Hockey Day In Allentown: “New Look Phantoms” 3/15/26

All of a sudden we’ve got some guys who can skate fast?  And it helps win hockey games?  Golly.

“Previously, on Hockey Night”

1. The Rock Fight:  Last Saturday in the rematch with Charlotte, the Phantoms jumped out to a 0-4 deficit in the first period.  They did it in the usual way:  No team speed but make up for it by not being good at hockey.  Coach tried everything short of putting on skates himself:  Called timeout.  Changed the goalie.  But then a funny thing happened during the first intermission.  The Phantoms realized they weren’t really playing a hockey game.  They were involved in a rock fight.  The officials had donated their whistles to the junior officials before the game and there were no penalties called.  This wasn’t “no blood no foul” because we saw blood.  And they didn’t call it.  We’ve never seen anything like it and were kind of surprised that it didn’t result in a line brawl or something similar.  So the Phantoms were able to chip their way back into the game.  Finally in the third period one of our guys got tackled while standing alone with the puck, and they finally called the lone power play of the game.  And, we got it!  Tie rock fight!  In overtime, though, we were busy throwing the rocks when one of their guys ends up in front of the net with the puck–so it goes as an overtime loss.  But was an impressive fight-back anyway and we’ll take the point if it helps us avoid a week in Charlotte in April.
2. The Jinx:  Bridgeport has our number.  Oh, we’re not good in 3/3 weekends usually and Bridgeport has been a reasonable team at times–especially for a franchise that gets very little support from their parent organization and makes up for it by getting no fan support.  Once again we try to fight back in the game, but this time it comes up short. Loss.
3. The New Guys:  Remaking the roster on the fly–and maybe not with the express purpose of trying to compete for a trophy–and suddenly there are guys around who can skate fast and try hard.  Sometimes that puts pucks in nets–in a good way.  The combination of poor shooting and reasonable play in the net kept Syracuse off the board for much of the night and the Hamilton Street Heroes left the Orange City with a regulation victory.
4. The Penguin Soft Underbelly:  You play a team enough times maybe you can figure out a way to beat them.  Once again, the Phantoms jump out to a multi-goal deficit.  It’s like a magic power.  But they fight back by realizing that when you have an extra guy on the ice the Penguins get confused and stand perfectly still.  This allows better chances at goals.  Reports from the game also suggest that the reason that the Phantoms were able to achieve said man-advantage scenarios was at least partly due to playing fast and forcing the black and yellow team to commit penalties to slow things down.

So there you have it.  Salvaged a point from last weekend.  Regrouped with some new players.  Got four points so far this weekend.  We’ll review what to watch for below, but unless the Phantoms can use their speed and voodoo to trick the Penguins into power play scenarios, it’s not looking good for today.  But, that’s why we play the games.

Who Are These Guys?

1. #55 D Vincent Sévigny:  Had been on a PTO here and with Syracuse.  Had spent some time in the ECHL.  Now signed to AHL deal.
2. #61 F Boris Katchouk:  Comes in via trade with Minnesota for D Roman Schmidt.  He’s been on a couple teams this season but put up some very nice numbers in Wilkes Barre last season.
3. #5 D David Jiricek:  Big, young defender is considered a prospect based on age and pedigree.  Hasn’t put it all together yet.  Comes via the Bobby Brink trade.
4. #72 C Brett Harrison:  A regular for Providence the last couple seasons, he’s a former third round pick of that organization.  Usually ends up on the good side of the +/-. Comes in via the Gendron/Rizzo deal.
5. #44 D Jackson Edward:  Another defender with some size, he’s the other piece in the Gendron/Rizzo deal.  He hasn’t been on the ice for us yet.
6. #10 RW Noah Powell:  A former 5th round pick of the Flyers, he signs his AHL deal for the next couple seasons and joins on a PTO after finishing his college season at Arizona State.  He’s got some size, but hasn’t been getting good marks just yet in his first two games in the AHL.

The Dearly Departed

Here’s where we say bad things about guys after they’re gone.

Alex Bump got called up to the Flyers and immediately started scoring goals, so we likely won’t see him back here until playoffs.  Alexis Gendron didn’t seem like the same player this season and needed a change of scenery.  Massimo Rizzo couldn’t stay healthy and couldn’t have an impact when he was on the ice.  Cooper Marody saw the writing on the wall with the Phantoms most likely interested in playing the new guys and the young guys.  Rather than sit at press level, he found his way to Coachella via “trade.”  Garrett Wilson got his call to the NHL to throw hands when needed for the parent organization.

Lines Friday night in Syracuse:

61 Katchouk 25 Pederson 90 Richard

72 Harrison 23 Dorwart 26 Tomasino

43 Eklind 56 Gaucher 10 Powell

9 Golder 74 Wisdom 22 Robertson

19 McDonald 59 Bonk

3 Grans 5 Jiricek

37 Ginning 82 Guenette

35 Kolosov (64 Bjarnason)

Last night saw Kyrou sub in for Golder in an 11F/7D scenario.  And why not, he plays in the attack end most of the time anyway.  Bjarny last night as well.  With the Captain in the NHL, Pederson, Wisdom and Guenette wore ‘A’ last night.

One other quick note:  Wilson, Bump and Barkey will all be eligible for AHL playoffs.

Records and Standings

Record: 26-26-3-3

Standings:  Back to fifth place

If The Season Ended Today (spoiler: it doesn’t): Playoffs: 3 games with Hershey

Home:  12-13-2-2

Away:  14-13-1-1

Recent:  Won first two games of the weekend

Overtime: 5-3

Shootout: 4-3

Friday: 5-10

Saturday: 14-4-1-3

Sunday: 3-6-1

[Sunday 3/3: 0-3-1]

Monday:.0-1-1

Tuesday: 0-1

Wednesday: 3-4

October: 5-3-0-1

November: 5-3-1-1

December:  5-5-1

January:  5-6

February: 2-6-0-1

March:  3-3-1

White “Road” Jerseys: 10-6-2-1

Black with Orange “Alternate” Jerseys:  6-7-1-1

Orange “Home” Jerseys: 6-6

“Black-Out” Jerseys:  0-2-0-1

“Faux-Back” Keystone Black:  2-2

Charcoal Gray “Forgotten Preseason”: 1-1

“Orange Out” 2026:  0-2

Post-Game Fan Event Game:  2-1

GAME DAY!

Event Time:  3:05PM

Hockey Time:  3:17PM (Look, it’s always the same. For those in Wilkes who don’t understand how this works around here:  We’ve got to get the hype song, the anthem superstars, the big flag presentation, the Boy Scouts Color Guard, God Bless American, The National Anthem, and at least one ceremonial first puck drop.  We’ve got stuff to do, man.  Get a sandwich and a beverage and don’t feel rushed.  We’ll get to the hockey in a minute, just tryna make some money first.)

Doors: 2:00PM

Doors, but Premier Members: 1:45PM

Promotion: Pretzel Day.  Dollar Pretzels through the first period.

Tickets: Widely available.  Much more expensive than Wilkes Barre.  Not a ton of deals on the secondary market today.

Parking:  Remember, they don’t check meters on Sundays.  Unless you get too close to the arena.

Pregame:  Some restaurants and bars are not open on Sundays or not open for lunch.

Postgame:  Great day to grab a bite to eat after the game and not get home tremendously late.

Media Kit:    WBS Again

Officials:  Refs: Mike Sullivan (#47), Alex Lepkowski (#44) Lines:Jeremy Faucher (#97), Josh Cleary (#45)

What To Watch

• Watch Kolosov and see if he can play a sound game and try not to get us in a hole early
• Watch to see if we can try to avoid going down by multiple goals in the first period
• Watch to see if we can capitalize on the power play like last night
• Watch those new guys.  How do they look to you?
• Watch to see if they have Kyrou at left wing (where he belongs?)
• Look for the Penguins to clean things up, knowing they’re absolutely paralyzed when they have to play down a man.  They’re not giving up 7 power plays again.
• Watch out for any kid with cotton candy
• Watch for a fight.  There was one last night; I can’t see them avoiding another one.  Probably Imama, who didn’t play last night.  Maybe Boulton if he’s in there, but perhaps he learned his lesson versus Boko earlier this season.

Up Next

Pretty quick turn around for a mid-week tilt this Wednesday.  Once again with first-place Providence.  It’s the last mid-week home game of the regular season.  Then at Charlotte Saturday and Sunday next weekend.

See you at the arena,

@Kram207