January 14, 2011

The Adirodnack Phantoms lit it up for five goals for the second night in a row and finished a perfect weekend homestand with a 5-3 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in front of almost 4,000 at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Saturday night.

Five different shooters found the back of the net for Adirondack who also had eight different players account for their ten goals on the entire weekend. The extremely balanced scoring attack was led by Denis Hamel who was the only Phantom with multiple goals across both games.

Shane Harper (6th), Denis Hamel (14th), Kevin Marshall (2nd), Eric Wellwood (7th) and Ben Holmstrom (11th) all contributed to the scoring attack. Michael Leighton made 25 saves on 28 shots to improve to 14-12-0.

Adirondack closed the gap on division leading Connecticut to a mere two points as the Whale lost their Saturday night game at Norfolk 4-2. The Phantoms have an opportunity to move into a first place tie in the Northeast Division with their upcoming Monday afternoon game at the Albany Devils.

The Phantoms got out of the gates quickly with Shane Harper picking up a rebound and slamming in the first of the night just one minute into the game to give Adirondack a 1-0 lead.

Manchester would bounce back with a tying goal at 4:33 from Brandon Kouzn (10th) and then a go-ahead goal at 10:20 from Jordan Nolan (7th) from a sharp angle that appeared to bounce off Leighton's shoulder as it was sent towards the net from along the goal-line.

But Adirondack would get moving again on Monarchs goalie Martin Jones. Denis Hamel picked up a long rebound of his own saved slapshot on the power play and find enough daylight on the short-side to snap one through from the left circle for his third of the weekend to tie the score at 2-2.

Still in the first period, and less than two minutes later, Kevin Marshall would shoot from center-point a puck that appeared to bounce off a tied-up defenseman and past Jones. It was Marshall's second goal of the year and his first since opening night. He benefited from a screen by Tye McGinn who was bodying up in the slot to pave the way for the goal.

Tom Sestito assisted on the back-to-back goals as Adirondack held a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission. Andy Bohmbach assisted on the Marshall goal for his first point as a Phantom while playing some of his best hockey since joining the team. The second-year pro out of the University of Wisconsin led all ECHL rookies in scoring last year as a member of the Toledo Walleye while in the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

Adirondack outshot Manchester 16-10 in the first period and seemed to mostly control the action but they still only had the one goal lead to show for it. That would quickly change in a dominating second period performance in which the Phantoms would outshoot the visitors 13-6 and extend their lead to 5-2.

Eric Wellwood got a quick step on a couple of defenders as he split through the Monarchs, raced in towards Martin Jones, and elevated a perfect backhander upstairs for his 7th goal of the year on one of the more impressive Phantoms goals of the season. Matt Walker rifled the stretch-pass to him for a fine assist and Adirondack led 4-2 about seven minutes into the middle period. Wellwood almost converted on another similar breakaway opportunity later in the game.

Adirondack was firing away at all angles on Jones later in the second period on a sustained attack in the Manchester zone. After a number of close-calls, the puck came back out to Ben Holmstrom at the top of the right circle who shot through traffic and registered his 11th goal of the season. The puck appeared to glance off a Monarchs defenseman somewhat similar to the goal that Marshal recorded in the first period. At first, the goal was awarded to Mike Testwuide who was attempting to deflect it in the slot. But upon review, the scoring was changed to credit the tally to the Phantoms captain instead.

Manchester tried to make it a game again in the third as they outshot the Phantoms 10-2 while also removing their goalie Martin Jones in favor of Jeff Zatkoff. A power-play one-timer from the right point by Thomas Hickey with 6:26 to go pulled the Monarchs to within a couple but 5-3 would go on to be the final score. Adirondack had a couple of close-ish opportunities for empty-net goals in the closing minute but fell short of equaling their season-high of six goals which they reached on October 8 and again on October 14 in their first two games of the season.

Still, Adirondack scored five goals in a game for the first time since December 2 at Norfolk, and they happened to do it twice.

The Phantoms are quickly making things very exciting in both the division and conference standings. Adirondack is in the eighth and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on the strength of their five wins in their last seven games. They are one point behind seventh place Worcester and now are just two points back of sixth place Manchester.

In the Northeast Division, the Phantoms are two points behind Connecticut for first place, but also with two games in hand. The Phantoms have an opportunity to move into first in the division for the first time since October with their upcoming game on Monday. That game will mark the midway point of the season for the Phantoms as it will be their 38th game of the 76-game regular season schedule.

Adirondack has won five of their last six home games and improved to 13-6-1 at home overall this year. The Phantoms are 17-6-1 when they score the first goal. The early tone-setters make a big difference for the North Country skaters who only have three of their 20 victories this year when allowing the opposition to strike first.

The Phantoms improved to 14-1-1 when leading after two periods. Joe Paterson's continued focus on raising the total shot-count has paid dividends. Adirondack has outshot their opponents in five straight.

Phantoms fans not only enjoyed the back-to-back wins but also got into the summer theme at the arena over Fun in the Sun weekend with a number of fun competitions and promotions arranged throughout. After the game on Saturday, the Phantoms players returned to the ice at individual stations all along the boards on Post-Game Picture night with the team. Hundreds of fans lined up to have their pictures taken with the victorious players.

Adirondack will travel to Manchester for the first time this season on Wednesday, January 25. The Monarchs lone return engagement to Glens Falls will be on February 19.

Scratches for the game included Andrew Rowe, Luke Pither and Blake Kessel as well as Garrett Klotz and Oskars Bartulis. Returning to the lineup after serving one game suspensions on Friday were Tom Sestito and Oliver Lauridsen.

Adirondack travels to Albany on Monday for a 2:00pm start on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. They then return for back-to-back home games next weekend against Albany and Bridgeport on Friday and Saturday including $2 draft-beer specials on Friday and Pink in the Rink to benefit the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital on Saturday.



Upcoming Events

Monday, January 16, 2:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Albany Devils

Friday, January 20, 7:00 - Albany Devils at Adirondack Phantoms. $2 draft beer specials

Saturday, January 21, 7:00 - Bridgeport Sound Tigers vs. Adirondack Phantoms. Pink in the Rink with special pink jerseys presented by C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital.

Sunday, January 22, 5:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Binghamton Senators

Monday, January 23, 7:00 - Phantoms Power Hour LIVE at McGinny's on Glen Street and on Q101.7. Special guests, Mike Testwuide and Tom Sestito. Also with Tim McManus of the Post-Star.

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.

Check out the Half-Price Discount Outlet at phantomshockey.com for great savings from some of our awesome Phantoms corporate partners. Get half-off cards to local restaurants and other stores!

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

Manchester Monarchs 3 at Adirondack Phantoms 5 - Status: Final
Saturday, January 14, 2012 - Glens Falls Civic Center

Manchester 2 0 1 - 3
Adirondack 3 2 0 - 5

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Harper 6 (Manning, Kalinski), 1:00. 2, Manchester, Kozun 10 (Czarnik, King), 4:33. 3, Manchester, Nolan 7 (Cliche), 10:20. 4, Adirondack, Hamel 14 (Sestito), 14:45 (PP). 5, Adirondack, Marshall 2 (Bohmbach, Sestito), 16:18. Penalties-Watt Mch (fighting), 2:06; Manning Adk (fighting), 2:06; Kozun Mch (hooking), 4:41; King Mch (tripping), 13:11; Jancevski Adk (cross-checking), 20:00.

2nd Period-6, Adirondack, Wellwood 8 (Walker), 7:01. 7, Adirondack, Holmstrom 11 (Testwuide, Marshall), 17:36. Penalties-Testwuide Adk (holding), 7:40; Nolan Mch (high-sticking), 18:03; Testwuide Adk (interference), 19:26.

3rd Period-8, Manchester, Hickey 2 (Deslauriers, Czarnik), 13:34 (PP). Penalties-Nolan Mch (holding), 2:43; Sestito Adk (hooking), 12:53; Nolan Mch (roughing), 17:40; Holmstrom Adk (roughing), 17:40.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 10-6-10-26. Adirondack 16-13-2-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 4; Adirondack 1 / 4.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 11-11-1 (29 shots-24 saves); Zatkoff 10-6-1 (2 shots-2 saves). Adirondack, Leighton 14-12-0 (26 shots-23 saves).
A-3,986
Referees-Jon McIsaac (39).
Linesmen-Jim Harper (59), Frank Murphy (29).