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PHILADELPHIA PHANTOMS 2007-08 YEAR IN REVIEW
The 12th edition of the Philadelphia Phantoms was one that started out seeking a bit of an identity. It was a young team – there was a mixture of NHL draft picks and free agent signings who were all just embarking on their professional career, with a few veterans on hand to lead the way. The result was surprising to some, pleasing to many, and hopefully a foundation for an even brighter future ahead.
COMING TOGETHER
Fans got a preview of the 2007-08 campaign last April, when several players showed up for the end of the 2006-07 season. Many of those players would become key members of this year’s team. Jonathan Matsumoto, Kyle Greentree, Darroll Powe, Ryan Parent and Steve Downie all came to Philadelphia at the tail end of the season and got at least a few pro games under their belts. Those were five of the 11 rookies who were part of the 28-man opening night roster declared by the Phantoms in early October. Of those 11 rookies, seven of them were just 20 years old at the start of the season. The average age of the players on the opening night roster was just over 23 years old.
However, with youth did not necessarily come inexperience. A byproduct of the retooling undergone by the Flyers in the summer of 2007 was that the Phantoms came in to the 2007-08 season stacked on defense. Of the eight defensemen on the opening night roster, six had NHL experience. That included Alexandre Picard, who played nearly the entire 2006-07 season with the Flyers, and Denis Gauthier, who brought 499 games of NHL experience to the Phantoms this season. It did not include Nate Guenin, who was on the Flyers opening night roster but came to the Phantoms soon after the season started.
Among the team’s veterans were goaltender Brian Boucher, who came back to the place he started his professional career with a Calder Cup championship 10 years earlier; Gauthier, a nine-year NHL veteran; and Boyd Kane, who returned for a fourth season with the Phantoms (second consecutive) and reassumed the team captaincy.
The Phantoms also enjoyed quite a bit of mid-level leadership. Triston Grant was back for a third season with the club and spent most of it wearing an alternate captain’s “A”, as did Jared Ross, who was in Philadelphia for his first full season after being acquired from the Chicago Wolves during the previous campaign. Jesse Boulerice came back to the Phantoms with 165 games of NHL experience gleaned over four seasons with Carolina and St. Louis, while seventh-year pro Martin Grenier was a positive influence in the dressing room all season long.
Behind the bench was an ideal group to lead such a young corps. Craig Berube returned from the Flyers to retake the head coaching role he held for six games in 2006-07 before John Stevens summoned him to help run the big club. Kjell Samuelsson stayed on as associate coach, while Phantoms Hall-of-Famer Neil Little came on board as a goaltending/assistant coach, replacing Joe Mullen, who became a Flyers assistant.
ONE OF THE BEST STARTS EVER
The hockey world seemed unsure what to think about the Phantoms as the season got underway. The team lacked any proven scorers; in fact, heading into the season, Boyd Kane’s 49-point campaign in Hershey in 2005-06 was the most anybody on the roster had ever scored in a professional season. Writers wondered where the scoring was going to come from.
The very first weekend of the season provided a glimpse of what would end up being the answer to that question. The Phantoms won their first two games of the season, beating Norfolk 4-3 on opening night and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4-1 two days later. A total of 18 players dressed for those two games, and 11 of those – including eight of the 10 forwards who dressed – came away with at least a point.
It was the third consecutive year the Phantoms had won their first two games, so that wasn’t too big a deal. But then they swept the following weekend. After a setback to Providence in the sixth game of the season, Philadelphia then won three more. When the Phantoms beat Norfolk on October 28 to go to 8-1 on the year, it established the best start in team history through nine games. Game 10 was an overtime loss to Portland, but that was followed by a five-game winning streak. The team continued to pace all its predecessors until a loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on November 14 put them at 14-2-1 on the year, one point behind the pace of the 2004-05 Calder Cup team.
By the time November was over, the Phantoms had a 16-4-1 record. Philadelphia went on to reach the 20-win mark before Christmas for just the fourth time in team history.
POTULNY’S GRAND NIGHT
Part of Philadephia’s hot start was a November 9 home game against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, a contest that didn’t go so well for about the first 58 minutes. The Phantoms were trailing 2-0 and appeared destined for their second regulation loss of the season when Ryan Potulny took matters into his own hands. Potulny scored three consecutive goals to win the game – the first with 1:43 remaining in regulation, followed by the game-tying marker while the goalie was pulled with less than 18 seconds to play, and then the game-winner on the power play 2:11 into the first overtime. The feat, which took 3:54 to accomplish, set a new Phantoms franchise record for fastest three goals scored by a single player in team history.
A POWERFULLY PLAYING LINE
The Phantoms found instant success with a line of Jonathan Matsumoto centering Kyle Greentree and Darren Reid. Over the first 25 games of the season, the line combined to score 24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points. Of those 24 goals, 16 of them came on the power play. The Phantoms scored at least one power play goal in the first 17 games of the season and in 24 of those first 25 contests. Unfortunately the injury bug struck all three players at one time or another during the middle part of the season, and they were only in the lineup together for six games between December 14 and March 28.
SPECIAL TEAMS LEAD THE WAY
The Matsumoto-Greentree-Reid line helped get the Phantoms special teams units off to a blazing start that kept going throughout the season. The power play ended up ranked tied for third in the league at 20.8 percent, while its 91 goals were the second-most in the entire league. Meanwhile, the penalty kill finished strong as well, ranked 10th in the league at 84 percent.
DEFENSE, GOALTENDING STAND TALL
At the other end, the defensive corps that looked awfully good at the beginning of the season turned out to be just that. The Phantoms allowed just 82 goals over the first 37 games of the season, an average of 2.21 goals allowed per game and a pace that would have been just shy of a Phantoms franchise record had it held up for the entire season.
Between the pipes, the Phantoms were sticklers as well. Brian Boucher and Scott Munroe each posted four shutouts apiece, while combining for a shutout in December. Martin Houle added a shutout later in the season. The ten team shutouts were the second most in team history, three behind the franchise-record 13 for which Antero Niittymaki and Neil Little combined in 2003-04.
THINGS CHANGE
Trade deadline day can be as interesting for AHL clubs as it is for the National Hockey League, as teams often send prospects off to acquire a proven scorer or other player for a potential Stanley Cup run. That happened to the Phantoms this year when the organization sent Alexandre Picard to the Tampa Bay Lightning the night before the deadline in a deal for Vaclav Prospal. While the deal hampered the Phantoms defensive corps, it was a boon for the Flyers organization overall, as Prospal provided the scoring spark that helped propel the Flyers into the Eastern Conference Finals.
The next day, Brian Boucher found an opportunity to return to the NHL with the San Jose Sharks as a backup to Evgeni Nabokov. Boucher’s departure allowed the goaltender immediately before Nabokov in the NHL’s alphabetical Goaltending Registry, Scott Munroe, to run with the starting role. That very weekend, Boucher shut out the St. Louis Blues in his San Jose debut.
THE HOME STRETCH
The Phantoms posted a 7-7-1-1 record over their final 16 games of the season, but it wasn’t enough to slow down a blazing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that went 15-2-3-1 over its final 21 games of the season. The Phantoms led the East Division from the first weekend of the season until the end of March, when the Penguins finally caught up. When the Phantoms lost 5-2 to Hershey on the next-to-last day of the season, it clinched the division title for the Penguins and set the Phantoms up for a first-round matchup with the Albany River Rats.
A SERIES FOR THE AGES – PHANTOMS VS. ALBANY
The Phantoms and the River Rats knew going into their East Division Semifinals matchup that goals could be hard to come by. Philadelphia was facing the reigning AHL Goaltender of the Year in Albany’s Michael Leighton, while the Rats were facing a goaltender in Scott Munroe who had spent the first four months of the season hovering at or near the top of the league’s goaltending rankings. But it’s safe to say that neither team knew just how difficult it would be to score.
The teams traded wins in the first four games, including shutouts in the first two – Leighton blanked the Phantoms in a 4-0 Game 1 win, but Munroe returned serve with a 3-0 victory in Game 2. It marked the first time in 43 years that an AHL playoff series began with alternating shutouts.
That left the series tied at two games apiece heading into Game 5. The River Rats were leading 2-1 when Jared Ross tied the game with 4:37 to play. The game went to overtime… then another overtime, and then another. It finally ended 2:58 into the fifth overtime, at 12:39 AM, when Ryan Potulny scored from the slot off a drop-pass feed from Michael Ratchuk to give the Phantoms a 3-2 win. It was the longest game in American Hockey League history at 142:58, and took 5 hours and 38 minuets to play. It drew media attention from all over North America.
Bolstered by the momentum from that win, the series returned to Philadelphia for Game 6. But the River Rats stayed alive with an overtime victory of their own, albeit one that took much less time – after a scoreless regulation from both sides, Kirk McDonald won it with a goal at 10:38 of the first overtime, giving Albany the 1-0 win and Leighton his second shutout.
That set up just the fourth Game 7 in Phantoms history. But, like he had earlier in the series, Munroe answered Leighton in the next game. Stefan Ruzicka scored just 22 seconds into the game, and it was all the Phantoms would need as Munroe stopped all 21 shots he faced on the night. Ryan Potulny added an insurance goal late in the third period, and the Phantoms took a 2-0 win to advance to the East Division Finals against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
FAMILIAR FOES – PHANTOMS VS. WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
The second-round series against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was a familiar one for Phantoms fans. In Philadelphia’s previous two postseason appearances – 2004 and 2005 – the Phantoms ran into the Penguins in the East Division Finals. They lost in 2004 as the Penguins advanced to the Calder Cup Finals, but won in 2005 en route to Philadelphia’s second Calder Cup championship. The Penguins, meanwhile, were in the East Division Finals for the fifth consecutive season.
The Phantoms had the upper hand after Game 1, taking a 5-2 win. A 1-0 lead suddenly exploded into a 3-0 advantage when Boyd Kane and Stefan Ruzicka scored 13 seconds apart just past the five-minute mark of the second period. Ruzicka also scored a power play goal with less than 13 seconds to play in the frame, and Andreas Nodl added an empty-netter.
After two periods of Game 2, the Phantoms appeared to be ready to head back to the Wachovia Center with a commanding lead. Another spurt of goals – this time three of them within 1:17 – had given Philadelphia a 4-1 lead at the second intermission.
But in the third period, the tide turned Wilkes-Barre’s way, and stayed there for the rest of the series. The Penguins scored three times in the third, including Kurtis McLean’s tying goal with 44.6 seconds left in regulation. Chris Minard scored the game-winner 2:07 into overtime, and Wilkes-Barre had snatched an improbable 5-4 win. The Penguins went on to take the next three games and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals against Portland.
FOUR MILLIONTH FAN
On January 20 at 4:37 PM, Rich Shewman of Douglasville, PA walked through the doors of the Wachovia Spectrum as the four millionth fan in team history. Shewman was showered with confetti and cheers as he walked into the Phantoms record books and was greeted by Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider and Phantoms Chief Operating Officer Frank Miceli.
Shewman received a bevy of prizes, including a custom Phantoms “Four-Million” jersey, featuring the number 4 on the back, the word MILLION on the nameplate, and the number 4,000,000 down each sleeve. He also received a commemorative plaque marking the milestone, an evening watching the game from a suite, and other awards.
The Phantoms reached the four-million fan plateau in their 462nd home game. The four-million total, which counts regular-season games only, includes 19 sellouts of the 17,380-seat Wachovia Spectrum and five sellout crowds of 18,000 and up at the Wachovia Center.
The Phantoms finished the 2007-08 season ranked eighth in the American Hockey League with an average attendance of 6,679. The Phantoms have finished in the top eight in league attendance in each of their 12 seasons.
PROMOTIONS AND GIVEAWAYS
The Phantoms continued to be the place to come to pick up unusual promotional items – especially if you’re redecorating your house. Every team gives away schedule magnets, but the Phantoms were the only team to attach a refrigerator to one of their magnets before giving it away to a lucky fan. Peggy Murtha of Turnersville, NJ won the brand-new refrigerator, which was autographed by both the Flyers and the Phantoms. In January, Eric Lawrence of Haddonfield, NJ won a Phantoms team-autographed ping-pong table courtesy of the USA Table Tennis Olympic & National Trials, which were held at Drexel University.
March featured a Spring Cleaning day, as the Phantoms encouraged fans to bring unwanted household and food items to a game for donation to area charities. A team-signed shower curtain and team-signed dustpan were awarded to fans at that game. On Fan Appreciation Night, the Phantoms gave a fan the world – a team-signed globe, signed by players on or nearby the area of the world from which they came. And in the playoffs, a fan won a commemorative clock forever frozen at 12:39, the moment Ryan Potulny’s fifth-overtime goal ended Game 5 against Albany.
Throughout the season, the Phantoms continued their tradition of outstanding “normal” promotional nights as well. The Phantoms gave away trading cards, youth t-shirt jerseys, various commemorative posters, miniature American flags, Bob Clarke figurines, puzzle banks and rally towels, doing so courtesy of the team’s supporters at Dietz and Watson, Pepsi, Comcast, National Constitution Center, Wachovia, and Toyota. Over 7,000 schoolchildren came to the team’s annual School Day Game on November 14. Kids who came to other games got to do great things like take part in a Halloween costume parade with Phlex, skate with the Phantoms players after a game, and see their favorite superheroes on the ice. On January 20, all fans were able to take photos with their favorite players in a postgame on-ice photo session.
Phantoms fans showed their generosity by helping the team’s charitiable efforts throughout the season. The team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss on January 25 generated nearly 2,000 bears and other stuffed animals for donation to area hospitals and charities. On November 16, fans brought boxes of macaroni and cheese to shake during the game and then donate to local food banks. During the holiday season, Phantoms fans again generously supported the team’s partnership with Toys For Tots through the US Marine Corps. And the team’s annual Helping Hands auction, where fans bid on 11x17 cards featuring player handprints, raised over $4,000 for The Children’s Miracle Network at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
IN THE COMMUNITY
The Phantoms were also involved in many community-related activities outside of events related to the games. The entire team visited the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in November, greeting patients at the hospital and donating three Phantoms-themed children’s wagons, which are often used instead of wheelchairs or gurneys to move children around the hospital for treatment. Again this year, the Phantoms staged a broad-reaching reading program in February, making appearances at nearly 30 schools to read to children and stress the importance of reading and education. Phantoms mascot Phlex made over 200 community appearances during the hockey season alone, including stops at schools throughout the greater Philadelphia region as part of the Flyers/Phantoms School Assembly Program, which teaches children the importance of teamwork and working together in everyday life. Phantoms players were also on hand at several Flyers/Phantoms on-ice clinics, helping young hockey players learn the fine points of the game.
SPECIALTY JERSEYS & HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
The season’s commemorative jerseys paid tribute to figures of the past. The Phantoms celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Spectrum with a Flyers Flashback night on October 20, welcoming Flyers legends Joe Watson, Bernie Parent and Gary Dornhoefer – all who were at the first-ever Flyers game at the Spectrum in October of 1967 – to drop the first puck. The Phantoms wore commemorative jerseys patterned after that 1967-68 inaugural Flyers team.
On February 18, the Phantoms honored America’s presidents with an afternoon President’s Day game, and wore a specialty jersey commemorating those who have held the nation’s highest office. The jerseys had a color pattern of American currency while also displaying images of Lincoln and Washington, along with a “We The Phantoms” message.
The final jersey auction was part of the team’s Hall of Fame night honoring Bob Clarke. The longtime Flyers and Phantoms GM, who helped start the franchise in 1996 and was responsible for building the teams that won two Calder Cups, was inducted as the fifth member of the Phantoms Hall of Fame. As part of the evening, the Phantoms wore jerseys that were patterned after the 1969 Flin Flon Bombers, Clarke’s junior team from Flin Flon, Manitoba. The inspiration for the jerseys was Clarke’s own #11 Flin Flon jersey that is enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
OUTLOOK – BRIGHT
Phantoms fans have a lot to look forward to as the 2008-09 season approaches. Much like the Flyers, the Phantoms have a solid foundation of young players on which to build a Calder Cup run for next season. It’s truly a case of the Flyers of tomorrow being here today, with players like Michael Ratchuk, Andreas Nodl, Jon Kalinski and more set to take on their first full professional season. Fans can stay connected to the goings-on with the team at phantomshockey.com throughout the summer!
Monday, May 19, 2008
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