March 15, 2010

2009-10 Record: 30-32-3-2, 65 points (18-13-3-0 Home, 12-19-0-2 Road), Fifth Place - East Division

Week 24 Recap:

Adirondack responded to a challenging schedule, by taking five points out of a possible six during their three-game Hall of Fame Weekend home stand. The Phantoms battled the Hershey Bears as tough as ever, erasing an early 2-0 deficit to grab a 3-2 after two periods. In the third period leading 4-3, the Bears scored a power play goal to tie the game and then took the extra point in overtime when Bryan Helmer scored on a rebound. Saturday night the Phantoms took it to the Providence Bruins, blanking them 4-0 as goalie Jeremy Duchesne recorded his first career AHL shutout in just his second start for Adirondack this year. On Sunday the Phantoms made it two wins in a row as they beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2-1 on a blistering power play by Joey Mormina in overtime.

Hall of Fame Weekend was a complete success on the ice as well as off the ice. On Friday night 3,000 Johan Backlund Bobbleheads were given out courtesy of Associates of Glens Falls. Saturday was the big day as Ned Harkness, Bill Dineen, Greg Joly and Glenn Merkosky were officially inducted as the inaugural Class of 2010 into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame, presented by Glens Falls National Bank. The four were honored at the official Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at the Queensbury Hotel and then again during a special pre-game ceremony on the ice at the Civic Center. On Sunday, 2,000 Hall of Fame Card Strips were given out thanks to Curtis Lumber, featuring the four inductees; Joly, Merkosky and Dineen were on hand Sunday as well to sign autographs during the first intermission.

Week 25 Preview:

After a successful week, the Phantoms look to capture that momentum into a difficult road trip. Adirondack first will complete their season-long four-game home stand on Wednesday, March 17th as they host the Hamilton Bulldogs for a 7:00 pm St. Patrick’s Day game at the Civic Center. Early Thursday morning the team will climb on their Upstate Tours bus for the long ride down to Virginia as they begin their weekend road trip with a pair of games against the Norfolk Admirals. The Phantoms will battle the Admirals on Friday, March 19th and Saturday, March 20th, both are 7:15 pm games at Norfolk Scope Arena. Saturday night they get back on the bus for a five-hour ride to Hershey and will face the Bears for the eighth and final time this season on Sunday, March 21st at 5:00 pm at the Giant Center.

On the injury front, left wing Krys Kolanos, right wing Jason Ward and defenseman Danny Syvret remain out of the lineup with injuries. The injuries continued to pile up as defenseman Denis Bodrov and right wing David Laliberte picked up injuries last weekend that held them out of games. Right wing Stefan Legein returned to action last weekend after missing one game due to injury on March 7th at Hershey and left wing Garrett Klotz returned from injury on Saturday night against Providence after missing the previous two games.

Week 25 Schedule:

(All games are broadcast LIVE on Classic Hits Q-101.7 FM and can also be heard for free over the Internet at www.phantomshockey.com and can be viewed via internet pay-per-view video on www.ahllive.com.)

Wednesday, March 17 – 7:00 pm – Glens Falls Civic Center – Glens Falls, NY

vs. Hamilton Bulldogs (44-15-3-5, 96 pts)

First Place, North Division

Hamilton had their season-high nine game winning streak snapped on Friday in a 3-2 loss to Grand Rapids. The Bulldogs beat the Griffins 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night to end their season-long 10-game home stand with a record of 9-1-0-0. Wednesday game is the fourth between Hamilton and Adirondack and it begins a seven-game road trip for the Bulldogs. Hamilton is 3-0-0-0 against the Phantoms this season, out-scoring them 13-1. Hamilton has already clinched a playoff spot, but needs seven points to clinch the regular season North Division title. Goalies Cedrick Desjardins (1.93) and Curtis Sanford (2.07) have the top two goals-against averages in the entire AHL. Each has played 37 games this year and they have equally split the last 13 games. If that pattern continues on Wednesday, it would be Desjardins’ turn to start against Adirondack; he has played in all three games against the Phantoms thus far.
Leading Scorer: Brock Trotter (C) – 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists) in 63 GP.
Leading Goaltender: Cedrick Desjardins (G) – 1.93 GAA, 0.925 save pct., 24-8-0, 6 SO in 37 GP.
Who’s Hot: Grant Stevenson (C) – 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) and a +4 rating in his last five games played. Mike Glumac (RW) – 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) and a +3 rating in his last five games played. Ryan Russell (C) – 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) and in his last five games played.

Friday, March 19 – 7:15 pm – Norfolk Scope Arena – Norfolk, VA

@ Norfolk Admirals (34-28-3-3, 74 pts)

Third Place, East Division

&

Saturday, March 20 – 7:15 pm – Norfolk Scope Arena – Norfolk, VA

@ Norfolk Admirals (34-28-3-3, 74 pts)

Third Place, East Division

The Admirals saved their season with a massive run after the All-Star Break when a coaching change in favor of Jim Johnson led Norfolk on a 13-2-1-1 record over the next 17 games. Then the momentum waned as Johnson was promoted again, this time called up to be an assistant coach with their NHL parent club, Tampa Bay. In the nine games since Johnson left Norfolk, the Admirals have gone 4-3-0-2 (10 points) and still hold a three-point cushion for third place in the East Divison. Even though the Admirals have a better road record than home record this year, they have eight of their last 12 games at Norfolk Scope Arena; however in the last 12 games they face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton four times, Hershey three times and Adirondack twice. Goalie Dustin Tokarski has started nine of the last ten games (5-3-0-2). The Admirals are without three of their top offensive threats as Brandon Bochenski, Mark Parrish and Paul Szczechura were all recalled by the Lightning shortly after the end of the Olympic Break. Dana Tyrell is currently riding a six-game point streak (8 points).
Leading Scorer: Brandon Bochenski (RW) – 40 points (21 goals, 19 assists) in 42 GP.
Leading Goaltender: Dustin Tokarski (G) – 2.51 GAA, 0.915 save pct., 22-18-3, 3 SO in 43 GP.
Who’s Hot: Dana Tyrell (C) – 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists) and a +3 rating in his last six games played. Adam Hall (RW) – 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) and a +4 rating in his last five games played. Ryan Craig (C) – 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) and a +1 rating in his last five games played.

Sunday, March 21 – 5:00 pm – Giant Center – Hershey, PA

@ Hershey Bears (50-13-0-3, 103 pts)

First Place, East Division

Hershey is just one point away from clinching the regular season East Division title; a Bears win or an Albany loss will tie up first place for Hershey. After beating the Phantoms in overtime on Friday night for their sixth straight win, the Bears had their streak snapped with a 5-4 shootout loss at Springfield on Saturday and then got thumped by Worcester 6-2 on Sunday in Massachusetts. Hershey also has a busy week leading up to their Sunday matinee against the Phantoms. The Bears travel to Binghamton on Wednesday night, host Albany on Friday, travel to Syracuse on Saturday night and then are back home to host Adirondack on Sunday. The Phantoms are still the only team in the AHL with three wins against Hershey this year; three teams have two wins against the Bears: Springfield (2-0-0-0), Albany (2-5-0-0) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (2-8-0-1)
Leading Scorer: Keith Aucoin (C) – 86 points (32 goals, 54 assists) in 59 GP.
Leading Goaltender: Michal Neuvirth (G) – 2.29 GAA, 0.919 save pct., 14-6-0, 1 SO in 20 GP.
Who’s Hot: Alexandre Giroux (LW) – 9 points (6 goals, 3 assists) and a +2 rating in his last six games played. Keith Aucoin (C) – 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) in his last five games played. Chris Bourque (LW) – 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in his last five games played.

Week 24 Game Results:

March 12, 2010 Hershey 5 @ Adirondack 4 - OT

March 13, 2010 Providence 0 @ Adirondack 4

March 14, 2010 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 1 @ Adirondack 2 – OT

Phantoms Player of the Week: (Week 24)

Joey Mormina – D – #3 3 GP, 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists), +1, 2 PIMs, 1 GWG

Joey Mormina led all Adirondack scorers with four points in three games during Week 24 action and for the second straight week a defenseman is the Phantoms player of the week. The Montreal, Quebec native had two assists in a crucial overtime loss against Hershey on Friday and then assisted on the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Providence. On Sunday, he scored the overtime-winning power play goal to beat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1, setting a new single season career high in the process with his fifth goal. He leads all Adirondack defensemen with a career-best 21 points (5 goals, 16 assists) and has 74 penalty minutes in 64 games played; he is also tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals.

Phantoms Quick Hits:

· OVERTIME DRAMA – The Phantoms played two overtime games in their three-game weekend at the Civic Center. They dropped a 5-4 game to Hershey on Friday night, but took down Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1 on Sunday when Joey Mormina scored a power play goal at 3:37. Adirondack is 3-3 in overtime games this season and the win on Sunday was the Phantoms first home OT victory since Nate Raduns scored at 1:28 of the extra session to beat Binghamton 3-2 on December 17, 2008 at Wachovia Spectrum.

· TWO STREAKS SNAPPED – Saturday’s win against Providence snapped a season-long five-game winless streak for Adirondack (0-4-1-0) and was the team’s first win in the month of March. Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win ended a six-game losing streak for the Phantoms on Sunday games; they had started the season a perfect 4-0 on Sundays, before losing six straight – the Phantoms are now 5-6-0-0 on Sunday games.

· POWER PLAY ON THE RISE – Adirondack’s power play rating, which has ranked at the bottom of the AHL for most of the season, has started to heat up lately, pulling the Phantoms out of the basement in the standings. After scoring power play goals in all three games last weekend and going 5-for-16 with the man-advantage (31.3%), Adirondack has now moved up to 27th in the AHL with a 13.2% power play rating.

· CLOSING IN ON A SPECIAL WIN – Phantoms Head Coach Greg Gilbert is just two wins away from his 300th career American Hockey League victory. He will become the 15th coach in AHL history to reach the 300 win mark; Gilbert (298) ranks second in the league in wins amongst active AHL coaches.

· GOING FOR THREE IN A ROW – Adirondack will be looking to have their most successful home stand of the season on Wednesday as they host the Hamilton Bulldogs at 7:00 pm. If the Phantoms beat Hamilton, not only will it be their first victory over the Bulldogs this season, but it will also match a season-high three-game winning streak and be the first time this season that Adirondack will have won three-straight home games; seven times this year they have won back-to-back home games without winning a third consecutive contest.

· CAREER BEST – Defenseman Joey Mormina is enjoying a career year statistically for the Adirondack Phantoms. The Montreal, Quebec native has already set career highs this season in assists (16) and points (21) and his overtime-winning goal on Sunday gave him a career-best five goals this year. His previous career highs were four goals (2007-08 with Albany), 13 assists (2005-06 with Manchester) and 13 points (2005-06 & 2007-08). Mormina is also tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals.

· APPROACHING MILESTONES – LW Garrett Klotz is 1 GP away from his 100th career Pro & AHL game. RW David Laliberte is 3 points shy of his 100th career AHL point and 3 goals away from his 50th career AHL goal. LW Mika Pyorala needs 5 points for his 250th career Pro point. G Johan Backlund is 25 saves away from his 8,000th career Pro save. D Sean Curry needs 4 GP to reach his 550th career Pro game. LW Andreas Nodl is 6 GP short of his 100th career AHL game.

Phantoms Recent Transactions

No Recent Transactions

Adirondack Phantoms Team Leaders:

Games Played: Jon Matsumoto (67)

Goals: Stefan Legein (25)

Assists: Patrick Maroon (30)

Points: Jon Matsumoto (50)

Plus/Minus: Mika Pyorala (+7)

Penalty Minutes: Matt Clackson (169)

Power Play Goals: David Laliberte (7)

Short Handed Goals: Stefan Legein (3)

Game-Winning Goals: Jon Matsumoto, Joey Mormina & Jason Ward (3)

Shots: Jon Matsumoto (203)

Shooting Percentage: Stefan Legein (19.2%)

Wins: Johan Backlund (21)

GAA: Johan Backlund (2.79)

Save Percentage: Johan Backlund (0.906)

Saves: Johan Backlund (1,216)

Shutouts: Johan Backlund (2)

####

Adirondack is back in action on Wednesday, March 17th as they host the Hamilton Bulldogs for a 7:00 pm St. Patrick’s Day face off at the Glens Falls Civic Center. During Wednesday’s game fans can purchase green beer at the concession stands and take advantage of two-dollar draft beer downstairs in the Labatt Blue Zone before the game and during the intermissions.

There is no better way to watch Phantoms Hockey than by sharing it with a group of your family and friends. Bring a group of 15 or more people to the Glens Falls Civic Center and qualify for incredible discounted ticket prices off the regular box office rates. For more information about group tickets, contact the Phantoms at 518-480-3355 or visit www.phantomshockey.com.