hot goalie, but were able to push in the tying goal late, to force overtime. Extra hockey and the Phantoms eventually take it in the 8th round of the shootout, thanks to Tucker Robertson. Carson Bjarnason in net making all those saves.
Roster Update
- D Ty Murchison has returned from the Flyers as their blue line gets healthy.
- D Ty Murchison was recalled to Philadelphia and made his NHL debut. His play has been good, per reports.
- D Ethan Samson was traded for D Roman Schmidt. Schmidt had been with AHL Syracuse. He brings size and toughness to the blue line–but also penalty minutes. The Phantoms continue to adjust the chemistry and vibe on the blue line with the exit of Samson and Dennis Gilbert and the arrival of Kyrou, Schmidt, Guenette, and the re-introduction of Ginning. [Aside: A common retort over on the baseball side is, “If you don’t like being here (in the minors), then play better.” I guess, or, demand a trade. That works too. As my favorite football coach says, “We need volunteers, not hostages.”]
- F Sawyer Boulton continues to improve his skills at navigating the roundabouts on 222 between here and Reading.
- LW Hunter Johannes arrives from the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL, and has been loaned to Reading. He had been with AHL Grand Rapids for parts of the last two seasons. G Vinnie Purpura goes back to Savannah from Reading in a corresponding move. Johannes is another guy with some size, not a lot of scoring, and a penchant for penalty minutes.
Lines Saturday in Rochester:
21 Bump 25 Pederson 52 Barkey. “Pedey and the Killer B’s”
90 Richard 22 Robertson 20 Marody “Vets look after Robertson”
43 Eklind 56 Gaucher 12 Kaplan “Ek and the Kid try to help Gaucher score goals”
72 Gendron 74 Wisdom 17 Wilson “Wiz and Gendy with the Captain”
37 Ginning 59 Bonk “Bonk and the NHL guy”
19 McDonald 15 Kyrou “Caillou hates Burger King”
82 Guenette 76 Schmidt “The New Guys”
64 Bjarnason (Backup: 35 Kolosov)
**Line names still a work in progress
Records and Standings
Record: 13-9-1-2
Standings: 4th place, after Charlotte beat Wilkes last night
Home: 6-2-0-1
Away: 7-7-1-1
Recent: Regulation loss and shoot-out win on the road. 2-3 last 5; 4-5-0-1 last 10.
Overtime: 3-1
Shootout: 2-2
Friday: 4-4
Saturday: 7-1-0-2
Sunday: 0-2-1
[Sunday 3/3: 0-1-1]
Wednesday: 2-2
October: 5-3-0-1
November: 5-3-1-1
December: 2-3
White “Home” Jerseys: 6-2-0-1
Black with Orange “Road” Jerseys: 4-3-1-1
Orange “Alternate” Jerseys: 3-2
“Black-Out” Jerseys: 0-1
“Faux-Back” Keystone Black: 0-1
Post-Game Fan Event Game: 1-0
Springfield Returns
Springfield returns the the PPL Center for the second of three planned visits in the 2025-26 season. So far, the season series is 1-0 Phantoms after the win here in November.
You’ll recognize C Matthew Peca as a mainstay on this roster after spending four seasons entering the AHL with Syracuse. F Kale Kessy is a goon who was with Hershey for a bunch of years, and he didn’t play last time they were here. A few of the ‘prospects’ and other talented players have been recalled to St. Louis. However, they’re still playing good hockey as a team right now, which is a good thing for them.
There is no rest advantage for this game, but as mentioned above, the Thunderbirds are in the midst of five straight games outside of Massachusetts. They are currently in last place in the AHL Atlantic, but have been playing some better hockey of late, to the tune of 5-2-2-1 in their last 10–points in 8 of 10!
Springfield has a mediocre power play that improves on the road, which will face off against a bottom-tier home penalty kill of the Phantoms. The Springfield #1-overall AHL road penalty kill will try to shut down the #12 Phantoms home power play.
GAME DAY!
Show time is 7:05PM with the puck expected to drop at 7:15. All gates at 6:00PM, with Premier Member entrances open at 5:45PM
Good seats are still available for this game. The secondary market has some reasonable deals as season ticket holders dump their mid-week tickets.
Parking and travel: Use caution around center square and construction is underway for the re-design. Most snow issues should be remediated by now. With a planned loss last time out and a possible loss tonight, your intrepid reporter is probably 6-4 versus the Parking Overlords this season.
Promotion: In the absence of a surprise happy hour, expect tonight to include the annual ice menorah Hanukkah celebration. Of course, I’m always reminded of the time we scored three goals in like 38 seconds to open the game against Binghamton on Hanukkah night–when my buddy went to the bar for a beer and missed all three and thought they were just re-announcing the same goal.
Media Kit:
Officials:
Referees: Jack Young (#24), Luke Stork (#54) Linesperson: Josh Cleary (#45), Dylan Lewis (#18)
Photo: Jack Mitroka
What To Watch
- Expect Kolosov in net, as we’re mostly alternating with Aleksei taking the lead
- Watch the blue line and the pairs. They’ve been shuffling both from a chemistry standpoint, as well as health, availability and recalls to Philadelphia. How are they paired? How are they playing together? Who looks the strongest and who’s moving the puck the best?
- Along with that, watch the penalty kill, which has regressed since the early days of the season. Who’s out there, among the defenders, on PK1 and PK2? Who’s winning pucks and clearing the zone?
- Springfield seems to be playing some good team hockey in their last 10 games. Watch to see if the Phantoms can match that from a team-oriented point of view.
- Watch for extra holiday stuff: warm up jersey? light show? game jersey?
- Check out the team shop over in the former 99 Bottles if you haven’t already. They did a good job with it, now if we can just take the next step with some quality merch (name brand polos and quarter-zips, name-brand authentic-level hats, replica jerseys for all the alternates, heavier jackets).
Up Next
We’ve got five more at home headed to the turn of the calendar. This weekend:
Friday: Coat Drive at Chickies
Saturday: Teddy Toss Night
See you at the arena:
@Kram207
Featured Image by Jack Mitroka; it has been cropped to fit the space.