February 4, 2012

For just an instant, it appeared the Phantoms had pulled off the most miraculous of late-game comebacks. With just one second remaining, Denis Hamel spun at the red-line and rocketed an incredible slapshot straight into the goal to appear to garner a 3-3 tie against the Providence Bruins. But the linesman immediately waved-off the miracle goal on an offside call with a couple of Adirondack players still across the blue-line in the Bruins' zone. And the cheering, screaming, hugging and hysteria at what the fans initially thought was the most amazing of finishes gradually faded and turned to frustrated disbelief with the knowledge that the goal they had just seen would, in fact, not count.

It was an odd finish for a night that saw the largest crowd in the last two years for the Phantoms. The night got off to a rockin' start and had an electric atmosphere long before the game had started...or the gates had even opened. A couple thousand excited an jubilant fans lined up around the block at 5:30 to get their Jimmer Fredette bobbleheads on the special night with the Phantoms honoring the local hometown hero and basketball star.

4,923 were on hand for a Standing Room Only turnout. 4,806 is the seating capacity at the Glens Falls Civic Center making this game the seventh all-time sellout and fifth-largest crowd ever at the GFCC in Adirondack Phantoms history.

But the Providence Bruins would barely hang on for the win as they somehow held off the 22-shot attack of the home team in the third period. Adirondack outshot the Bruins 42-28 on the night including an amazing and dominant 22-4 in the third.

Carter Camper would strike for the Bruins in the first period to stake the visitors to the initial 1-0 lead. The rookie top point-man on the team picked up a rebound in the slot to deposit home his 11th of the season as he knocked it in past Michael Leighton.

Early in the second period, another Bruins strike from Craig Cunningham would extend the lead to 2-0.

Brandon Manning would blast in a big one-time slapper from the right-point for a 5-on-3 power play goal to get the Phantoms on the board at 2-1. It was the rookie Manning's second goal of the season.

As the crowd got even more involved, Mike Testwuide would step up and drop the gloves with Bobby Robins of the Bruins in a good bout in front of the Providence bench. Testwuide landed a couple of decisive blows at the end of the fight and then celebrated on his way to the penalty box by holding his arms up high and encouraging the crowd to make even MORE noise for the team. The electrified sellout contingent responded with a resounding roar.

Moments after Adirondack should have been awarded a power-play when Providence had too many men for a few seconds, an inadvertent high stick from Tyler Brown would give Providence a double power-play. And Jeff Tardiff would score early on the first of those back-to-back man advantages to push the Bruins back in front by a couple and they would carry a 3-1 lead to the second intermission.

Adirondack adjusted their approach in the third and went on a relentless attack of the Bruins, the puck, and the opposing goal throughout the final 20 minutes in an awesome comeback effort.

Cullen Eddy raced back on one of the rare Providence counter-attacks and sharply broke up a 3-on-1 rush with an impressive diving poke-check. Then, after retrieving the loose puck in the corner, he turned it the other way and fired a shot on Providence goalie Michael Hutchinson handcuffing him somewhat. Garrett Roe got in behind Hutchinson's extended left leg for the rebound and chipped in a backhander behind the goalie with 7:30 remaining to cut the score to 3-2.

Adirondack kept coming and coming with several close calls to tying the game. On one shift, Eric Wellwood had three shots in a row that all seemed to have good chances to go in. But Hutchinson made three straight kick saves, left leg, right leg, and then left leg again, to deny Wellwood's bids.

With 1:30 remaining and Michael Leighton pulled with the crowd making more and more noise, Providence would flip the puck high in the air over everyone's heads and towards the empty-net. Jason Akeson somehow raced back out of nowhere and was able to pull off a full extension dive to just barely get to the puck an inch from the goal-line and whap it away before crashing into the post in a hard collision. The courageous hustle-play kept the Phantoms alive for another push.

Providence was able to clear the puck back out to center in the closing seconds setting up the unusual end-of-game drama when Denis Hamel cannoned an incredible shot from the red-line that went in clean on Hutchinson with one second left. The offside call was unfortunately correct though. The Phantoms clearly had players who had no chance to get back to the blue-line in time for the touch-up.

It was a great night for Phantoms fans including many new fans who may not have been to as many hockey games before or perhaps were experiencing live Phantoms hockey for the time ever who were attracted by the Jimmer bobblehead giveaway. It was certainly one of the loudest and most raucous nights of the year that ended up with one of the most unusual finishes any hockey fan has seen.

The Phantoms record stands at 22-22-2 while the surging Providence Bruins improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven and now are 23-21-5 on the season. It was the first game in two years between the Phantoms and the Baby Bruins.

Following the game, the Phantoms auctioned off many of their Pink in the Rink jerseys from the January 21st game with the proceeds from the auction going to benefit the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital. The Ben Holmstrom jersey fetched $1400 to a lucky winning fan and many of the other jerseys carried high price-tags with competitive bidding wars as well. Big congratulations to all the fans who won some great game-worn Phantoms jerseys!

Adirondack does not play at home for a couple of weeks. They head down to Norfolk for a pair of gams next Friday and Saturday and then travel to Toronto for a Valentine's Day game the following Tuesday against the Marlies. It's one of the toughest stretches of the schedule for the Phantoms coming up as the Adirondack skaters will play seven of their next eight on the road. Adirondack's next home game is Friday, February 17 when they host the Manchester Monarchs on a $2 draft-beer night (through the first intermission).

Scratches for the game included Andrew Rowe, Garrett Klotz and Matt Walker.


List of Adirondack Phantoms sellouts:

5,411 - Oct 3, 2009
5,309 - Jan 23, 2010
5,148 - Nov 27, 2009
4,968 - Apr 10, 2010
4,923 - Feb 4, 2012
4,912 - Oct 17, 2009
4,906 - Mar 5, 2010




Upcoming Events

Monday, February 6, 7:00 - Phantoms Power Hour LIVE from McGinny's. Player Guests Dan Jancevski and Matt Walker. Airs live on 101.7

Friday, February 10, 7:30 - Adirondack Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals

Saturday, February 11, 7:15 - Adirondack Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals

Tuesday, February 14, 7::00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Toronto Marlies

Friday, February 17, 7:00 - Manchester Monarchs at Adirondack Phantoms. $2 draft-beer specials through first intermission.

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


Providence Bruins 3 at Adirondack Phantoms 2 - Status: Final
Saturday, February 4, 2012 - Glens Falls Civic Center

Providence 1 2 0 - 3
Adirondack 0 1 1 - 2

1st Period-1, Providence, Camper 11 (Ridderwall, Bartkowski), 13:31. Penalties-MacDonald Pro (holding), 6:03; Holmstrom Adk (high-sticking), 9:40; Cunningham Pro (diving), 11:42; Testwuide Adk (hooking), 11:42; served by Akeson Adk (bench minor - too many men), 14:23; Robins Pro (roughing), 17:33; Manning Adk (roughing), 17:33.

2nd Period-2, Providence, Cunningham 10 (Bartkowski, Miller), 1:16. 3, Adirondack, Manning 2 (Kessel, Holmstrom), 8:24 (PP). 4, Providence, Tardif 11 (Camper, Riendeau), 17:46 (PP). Penalties-Cohen Pro (cross-checking), 6:25; Miller Pro (high-sticking), 7:11; Robins Pro (fighting), 10:38; Testwuide Adk (instigating, fighting, misconduct - instigating), 11:16; Brown Adk (double minor - high-sticking), 17:32.

3rd Period-5, Adirondack, Roe 6 (Eddy), 12:33. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Providence 12-12-4-28. Adirondack 10-10-22-42.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 5; Adirondack 1 / 3.
Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 4-8-0 (42 shots-40 saves). Adirondack, Leighton 15-17-0 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-4,923
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Jim Harper (59), Mike Emanatian (69).