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GLENS FALLS, NY – The Adirondack Phantoms have announced their opening night roster for the 2010-11 season, presented by Bud Light. The team features 22 players including 14 who were with the Phantoms and last season and 8 rookies.
Phantoms MVP for 2009-10 Johan Backlund is looking to continue his success after a fine debut season in the U.S. in which the Swedish netminder went 21-17-2 with a goals against average of 2.79.
Forward David Laliberte returns to the Phantoms following an 18 goal and 46 point campaign in Adirondack last year and an 11 game NHL stint scoring 2 goals with the Flyers. Stefan Legein is the team’s top returning goal scorer after lighting the lamp 24 times for the Phantoms and adding 2 more with Philadelphia.
Familiar forces Matt Clackson, Garrett Klotz and Patrick Maroon are all back as well.
Centerman Jon Kalinski scored 10 goals and 28 points last with Adirondack and also played in 11 games with the Flyers. Right Wing Greg Moore joins the Phantoms for his fifth AHL season after splitting last year with Bridgeport and Syracuse of the AHL and Columbus in the NHL. Moore played the previous three seasons with Hartford while also appearing in some games with the New York Rangers.
Some of the solid and experienced returning defensemen include Marc-Andre Bourdon, Joonas Lehtivuori, Kevin Marshall and Logan Stephenson. They will be joined by veteran Dan Jancevski who is entering his 10th AHL season. Jancevski has nearly 700 games of AHL experience under his belt that has included a Calder Cup Championship with Hamilton in 2007 and an appearance in the Finals with Texas last year.
Brothers Mike and J.P. Testwuide will be teammates for the first time since they played juniors together in Waterloo, Iowa in 2005. Mike is a rookie out of Colorado College who scored 21 goals and 31 points in just 36 games last year. J.P. is the older brother who spent his rookie AHL season last year with the Houston Aeros which is Minnesota’s top affiliate.
Other young talents include Luke Pither who racked up 36 goals and 94 points with the Barrie Colts in the OHL last season and Zac Rinaldo who led the OHL in penalty minutes the past two years. Andrew Rowe played last season for the Michigan State Spartans and Ben Holmstrom returns after a 13 game stint with the Phantoms last year in which he scored 3 goals immediately after he completed his career at U-Mass Lowell. Eric Wellwood is the younger brother of former NHL’er Kyle Wellwood and had a standout career with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL where he scored 31 goals and 68 points last year.
Returning defenseman Erik Gustaffson and goalie Brian Stewart are a couple of Northern Michigan University products who joined the Phantoms at about the same time late last season.
Here is the full roster for the Phantoms:
No. Player Pos Ht Wt Shot Birthplace
2 LEHTIVUORI, Joonas D 5-11 180 R Tampere, Finland
3 BOURDON, M.A. D 6-0 225 L St.Hyacinthe, QC
4 MARSHALL, Kevin D 6-1 207 L Boucherville, ONT
5 JANCEVSKI, Dan D 6-3 212 L Windsor, ONT
6 ROWE, Andrew F 6-2 180 L Muskegon, MI
7 MAROON, Patrick LW 6-4 225 L St. Louis, MO
8 TESTWUIDE, Mike RW 6-3 210 R Vail, CO
9 LEGEIN, Stefan RW 5-10 185 R Oakville, ONT
10 LALIBERTE, David RW 6-1 198 L St.Liboire, QC
12 KLOTZ, Garrett LW 6-5 235 L Regina, SASK
15 CLACKSON, Matt LW 6-0 205 R Saskatoon, SK
17 WELLWOOD, Eric LW 5-11 179 L Windsor, ONT
18 TESTWUIDE, J.P. D 6-0 210 L Vail, CO
19 PITHER, Luke C 6-0 194 L Burketon, ONT
23 HOLMSTROM, Ben RW 6-1 180 R Colo. Springs, CO
26 RINALDO, Zac LW 5-11 180 L Hamilton, ONT
27 MOORE, Greg RW 6-1 225 R Lisbon, ME
28 STEPHENSON, Logan D 6-3 210 L Outlook, SASK
36 GUSTAFSSON, Erik D 5-10 180 L Kvissleby, Sweden
37 KALINSKI, Jon C 6-1 180 L Bonnyville, AB
Goaltenders
No. Player Pos Ht Wt Catch Birthplace
31 BACKLUND, Johan G 6-2 198 R Skelleftea, Sweden
35 STEWART, Brian G 6-4 195 L Burnaby, BC
Adirondack begins the regular season with three straight road games Friday at the Binghamton Senators, Saturday at the Albany Devils and Tuesday at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Adirondack's first home games of the 2010-11 regular season, presented by Bud Light, will be Friday, October 15th and Saturday, October 16th. The Opening Night game is presented by Potvin & Potvin Family Dentistry and Nemer Ford and the first 5000 fans will receive Phantoms magnet schedules courtesy of Potvin & Potvin Family Dentistry. Don't be left out! Tickets for all Phantoms games are on sale now. Discount rates are available for groups of 15 or more. Save off the individual ticket price by asking the Phantoms about their great group rate packages.
The AHL is celebrating their 75th anniversary season and is the top development league for the NHL. More than 85 percent of today's NHL players are American Hockey League graduates and more than 6 million fans attend AHL games every year.
Come watch future NHL stars and up-and-coming Flyers prospects with exciting Adirondack Phantoms hockey! A variety of ticket packages for all the fast-paced action are on sale now. The Phantoms selection of discount ticket packages includes 3-packs, 6-packs, 12 and 22 Select Plans, full season plans and Flex Packs. Choose the plan that works best for you! Get your tickets at the Phantoms office inside the Glens Falls Civic Center, online at ticketmaster.com, or by calling the Phantoms at 518-480-3355.
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