Incredible Late Comeback and Marathon Win for Phantoms

April 14, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


Nobody was really sure if the Adirondack Phantoms could top the excitement level of Saturday night's overtime win. But somehow, and in a very unlikely way, that's exactly what they did on Sunday afternoon against the Binghamton Senators.

Garrett Roe swung home the tying goal with just 0.3 seconds remaining and that was only the start of the wildness. Then the Phantoms and Senators would go back and forth trading goals and saves through a marathon and edge-of-your-seat 15-round shootout with Adirondack finally prevailing on rookie Mark Alt's blast.

The crazy game established a new Phantoms' franchise record for longest shootout and fell just short of equaling the league record. Utah vs. Cleveland in 2004 went 16-rounds. All of this near-record stuff in a wacky game is somewhat appropriate considering it was the same day the Phantoms franchise hoped to break a different kind of wacky world record for longest conga line on-ice.

What was a tremendous goaltenders' battle through the first 65 minutes between Brian Boucher of Adirondack and Marc Cheverie of Binghamton with a 1-1 tie turned into an improbably goal-fest in the 15-round shootout with the Phantoms eventually prevailing 7-6.

It almost never made it that far though. Adirondack was in desperation mode in the last remaining seconds of the game before Garrett Roe was able to stuff one home on the right-side of the crease just barely before the clock reached all zeros. A shot by Brandon Manning made it through to the crease where Roe reached in from behind and to the side of the goal to get the dramatic game-tying score.

Roe had been knocked down behind the goal with just a few seconds left but was able to scramble to his feet with enough time left to seize his opportunity.

"Yeah, I just got up and I was behind the net," Roe said. "The shot came, I saw it sitting there, I didn't even know if time was up yet. You know, hadn't heard the horn yet. I just tried to put it home before time ran out. Thankfully I did."

After scoring the goal, Roe's next priority was to make sure it actually counted!

"I looked up right when I put it in to see if there was any time left. If it read zero then it has to go to replay and replay wasn't working. And I saw point-three and I was kind of relieved about it."

But at that point, the fun was just beginning. Following a scoreless overtime it would be onto the shootout.

Adirondack shot last in each round and on several occasions were forced to either convert or would lose the game. The Phantoms trailed 3-1 in the fourth round and while Brian Boucher made back-to-back saves to keep the game going, Marcel Noebels and Kyle Flanagan would convert consecutively to push the shootout on to extras...and more extras....and more extras.

Rob Bordson scored in the sixth when Adirondack needed another clutch goal to stay alive. And Tye McGinn in the ninth and Brandon Alderson in the 11th did the same.

Finally, with both teams running out of shooters before needing to go to repeats, head coach Terry Murray called on rookie Mark Alt to finish it in the 15th round and his blast high-glove on Cheverie would win the game.

Alt was perhaps the least likely of all Adirondack skaters to score a game-winner of any kind be it in regulation or in the shootout. The stay-at-home defenseman was playing in just his third career pro game (all this weekend) and had zero goals all season at the University of Minnesota. It turned into a fun and exciting way to end his first professional weekend of hockey for the son of 12-year NFL lineman John Alt of the Kansas City Chiefs.

"A defensive defensman usually doesn't get the call for the shootout but I got it today so I was pretty happy that I scored," Alt said. "It was my first shootout. We don't do them in college. It was actually something I picked up from one of my teammates. I rarely even try and rarely do it in practice. But I came down, it worked, I just put it over his shoulder. It was a long one and was really exciting, especially to get the game-winner."

"It was a great shot," Phantoms head coach Terry Murray said. "A right-handed shooter against a left-handed catcher...you go high-glove side and that's a nice shot. It was great for him. We haven't had any shootouts with him in practice. It's winding down to the last three guys on the bench; Lilja, Eddy and Alt. So that's what we had left and he took advantage of it."

"That's the most (rounds) I've ever seen," Phantoms head coach Terry Murray said. "It was an exciting game . It was great for the fans. And great for the young guys. There's a lot of smiles on their faces in there after getting a couple points again in back-to-back games and also against top teams in the league and are very hard on us to play that pace. We're starting to learn how to play at a high level."

Before all the wild drama of the tying goal with 0.3 seconds and the 15-round shootout, the game was an intense and exciting goaltenders' duel. Brian Boucher was playing one of his finest games of the year with several terrific stops. And Marc Cheverie was solid in net for the B-Sens as well in a game which featured a spectacular diving stop with full extension to his right to somehow snag a Danny Syvret attempt on a rebound on what was one of the best saves of the year.

Pat Cannone's shot in the slot went off the glove of Boucher, deflected high in the air, and just landed in the back of the net tumbling end-over-end as Binghamton took a 1-0 lead early in the third period .

Binghamton had appeared to have potentially scored a goal back in the first period on a crazy scramble with a lot of the contact in the crease. But the officials and goal-judge did not rule it a goal and the video-replay system was not working to confirm whether it had gone in.

The late goal by Roe was actually not a Phantoms' record for latest goal scored in a game. Danny Syvret scored an incredible game-winning goal with just 0.1 seconds remaining on December 13, 2009 in a 3-2 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That same season, Syvret also had a game-winner with just 1.6 seconds left in overtime.

In case you're wondering, the longest NHL shootout was also 15 rounds. In 2005, the New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals with Marek Malik's winner against Olaf Kolzig. The ECHL has had two shootouts last 21 rounds including one earlier this year with Evansville defeating Florida.

The longest shootout in Adirondack Phantoms' history had previously been a 12-rounder in December of last season in which Tyler Brown knocked home the game-winner against the Portland Pirates.

The Phantoms have points in eight of their last nine home games going 5-1-2 over the stretch. Their home-ice record overall this season improved to 17-14-3 with just two home games remaining thus clinching a winning home-record for 2012-13.

After the game, over 100 participants joined Dax and the Phantoms' staff down on the ice for a really long conga-line. It may not have broken the official record of 259 set by Exeter, NH a couple years ago, but it does go down as the longest ever Glens Falls Civic Center conga line! All of the participants in the fun and wacky post-game event received free tickets for the Phantoms' game next Friday against Hershey.



American Hockey League Stories from April 14, 2013


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