John Paddock was the Guest Speaker at the Phan Club meeting

Last night, we had coach John Paddock as our guest speaker at the Phantoms Phan Club meeting. We've got a few banged-up forwards, so our original plan to send down another one or two players by the weekend might be delayed. It depends on whether we get Ross back from the Flyers, and whether any of the the dented guys (Szwez, Kalinsky, Maroon) are good to go by then. Powe also got hurt on Saturday night.

I'm not sure how injured is "injured" for any of these guys. I hope that it's nothing major and they are back in the lineup soon. But suddenly, that surplus of guys sitting in the press box could be converted to a group of guys getting some time in the Phantoms lineup.

Oh, and it was interesting to hear the perspective of the man who was the Other Team's Coach during the infamous Phantoms/Senators brawl game. You know, the one that featured the Goalie High-Jump competition. This is what happens when you have two teams with a lot of personality, not to mention some colorful personalities and a strong competitive spirit. Someone asked him if he jokes with Neil Little about the game, as they now work together on the coaching staff. He laughed and said, "Well, maybe the first time, since he's got a big picture of it in his office". (LOL!!! ) But now they talk about hockey, goaltending, and golf.

We also had the opportunity to congratulate Mike Thornton on his promotion. The changes to his responsibilities mean that it's unlikely he'll continue as our play-by-play announcer. He actually received resumes in his email from people interested in the job, which is pretty impressive to me considering that the announcement was only made yesterday afternoon. But he said he was going to talk, today, to the person who called some games for us last season, as well as being the one who'll be stepping up to fill his old position. I'll just leave it at that, since it won't be long until official announcements come out on that score. We have a home game on Friday, so we have no choice but to get our administrative tails in gear by then.

So I'll close by saying that I hope our dented guys are back in good shape in no time. I also hope that our guys who need playing time are able to either get it here, or if they're assigned to Mississippi then I hope they tear it up in Biloxi. Do us proud, guys!