Phantoms Weekly Notes
December 3, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release
UPCOMING OPPONENTS
Friday, December 7 - Phantoms vs Norfolk Admirals, 7:00: The Phantoms will hit the halfway point of their 10-game season series with the Norfolk Admirals (Tampa Bay Lightning) when they play host at the Wachovia Spectrum at 7:05. The Phantoms are 3-1 in the four games played so far this season. In the last meeting, the Phantoms were on the losing end of a 7-3 score that was touched off by two Admirals goals in the first minute. The Admirals are 8-13-1-2 for 19 points on the season, which puts them in 6th place in the Eastern Division. The Admirals recently signed Adam Henrich and Lance Monych to professional tryouts. Both players are off to hot starts in the ECHL - they're tied for eighth in the ECHL in goals scored and for third in the circuit with six power play goals. Henrich attended Flyers and Phantoms training camp before heading to the Wheeling Nailers, while Monych has been with the Mississippi Sea Wolves.
Saturday, December 8 - Phantoms at Hershey Bears, 7:00: It's the third installment in the dozen-game season series between the Phantoms and Bears (Washington Capitals. The teams split a home-and-home series two weeks ago, with each team winning on the other's rink. Hershey took a 2-1 win at the Wachovia Center on November 23, and the Phantoms took a 6-0 win the next night in Hershey. The Bears start the week with a record of 12-8-0-1 for 25 points, slotting them in third place in the East Division, eight points behind the Phantoms.
PHANTOMS RESET
The Phantoms spent the entire weekend on the road. They won 6-0 in Hamilton on Friday night, lost 2-1 to Lake Erie on Saturday night and fell to Toronto 4-2 on Sunday evening.
Through 23 games, the Phantoms are 16-6-1 for 33 points. The team has a seven-point lead over Albany in the East Division, is tied for second place in the Eastern Conference behind Providence (36 points), and is tied for third place overall in the AHL (Providence and Chicago, 35 points).
Last year, the Phantoms did not reach 33 points until January 17, when their record was 15-22-1-2. They did not win their 16th game until January 26, when their record was 16-24-2-3. In comparison to the other two best starts in team history, the 2004-05 Calder Cup team was 18-4-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) for 37 points after 23 games, while the 1997-98 Calder Cup team was 13-5-1-4 (W-L-T-OTL) for 31 points after 23 games.
BLACK FRIDAY DOUBLEHEADER - A RECAP
The Phantoms welcomed a season-high 11,556 fans to the Wachovia Center on Friday night, the largest home crowd since October 8, 2005 when 11,584 came out for Opening Night of the 2005-06 season. It's the largest crowd to see a Phantoms game, home or away, since Philadelphia beat the Chicago Wolves 6-1 before 11,804 at Allstate Arena on Feb. 11, 2006.
Additionally, the Phantoms combined with the Flyers to bring 31,283 fans to the Wachovia Center on Black Friday. The Flyers welcomed a sellout crowd of 19,727 to their matinee with Washington that day.
DOWNIE POSTS FIRST PRO GOAL
Steve Downie scored his first professional goal on Wednesday against Norfolk and posted three assists on the week for a total of four points in three games. Downie now has a goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 10 games.
PICARD MINDING HIS MANNERS
Alexandre Picard has played in 19 games for the Phantoms this season and has recorded just two minor penalties for four minutes - a boarding penalty on Oct. 28 vs. Norfolk and a roughing penalty on November 10 at Binghamton. That pace puts him on target for just 16 PIM this season. In his rookie season of 2005-06, Picard appeared in 75 games and recorded 82 PIM. He spent most of 2006-07 with the Flyers.
BOUCHER NOMINATED FOR PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Phantoms nominated goaltender Brian Boucher for Rbk/AHL Player of the Week consideration this week. In two games last week, Boucher was 1-1 with a .959 goals-against average and a 0.99 save percentage. He had a 28-save shutout against Hamilton in a 6-0 win on Friday night, and made 19 saves in a 2-1 loss to Lake Erie on Saturday. Matt Hussey's goal at 9:32 of the second period in that game snapped a scoreless streak of 163:21, including a shutout the week before against Hershey.
MONTHLY SUPERLATIVES
The Phantoms also made their AHL monthly award nominations on Monday. Defenseman Alexandre Picard received the team's nod for AHL Player of the Month consideration. Picard led all Phantoms in scoring in November with five goals and seven assists for 12 points, appearing in 11 of the team's 12 games. Of those 11 games, Picard registered at least one point in eight of them. He had four multiple-point games over the course of the month and finished November on a four-game goal-scoring streak and a five-game overall scoring streak. He also finished the month with a plus-five rating and only had one minus-rating game out of those 11 appearances. He also received just one minor penalty in those 11 games. For the season, Picard has five goals and 15 assists for 20 points to go along with an even rating and just four penalty minutes.
Steve Downie received the team's nomination for AHL Rookie of the Month consideration. Downie became eligible to play in the AHL on Nov. 3 at Worcester and appeared in all 11 games for which he was eligible. He blitzed through his first month in the AHL on a point-per-game pace with one goal and 10 assists for 11 points. He started his month with seven assists in his first five games, scored at least a point in seven of his 11 appearances, and had four multiple-point games. He finished the month with a plus-6 rating and 28 PIM.
Finally, the Phantoms nominated Scott Munroe for AHL Goaltender of the Month consideration. Munroe made eight appearances in November, posting a 5-1 record, a 2.06 GAA and a .917 save percentage. He posted one shutout, a 29-save performance on Nov. 10 at Binghamton, but was actually involved in two - he made 19 saves in 35:45 of action in a shutout win at Worcester on Nov. 3 that was a combination effort with Brian Boucher, which went into the books as a team shutout. Munroe made his eight appearances consecutively following Boucher's injury in that Nov. 3 game. The weekend of Nov. 9-11, Munroe recorded three consecutive wins, posting a goals-agaisnt average of 1.00 and a save percentage of .962.
PHIL ANDREWS TO GREET FANS FRIDAY
The Phantoms will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Comcast SportsNet this Friday night when the Norfolk Admirals visit at 7:05 PM. As part of the celebration, lauded Philadelphia sports anchor Phil Andrews will be greeting fans and signing autographs over the course of the night. The Phantoms will present Andrews with a commemorative jersey for the station.
NO GOALS FOR YOU
Over the past two weekends, Brian Boucher established the third-longest scoreless streak in franchise history and the second-longest consecutive games scoreless streak when he recorded two consecutive shutouts over Hershey on Nov. 24 and Hamilton on Nov. 30, plus some change from the games prior to and following the shutout. He went 163 minutes, 21 seconds without allowing a goal in the span between the third period of the Nov. 23 game vs. Hershey and the second period of Saturday's game at Lake Erie.
The franchise record is 208:25 set by Neil Little from Feb. 24 to March 3, 2001. During the 2003-04 season, Antero Niittymaki had a personal scoreless streak of 196:31, but that was not during consecutive games for the team.
The two shutouts also marked the first time the Phantoms had shut out their opponent in consecutive games since Niittymaki shut out Cincinnati and Milwaukee on Feb. 18-19, 2005.
PHANTOMS ROAD TRIP - BY THE NUMBERS
The weekend game of hopscotch over the U.S./Canadian border made up the longest road trip of the season for the Phantoms in terms of distance. Here's a breakdown of the trip.
Games Played - 3
Miles Traveled - 1,524
Miles Traveled through winter/inclement weather - 1,053
U.S./Canadian Border Crossings - 4
Hours Spent On Bus - 31
PHANTOMS NOTABLES
The Phantoms were held without a shot in a period for the first time in franchise history in the first period of Sunday's game in Toronto. That's a total of 2,706 periods of hockey with at least one shot until that point... Alexandre Picard had a four-game goal-scoring streak and a five-game point scoring streak snapped on Saturday in Lake Erie. He did score on Sunday however, giving him points in six of his last seven games. He is currently third among all AHL defensemen in scoring with five goals and 15 assists for 20 points... Jonathan Matsumoto and Kyle Greentree are tied for third in the league in rookie scoring with 20 points apiece... Philadelphia's power play had a goal in all three games this weekend. The unit has scored in 22 of the team's 23 games this year... Craig Berube will be a guest on Daily News Live on Tuesday night... Steve Downie will be the guest on Hockey World with Bill Clement on 1490-AM WBCB on Wednesday night at 6 PM. The show is also available online at www.wbcb1490.com TOYOTA CUP STANDINGS Brian Boucher continues to 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 Brian Boucher 4 2 1 27 Darren Reid 3 0 1 16 Ryan Potulny 2 1 0 13 Steve Downie 1 2 0 11 Jared Ross 2 0 1 11 Jonathan Matsumoto 0 3 1 10 Denis Tolpeko 1 1 1 9 Boyd Kane 1 1 0 8 Pete Zingoni 0 2 0 6 Alexandre Picard 1 0 0 5 Stefan Ruzicka 0 1 1 4 Kyle Greentree 0 0 3 3 Scott Munroe 0 1 0 3 Frederik Cabana 0 0 1 1 Nate Guenin 0 0 1 1 David Laliberte 0 0 1 1 PHANTOMS HOCKEY ON THE INTERNET The Phantoms have teamed up with the Philadelphia Area Dodge Dealers to provide free audio broadcasts of all Phantoms games, home and away, this season. The Phantoms official website, Phantomshockey.com, in conjunction with league and team partner B2 Networks, will provide the home for the audio. In addition to the games, Dodge will also bring the ever-popular Coaches Corner to fans on Phantomshockey.com. New editions of the weekly sit-down with Phantoms head coach Craig Berube will be posted to the site every Tuesday. WATCH THE GAMES THROUGH B2 Every Phantoms game this season is being broadcast with streaming video through the league's partnership with B2 Networks. A ticket for the game is $6, which allows fans to watch the game via a broadband Internet connection from their own homes! Visit www.phantomshockey.com for more details. TICKET INFORMATION All kids tickets for all Phantoms games are just $10. To purchase, go to phantomshockey.com or call 1-800-298-4200. UPCOMING OPPONENTS Date Opponent Site Time Friday, December 7 Norfolk Admirals Wachovia Spectrum 7:05 Saturday, December 8 Hershey Bears GIANT Center 7:00 LAST WEEK'S RESULTS Date Opponent Site Result Score Friday, November 30 Hamilton Bulldogs Copps Coliseum W 6-0 Saturday, December 1 Lake Erie Monsters Quicken Loans Arena L 2-1 Sunday, December 2 Toronto Marlies Ricoh Coliseum L 4-2 Live audio and video broadcasts are available for every game at Phantomshockey.com.
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
American Hockey League Stories from December 3, 2007
