Phantoms vs. Flyers at the Spectrum, 10-7-08

The Flyers are sitting on the visitors' bench for the game, wearing their black jerseys. In the NHL, this would be considered the home jersey; however, in the AHL the white jerseys the Phantoms are wearing is the home jersey. It's apropos that both teams which call(ed) this building home should be wearing their own version of a home jersey; however, the Phantoms are correctly being treated as the home team since this IS the building where we currently play. The Flyers are the former tenants, and it's a nod to the present that they are being regarded as visitors.

The Phantoms' goalies are Niittymaki and Munroe. Nitty is wearing his Flyers number 30, rather than the #1 he wore when he was a regular member of the Phantoms team. This is the first game time he has seen since training camp began, as he had arthroscopic surgery on his hip right before camp opened. I wonder if they'll give him a rehab assignment on the Phantoms to start the season? He did miss the entire training camp and preseason while recuperating from surgery, and he's got to get up-to-speed somewhere. A stint with the Phantoms would be the obvious solution, but I haven't seen or heard anything official.

There was a pregame ceremony where members of the two Flyers' Cup teams raised the two Stanley Cup banners to the rafters. The cheering for the Almni as they walked onto the ice was deafening. I particularly loved the loud "MOOOOOOSE" cheers as Andre Dupont was introduced, and it was nice to be able to cheer "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!" when the goaltending deity Mr. Parent came onto the ice with his former backup Bobby Taylor. Wayne Stephenson, our other goalie from the Cup years, is seriously ill :( and was represented by his son. I'm so sorry Fort Wayne couldn't be on hand. ( God willing, he'll beat the cancer and be with us for future ceremonies.

We are in Section 224, a few over from where my normal season ticket seat is. An unexpected benefit of this is that we're sitting on the Flyers' side of the ice in the Spectrum, which we'll never have the opportunity to do again.

It's so nice to see Riley Cote both on Spectrum ice AND in a Flyers uni. Look up "The best of both worlds" in the dictionary, and you'll see a photograph of Riley in tonight's game. :)

The music for the photo montage during the ceremony is Billy Joel's "This is the time to remember". They're trying to make me cry and the game hasn't even started yet.

Matsumoto and Maroon, who looked great together during the preseason game vs. Lowell, create the first scorng chance.

The Phantoms' Ramholt has been sent to the sin bin. I tried to jot down the Phantoms' PK units, but from the angle of our seats it was almost impossible to see the players' numbers. I'll have to wait until our home opener on Friday to get an idea of what our PK units are.

Boy, it really generates scoring chances when the players aren't allowed to kill each other in defense of their net.

SOG at 13:31 Phantoms 3, Flyers 2.

Nice stop, Nitty. Glove save. In fact, there was some more great stuff from Nitty immediately thereafter, as he stopped a couple point blank shots during a flurry of activity. His saves include making some butterfly moves; I hope his hip doesn't mind.

SOG: Hahaha, the shot clock was actually "backward". They've fixed it. Now the shots on goal are being dispayed as Phantoms 2, Flyers 7.

I have to laugh: the fans are booing an offside call. We fans are in midseason form :)

Maroon passes from behind Flyers net but Carter intercepts. Gotta keep an eye on whom you're passing to, good guy.

There was no announcement of scratches or starting lineup pregame, now that I think of it. I guess we will see it in the online box score.

Powe throws the first hit for the Flyers, bumping a Phantom in the corner on Flyers side as they were looking to dig out the puck. How nice would it be to see Powe stick with the Flyers for the long haul? I'd enjoy seeing Powe go POW in Orange and Black. :)

SOG with 8:46 remaining: Phantoms 2, Flyers 10. Nitty looks really sharp; I'm very pleased.

Flyers score, finally, on their 11th SOG -- did I mention that it's hard to defend when you can't REALLY hit your opponent? Gagne(Briere,Richards). Ha, I watched both the assist makers as AHLers in this very building. I can also say that about most of the Flyers, actually. I saw both Flyers goalies, Biron and Aubin, in here as AHLers with the opposing team. I saw all the Phantoms alumni as AHLers, of course, and if I look at the roster I will surely spot other guys I whom saw on opposing teams as AHLers.

Phantom PP. Jones goes with 13:36 gone in the first period.

LMHO times ten, they sold 17077 tickets to the game. That's the former "sellout" crowd total from the 70s. LOL LOL LOL! I love it. :)

Oops, Phantoms nearly gave up a shorthanded break, but they got matters back under control.

Powe looks good. I wonder if we are getting him back. He would be a great asset for the Phantoms, but for his sake I hope he sticks with the Flyers.

SOG with 1:45 remaining: Phantoms 5, Flyers 14. Knuble is in the box. Ossi made a nice defensive play to clear puck for the Flyers.

SOG at end of 1st: Phantoms 7, Flyers 14. Phantoms will have 15 sec of PP to start second period.
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The players are returning to the ice; Nitty's looking enthused to be out there stretching. :) During the intermission, we had another milestone: the last period of a Flyers game ever announced by Lou Nolan at the Spectrum. He formally turned the microphone over to Keith Jones (the Phantoms announcer, not the former Flyer). If I were in charge, I'd have seriously considered scheduling the Changing of the Guard for midway through the second period, when people would have been in their seats, instead of during an intermission when a lot of people were on the concourse. But that's just me.

Whoa! Biron had to do a windshield wiper kick to stop a goal from being scored. Dang, nice. NICE. This avowed Goalie Junkie is thoroughly pleased with the netminding that's gone on so far in this game.

SOG at end of the Phantoms PP: Phantoms 11, Flyers 14. We really, REALLY tried hard to tie the score with that brief man advantage we had to start the second.

Flyers PP. The Phantoms are having issues clearing the puck; Richards picked it off at the point. GREAT SAVE NITTY -- he stopped a sure goal that time.

SOG at end of Flyers PP: Phantoms 14 , Flyers 16.

The ice is tilted toward the Phantoms net again. Even when the Flyers don't get shots on goal, they are hemming the Phantoms in a lot. NITTY just freaking STONED Richards! Holy cow, :) SOG with 12:16 remaining in the period: Phantoms 16, Flyers 17.

Curry has is hands full defending against carter, but he did prevent a shot on goal from occurring.

SOG with 9:23 left: Phantoms 16, Flyers 18. I'm pretty happy to see that the shots have evened out. Phantoms have gotten more opportunities in this period.

A Flyers PP coming up. and Oh Em freaking Gee, Nitty just stopped a HUGE flurry of shots that belongs on a highlight reel. I honestly don't know how that puck stayed out. Hip surgery? What hip surgery?

SOG with 3:40 left: Phantoms 18, Flyers 23, and many of those Flyers shots came during that recent PP.

Both goalies have looked outstanding. I love it.

Phantoms PP at 3:21. There's a SH chance by Flyers, but Nitty is up to the challenge.

Score! Ross (Curry, Maroon). NICE play leadng to a PP goal.1-1. When the Flyers scored earlier, the goal song was "Rock and Roll Part 2". I wondered if they would have a different tune for Phantoms goals, but no. They used the same one. Then again, this is a night for vintage music from the 60s and 70s, so its fitting that they'd use that particular song for all the goals.

LOL, what an announcement! There have been over 2 million cheesesteaks eaten in the Spectrum since 1967. I know that I account for some of that total, but I've had lots and lots of help. :)

SOG at end of 2nd: Phantoms 22, Flyers 24. It seems to me like the Phantoms have gotten out of the overwhelmed mode they were in during the first frame, and they are playing With Intent to win this game. The only thing missing is hard hitting, mostly because both teams are surely under directives to avoid causing injuries to opponents.

Still, for the Flyers, this is an exhibition game. For the Phantoms, not only is it an exhibition game, but it would be a source of pride if they could come out of this contest having beaten the Flyers. The Boys in the White Jerseys look like they're increasingly serious about the game the longer it goes on.
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Aubin is out to start the third for Flyers. It still kills me a little bit, no pun intended, to see someone else in Neil's number 35. He wore it for years, but as soon as he went to play in Finland (2005-06), the number was re-used. I'd heard that Munroe was supposed to start the third for the Phantoms, but it's still Nitty in goal. I guess they really want to give him a workout and let him go the distance. Besides, he's looked fantastic. If he feels good, there's no need to mess with success.

Man, suddenly we have bodies flying and falling all over the place in the Flyers zone. The Phantoms really want this one. :)

Maroooooon from Szwez and Guenin, 2-1 Phantoms! We are going to have a LOT of fun watching Maroon this season.

SOG with 9:31 remaining: Phantoms 34, Flyers 29.

Phantoms PK: Matsumoto got sent off. However, at the end of the penalty, Matsumoto came out of the box, took a LONNNNG pass for a breakaway, and started a rush into the Flyers' end. The resulting flurry of shots on goal ended up with the puck in the net, 14:11 into the period. Matsumoto from Girooooouuuuux. That was a really, REALLY nice sequence. Good work, guys. The score is now 3-1 Phantoms, with SOG: Phantoms 37, flyers 29.

Upshall scores soon afterward, with an assist from Asham. The Flyers are starting to show some desperation, as they realize the clock is ticking down and they're on the wrong side of the scoreboard to their AHL team. They're starting to get into some ill humor -- suddenly, it's becoming a little more than an exhibition game whose outcome doesn't matter.

Riley Cote threw a big check on Bellamy :) I'm not surprised by who made the hit, nor am I surprised by the target. Bellamy seems to bring that out in opponents. He's another one we're going to have fun watching this year.

Pandemonium! Do the Flyers tie the game with 43.8 seconds left ? No! It's ruled "no goal, because the puck was batted in by a hand." The score is still 3-2 Phantoms.

At this point, the Flyers called timeout, and the theme from Rocky was played. Can't possibly beat the song from the movie that was set in The Spectrum for a moment like that, can you?

When play resumed, the Phantoms scored an ENG to seal the 4-2 victory. Actually, "scored" doesn't do it justice. Andreas Nodl, recently sent down to the Phantoms, broke in with Timonen hounding him and they both fell to the ice. Nodl kind of did a desperation-sweep with his stick from the half-boards, and the puck was windshield-wipered into the net.

At the end, I expected to see a handshake line, as happened after the previous two Flyers/Phantoms games. Instead, both teams posed together for group pictures as the organ... a synthesizer, sadly, not the original organ. But still, organ music at an arena is to be cherished Just Because. Oops, my mind wandered... where was I? Ah, yes. The organ played "Pomp & Circumstance" while the teams posed, and the song was completed by the four "Let's Go, Flyers!" chords, which I'd noticed were kind of sprinked into the arrangement here and there throughout. Nice touch. :) As people exited, "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John played. As I said before, all night they were playing vintage 60s and 70s music, from the Spectrum's opening and the Flyers' Cup Years, and that was just THE perfect song to send the fans on their way.

Nitty played all 60 minutes. I spoke to a friend whose seat was at the Phantoms end of the ice, and he said Nitty was grinning from ear to ear at beating the Flyers. :) I am surmising that they will send him to the Phantoms for a rehab stint, as he missed the entire training camp and preseason, prior to this game, recovering from hip arthroscopy. (That Arthur O. Scopic, he gets around! He was here in Philly to work on my knee, and days later he worked on Nitty's hip in Nashville.)

I am very proud to see how well the Phantoms acquitted themselves, particularly since the front offices of the entire Flyers organization were In The House. I will be steaming mad if we don't see Jared Ross and Jonathan Matsumoto up with the Flyers as injury replacements during the season. They're both small guys but they are two of our best players, and they both scored tonight.

I screamed so loudly when the Phantoms scored the go-ahead and the ENG goal, I'm gonna have laryngitis for a month. ;) My husband's poor left ear may never be the same.

Incidentally, if you think that my loyalty was somewhat skewed in the Phantoms' direction, you're right. I love the Flyers, but I'm a total sucker for the underdog when it comes down to a Flyers/Phantoms matchup. However, I was applauding good plays no matter who made them, and goodness knows that there were a number of those, especially from the goaltenders. When teams aren't allowed to check their opponent into next week, it translates into netminders facing a LOT of rubber. But they're both "my" teams and they're all "my" players, so I wanted them all to play well tonight.

The Phantoms have a lot of positives to take from this game. Unfortunately for the Phantoms, but fortunately for the Flyers, one BIG positive will be headed back to the other side of the parking lot when Niittymaki returns to The Show. However, the lessons about hard work allowing a team to beat a more experienced and skilled opponent should remain with the team all season long. It should serve both as an inspiration and as a warning -- that we can be the winners when we are the harder-working team, and that we can be defeated by a lesser opponent when we allow ourselves to be outworked.

Onward to Friday's home opener. Here's to seeing the Spectrum off in style, with a Phantoms team worthy of being ranked with the Flyers' and Phantoms' most successful squads ever.

More details from the two Norfolk games

I tracked down some box scores for Friday's and Saturday's games. Read 'em and weep, as they say.

Click here: Friday's box score

Click here: Saturday's box score

I was a little surprised to see that a guy whom we expect to be one of our most skilled players, Claude Giroux, got into a fight. Good for HIM if he can keep opponents in line. He's a skill guy and a rookie to boot, so other teams are probably going to try their best to get him off his game via intimidation. According to this recap quoted by the user fridgefan29 on the Phantoms Phorum, Giroux beat his opponent. Good!

Quote:

Claude Giroux vs. Luciano Aquino

Not sure what started this one, they were skating by each other after the play had stopped and all of a sudden just dropped the gloves. Giroux is throwing a lot of big rights, probably four or five, but only connects with one as the other ones either went over Aquino's head or behind it. Aquino lands a right of his own before Giroux answers him with a right that connects. After that they fall to the ice.

Win Giroux.


courtsey of a poster over at hockeyfights.com that was in attendence.

This will be a busy week for Phantoms Phans. Tuesday night, we have the Flyers vs. Phantoms game at the Spectrum, Wednesday night is the team's Meet and Greet event at Chickie's and Pete's in South Philadelphia, and Friday night is our home opener.
Also, on Sunday, members of the Phantoms Phan Club will be able to attend our own Meet and Greet bowling party with the team. Unlike the other three events I mentioned, however, the bowling party is not open to the public. If you want to join the Phan Club, click here to visit the Phantoms Phan Club's page on myspace for more information.

Glad we're done with this Norfolk trip

Ouch. I just read the Phantoms site's recap of the October 4 game. Looks like we had a few issues in Norfolk... we lost 7-1. The good news is that our pair of losses down there were our ONLY two losses of the preseason.

The Phantoms' and Flyers' next game will be at the Spectrum on October 7. This will be the final time that the Flyers play in the Spectrum. The seat next to my season ticket seat wasn't available, so Mark and I will be attending the game but sitting one section over from my normal location. We'll still be in front of the press box, but not in the area of the Phantoms' tunnel.

Our seats for this game are a few rows behind where I normally sit, as well. Given that I'm still in physical therapy for a knee injury, I suspect I'm better off having fewer steps to navigate.

On the one hand, I'm looking forward to Tuesday's game. On the other hand, it's one of a long string of "Last ___ ever in the Spectrum" pronouncements that we're going to hear throughout the season, and part of me still winces every time I hear a sentence built around that phrase. This time, it's the "Last appearance by the Flyers ever in the Spectrum". A week ago, I was unable to attend the "Last game between NHL opponents in the Spectrum", when the Flyers faced the Carolina Hurricanes and won a preseason game. On October 10, The Phantoms will have the "Last Opening Night in the Spectrum". As I said, we'll be seeing this phrase a lot over the coming months. I hope, for the sake of what's left of my sanity, that I'm inured to hearing it before long.

Rough hockey day yesterday

I'm listening to the Flyers/NJ Devils preseason game on the radio right now, as it's the only way that the game is being made available. The Flyers just gave up a powerplay goal four seconds prior to the end of the second period. We trail 3-1.

Meanwhile, last night, the Flyers and Phantoms both lost. The Flyers dropped a game in DC to the Washington Capitals, 5-1. Ouch. I was able to watch that game online, but  we didn't have a lot of starters in the game and it wasn't a whole lot of fun. And I wasn't able to find out the score of last night's Phantoms game until today, but we lost in Norfolk 4-3.

The Flyers and Phantoms are both playing on the road again tonight. As I said, I'm listening to the Flyers game in NJ; meanwhile, the Phantoms are in Norfolk for the second consecutive night. I have no way to access the score of the Phantoms game, so I will have to impatiently wait until the game ends and a recap is posted on the Phantoms site. Good luck, guys! Avenge last night's loss!

Training Camp photo

Maxime Ouellet takes shots on goal during Flyers Training Camp on 9/22/08.