More Comeback Drama. Teddy Bear Toss This Saturday!
December 2, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-6-4) kept the exciting comebacks rolling and now carry a three-game win streak and four-game point streak into their home games upcoming on Wednesday against Rockford and Saturday against Hershey.
Wednesday night marks the first-ever game between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks
Saturday is the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s with fans throwing thousands of stuffed animals onto the ice after the Phantoms score their first goal of the game.
LAST WEEK
November 27 – Phantoms 5 at Wolf Pack 4 (OT)
November 29 – Bears 1 at Phantoms 2 (OT)
November 30 – Rocket 3 at Phantoms 4
THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, December 4 – Rockford IceHogs at Phantoms
Saturday, December 7 – Hershey Bears at Phantoms
Sunday, December 8 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Phantoms 5 – Wolf Pack 4 (OT)
The “Lehigh RALLY” Phantoms did it again with a pair of late tying goals to win at the Hartford Wolf Pack in overtime 5-4 on Thanksgiving Eve. Samu Tuomaala’s second goal of the game was good for his third career overtime strike. Rhett Garnder had tied the game at 3-3 with 4:27 to play but the Wolf Pack quickly re-took the lead. Garrett Wilson tied it at 6-on-5 with just 1:47 remaining to force overtime. Anthony Richard returned to the lineup and assisted on both equalizing goals. Cal Petersen made the Save of the Year with a full extension dive to his right to rob Blake McLaughlin on the backdoor on his way to a season-high 41-save performance.
Friday, Novermber 29, 2024
Phantoms 2 – Bears 1 (OT)
Olle Lycksell buried the overtime winner past Clay Stevenson to push the Phantoms to another exciting victory on Black Friday at PPL Center. Lycksell (4th, 5th) had a pair of goals in the game including the night’s opening strike which broke a scoreless deadlock in the second period. Hershey’s Ethen Frank tied the game in the third on the power play with his AHL-leading 13th goal of the season. Petersen again stood tall with 29 saves to backstop the victory as the Phantoms improved to 2-1-0 against the defending Calder Cup Champions while snapping the first-place Chocolate and White’s three-game win streak. It was also the second time for Lehigh Valley to win in overtime in consecutive games.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Phantoms 4 – Rocket 3
Trailing 2-0 at the midway mark of the game, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms found their legs and pushed back against the visiting Laval Rocket for yet another come-from-behind win. Elliot Desnoyers (2nd) got the Phantoms on the board in the second period and then it was three straight in a stretch of under 4:30 into the third period that vaulted the Phantoms into the lead when Rodrigo Abols (4th), Anthony Richard (5th) and Jacob Gaucher (7th) all beat Laval goaltender Jakub Dobes. Parker Gahagen recorded his first win of the season with a strong 28 saves. While late goals and exciting comebacks have been a hallmark of the Phantoms this season, this was the first time Lehigh Valley has bounced back from a deficit at the second intermission to win the game.
TEDDY BEAR MANIA – This Saturday marks the return of the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s. Fans should ring their stuffed animal donations to the game and then will get to throw them onto the ice after the Phantoms score their first goal of the game. Last year, the Phantoms set a team record with 10,869 flying furry stuffies when Zayde Wisdom scored. That brought the combined total to 56,677 teddy bears and stuffed animals donated to our friends at Valley Youth House for distribution to area kids. Who will bring the Raining Teddy Bear Chaos this time?
Phantoms Teddy Bear Goal Scorer:
2014: Brett Hextall
2015: Andrew MacDonald
2016: Nic Aube-Kubel (:59 into the game)
2017: Matt Read
2018: Connor Bunnaman
2019: Chris Bigras
2021: Gerry Mayhew
2022: Cooper Marody
2023: Zayde Wisdom
Teddy Bear Count:
2014: 1,728
2015: 2,773
2016: 4,125
2017: 4,970
2018: 7,148
2019: 10,091
2021: 6,593
2022: 8,480
2023: 10,869
Total: 56,677
PETEY 300 – Veteran goaltender Cal Petersen is on the verge of his milestone 300th career pro game. The 30-year-old from Waterloo, IA was key to the Phantoms’ playoff run last season and has thrived in recent games since November 22 going 2-1-0, 2.31, .926 including a season-high 41-save gem last Wednesday at Hartford that featured a full-extension diving denial to his right that has to rate as the best save of the season. Petersen has played in 299 career pro games including 193 AHL games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Ontario (Cal.) Reign plus 106 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.
WORKING OVERTIME – The Phantoms have gone to overtime in almost half of their games this season, 9 out of 19, and recently went to OT in three consecutive games. Lehigh Valley leads the league with nine overtime games and also has four overtime victories to tie for the AHL lead with Cleveland and Hartford.
The Phantoms are 4-3 in overtime decisions and are also 1-1 in shootouts.
Lehigh Valley won consecutive overtime games last week for just the fifth time in team history and also the second time this month.
This is the second time in team history that Lehigh Valley has racked up four overtime wins in the same month. It first happened in November 2019. The Phantoms are now halfway to last year’s team record of eight OT wins in a single season.
Lehigh Valley Back-to-Back Overtime Wins:
Nov 29-30, 2019 – Brennan vs. WBS, Welinski vs. HFD
Dec 31 2021 – Jan 1 2022 – O’Reilly at UTC, Clendening vs. BRI
Feb 21-24 2024 – Maordy at WBS, Brink at CLT
Nov 9-13 2024 – Gardner vs. UTC, Lycksell vs. WBS
Nov 27-29 2024 – Tuomaala at HFD, Lycksell vs. HER
HIGHWAY TO HELGE – The Flyers have assigned defenseman Helge Grans back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Grans, 22, was recalled to the Flyers on November 18 and played in six games during his first career NHL opportunity. Grans recorded one assist in his NHL debut on November 18 against Colorado. He has also played in 14 games for the Phantoms this season scoring one goal with two assists for three points. Last year with Lehigh Valley, Grans played in 56 games scoring 1-7-8. He is in his fourth season in the AHL having played 185 career games with the Ontario (Cal.) Kings and Lehigh Valley Phantoms combined scoring 11-33-44.
TRANSACTIONS –
Nov 25 Sam Sedley – Add – Recalled from Reading
Nov 29 Sawyer Boulton – Del – Loaned to Reading
Dec 1 Sawyer Boulton – Add – Recalled from Reading
Dec 2 Helge Grans – Add – Loaned from Philadelphia
PHANTASTIC
– Second-year defenseman Ethan Samson scored goals in back-to-back games last week and also had three goals in a stretch of four games including a pair of power-play markers. After missing Friday’s game due to illness, Samson returned to the lineup with a pair of key assists in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Laval. The 21-year-old right-handed shooter has taken on extra duties this season with his power-play time and it’s paying off. The product of the WHL Prince George Cougars was a sixth-round selection of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2021.
– Olle Lycksell leads the AHL with 80 shots on goal ahead of Pierrick Dube of Hershey who has 74 for second-most. Lycksell (5-10-15) has moved up to second on the team in scoring. After scoring zero goals among his first 49 shots, Lycksell has lit it up for five goals on 31 shots since November 9 including going 2-for-2 in Friday’s overtime win against Hershey. Last year, he averaged over a point-per-game while tying for the team-lead in goals when he scored 19-20-39 in just 38 games played with the Phantoms while also playing in 18 NHL games with the Flyers last year.
– Samu Tuomaala (8-12-20) racked up four points last weekend including a two-goal game with an overtime winner on Wednesday at Hartford. The second-year winger leads the Phantoms in scoring and is tied for 11th in the AHL and sixth in the Eastern Conference.
– Defenseman Hunter McDonald is first among AHL rookies with a +10 rating. The Round 6 selection in 2022 out of Northeastern University has also shown his toughness with three fighting majors this season. McDonald’s blocked shot triggered a late tying goal by Rhett Gardner at Hartford on Wednesday and he impressively connected on a lengthy stretch-pass onto the tape of Olle Lycksell for a breakaway goal against Hershey on Friday.
UPCOMING
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Rockford IceHogs at Phantoms
It’s the first-ever meeting between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. Rockford (7-9-2) got back in the W column with a 6-3 win at the Chicago Wolves on Sunday on the strength of a hat trick by former Phantom Gerry Mayhew (6-2-8) who signed with the Hogs on October 27. The eighth-year pro has 155 career AHL goals in 402 games. He spent the last two seasons with the Charlotte Checkers after appearing with Lehigh Valley in the 2021-22 season scoring 9-7-16 in 24 games before a recall to the Flyers where he scored six goals in 25 games.
Jackson Cates is in his second season with Rockford after scoring 11 goals for the IceHogs last year. He played in 102 games with the Phantoms over two seasons from 2021-23 scoring 13 goals. Defenseman Colin Felix is another former Phantom on the IceHogs.
First-rounder Frank Nazar (10-11-21) leads the IceHogs in his rookie season following two years with the Michigan Wolverines. He scored a goal in Michigan’s first-round win over Colgate at PPL Center on March 24, 2023. Colton Dach (7-8-15) is a second-rounder from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets who is in his second year of pro hockey.
The Icehogs are in their 18th season in the AHL since joining from the former United Hockey League in 2007.
Saturday, December 7, 2024
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Hershey Bears at Phantoms
Sunday, December 8, 2024 (5:00)
GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
First-place Hershey (13-5-3) has now dropped two straight following a six-game point streak. The Phantoms prevailed 2-1 in overtime against the Bears on Friday via Olle Lycksell’s overtime heroics and then Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came away with a late 5-4 win at GIANT Center on Saturday. Lehigh Valley is 2-1 against the Bears entering this weekend’s home-and-home series. Ethen Frank (15-6-21) remains tied for the AHL lead in goals. Penn State product Alex Limoges (5-11-16) and veteran Mike Sgarbossa (2-14-16) are also among the returnees leading the offense for third-year head coach Todd Nelson who has back-to-back Calder Cup titles to his credit with the Chocolate and White.
No fewer than five former Phantoms are on Hershey’s roster including Calder Cup overtime clinching goal scorers Mike Vecchione (2023) and Matt Strome (2024) as well as Logan Day, Brennan Saulnier and former Adirondack Phantoms center Garrett Roe who wore the Orange and Black from 2011-13 before the Phantoms had arrived in the Lehigh Valley in 2014. This weekend marks the third and fourth meetings between the two teams in a 22-day stretch. After this one, the Bears do not return to Allentown until April.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Samu Tuomaala 8-12-20
Olle Lycksell 5-10-15
Jacob Gaucher 7-5-12
Anthony Richard 5-7-12
Oscar Eklind 4-6-10
Rodrigo Abols 4-5-9
UPCOMING
Wednesday, December 4 – Phantoms vs. Rockford IceHogs – Pregame Happy Hour with $2 Draft Specials
Saturday, December 7 – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears – Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s
Sunday, December 8 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Tuesday, December 10 – Phantoms at Toronto Marlies
