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Phantoms Reappearing Among AHL's Best

December 1, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... The Philadelphia Phantoms missed the postseason for the first time in their seven-year history in 2002-03, but John Stevens' club enters this December on a seven-game unbeaten streak, determined not to let history repeat itself.

Kirby Law, a three-time 20-goal scorer in his AHL career, is the club's leader with 23 points on the year, good for a tie for third overall in league's scoring race. Also in the top 10 league-wide with 21 points each are sophomore Patrick Sharp and three-time AHL scoring champion and two-time Calder Cup winner Peter White, who currently sits one shy of becoming the 20th player in league history to reach the 700-point mark for his career. After slow starts to the season, the trio combined for 18 goals and 50 points in 15 contests in November, helping the Phantoms climb back into the thick of the East Division race.

A Phantoms offense that ranked 26th in the 28-team league in scoring a year ago has also gotten a boost from Mark Murphy and Mike Peluso, both former AHL All-Stars acquired by Philadelphia in the offseason. John Slaney, who is currently five goals away from Jim Wiemer's league record for career tallies by a defenseman (124), still provides offense from the blue line, but he is the only Phantoms D-man with more than one year of experience at the AHL level. Second-year pro Dennis Seidenberg ranks among the league's defensemen leaders in points and plus/minus (+10), and former first-round draft pick Jeff Woywitka headlines a list of rookie defenders that also includes Randy Jones, Freddy Meyer and Joey Hope.

A pair of shutouts by Antero Niittymaki have bookended the Phantoms' current 6-0-1-0 run: a 1-0 blanking of Providence on Nov. 16 and a 4-0 victory over division foe Albany on Nov. 29. The 23-year-old native of Turku, Finland, is 5-1-2 in his last eight decisions while sharing chores with Neil Little, the winningest active goaltender in the AHL with 173 victories to his credit.

Peter Vandermeer, Wade Skolney, P.J. Stock and captain Boyd Kane provide a physical presence that makes the Phantoms one of the toughest teams in the league as well. Philadelphia has been shorthanded 134 times this season (second only to Providence's 135), but their 85.8 percent success rate on the penalty kill is above the AHL average. And the Phantoms' power play has clicked at 20.2 percent efficiency, tops in the league.

Philadelphia looks to stay on a roll with three key division battles this week, visiting Hershey on Wednesday and taking on Norfolk both Friday and Saturday.

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TIGERS, TIGERS, BURNING BRIGHT ... A near-perfect November has propelled the Bridgeport Sound Tigers toward the top of the AHL standings. The top affiliate of the NHL's New York Islanders went 10-0-1 last month, and has won nine in a row to extend its unbeaten streak to 13 games (12-0-1). The Sound Tigers have also earned a point in 15 straight (13-0-1-1) since its last regulation loss, a 3-1 setback in Hershey on Oct. 18, more than six weeks ago.

Jeff Hamilton leads the AHL with 17 goals, five off his rookie total from all of last season. The former Ivy League Player of the Year at Yale also has 11 power play tallies and five game-winning scores, and is in the midst of his second five-game goal-scoring streak already this year. His efforts earned him his first NHL recall by the Islanders today.

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SHUTOUT FEVER ... There have been 48 shutouts posted in the AHL this season, on pace to easily surpass the league record of 136 set in 2000-01 and matched a year later. Fourteen of those shutouts have been 1-0 games; 25 such contests took place in all of 2002-03.

Cincinnati's Ilya Bryzgalov leads the league with four whitewashes, with Hartford's Jason LaBarbera, Rochester's Ryan Miller, Manchester's Adam Hauser, Portland's Maxime Ouellet and Cleveland's Dimitri Patzold following with three each.

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OFF THE ICE ... Written by Harrisburg Patriot-News beat writer Tim Leone, The Hershey Bears: Sweet Seasons, a pictorial history of the AHL's oldest franchise, is now available from the Bears gift shop (717-534-3377) and online at amazon.com, borders.com and barnesandnoble.com... The St. John's Maple Leafs Foundation and Booster Club donated nearly $50,000 to nine area charities earmarked for the 2002-03 season; the foundation will announce this year's charities later this month... Josh Olson and Jeff Paul of the San Antonio Rampage were among the 4,000 volunteers at the 24th annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner to benefit more than 25,000 local senior and underprivileged citizens... Friday night will be the second annual Pigskin on the Pond game at Gund Arena, with the Cleveland Barons wearing brown and orange uniforms inspired by the NFL's Cleveland Browns, and two dollars from every ticket sold split between the two organizations' charitable foundations.

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ETC. ... Sam Ftorek, the son of former Calder Cup-winning head coach Robbie Ftorek, made his AHL debut for Manchester in a 7-0 win over Providence on Saturday night... Ryan Kesler, the youngest player to skate in the AHL this season, scored his first NHL goal for Vancouver in a 4-4 tie with Calgary on Saturday night... Grand Rapids extended its unbeaten streak to six games with a 2-0 win in Cincinnati on Sunday evening, the Griffins' league-high ninth road win of the season... Hamilton and Toronto combined for three goals in the final 50 seconds of the Bulldogs' 3-2 overtime win on Friday, capped by Chris Higgins' game-winner 10 seconds into OT... Martin Brochu, the AHL's MVP and outstanding goaltender with Portland in 1999-2000, stopped 25 shots to lead Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over the Pirates on Wednesday, 2-1... Trevor Kidd made 28 saves in a 2-1 win at Milwaukee on Wednesday, completing a conditioning assignment for St. John's... Norfolk erased a three-goal third-period deficit in a 4-4 tie with Philadelphia on Wednesday... Binghamton came back from three goals down on Thursday night, only to fall to Bridgeport, 5-4... Down by four less than 11 minutes into the game, Syracuse scored the last five goals in a 5-4 win over Houston on Friday... Cory Larose and Lawrence Nycholat, traded away during Houston's eventual Calder Cup championship season a year ago, combined for five points in Hartford's 4-0 win over the Aeros on Saturday... Manchester has seven wins and an overtime loss to show for its last eight home outings... Cincinnati forward Casey Hankinson will be chatting live on theahl.com this Tuesday (Dec. 2) at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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