Hats Off for Bo

Katchouk Hat Trick Topples Bears

March 28, 2026

Allentown, PA – Boris Katchouk’s late empty-netter came with a little puck-luck but also successfully completed Lehigh Valley’s first hat trick of the season as part of a four-point performance as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms downed the Hershey Bears 4-2 on Saturday night at PPL Center.

Katchouk was acquired from the Minnesota Wild organization in a trade on March 1, 2026 and now has five goals in 10 games with his new team. The lids came flying with 59.5 seconds left when he was stationed at the Hershey blueline and a long clear by David Jiricek went off the shinpad of Katchouk and perfectly into the middle of the empty cage.

“He plays a simple game,” head coach John Snowden said. “He’s hard on pucks. He goes to the net front. I mean, you look at his goals that he scored, they’re all around the net. He goes to the hard ice and he gets rewarded for it. He wins a battle on his first one, takes it to the net, you know, little things like that. We need those people that are willing to go to the net front. And he’s a guy that when he gets there, he’s very good there as well.”

For Lehigh Valley (28-30-6), it was the first hat trick since January 29, 2025 when Zayde Wisdom scored a trifecta at the Bridgeport Islanders in a record-setting 9-2 victory. It was the first hat trick at PPL Center since December 20, 2024 when Olle Lycksell scored a trio of goals against the Toronto Marlies in a 7-2 win.

Katchouk recorded his second career hat trick along with his four-goal performance that he produced with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year against Charlotte.

More importantly, the Phantoms moved back into sole possession of sixth place in the Atlantic Division ahead of idle Springfield and trimmed their Magic Number to just 17 points with eight games remaining.

Rookie arrival Riley Thompson made his pro debut a successful one, centering a line with Katchouk and Phil Tomasino, who also scored. Thompson recorded his first professional point in the first period with a faceoff win leading to a Katchouk early strike past Mitch Gibson. The 6’4″ free-agent signee out of Ohio State is one of three newcomers to make their pro debuts with the Phantoms this month joining Noah Powell and Cole Knuble.

Thompson helped get the scoring started at 6:53 into the game when his faceoff win was collected by Katchouk who quickly took a couple strides to the net for a forehand goal past the stick side of Mitch Gibson for a 1-0 lead.

This first game was just the beginning of 23-year-old Riley Thompson’s new journey.

“I’m very grateful that they trust me,” Thompson said. “And signing me and I just want to be a sponge as much as I can, and just learn from what these guys have to offer, and just keep on working ahead.”

Aside from Thompson’s faceoff win for Katchouk’s early goal, the first period otherwise belonged to Aleksei Kolosov who made several strong stops while the Phantoms were hemmed in on multiple occasions against Hershey’s 11-4 shots advantage. Brett Leason also clanged one off the iron early in the first on one of Hershey’s several strong opportunities.

Andrew Cristal thought he had scored down low for Hershey with 2:20 left in the period but the officials stunningly took the goal off the board after huddling and determining that either a high stick or an offside on Jacob Gaucher’s clearing try had immediately preceded the goal.

The Phantoms put together a stronger performance in the second period and got some of the heat off Kolosov. But Ilya Protas (27th) got Hershey on the board with his power-play goal at 2:27 with Belpedio finding the talented 19-year-old rookie open in the left circle.

The Phantoms retook the lead just 62 seconds later on a drive from the left boards by Adam Ginning that Katchouk knocked in from the short side of the cage past Mitch Gibson to make it 2-1.

Hershey (28-27-9) would again briefly tie the score late in the third period. And, again, the Phantoms had a quick response to take the lead.

Brett Leason (14th) rifled it home from the right boards after a sensational pad save by Kolosov to deny a Sonny Milano breakaway. With just 6:55 remaining in the third period, it was 2-2.

This time, it was 65 seconds later for the Phantoms to counter. Katchouk connected up ice with Tomasino who dangled around a defender in the slot to open up his scoring opportunity to put the Phantoms back in front at 3-2 with 4:50 left. It was Tomasino’s 11th goal of the season and his sixth with the Phantoms since joining the club from the Penguins in a trade on December 31.

Jiricek’s long clear from behind the goal was deflected all the way into the empty-net by Katchouk from the blue-line for a power-play, empty-net goal to cap the win. The Phantoms finished the season series with an impressive 6-2-2 mark against their rivals from Chocolatetown and also won the last five consecutive meetings against the Bears dating back to New Year’s Eve.

Lehigh Valley pulled to within two points of fifth-place Bridgeport and to within three points of fourth-place Hershey for a possible home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

The Phantoms wrap up the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Lehigh Valley has three home games remaining in the regular season and will next appear at PPL Center on Saturday, April 4 on Star Wars Night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Final HOME