FRIDAY, NOV. 14 - PHANTOMS VS. HERSHEY, 7:05 PM - Wachovia Spectrum SATURDAY, NOV. 15 - PHANTOMS VS. HERSHEY, 7:00 PM - Giant Center
The Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals) and their potent offense take on the Phantoms in a home and home series this weekend. This will be the fourth and fifth times this season that the Bears and Phantoms will clash. In their last meeting, the Phantoms jumped up 3-0 early only to see the Bears claw back late in the third period. Overtime couldn't decide the fate of the game, and Philadelphia outscored Hershey in a shootout to capture a 4-3 victory. After a hot start, the Bears have cooled down a bit, yet they still sit in second place in the Eastern Conference's East Division with 19 points. Hershey's attack, lead by AHL assist leader Keith Aucoin, has tallied 60 goals in 15 games this season, which is 11 more then any other team in the AHL. The Phantoms have taken two of the three meetings between the clubs so far, with four more - including these two - set to take place this month alone.
NEXT HOME GAME
The Phantoms return to the Wachovia Spectrum on Friday, November 14th when they host the Hershey Bears at 7:05 PM. It's Phantoms Children's Book Week and all fans who bring in a new or gently used children's book will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win a team-signed Phantoms jersey or other prizes from Success Won't Wait, a Delaware-based organization that organizes book drives and redistributes them throughout the community. Also helping to celebrate the evening will be the Philadelphia Public Library, who will be signing up fans for library cards. Tickets are still available! Call 1-800-298-4200 or go online to phantomshockey.com for more details.
THIS WEEK
Phantoms defenseman Danny Syvret will be a guest on Hockey World with Bill Clement this Wednesday night from 6-7 PM. The show airs live on 1490-AM WBCB. Also this week. Phantoms head coach John Paddock is scheduled to appear on Comcast SportsNet's Daily News Live, which airs from 5:00 to 6:30.
STREAKING SYVRET
Defenseman Danny Syvret went on a season-long seven-game scoring streak which started on October 25 against Albany and lasted until November 8 against Portland. Over the course of those seven games, Syvret tallied ten points with two goals and eight assists. Syvret is among the league's defensive leaders in points (15) and assists (12) early in the season. He is on pace to record 82 points this season, which would shatter his previous career high of 20.
MUNY FOR NOTHING
Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe recorded his second shutout victory of the season when he blanked the Providence Bruins 2-0 on Sunday. He turned away all 46 of the shots he faced. On the year, Munroe has a 5-1 record with a 1.62 goals-against average. His previous shutout this season was a 3-0 blanking of the Albany River Rats on October 25th.
ROSS NOMINATED FOR PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Phantoms nominated Jared Ross for Reebok/AHL Player of the Week consideration this week. Ross posted four goals and three assists for seven points in Philadelphia's four games this week, helping the Phantoms take six of a possible eight points on their four-game New England road swing. Ross also scored a shootout goal on Friday in Manchester and recorded the game-winning goal on Wednesday in Lowell. He took a team season-high eight shots on Sunday in Providence, accounting for more than a quarter of Philadelphia's team shots that day.
NEWS AND NOTES
Philadelphia's six-game winning streak that came to an end on Saturday in Portland was the team's longest since the 2004-05 Calder Cup season... the Phantoms had at least one power-play goal in six straight games before going without one at Providence on Sunday... Philadelphia's power play is operating at a 20.5 percent success rate, and the penalty kill has stopped 89.7 percent of opposing power play chances. Those numbers combine to give the Phantoms a special teams index of 110.2% (power play plus penalty kill). Their opponents have a combined index of 89.8 percent... Josh Gratton, Andreas Nodl and Darroll Powe remain with the Flyers, while Chris Zarb, Frederik Cabana and Jeremy Duchesne are with ECHL Mississippi and Michael Teslak is with ECHL Elmira.
PHANTOMS HOCKEY ON THE INTERNET
The Phantoms have joined with the rest of the American Hockey League in forming AHL Live, a brand-new way to catch Phantoms hockey on the Internet. Once again this year, all Phantoms games, home and away, can be viewed online at www.ahllive.com. The video broadcasts are $6 per game, and a full-season pass can be purchased for $140.
Also once again this year, fans can listen to just the audio portion of all games free of charge at Phantomshockey.com. The service is provided by AHL Live and is courtesy of your Philadelphia Area Dodge Dealers. Dodge will also bring the ever-popular Coaches Corner to fans on Phantomshockey.com.
TICKET INFORMATION
It's not too late to secure a great Phantoms ticket package for the 2008-09 season! Packages are available that range from six games to a full, pro-rated season ticket for all remaining Phantoms home games. Phantoms ticket packages get you a great list of benefits, including discounted seats, special perks and guaranteed access to tickets for the final regular season game at the Wachovia Spectrum on April 12, 2009. Call the Phantoms at 215-465-4522 for more details!
All kids tickets for all Phantoms games are just $10. To purchase, go to phantomshockey.com or call 1-800-298-4200.
TOYOTA CUP STANDINGS
Through the first 14 games of the season, Scott Munroe & Jared Ross lead the annual race for the Toyota Cup. Players are awarded points each time they are chosen as a star of the game, with five points given for a first star, three points for a second star and one point for a third star. The player with the most points at the end of the season will win a monetary donation to the charity of his choice courtesy of Toyota.
Player 1st
Star 2nd
Star 3rd
Star Points
Scott Munroe 2 2 0 16
Jared Ross 3 0 1 16
Claude Giroux 1 1 1 9
Danny Syvret 0 2 0 6
Boyd Kane 1 0 1 6
David Laliberte 1 0 0 5
Jonathan Matsumoto 0 0 1 1
Patrick Maroon 0 0 1 1
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