Syracuse, NY-Michael Ryan's empty-net goal with 10.6 seconds to go capped the first hat trick in Adirondack Phantoms history in a 6-4 victory at the Syracuse Crunch Saturday night. Ryan scored his 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the season including the game-winner breaking a 4-4 tie eight minutes into the 3rd period in the wild contest.

The Phantoms improved to 5-0 against the Crunch this year and closed to within three points of them in the East Division standings.

Mike Testwuide had his first professional multi-goal game with his 3rd and 4th goals of the year in the first period. Denis Hamel rounded out the scoring with his 14th of the year which is now tied with Ryan for most on the team.

The six goals is the most the Phantoms have scored in a game this season. They had previously scored five goals in a game on three different occasions including twice against Syracuse.

The last Phantom to score a hat trick was Rob Sirianni in the last regular season home game for the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Spectrum on April 10, 2009 in a 5-2 win over the Hershey Bears.

The back-and-forth, wild affair saw the Phantoms race out to early 2-0 and 3-1 leads. But the Crunch stormed back with three straight goals in the 2nd period to take a 4-3 advantage before the Phantoms would close out the scoring with the last three goals of the game.

Mike Testwuide crashed the net a couple of times in the first period for both of his goals. His first came when Denis Hamel picked off a clearing attempt on the blue-line and the rebound of his shot came out to Testwuide to shoot it in. His second goal came with Michael Ryan stealing it away on the right-wing side of the goal-line and feeding the trailing Testwuide for the finish.

Nick Bonino scored late in the first period to close the gap to 2-1 at the first break. Johan Backlund was stellar in net particularly in the first period with 15 saves against a 16 shot Syracuse barrage.

Ryan would give the Phantoms the 3-1 lead about a minute into the second period after Stefan Legein's shot from the left circle was knocked down by starting Crunch goaltender J.P. Levasseur and tipped across the crease by Jon Kalinski for Ryan to put it home.

Syracuse would get goals from Deschamps, Sharp and Sexton to regain control and take a 4-3 lead. They also had another goal disallowed when Backlund was interfered with by a Syracuse forward.

Johan Backlund cleared a dump-in to the corner for Danny Syvret who rifled a long stretch pass to Denis Hamel on the Syracuse line. Hamel converted on the breakaway for his 14th to tie the game at 4-4 at the 2nd intermission.

Ryan's game winning goal eight minutes into the third period came on a quick shot turning around from the left-wing wall that deflected off the stick of Crunch defenseman Mark Mitera and past relief netminder Time Pielmeier.

Johan Backlund made several fine saves for the rest of the third to preserve the lead. And got a little lucky on a close-call for a fluky potential goal that just missed. Joe DiPenta of Syracuse banked it in from the red-line with two minutes left. As Backlund went behind the goal to get what he thought was a dump-in, the puck took a funny bounce off the wall and rolled almost right towards the open net. It missed the far post by a couple of inches and the Phantoms barely hung onto their one goal lead.

In the closing seconds, Syrvet played the puck forward to Michael Ryan who buried the empty-netter from the left-wing wall on the red line for the historic first Adirondack Phantoms hat trick.

The Phantoms are 11-6-3 since December 17 and also sport a record of 9-6-3 under Head Coach Joe Paterson.

All teams in the AHL have no practices for the next four days for the All-Star Break.

The AHL All-Star Skills Competition is Sunday in Hershey, PA and the All-Star Game takes place Monday night on AHLLive.com and locally on Time Warner Cable featuring Mike "Doc" Emrick on play-by-play.

Notes: Marc-Andre Bourdon, Dan Jancevski, Matt Clackson, Eric Wellwood were scratches. NHL veteran defenseman Matt Walker played his first game back with the Phantoms and got engaged in several post-whistle skirmishes standing up for his new teammates. Zac Rinaldo dropped the gloves in the first period with Eric Regan of the Crunch. It was Rinaldo's league leading 22nd major penalty this season.

Sunday, January 30 (All-Star Break)
Friday, February 4, 7:30 - Syracuse Crunch at Adirondack Phantoms
Saturday, February 5, 5:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Hamilton Bulldogs

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.

Adirondack Phantoms 6 at Syracuse Crunch 4 - Status: Final
Saturday, January 29, 2011 - Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter

Adirondack 2 2 2 - 6
Syracuse 1 3 0 - 4

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Testwuide 3 (Hamel), 3:44. 2, Adirondack, Testwuide 4 (Ryan), 16:12. 3, Syracuse, Bonino 5 (Green), 18:01 (PP). Penalties-Kalinski Adk (hooking), 8:08; Rinaldo Adk (fighting), 11:23; Regan Syr (fighting), 11:23; Palmieri Syr (cross-checking), 13:54; Stephenson Adk (hooking), 17:19; Laliberte Syr (hooking), 19:47.

2nd Period-4, Adirondack, Ryan 12 (Kalinski, Legein), 1:08 (PP). 5, Syracuse, Deschamps 9 (Palmieri, Bonino), 2:40. 6, Syracuse, Sharp 5 (Salters, Guenin), 5:36. 7, Syracuse, Sexton 9 (Green, Guenin), 12:10. 8, Adirondack, Hamel 14 (Syvret, Backlund), 15:43. Penalties-Kalinski Adk (roughing), 8:17; Clark Syr (roughing), 16:43; Maroon Syr (misconduct - unsportsmanlike conduct), 16:43.

3rd Period-9, Adirondack, Ryan 13 (Testwuide, Walker), 8:13. 10, Adirondack, Ryan 14 (Syvret), 19:49 (EN). Penalties-Clark Syr (hooking), 4:20; Hamel Adk (hooking), 4:35.

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 7-14-12-33. Syracuse 16-14-8-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 1 / 4; Syracuse 1 / 4.
Goalies-Adirondack, Backlund 6-12-2 (38 shots-34 saves). Syracuse, Levasseur 6-14-3 (11 shots-8 saves); Pielmeier 10-14-1 (21 shots-19 saves).
A-5,608
Referees-Jeff Smith (49).
Linesmen-Brian Lemon (25), Fraser McIntyre (94).