Phantoms at Hershey Bears 2-21-09: Third Period and OT

During the second intermission, I am looking at the box score. It appears that the assists will be changed on Maroon's goal. The AHL's website indicates that Nodl and Ross are now credited with assists on the goal.

Matsumoto, Laliberte, Guenin,and Syvret start the frame for us. Here is a familiar phras, e: Guenin blocks a shot. :)

However, the pesky Bears do score on a knuckle-puck during the second half of Kane's double minor, so the score is now 4-3, Phantoms.

Hershey is really pressing now. They want that tying goal. We are going to have to get the heck out of our zone. SOG in the period have all gone to the Bears: 5-0.

Come on, guys, we really need to get out of our end for more than a few moments. Blah, we only got half a line change complete before getting called for icing, so we have got some really tired people out there for a defensive-zone draw. Between that and the INTERFERENCE call that Koharsky missed, the Bears score and tie the game. :swear: I can deal with the icing call, but the missed infraction when we have half-dead guys on the ice really burns my biscuits. 4-4.

As we get old waiting for a faceoff -- not sure if something is amiss or if this is a regular promo timeout -- there are about 11 minutes remaining in the third period and we are being outshot 11-1 in this period. Not what I want to hear. Let's go, Phantoms!

And we promptly shoot on goal. :)

CURSE WORDS. I hate the lack of video replay in the AHL. Ko-FREAKING-harski waved off a goal that appeared to have crossed the goal line. Tellingly, there was no video replay provided for the fans on this play... that makes me wonder if the replay would have shown that the ref messed up. We remain tied 4-4.

Now in the final five minutes or so of the period, it's the Phantoms who are pressing hard. But we have a slight break in the action as Munroe needs to have his mask fixed.

GUENIN blocks a shot at a really crucial time. However, the farging Delay of Game rule comes back to bite usm as Matsumoto's clearing pass goes over the glass. We will spend the rest regulation shorthanded, provided we kill the penalty and make it to OT.

With 30 seconds remaining, Munroe freezes the puck and we are able to changel ines. WHEW.

The third period is over, and we are going into OT. Egad, this game is hard on the blood pressure. Matsumoto's penalty expires at the end of regulation, so it won't bleed into the OT frame. We are at 4 on 4 for the extra frame. For his third-period heroics, especially inthat late PK, I think the team owes Munroe a dinner.

Mayotte makes a nice save on Raduns and freezes the puck, about halfway through the OT. However, these last couple of minutes of overtime are being spent in front of Munroe a bit too much for my liking. Ah,here we go, down to the other end and we have a flurry in front of Mayotte... unfortunately we don't cash it in. Eventually, we ice the puck with 4.7 seconds left in OT. We have already gone to shootout twice this season with Hershey, and it appears that we are close to doing so for a third time.

No dice. BLAST. WHile the bleeping stupid arenavision was showing a "Let's go Bears" graphic, the darn Bears score off a rebound from the faceoff. Farg. 5-4 Bears in OT with 1.1 seconds left. Rats, Nobody picked up Aucoin on the doorstep.

Our next games are at home on Friday and Saturday.

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 2-21-09: Second Period

As I sit here looking at tonight's box score, I realize that we have had Terry Koharski as the referee two nights in a row. Hmm...

Depending on how he does tonight, we can always offer him a seat in the Dunk Tank at tomorrow's Flyers Wives Carnival. :D

Darn it, The Wrong Giroux just tied the score 1-1.Actually, maybe he needn't be referred to by that name tonight, as the Phantoms' Giroux is up with the Flyers. But in any event, I really wish Washington would just call Giroux the heck up and KEEP him there. Pain in the tail Phantoms killer. ;)

WTG MATSUMOTO, he steals the puck and gets it to Laliberte to get the one-goal lead back! 2-1 Phantoms!

SZWEZ promptly scores less than 30 seconds later, and Hershey's coach is switching goalies. We are only 2:45 into a rather eventful period. This goal was unassisted. 3-1 Phantoms.

Matsumoto just did precisely what a forward is supposed to do when his defenseman breaks his stick: he gave Sean Curry his own twig. This could have made life rather interesting for Curry, as Matsumoto is a good six inches shorter than he is, plus one shoots left and the other hoots right. Also, per Brian Smith, Matsumoto has "the strangest tape job I've ever seen". LOL But Curry does manage to clear the puck without incident. :)

Speaking of Curry, it's now a few shifts later and he is about to go to the sin bin. Raduns manages to pilfer the puck from The Wrong Giroux and get a shorthanded scoring chance, but nothing comes of that. Besides some time chewed off the penalty kill, that is. Kane also managed to haul the puck up the ice shortly thereafter. Now we are back at even strength, so we dodged the PK bullet.

MUNROE -- terrific save! Gotta love him! :)

It's now the Bears' turn to kill a penalty. And it appears to be OUR turn to fend off a Bears rush. OK, guys, let's go down to the other end and bug Hershey's goalie for a while. BLAST. Freaking Bears. The moment we returned to even strength, Hershey scored on a double deflection. 3-2 Phantoms.

What? Hershey is getting ready to go to the penalty box again -- one of our guys got high-sticked right after the faceoff. Joudry has earned a double minor, so we have got to make good on this chance. Ross, Nodl, Kane, Curry, and Syvret are out. These guys stayed out long enough to be gassed by the end of the shift. Next up, Matsumoto, Maroon, Laliberte, Ratchuk, Kukkonen, SCOOOOORE! Maroon buries one stick side during the second half of the double minor! 4-2 Phantoms! Nodl must have just come back out, because he and Ratchuk got the assists. That was Maroon's 20th goal of the season. NICE!

Rats. Kane now goes off for four minutes, having high-sticked Osala. Ouch. We will be starting the third period on the PK. At the end of the second period, the score is 4-2 Phantoms. SOG: Phantoms 19, Bears 17.

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 2-21-09: First Period

The Phantoms have dressed the same roster tonight as they did last night. Our two scratches then were DeSantis and Klotz. The Bears have been bitten by the injury bug, so we really have to do everything possible to capitalize on that.

Clackson and Grant MacNeill have an early fight. Edge to Clackson, given the number of lefts he landed to MacNeill's head/face. Once the two of them settled down and started wrestling, Clackson eventually got the takedown.

As was the case last night, the first opportunity to kill a penalty will go to the Phantoms. Once we returned to even strength, Ross takes a fantastic SOG that finds the back of the net, just as he was falling to the ice. 1-0 Phantoms with 4:57 remaining in the period. Assist goes to Nodl.


There goes the horn to end the period. The Phantoms lead 1-0, and the SOG are Phantoms 11, Beard 9.

Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Recap and Box Score; All-Star update

Here is the recap of the Phantoms/Senators game from the Phantoms website.

And here is the link to the box score from the AHL's site.

We received word that Claude Giroux would NOT be sent down to the Phantoms in order to allow him to participate in the AHL All-Star events. He had been slated to play on Team Canada. However, Jared Ross was named to PlanetUSA, to replace someone who'd been either injured or called up. It's good to see him get this opportunity, as he'd been named to the team LAST year but had to decline because of an appendectomy.

Go Jared!

Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Third Period

With 11:41 left in the third period, there hasn't been a whole lot to report. Gerber has been murder, particularly in a sequence where Matsumoto and Maroon combined for three consecutive shots on goal. Gerber is down from the Ottawa Senators on a conditioning assignment. I wonder if we can convince the Ottawa Sens that Gerber is fit enough to be called up right now, as in "before this period is over"? ;)

Our announcer just told a story about former Flyer Denis Hamel's one-timers. When Bingo was practicing in Philly, he shot a puck right through the end glass during the morning skate... his shot went above the net and not only hit the glass, but penetrated the glass and went about ten feet back into the seats. To quote Brian Smith, "If that had happened during a game, it would have killed the goal judge." Good grief! If I ever get a seat behind Hamel's opponent's net, remind me to wear a goalie mask to the game.

We have just given up our 38th shot on goal. Prior to Sunday's game, we had eleven consecutive games where we gave up at least 38 shots. We had a welcome break from that trend on Sunday, but unfortunately, we appear to have gone right back into letting our goaltender see truckloads of rubber per game.

Munroe has gone to the bench, and Bellamy is the 6th skater. We have 1:44 left to play, and I'm thinking of a prior road game this very season when we managed to put in two very-late goals with our netminder pulled. Paddock has called timeout with a faceoff in the Binghamton zone. Whatever we did that night, let's do it again, shall we? Nodl, Maroon, Matsumoto, Ross, Laliberte, and Syvret are our skaters. (Only one defenseman is in that group.) Unfortunately, when play resumes, the Senators managed to get hold of the puck and put in an empty-net goal despite Syvret's attempts to fill in as a goaltender. The score is now 3-0, Senators.

And there goes the final horn. Martin Gerber has earned a 32-save shutout, and the Phantoms were outshot 41-32.

Our next two games are at home on Friday and Saturday, vs. the Manchester Monarchs and Lake Erie Monsters, respectively. From there, we will go into the All-Star Break.

Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Second Period

We will begin the second period at 4-on-4, with coincidental roughing minors having been handed out.

Nothing of much note took place during that sequence, but seconds after the penalties expired, the Phantoms got their first PP of the night. Our PP is currently 6th best in the league -- let's see how we do. (Oh this announcer -- he keeps calling our player "MatsuMAto".... argh.) AAAAH -- POSTAGE, as Ross clangs one off the iron. Ah, so close.

Within a minute of the Sens' penalty ending, they were awarded the opportunity to kill another penalty. And early on in that PK, the Senators took a high-stcking infraction that will leave them with a two-man deficit. OK, Phantoms, let's do this -- we really do need to get some good stuff going here.

We're going with the four-forward PP unit for the first shift of this two-man advantage. Ross is playing the left point. Now its Syvret's turn to ring one off the post. Have these darn pucks got a magnet in 'em tonight?

Fata is fighting with Maroon -- I am having a rough time with this image that keeps freezing up on me, but I did manage to see the replay of the bout. Fata stunned Maroon at one point early in the fight, and Maroon was operating at a disadvantage from that poitn forward. Both guys will sit for five minutes.

Yikes -- we spent a lot of time in front of Martin Gerber, but once the Sens managed a breakout, Scott Munroe had to make some circus saves to keep our deficit at only one goal.

Unfortunately, minutes later, a shot that former Phantom Marc Cavosie took deflected off a stick and found its way in. With under 5 minutes remaining in the second period, the Phantoms now trail 2-0.

That's what we need to do -- start deflecting pucks off anything and everything. Maybe if we pretend we're playing pinball for a while, we'll find a way to pull even. I'm pleased that we have managed to hem the Senators into their own zone at various points during this period, as that aspect of our game has been conspicuous by its absence in some recent games. However, if the goalie can see the puck all the way, he's going to stop the shot the vast majority of the time.

Ryan Parent is getting sent to the penalty box with 5.9 seconds remaining in the period. The Phantoms will have 1:55 of penalty time remaining to kill at the start of the third period. The score at the end of the second period os Senators 2, Phantoms 0.

Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: First Period

One benefit of having problems with the Phantoms' streaming audio is that I got to hear, from the Binghamton announcer, what's wrong with some of our players. Kane, Guenin, and Hersley all have shoulder injuries. Raduns has a concussion, and Szwez is out with what's listed as a "lower body injury". I'm so glad that we have to rely on the opponent's media people to tell us what injuries our own guys have. Sigh.

Anyway, it appears that Giroux has been recalled to the Flyers. Chris Zarb is in our lineup tonight (which is good news, as he was practicing witih the injured Phantoms a few days ago). Giroux's absence has cleared the way for Billy Ryan to return to the lineup.

It appears that the Phantoms will be the first team to kill a penalty, with Maroon going to the box 14 minutes and change into the first period. Our 4th-best PK is about to lock horns with the league's best PP. And we will have to give this particular round to the Senators, as they did put in a PP goal with a few seconds remaining on the man advantage. Beans. They had their guy planted at our post, waiting for a loose puck or a rebound to come his way, and he cashed in the opportunity that came to him. Oh, well, it's only one goal.

At the end of the first period, the Senators are outshooting the Phantoms 13-11, which at least is a much smaller margin than we've faced in recent games. The Phantoms trail 1-0 on the scoreboard. There were a few guys yapping at one another at the final horn, so we'll see at the start of the second period if any penalties are announced.

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Recap and Box Score

Here is the recap of the game from the Phantoms website.

And here is the box score from the AHL site.

The Phantoms will play at home vs. the Albany River Rats tonight. We will have special jerseys on which will be auctioned off for charity after the game. That auction stands to get a HUGE boost, because there'll be a Briere game-worn jersey among the offerings.

Yes, Daniel Briere will take part in the third of a possible three AHL rehab games tonight. So, stop on down if you want to see Mr. Briere for the cost of an AFFORDABLE hockey ticket. Be there or be square!

Go Phantoms!

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Third Period, OT, shootout.

I see Laing back on the ice for the Bears. I have not seen nor heard Szwez's name since Laing hit him in the first period. Great, that's all we need: another possible injury. Our freaking press box isn't crowded enough already with guys in various stages of injury-recovery. :headdesk: I hope it's nothing major.

In the first six or so minutes of the period, both teams have had a couple of Keystone-Kops moments, but neither team has created much in the way of scoring opportunities. Now there's a protracted string of shots on the Phantoms net, but Munroe is equal to the task.

That seemed to wake up both teams, though. There is a lot of end-to-end movement going on, but the teams appear more organized and determined than they did earlier in the period.

We are being outshot in this period 13-2. Once again, the Phantoms have given up more than 40 SOG. Ratchuk blocked a stuff attempt at the post, but the rebound went out into the slot, where a Bear put it in. There was, however, a fallen Bear landing on Munroe at the time the puck went in. And the entire sequence could have been avoided if, as our announcer pointed out, our D's clearing attempt had not hit the referee's skates and stayed in. (That's the second time in this game that Fraser's feet kept the puck in the Phantoms zone, but who's counting?) There are no video replays to support or disprove the Phantoms' objections to goalie interference, however, so the goal will stand 3-2 Bad Guys.

The Phantoms have gone on a PP, as Clackson's preferred waltz partner Amadio has been sent to the box to feel shame. We're getting some chances, but so far, no dice. Nope -- no PP goal for us, at least not this time. The score remains 3-2.

MATSUMOTO -- he got stoned earlier in the game, but he wouldn't be denied this time! He made a nice highlight-reel maneuver at the post to tie the game. 3-3! :) Assists to Laliberte and Maroon.

After a long Nasty Session between the teams with 3:30 remaining, the sole penalty that was assesses was a ten-minute misconduct to Clackson. That's rather mystifying to those of us who can't hear what was going on, but at least we're not going shorthanded this late in the game. And speaking of late penalties, we're getting coincidental minors to Ross and a Bear whose name I missed.

Nodl and Sirianni are our first 4-on-4 forward pair. Matsumoto/Laliberte are next. Nodl/Maroon was yet another combination that we saw during the 4-on-4. But we didn't see a lot else of note, and now the penalties are over.

The Phantoms have called a timeout, prior to a defensive-zone draw. We have given up 48 shots on goal so far, and our season high of shots given up is 49. The game's not over yet, so we could be on the verge of setting a new mark there.

Looks like the Bears are getting back at us for all the times when our clock at the Spectrum has wigged out on them: a little while ago, they took two seconds off the clock. This time, they are adding 2.5 seconds, giving us 9.7 seconds remaining.

There goes the horn to end the third period. We've garnered at least one point from this game. Hershey still has 48 shots on goal as we take the minute-long break before the overtime.

Our first four players: Ross, Nodl, Syvret, Parent. Matsumoto/Laliberte got sprung on a long pass by Parent, but no luck. And there's Hershey's 49th shot. And their 50th and 51st, to boot. Scott Munroe needs a star of the game, have I mentioned that recently?

OMG times ten, Laliberte was robbed, absolutely freaking ROBBED. Machesney stopped two shots, plus a defenseman piled in to help prevent another puck from reaching the net. Oh, brother, we came this-close to a GWG on that play.

Here we go -- the game ended at 3-3, so we are going for the bonus point from the skills competition. Or, in other words, there will be a shootout. Munroe finished the game with 49 saves.

Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Maroon: no, 0-0
Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES, 1-0
Hershey: no, 1-0
Phantoms, Ross: YES, 2-0
Hershey: yes, 2-1
Phantoms, Nodl: no, 2-1
Hershey: yes, 2-2
Phantoms, Ratchuk: no, 2-2

We are tied after five rounds, so now we go to sudden death.

Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Laliberte: no, 2-2
Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES!!! 3-2! Phantoms win in the seventh round of the shootout, hallelujah! And I'm laughing -- the Phantoms' announcer's voice isn't quite as hoarse as mine, but it's close. LMHO, poor guy has laryngitis and he gets to call, not just a game, but an OT and a shootout into the bargain. (Not to mention that this is a three-game-in-three-night weekend, so he got to do play-by-play last night as well, and he's likely to be at it again tomorrow at the Spectrum.)

Well, the Good Guys pulled out a 4-3 victory, coming back from behind twice. THIS is more like it! Now if we could just figure out how to allow fewer SOG per game...! But I'd rather lead on the scoreboard than the shot clock, so I'll take it.

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Second Period

Clackson had an early wrestling match with huge Bear whose name I don't recall having seen before: Wellar. They went off for fighting. I believe Clackson already led the league in fights; if so, having two bouts in one game won't do anything to diminish his supremacy.

The period has gone relatively evenly so far. The most notable event has been that Arsene hit Bellamy and stunned him. As this took place behind the play, I'm a little surprised that no penalty was called.

We didn't have to wait long to have a powerplay, however, as Bourque obliged by slashing Ryan. Our first PP unit is Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte with Syvret and Desantis. SCOOOORE -- Laliberte buried the rebound of the rebound of the rebound. Nice work, guys! It helped that Syvret, one of our D, came in and got involved with the goalmouth scramble. That, per our announcer, disorganized the Bears' PK enough that we were able to keep hacking at the puck until we got it in.

OMG, ROSS!!! As I was typing the previous paragraph, he got a breakaway end-to-en rush, and scored to tie the game! NICE, Rossco! Assist from his buddy Scott Munroe. :) 2-2, and welcome to a new game!

On the following shift, we incurred a penalty to Beaulieu, so we are shorthanded. Nodl proceeds to carry the puck up ice and be a nuisance to the Bears. No major SH chance came of it, but we did shave a few seconds off the PK. Munroe gave us all we needed to withstand the rest of that penalty kill, and the teams are back at full strength.

Machesney (Bears goalie) had to come way out to play a puck. Ross tried to tip it away from him. Sloan of the Bears slashed Ross in retaliation, Ross went after him, and the end result is a ten-player shoving match in the corner. It appears that Ross gets slashing, Sloan gets cross-checking, and Arsene gets roughing, so the Phantoms are on the PP. I'm not convinced that a replay would show that those players broke those specific rules (other than Arsene/roughing), but the upshot is the naughty players were correctly identified and they're in the sin bin. Dang -- Machesney stoned Matsumoto on our best chance of the PP.

Soon after the return to even strength, Curry gets set off for boarding. Really, the players who turn to face the boards upon seeing that they are about to be hit should get sent to the freakin' box for unsportsmanlike conduct. If they can give "unsportsmanlike conduct, diving" penalties, they should give penalties to the people who turn a legal hit into a hit from behind when it's too late for the check-thrower to redirect his trajectory.

Two Bears collide, but one of them, Bourque, trips Matsumoto to prevent a breakaway, so he's in the sin bin and we will be at 4 on 4 for a while. Syvret came inches from scoring for the Phantoms -- the dratted puck rolled slowly through the crease. Too bad nothing was in its path to deflect it in, but oh well. SO close!

Sirianni just got two nice attempts. His first shot was blocked, but he got the puck back and took another one that Machesney had to be quick to deflect.

Speaking of goalies that need to be quick, The Wrong Giroux (Alexandre) deflected a teammate's shot on goal, and Munroe had to be sharp to track the puck and freeze it. Giroux tied a league record earlier in the game by scoring in 14th consecutive game. He leads the league in scoring -- no surprise, given stats like the above! I guess he's not just a Phantoms-killer, then. Looks like he's just an everyone-he-plays-against killer.(Dear Caps: call this guy the heck back up and KEEP him up this time, wouldja? KTHXBAI.)

The second period is over. The Phantoms staged a nice comeback, and the score remains tied at 2-2. Shots on goal: Phantoms 21, Bears 29.

Win the third period, guys!

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: First Period

I wasn't able to catch this game from the very beginning. However, Clackson has had the obligatory bout with Amadio. I swear those two have scrapped in almost every Phantoms/Bears contest we've had so far this season. The Phantoms wound up on a PP from that event, as Amadio picked up an extra minor.

At the time of the end of the PP, the Phantoms were outshooting the Bears 5-1. Thats the good news. The bad news is that we are nearly at the END of the first period and we have not had a shot on goal since. Not at even strength, not on another PP, not while shorthanded. Nada.

The Bears, meanwhile, have been offering us approximately a shot per minute from that point forward. The final horn just sounded, and we were outshot 16-0 during that time period. We are currently being outshot 17-5 as we go into the first intermission.

If that were the only place where we were trailing, it wouldn't be quite so tough. However, we have also given up two goals to Alexandre Giroux, the darn Phantoms-killer that Washington shouldn't have sent back down. One of those goals was at even strength, and the other was on a late Bears PP. So the Phantoms trail 2-0.

We do not have Briere in our lineup. However, it was announced earlier today that Briere will, in fact, partake in a third rehab contest with the Phantoms, in our home game on Sunday night. That serves multiple purposes. First of all, it lets Briere rehab another game before returning to the Flyers. It gives our GM time to straighten out the Flyers' salary cap situation in advance of Briere's return to the Flyers lineup. And as the Phantoms are going to have a jersey auction on Sunday night, it will be a huge boost to the fundraising effort to be able to auction off a Briere jersey along with those of the rest of the team.

One more note before I close out this post... we incurred one of those penalties that no coach will gripe about, nor will any player complain about having to kill off. Laing of the Bears laid out Szwez with a hit, shaking him up badly enough that he headed up the tunnel with our trainer. Moments later, Oskars Bartulis flattened Laing and left HIM in a heap on the ice. Laing wound up communing with the Bears trainer, and Bartulis got two minutes for charging. But when players are sticking up for one another, no coach or teammate will raise an objection to being shorthanded.

Here's hoping that neither player is dented too seriously. I'll be on the lookout for both of them in the second period.

Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Recap and Box Score; Briere will Rehab with Phantoms

Here is the link to the game recap from Sunday's game.

And here is the link to the box score.

Now, for the surprise of the day. According to the Flyers' website, Daniel Briere will spend two games rehabbing with the Phantoms. We've never been tasked with augmenting the recovery of the Flyers' best player before, so that's a nice thing. Besides -- not only will it give Briere some extra time to see if he's completely game-ready, it also buys our GM some time to make additional moves to clear salary cap space.

So here's to seeing these next couple of Phantoms games be mutually beneficial to both Briere and the Phantoms. Goodness knows we could use all the offense we can get, if his health's up to providing it. And if all goes well, then heck, Flyers, go crazy -- leave him with us for all THREE games he's eligible to play. :) We won't mind. Honest.

Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Third Period

We've resumed play in the third period. Not a lot of note happened for the first few minutes, besides the call of a high-sticking infraction to Jonathan Matsumoto just now. Our first PK pair iS Ross/Szwez. Parent and Syvret are the D.

We successfully killed the penalty, and with 13:45 remaining, we got or second PP of the game. WHAT are these pinheads running the arenavision doing? We're taking a shot on goal and the view switches to a tiny kid eating a huge apple in the crowd? WTH? :banghead:

Unfortunately, we took a penalty of our own that erased the rest of our man advantage. Sirianni will sit, we'll play 4-on-4, and at the end of the Monsters' penalty, we will have a 40-second shorthanded stint. I like the chances that we're generating with the extra room on the ice during the 4-on-4. But Weiman, Lake Erie's goaltender, was equal to all challenges until the Monsters got their man back. Now we're killing the last 40 seconds of the tripping call. The Monsters are cycling, but so far have only gotten one shot on net with the man advantage. Now we're at even strength, but Lake Erie got a few more attempts on our net before we managed to break out of our zone.

Just as we reached the other end, Lake Erie helped us a bit more by taking an interference penalty. we gave up a shorthanded shot on goal, now we seem to be having some issues getting ourselves down to Lake Erie's end and getting set up. we have Ryan, Maroon, (couldn't see the third forward), Ratchuk, and Curry. OH, so close, we deflected a shot on goal but it went just high. Rats. The penalty is over, we are at even strength, and there is 7:38 left in the third period. Both teams are now 0-for-4 on PP opportunities tonight.

The Phantoms are really pressing to get that goose egg off the board. Unfortunately, they managed to break out when Smith got behind our D with the puck. He padded the Monsters' lead with another goal. It's now 3-0, Bad Guys. We have 5 minutes and change remaining in the period.

When some lady makes a big sign for the Lake Erie goalie, with "I LOVE TYLER WEINMAN" in huge letters, is it wrong to giggle upon realizing that she has spelled his name wrong (it should be Weiman)? If so, oops. Sorry. Didn't mean it. Couldn't help it.

What's the problem with this video all of a sudden? It's freezing up like last Friday's stream. At least I can hear the audio, if all I'm seeing is a slide show. Thank goodness it's a stoppage in play. I don't need to see fans dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe".

Play has resumed, and so has the video stream, thank goodness. Unfortunately, with one minute remaining in the game, we have given up 38 SOG for the ninth game in a row. It's awfully hard to win games when our opponent is getting that many opportunities on our net.

There goes the final horn. The Phantoms have been shut out for the second consecutive game.

We went 1-4 on this extended road trip. At the halfway point of the season, we have a record of 20-18-1-1.

I'll be back with the recap and box score when they're finalized and available online.

Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Second Period

The game has resumed, the penalty has expired, the score remains 0-0, the little kid who's being shown in closeup on the arenavision is cute and looking at the huge slice of pizza she's eating is making me hungry.

Oh, and the Phantoms are about to get their first PP of the game. Ross, Sirianni, Szwez, Curry, and Syvret are our first PP unit. We are creating chances, which I like to see, but dang it, we did eventually got a pass intercepted. Teslak made a nice stop on a shorthanded chance, then handed off the puck to our D so we wouldn't have to get a faceoff in our zone. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Maroon, DeSantis, and (I can't see our other defenseman) are our second PP unit.

The Monsters did kill their penalty, but they also iced the puck, meaning that we were able to change lines but they had to keep their guys on the ice.

Szwez just got freaking STONED by the Monsters' goalie Weiman. Doggone, what a save. Ross's rebound went right to Szwez, and he took two SOG, on which he was downright robbed. Oh, look at who's on the Monsters -- our former Phantom Jesse Boulerice. Cool.

The people in charge of the Lake Erie arenavision have GOT to stop putting noise meters and fans on the screen WHILE PLAY IS IN PROGRESS. It's stupendously aggravating to have non-play-related images on the screen for 5-10 seconds after the play-by-play has resumed.

I'm actually surprised that the Lake Erie player didn't get called for delay of game here, as he skated STRAIGHT into his net during a multiple-shot-on-goal sequence for the Phantoms. It didn't really appear that he made any attempt to avoid hitting the net and knocking it way off its moorings.

Well, anyway, nothing was called, and we're approximately halfway through the period. The score remains 0-0 and if I heard right, the shots are even at 22 apiece.

Blah. The freaking Monsters did manage to score on the shift following that announcement. Rats. I was trying to figure out why the Lake Erie Monsters, whose jersey shows a sea monster (or lake monster, really), have a mascot working the crowd that's a... bald eagle? While the freaking arenavision was focusing on said mascot, play resumed and the Monsters scored. 1-0, Monsters.

Here goes another penalty against the Phantoms -- holding the stick against Matsumoto. Lake Erie's PP has not been particularly effective this year -- 12%, according to our announcer. (I spent the first intermission battling to get the Philly audio instead of the Lake Erie audio, and eventually succeeded.) Unfortunately, Lake Erie started getting multiple chances in quick succession, and it cost us. I'm still trying to determine if the goal went in during the PP or immediately after the penalty expired. Either way, the score is now 2-0 Monsters.

I just checked the box score during a break in play -- the second Monsters goal came one second after the penalty expired. The eagle mascot is tobogganing down the arena stairs, and the faceoff is in progress (but we still haven't cut over to the action on the ice).

LOL. They're showing the arena keyboard player with a caption, "He's what Willis was talking about". Bwahaha! Now if they could just get the darn cameras cut over to the play once the teams line up for the faceoff, instead of dawdling, I could get to like these arenavision operators.

The second period is now over. The Monsters lead 2-0, and the SOG are Lake Erie 25, Phantoms 24.

Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: First Period

I have been having a ton of issues trying to get the Phantoms audio on this gamecast instead of the Lake Erie (Cleveland) audio. I have finally given up on it and am watching the game with the home team's announcer instead of our own. It's infuriating that the ability to get the road team's audio with the cybercast appears to be malfunctioning this weekend.

Anyway... it's extremely late in the first period, and the score is currently 0-0. It has not been a penalty-fest, as it took until a few minutes ago before the first penalties were called, and even then it was coincidental minors.

Now, however, with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first period, the Lake Erie Monsters will be granted the first PP of the game. Mike Ratchuk will go. LMHO, the Lake Erie screen just showed a little blurb of information about Ratchuk: according to them, he has a pet mouse which he brings on roadtrips. :) Cute!

The first period has ended witih a 0-0 score. There will be a small amount of PK time remaining for the Phantoms at the start of the second period.

Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: Recap and Box Score; AHL All-Star Selections

Here is the link to the recap of the game from the Phantoms site.

And here is the link to the box score.

On a more upbeat note, congratulations to Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret of the Phantoms, who were named to the AHL's Team Canada All-Star team on Tuesday. This follows on the heels of Giroux's being named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December.

Giroux is currently on callup to the Flyers, so he'll only be able to participate in the All-Star events if they send him back down. I hope they do that for him, even if it means calling him right back up the moment the game is over. I think it'd be a great experience for him to be there.

Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: Third Period

There has been a ton of back-and-forth during this period. That tends to make me nervous, because historically neither the Phantoms nor the Flyers have been teams prone to playing that sort of river hockey. There have been a lot of examples of this kind of play in recent Phantoms games; however, none of said games have resulted in wins. So I would just as soon see us find some ways to control the pace of the game enough to prevent these end-to-end-to-end sequences from happening.

Case in point: after a great chance by Maroon, the Bulldogs brought it back and Kemp, on a shot that may have been deflected, increased Hamilton's lead to 4-1. They did give Kemp credt for the goal, so apparently the powers-that-be have decided that the shot was not deflected. Either way, the hole that the Phantoms need to climb out of has just gotten a bit deeper.

We're currently shorthanded, with Bartulis in the box. I'm pleased to see us clearing the puck with authority, repeatedly. Boy, do I welcome the return of THAT aspect of our game.

TESLAK -- what a great couple of blocks he made at the very end of that PK! Good job!

Meanwhile, on my TV screen, the Flyers are going into a shootout vs. the Capitals. Have I mentioned recently that I BLEEPING LOATHE SHOOTOUTS? I see no logic to ending a team game with a one-on-one skills competition. So as far as I'm concerned, the Flyers/Caps game ended in a tie, and they are competing for a bonus point in a skills competition.

OK, then, back to the Phantoms game. There's a surprisingly long pause on the ice while Jeff Szwez gets sent off for slashing. I don't know if it was a TV timeout or what it was, but that stoppage in play took a lot longer than I'd expected.

Teslak just made another pair of great saves, both on Lehoux. Who, speaking of Lehoux, just got sent off for slashing. We'll be playing at 4 on 4 for a little while, with 4:17 left in the third period. After that, we'll have a 1:15 PP of our own.

Maroon to Clackson, whose shot gets stopped, but MAROOOOON gets the rebound and buries one with 44.8 seconds remaining! The score is now 4-2. Maroon gets the goal, assisted by Clackson and Ratchuk.

With six seconds remaining, we get coincidental minors to Maroon and Beauregard.

Unfortunately, we could draw no closer to tying the game than that. We go down 4-2 to the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Flyers lost also, 2-1 in a shootout. So this wasn't an ideal night for Philly hockey fans, for sure.

We have a few more contests left in this road trip, where I hope we will work out the bugs in our game and break this seven-game winless streak.

Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09; Second Period

Early in the second period, there seems to be an issue with the ice. They're sending out for a bucket of snow, I presume from what the Zamboni shaved off during the intermission, and are repairing an area all along the boards near the hash marks with it. The snow has been applied, and they are following up with a dose of water to freeze it over.

After giving the touched-up area enough time to freeze over, play was allowed to resume.

Now, BOTH Phantoms alumni are on the ice for Hamilton: Gainey and Anderson.

To my surprise, the Bulldogs' shot on goal over three minutes into the period was the first shot of the second frame for either team.

While we are getting set up in the Bulldogs zone, Bellamy gets hauled down, no call. On the same shift, Klotz gets shoved to the ice: no call. Boy, I hope that we get the same measure of leniency if one of our defenders takes down a Hamilton player.

Here we go -- now there IS someone else from Hamilton getting called for hooking, a couple of plays later. This is the Phantoms' second PP of the game. Ross is out with Szwez, Sirianni, Curry, and Syvret. CURRY!!! He scores with a huge bomb from the left point -- NICE job! And it's a pleasure to see our powerplay actually looking potent again -- this is the first game in a while that we looked in-control from the first drop of the puck with the man advantage. Curry gets the goal, with assists from Syvret and Sirianni. That assist puts Syvret back into a tie for the lead-scoring AHL defenseman. 2-1, Hamilton.

During a protracted stoppage in play, our announcer mentioned that we have six players on recall to the Flyers: Munroe, Nodl, Gratton, Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Some of the above-mentioned guys are injured -- Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Gratton missed some time with a hand injury, as well -- this blogger would like to see the Flyers stop breaking our guys once they call them up.

Laliberte is getting sent off for tripping, resulting in the bulldogs' third PP of the night. Syvret proceeds to clear the puck out. The Bulldogs come back in, but the Phantoms are doing a goo job of keeping them from getting set up. Out it goes, thanks to Beaulieu and BTW, welcome back to our PK unit, Josh. Hamilton did manage to generate some scoring opportunities, but the Phantoms defended well.

The penalty is over, but lo and behold, we are getting sent to the box once again. It's Syvret this time. Curry and Matsumoto are creating a shorthanded rush, during which we weren't able to get a shot off -- but we did manage to whittle some seconds off this shorthanded stint, so I'll take it.

Once the Bulldogs got the puck back down to our end, we had some issues getting it cleared again. The puck bounced off Koharski at one point, to which I grumble, "MOVE, will you?" Bad enough we have a deficit of skaters on the ice; we don't need an official to create additional obstacles for us to overcome. Three Phantoms in front of Teslak were not enough to keep the rebound from going to Steve Gainey, and the Bulldogs are now ahead 3-1 with their second PP goal of the game.

With 2:34 left in the second period, the Phantoms are getting a PP -- we really, really need to cash this opportunity in. Unfortunately, Hamilton cleared the puck out, and pursued it with us into our end, resulting in a game of keep-away at our half-boards. Eventually we get ourselves in position in the Bullogs end, albeit with half the man-advantage gone. We are cycling the puck, and while I don't mind seeing us control the puck, I would like to see us direct the disk on net since we're not going to score too effectively by passing around the perimeter.

We did end the period having taken the same number of shots in this frame as the Bulldogs did: 9. We also scored one goal apiece. The score at the end of two periods is Hamilton 3, Phantoms 1.

Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: First Period

Oh, how much did it make my day (not) to hear that Jamie Koharski is our ref? I guess I can't carp too loudly, as we have only seen him a few times so far this season. (Thank God.)

Apparently, Teslak had a little brain lock moment at the end of the US national anthem. He forgot that as we're in Canada, we still had one more anthem to go before he could replace his mask and get ready to play. :)

Former Phantom Chad Anderson is in the Bulldogs lineup. And another former Phantom, Steve Gainey (son of Bob Gainey), has been signed to a PTO by Hamilton.

The Phantoms have gotten an early PP, but although we got set up in the Hamilton zone, we weren't able to open the scoring during the man advantage.

Unfortunately, a few minutes after that, the Phantoms were victimized by a protracted mad scramble in front of our net. The rat fink puck just wouldn't cooperate with anybody not wearing a Bullogs sweater, and the end result was a puck in the Phantoms net. 1-0, Bulldogs.

I see Beaulieu on the ice, which is good news. There's one player that we've gotten back from injury.

We're about to go on the PK, as Klotz has gone off for boarding.

We survived that shorthanded situation, as well as a curious stoppage of play that happened while we were on the attack. Nobody, including the officials, seemed to be able to discern why, exactly, play was stopped. (See my grumbling in the first paragraph.) Matsumoto questioned the officials as to why the faceoff was about to be moved out of our zone, causing them to confer and correct that decision. The faceoff was held where it belonged, INSIDE the Bulldogs zone.

We just had another alarming scramble in front of our net where if the Hamilton player had been able to raise the puck, he'd have put it in easily. Thank goodness the puck was being ornery again.

While we were shorthanded, with Matsumoto in the sin bin, Yannick Lehoux just BLASTED a slapshot past Teslak. He ripped that puck, which caught the crossbar and deflected down into the net. 2-0, Bad Guys.

Meanwhile, one of our guys gets hauled down right in front of the referee, who just stands and watches. No call. As long as he is equally lenient to both teams, I'll keep my peace.

Today, two Phantoms were named to the Canadian All-Stars: Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret. I'm pleased for them. This presumes, of course, that Giroux is sent back down by the Flyers in time for him to play in the game. I'd have liked to see Scott Munroe get chosen as well, but then again All-Star games ten to be flat-out murder on goalies. So maybe it's to the team's advantage that we're not sending our starting goaltender to be bombarded by a bazillion shots in an exhibition game where defense is practically unheard of.

At the end of the first period, the SOG count is Phantoms 5, Bulldogs 15. So I guess our goaltenders are getting bombarded by zillions of shots anyway... but at least it's a Real Game that they're getting this kind of workout during, not an exhibition.

The score is currently Hamilton 2, Phantoms 0.

Phantoms @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 12-30-08: Recap and Box Score

Here is the link to Tuesday's game recap on the Phantoms site.

And here is the link to the box score from the AHL site. I can't help but notice some of the individual Penguins' shot totals. Minard had 8 shots in the game; Pesonen had 7. I'm sure that some players' shot totals were inflated by that infinite 5-on-3 advantage that the Penguins had, and the fact that during their extended powerplay time in the second period, the Pens outshot the Phantoms 23-0. However, here's hoping that some of those stats are gaudy enough for Pittsburgh to sit up and take notice, and, oh... call up a player or two. ;)