January 4, 2011

Upcoming Games

Wednesday, January 4, 7:00 - Binghamton Senators at Adirondack Phantoms
Friday, January 6, 7:00 - Hershey Bears vs. Adirondack Phantoms at Outdoor Classic in Philadelphia
Saturday, January 7, 7:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Hershey Bears


Phantoms Results

Wednesday, December 28 - Binghamton Senators 5 - Adirondack Phantoms 2
Friday, December 30 - Adirondack Phantoms 3 - Portland Pirates 2 (Shootout)
Saturday, December 31 - Adirondack Phantoms 2 - Albany Devils 1 (Overtime)

Coming Up - Get Ready for the Outdoor Classic!

The Phantoms wrap up their four-game stretch of games at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Wednesday night by again hosting the Binghamton Senators. It is the third visit to Glens Falls for the B-Sens since December 18. The homestand finale features $1 hot-dog specials all game long.

Then the Outdoor Classic is next. On Friday night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the Phantoms will take on the Hershey Bears on the same ice used by the Flyers and Rangers in the Winter Classic on January 2. The game is expected to break the all-time AHL attendance record of 21,673 set last year at the Whale Bowl outdoor game in Connecticut.. Guesses and projections currently range from 35,000 fans to near-sellout numbers of 45,000 or more.

The historic game will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for most of the players and a great celebration of hockey, the Phantoms, the Bears and the AHL for everyone involved.

One player with outdoor game experience for the Phantoms is Michael Leighton who started for the Flyers in the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston. Leighton took a 2-1 overtime loss in the game in a hard-fought contest. Leighton is expected to get the start this Friday in the Outdoor Classic against Hershey.

It is the third outdoor game in AHL history. In 2010, Syracuse hosted Binghamton at the New York State Fairgrounds. In 2011, Connecticut took on Hartford at Rentshler Field in East Hartford. This game is the first to be held on the same ice as an NHL Winter Classic event.

Friday's game will be broadcast on Comcast Sports Network in Philadelphia and in surrounding markets. The game will again be shown on NHL Network on Saturday at 4:00. Brian Smith and Ian Laperriere will announce the action on the television broadcast. Smith is a former broadcaster for the Phantoms who serves as the Philadelphia Flyers Manager of Broadcasting and Media Services. Laperriere is an NHL veteran of over 1,000 games with the Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche and Philadelphia Flyers.

Bob Rotruck and Jason Myrtetus will have the radio broadcast of the game in Philadelphia on 94.1-FM WIP and in Glens Falls on Q101.7-FM. Rotruck is in his second second as Voice of the Phantoms and is a veteran announcer of almost 2,000 games in the four major sports. He also serves as Director of Media Relations for the Adirondack Phantoms. Myrtetus has served as a Flyers radio host and assistant programming director at CBS Radio.

The Phantoms and Bears will have to regain their focus following the magical night in Philadelphia because both teams return to action just 24 hours later at Giant Center in Hershey for a rematch.

Phantoms at the Winter Classic

Some former Adirondack Phantoms received the opportunity to shine on the national stage at the NHL Winter Classic on Monday. Brayden Schenn picked an ideal day to score his first ever NHL goal when he fired in a rebound past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and then celebrated with a jump into the glass and a series of fist-pumps. The younger brother of Luke Schenn of the Toronto Maple Leafs began the season with the Phantoms. It wasn't too long ago that he was recording his first ever professional hat trick in a game on October 14 against Bridgeport at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

It gave Phantoms fans a little bit of deja-vu. Two years ago, Danny Syvret had been called up to Philadelphia from Adirondack and then scored his first ever NHL goal in the Winter Classic in the 2010 event at Fenway Park in Boston.

Marc-Anddre Bourdon, Harry Zolnierczyk and a Phantoms player from late last season, Matt Read, also received significant minutes of playing time in the game. Bourdon received his first ever NHL call-up about six weeks ago and has stuck with the big club and been a regular in their lineup ever since.

Phantoms Recap

The Adirondack Phantoms went 2-1 last week to close out 2011 including back-to-back thrillers over New Year's Weekend. Tyler Brown scored in the 12th round of the shootout on Friday night to propel Adirondack to victory and then Mike Testwuide registered an overtime game-winner on New Year's Eve.

The Phantoms vaulted past the Albany Devils in the standings on the strength of their dramatic victories. At 17-13-2 for 36 points, Adirondack is in second place in the Northeast Division trailing Connecticut by six points. In the conference standings, the Phantoms are ninth, one point behind Portland and two behind Worcester in eighth and seventh. The top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs in April.

Northeast Division Standings

1. Connecticut Whale (40 pts)
2. Adirondack Phantoms (36 pts)
3. Albany Devils (35 pts)
4. Springfield Falcons (30 pts)
5. Bridgeport Sound Tigers (30 pts)

Week in Review

Wednesday, December 28 (Binghamton 5 - Adirondack 2)

The Adirondack Phantoms returned from the holiday break and again ran into the Mike McKenna show. The Senators goalie once again turned in a number of tremendous saves in helping his team to a victory.

Ben Holmstrom and Jason Akeson scored for the Phantoms. Rob Klinkhammer's late empty-netter sealed the victory and gave him a hat trick in the win.

The game was witnessed not only by 3,500+ Phantoms fans but also by dozens of dogs on Pucks and Paws Night at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The first ever promotion allowing Phantoms fans to bring their dogs to the game was a tremendous success as our four-legged friends put their paws together and had a howlin' good time cheering for the Phantoms!

Friday, December 30 (Adirondack 3 - Portland 2, SO)

Tyler Brown ended a marathon shootout, the longest in Adirondack Phantoms history, with a 12th round tally as Jason Bacashihua out-dueled Justin Pogge for the dramatic victory. Bacashihua allowed only one goal to slip past him of the 12 Pirates shooters he faced.

Mike Testwuide and Eric Wellwood scored goals in regulation for Adirondack.

The Phantoms finished the season series with a 2-2-0 mark against the Pirates.

Saturday, December 31 (Adirondack 2 - Albany 1, OT)

The Phantoms closed out 2011 in style with an overtime win against the Albany Devils. Mike Testwuide blasted in the rebound of an Erik Gustafsson shot for the game-winner.

Jason Bacashihua turned in another great performance between the pipes and was less than five minutes from a shutout when Vladimir Zharkov was finally able to get Albany on the board and tie the game.

Jason Akeson scored on the power play earlier in the night and then assisted on the overtime game-winner to move past Denis Hamel for the team-lead in points.

Phantoms Breakdown

-- Denis Hamel played in his 1000th ever professional game on Saturday and received a terrific standing ovation from the audience during the P.A. announcement of his accomplishment. Dan Jancevski also received a fine ovation on the announcement of his 800th all-time AHL game. Jancevski is just the 33rd player all-time and only the 12th defenseman to play in 800 AHL games.

--Denis Hamel leads the Phantoms with 11 goals. He is second on the team in points with 23. He is third in the league in total shots with 127. Four of his goals have come on the power play as well as seven of his assists. Hamel's 326 career goals place him 11th all-time in AHL history, one ahead of former Adirondack Red Wing great Glenn Merkosky.

-- Jason Akeson has passed Denis Hamel in a close race for the team-lead in points. Akeson now has 24 while Hamel has 23.

-- Jason Akeson and Ben Holmstrom are tied for second on the team in goals with nine apiece.

-- Mike Testwuide has four goals in his last five games and is on a two game goal scoring streak.

-- Holmstrom led all Phantoms scorers in the month of December despite missing a couple of games on call-up to Philadelphia. The Phantoms captain had five goals and three assists for eight points.

-- Blake Kessel led Phantoms defensemen in scoring in December with five points, all of them on assists.

-- Michael Leighton and Jason Bacashiuhua had almost identical numbers for December. Leighton had a 2.17 goals against average and .926 saves percentage while Bacashihua checked in with a 2.18 goals against and a .928 percentage.

-- All four of Jason Bacashihua's starts at home have gone to overtime or shootout. He is 3-1 in those games including 2-1 in shootouts.

-- The Phantoms' last three Saturday night home games have all been thrilling overtime wins. Mike Testwuide scored the winner on December 31 against Albany. Before that, Ben Holmstrom finished matters against Rochester on December 10. And the previous Saturday home game before that was on November 26 when Jon Kalinski knocked out the Albany Devils.

-- The Phantoms are 3rd in the conference and 10th in the league in team defense allowing 2.69 goals per game.

-- Adirondack is 16th in the league (out of 30) in total offense with 2.84 goals per game.

--The Phantoms are 13-1-1 when leading after two periods.

--The Phantoms are 15-5-1 when they score first. The Phantoms are 9-4-2 in one-goal decisions.

- Adirondack is 5-2 in games decided after regulation. The Phantoms are 3-1 in overtime games and are 2-1 in shootouts.

--Adirondack is 10-5-1 at home this year and now stands at an amazing 17-5-1 since mid-March of last season. The Phantoms have just six regulation losses in their last 32 home games going an impressive 21-6-5 since last February.

Phantoms Leaders (Goals - Assists - Points):

Jason Akeson 8-15-24
Denis Hamel 11-12-13
Ben Holmstrom 9-9-18
Garrett Roe 3-13-16
Mike Testwuide 5-10-15
Eric Wellwood 6-8-14
Tom Sestito 8-6-14

Michael Leighton - 11-11-0, 2.44, .920
Jason Bacashihua - 6-3-1, 2.84, .914

Upcoming Opponents

Binghamton Seantors (Ottawa Senators) - Once again, the Phantoms will take on the Binghamton Senators. It's the fifth meeting of the year between the two teams and the fourth encounter since December 16th. Adirondack began their current homestand with a 5-2 loss against Binghamton which is their only loss of the stretch.

Despite playing better lately, the Senators are still mired in last place in the East Division and tied in the cellar in the conference at 14-20-2 for 30 points as they try to recover from their sluggish start.

NHL veteran of over 700 games and former New York Islander Mark Parrish serves as the team's captain and is also their leading scorer with 11 goals and 21 points.

Reigning league MVP Corey Locke missed two months with injury but is back to smartly set-up his teammates again with his play-making abilities. Locke lad the league last season with 86 points. He has two goals and 11 assists in 15 games thus far in 2011-12.

Pat Cannone out of Miami (Ohio) is one of their top young players. The rookie center is tied with Parrish for the B-Sens scoring lead with 21 points including a team-leading 13 helpers.

Mike McKenna has been something of a Phantoms' killer this year with some outstanding goaltending in the previous matchups. The St. Lawrence University product who is engaged to a woman from Queensbury has thrived against Adirondack with 140 total saves on 146 shots for a .959 saves percentage and a goal-against average of only 1.5 against the Phantoms. He has recorded nights with 37, 33, 39 and 31 saves in his victories over Adirondack.

Overall, McKenna's numbers are somewhat more human going 8-9-0, 2.78, .922.

McKenna is expected to get the start on Wednesday night after 20-year-old goalie Robin Lehner was suspended for three games due to an altercation with an official. Former Phantoms goalie Brian Stewart has been recalled by Binghamton from Elmira (ECHL) to again serve as their backup.



Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals) - The Phantoms and Bears are meeting for the second and third times this weekend in the home-and-home weekend series in Philadelphia on Friday and in Hershey on Saturday. On the strength of a 7-2-1 stretch in their last 10 games, the Bears have made it to the top of the Eastern Conference standings at 19-8-6 for 44 points.

The only time the Phantoms and Bears have hooked up this year it was one of the best games of the season. Harry Zolnierczyk scored with six minutes remaining as the Phantoms pulled out a thrilling 2-1 win on October 29 at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Michael Leighton out-dueled Dany Sabourin in the matchup with both goalies making a number of spectacular saves.

Hershey's power play is clicking at an amazing 32% rate to lead the league with 48 goals on 150 opportunities. The next closest team in power play success is Oklahoma City at 22%. The Bears' penalty kill is best in the Eastern Conference and third in the AHL at 85.9%. The Bears offense racks up a league-leading 3.8 goals per game while their defense is in the middle of the pack at 16th allowing 2.9 per contest.

Veteran center Keith Aucoin has been on an amazing and record-setting pace for assists with 46 so far this year. He is on a pace to surpass the AHL's longstanding all-time assist record of 89 set by George "Red" Sullivan with Hershey in 1953-54. Aucoin was the league's most valuable player in 2009-10 when he led the circuit with 106 points including 71 assists and 35 goals. He passed 700 career points in the AHL last season and is rapidly on his way to the 800 point milestone.

Chris Bourque, son of NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque and older brother of Connecticut Whale Ryan Bourque, leads the Bears with 18 goals. Jasob Mcflicker and Graham Mink have 12 goals each.

Brayden Holtby and Dany Sabourin have split the goaltending duties or Mark French's club. Holtby in 20 games has gone 11-7-3, 2.57, .902. Sabourin is a former Pittsburgh Penguin netminder who served as Marc-Andre Fleury's backup. He has gone 8-4-2, 2.82, .908 in his second season with the Bears.

Transactions

December 24 - Ben Holmstrom returned on loan from Philadelphia (NHL)
December 24 - Tom Sestito returned on loan from Philadelphia (NHL)
December 30 - Erik Gustafsson loaned from Philadelphia (NHL)
December 30 - Andy Thomas released from PTO and returned to Trenton (ECHL)

Phantoms Day-by-Day

Tuesday, January 3 - Practice at GFCC (10:00am)
Wednesday, January 4 - Practice at GFCC (10:00am). Game vs. Binghamton (7:00pm). Bus departs after game.
Thursday, January 5 - Practice at Skate-Zone in Voorhees, NJ. Time to be determined.
Friday, January 6 - Practice at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia (10:00am). Outdoor Classic Game vs. Hershey (7:00pm)
Saturday, January 7 - Practice at Giant Center, Hershey (11:00am). Game at Hershey (7:00pm)

Outdoor Game Ticket Pickup and Bus Trip Info Announced

Phantoms Season Ticket Holders can now pick up their tickets for the team's upcoming outdoor game at the Phantoms office. Adirondack will take on the Hershey Bears at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia on Friday, January 6 at 7:00pm. Be a part of history!

Upstate Transit is arranging a day trip to Philadelphia for the game as well. Get bus transportation only ($45 adult, $40 child) OR bus transportation and a game ticket ($70 adult, $65 child)

It will be a ton of fun as you travel with excited Phantoms fans ready to make noise in the huge outdoor venue. Pick up your order forms at the Adirondack Phantoms office located downstairs at the Glens Falls Civic Center during the week and also at upcoming Adirondack Phantoms home games. For more information, call Upstate Transit at 518-584-5252.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, January 4, 7:00 - Binghamton Senators at Phantoms. $1 hot dogs.

Friday, January 6, 7:00 - Outdoor Classic! Hershey Bears vs. Adirondack Phantoms at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Saturday, January 7, 7:00 - Adirondack Phantom at Hershey Bears

Friday, January 13, 7:00 - Hamilton Bulldogs at Adirondack Phantoms. Fun in the Sun Weekend! $2 draft-beer specials

Saturday, January 14, 7:00 - Manchester Monarchs at Adirondack Phantoms. Fun in the Sun Weekend! Post-game Pics with Players on the Ice.


Get great savings with the Phantoms when you bring your group of 15 friends or co-workers to a game. Group-rates available as low as $13 per person. Call the Phantoms to find out more at 518-480-3355.

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.. Be sure to follow the Phantoms on twitter @phantomshockey and on facebook.com/adkhockey