Defenseman's Overtime Winner Lifts Phantoms 5-4

April 7, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


PHILADELPHIA - When the Phantoms inducted former goaltender Neil Little into the Phantoms Hall of Fame Friday night, the longtime netminder mentioned the team's ongoing battle with the Hershey Bears as one of the highlights of his career. Afterwards, the Phantoms wrote another memorable chapter in that rivalry.

David Printz scored the game winner on a breakaway in the first minute of overtime to give the Philadelphia Phantoms a 5-4 win over the Hershey Bears at the Wachovia Spectrum on Friday night.

The Phantoms continued their late-season tendency of striking first by scoring the game's maiden goal for the ninth consecutive contest. At the 14:56 mark, Jim Campbell took a feed from Marc Cavosie and went top shelf on Hershey netminder Frederic Cassivi for the 1-0 lead. Then at 18:25 of the opening frame, Randy Jones beat Cassivi from the left circle to give the Phantoms a 2-0 advantage at the first intermission.

Hershey was able to draw even in the second period. Jakub Cutta put the Bears on the board, one-timing a feed from the left wing boards. He put a perfectly-placed puck high to the glove side of Martin Houle. Then the Bears tied it at 15:01 when Tomas Fleischmann finished off a centering pass from Jakub Klepis.

Campbell regained the lead for the Phantoms with his second of the night, on the power play, at 7:59. Tony Voce ripped a shot from the slot that Cassivi stopped, but the rebound came out to the right circle. Despite wearing a Hershey defenseman, Campbell was able to sweep home the rebound for the 3-2 advantage.

Hershey tied it again with a power play goal of its own at 10:34. Boyd Kane was on the right post when a puck slid through from Boyd Gordon. Kane tucked it into the open net to make it 3-3.

The Phantoms were able to get back on top while killing off a four-minute penalty. Brent Kelly and Pat Kavanagh came into the zone and Kavanagh ended up pushing it past Cassivi. But with 58.9 seconds left, the Bears tied it up again when Joey Tenute was able to convert on the still-running power play.

The tie game set up Printz's heroics in the extra session. He knocked a puck loose at his own blue line and chugged through the neutral zone and into the Hershey end, finally firing a shot from the low slot that beat Cassivi to the left side just 28 ticks into overtime.

"Printzy's got a lot more skill than people give him credit for," remarked Phantoms Head Coach John Stevens commenting on Printz adding to his two assists on the night with the game-winning goal. "You don't realize how well David can skate, but I don't think there are many guys that will catch him when he's off to the races...and he made a great play to finish it off."

Houle took the win with 27 saves on 31 Hershey bids, while Cassivi absorbed the loss with 30 saves on 35 Philadelphia chances. Campbell earned first star honors with his two goals, his 11th and 12th with the Phantoms this season. Printz took a bow for the second star.

The Phantoms head to Wilkes-Barre for a tilt with the Penguins on Saturday night at 7:05 before returning home to host the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday at 5:05 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Tickets for the two remaining Phantoms home games are available online at www.phantomshockey.com or by phone at (215) 336-2000, (856) 338-9000 or (302) 984-2000. As always, kids tickets for all Phantoms games are just $8.00.



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2006


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