December 17, 2011

Adirondack built a 4-1 lead at Syracuse early in the third period and then hung on from there for an exciting 4-3 victory against the Crunch Saturday night.

Denis Hamel (11th), Andrew Rowe (1st), Garrett Klotz (2nd) and Ben Holmstrom (8th) all lit the lamp for the Phantoms while winning goalie Jason Bacashihua was stellar in his first game since Thanksgiving turning in a 39 save performance in the victory.

J.F. Jacques had a hat trick to provide Syracuse with all of their offense.

Hamel got the Phantoms on the board in the first period chopping down a puck that was driven at Crunch goalie Jeff Deslauriers off a face-off win by Ben Holmstrom. Hamel bounced it in for his team-leading 11th of the year and also his historic 326th goal of his AHL career pushing the 34-year-old past Glenn Merkosky on the league's all-time scoring list and into a tie for 11th place.

Adirondack would score them back-to-back a little over two minutes apart early in the second period. Andrew Rowe would strike in just his third game of the season after missing the first two months with injury. The second year pro out of Michigan State rifled the shot after Luke Pither blasted one off the post. Rowe's first attempt was saved by Deslauriers but Rowe's second crack at it would go into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

Cullen Eddy jumped in quickly to keep the puck in front of the blue-line and found an open Garrett Klotz while the Crunch defensemen were a bit scrambly. Klotz converted for his second of the year to make it 3-0.

The score would stay 3-0 until the closing seconds of the middle period when J.F. Jacques would score on the power play on a cross-ice feed from Peter Holland with 18.5 seconds left in the frame giving the Crunch some momentum into the second intermission.

Ben Holmstrom stole the puck at the Syracuse line early in the third period and raced forward on a shorthanded breakaway only to be hauled down from behind by Bryan Rodney. The Phantoms captain converted on the team's first penalty shot of the year in what proved to be a pivotal goal for a 4-1 Phantoms lead. It was Holmstrom's eighth of the year and also extended his recent goal-scoring streak to three games.

Ben Holmstrom also engaged former Phantom Patrick Maroon in a second period fight as the two ex-teammates squared off and exchanged a few punches.

J.F. Jacques would score a couple more goals four minutes apart to close the gap to 4-3 with 9:40 left. Syracuse also had a disallowed goal in there and even hit the post earlier in the period in their 18 shot attack in the closing 20 minutes.

Leading 4-3 with still nine minutes remaining, the Phantoms defense would bare down and get several key blocks while Jason Bacashihua turned in a number of tremendous saves down the stretch to get the win.

Adirondack was outshot by Syracuse 42-28. The Crunch went 1-for-5 on the power play while Adirondack was 0-for-4.

The Phantoms took a three games to two lead in the season series against Syracuse after the Crunch had initially won the first two games. Adirondack and Syracuse still play each other five more times this year but will not meet again until February at the GFCC. Then the Phantoms and Crunch will face-off four times in a rivalry-filled month of March.

Adirondack's victory improved their record to 15-10-2 on the season and helped them gain a valuable standings point on first place Connecticut in the Northeast Division race. The Phantoms now trail the Whale by four points after Connecticut lost their Saturday night game in a shootout. The Phantoms travel to Hartford for a Northeast Division showdown next Wednesday for the last game before the holiday break.

The Phantoms conclude their three-in-three weekend Sunday afternoon against the Binghamton Senators at the Glens Falls Civic Center at 3:00pm. The game will feature a post-game open-skate with the Phantoms players presented by Glens Falls Hospital.

Scratches for the Phantoms included Eric Wellwood, Oskars Bartulis, Andreas Lilja and Johan Backlund.

Upcoming Events

Sunday, December 18, 3:00 - Binghamton Senators at Phantoms. Sunday Family 3-Pack for only $39. 3 tickets, 3 sodas, 3 hot dogs, 1 large popcorn, 1 program. A savings of $26. Add extra fans to your 3-pack for only $13 per fan! Also a post-game open-skate with Phantoms players courtesy of Glens Falls Hospital.

Monday, December 19, 7:00 - Phantoms Power Hour LIVE from McGinny's. Player guests Jon Kalinski and Andy Thomas and also Tim McManus from the Post-Star

Wednesday, December 21, 7:00 - Phantoms at Connecticut Whale

Wednesday, December 28, 7:00 - Binghamton Senators at Phantoms. Pups and Pucks! Bring your pet to the game! Also $1 hot dogs.

Phantoms Holiday Socks are on sale now. $49 package for 4 tickets to a premium Phantoms game, an autographed puck, a program, all in a game-worn Phantoms hockey sock. $59 for an autographed stick with the 4 premium game tickets and game-worn Phantoms hockey sock.

Catch all the action of Phantoms hockey all season long on the team's flagship station, Classic Hits Q101.7 and on phantomshockey.com. Bob Rotruck has the broadcast coverage 30 minutes prior to game-time with Countdown to Faceoff.

The Adirondack Phantoms are now over 10,000 members strong on their social media networks. Be sure to follow us on twitter @phantomshockey and on facebook.com/adkhockey


Adirondack Phantoms 4 at Syracuse Crunch 3 - Status: Final
Saturday, December 17, 2011 - Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter

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

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Hamel 11 (Holmstrom), 8:21. Penalties-Kalinski Adk (slashing), 3:14; Clark Syr (checking to the head), 5:36; Sexton Syr (interference), 12:14.

2nd Period-2, Adirondack, Rowe 1 (Pither, Testwuide), 1:52. 3, Adirondack, Klotz 2 (Eddy, Brown), 4:12. 4, Syracuse, Jacques 9 (Holland, Carle), 19:41 (PP). Penalties-Carle Syr (holding the stick), 8:22; served by Akeson Adk (bench minor - too many men), 11:00; Holmstrom Adk (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 11:00; Maroon Syr (slashing, fighting), 11:00; Pither Adk (slashing), 19:21.

3rd Period-5, Adirondack, Holmstrom 8 2:25 (SH TXT_PS). 6, Syracuse, Jacques 10 (Maroon), 6:31. 7, Syracuse, Jacques 11 (Carle, Maroon), 10:20. Penalties-Eddy Adk (roughing), 0:27; Testwuide Adk (tripping), 8:03.

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 9-9-9-27. Syracuse 12-12-18-42.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 3; Syracuse 1 / 5.
Goalies-Adirondack, Bacashihua 4-2-1 (42 shots-39 saves). Syracuse, Drouin-Deslauriers 4-6-0 (27 shots-23 saves).
A-4,747
Referees-Jamie Koharski (84), Ryan Hersey (46).
Linesmen-Jeff Walker (28), Tim Kotyra (53).