After 48 games of their inaugural season in Glens Falls, the Adirondack Phantoms are 22-22-2-2 for 48 points.  Those 48 points are good for a tie for fourth in the East Division of the Eastern Conference. 

As of today the Phantoms sit only two points out of the final guaranteed playoff spot.  To offset unbalanced divisions the AHL will allow the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division to replace the 4th place team in East Division if they have more points at the end of the regular season. 

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Ed. Note: Dan Morency is an Adirondack Phantoms season ticket holder. He periodically checks in with us throughout the season, providing us with an up-close look at his hometown team. We thank him.

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is hard to believe that there have been almost 50 days of AHL hockey already.  What do the Phantom fans get in this first 50 days?  Only 16 games. The Phantoms have played a league low going into this holiday weekend.  This little game time may also explain the up and down play of the team as of late.  There have been some hints of a very solid team as of late.  We've gotten six games in the last 24 days and now will get 12 games in the next 24.

The perfect example of these growing pains was evident last week.   I am happy to report that I actually got to three games last week.  It is amazing the free time a coach has once their season ends.  The Phantoms opened last weekend on Friday versus Binghamton. The Phantoms came out flying and dominated the opening minutes of the game, but then a costly turn over led to a Senators goal, followed by another less than two minutes later.  The Sens added another before the period was over, taking a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.  From that point on the game lacked all intensity and the Phantoms wereflat and lost 5-0.  This might have been one of the worst games I've seen in the past ten years and this includes some bad UHL games. 

The next evening Bridgeport came into the Glens Falls Civic Center and an entirely different Phantom team showed up. The Phantoms peppered former Phantom goalie Scott Munroe with 52 shots! Although many were from the point and bad angles, 52 shots is 52 shots. The Phantoms played a physical game but still needed a shootout to defeat the Sound Tigers 3-2.  Nic Riopel got his first professional win and Stefan Legein had a great short-handed goal to force overtime. Legein intercepted a pass went the distance and scored on his own rebound. Once again showing just how hard he works on every shift.  He really is a pleasure to watch play this game.

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Great article today on the former Flyer goalie.

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The Flyers have called up David Laliberte from Adirondack.  He is available to play tomorrow afternoon against Carolina.

Laliberte is a 6-1 right wing that as of last week had been on the Phantoms top line.  Paired with Pat Maroon and Jon Matsumoto, Laliberte has one goal to go with five helpers.  This line had seemed to be clicking as of late, with a solid forecheck leading to many opportunities.  Laliberte plays both ends well, and is one of the guys the Phantoms were counting on for scoring.  His five helpers make up for a lack of scoring as of late.

Briere, as discussed earlier, is out of the lineup tomorrow after leaving Friday's practice with one of those pesky "lower body injuries."

The Adirondack Phantoms have played only eight games this year, but they are going to give coach Greg Gilbert and their fans a lot of gray hairs.  Six of the eight games have been decided by one goal.  The only two goal win for the Phantoms included an empty net goal.  The root of this problem appears to be what everyone thought was going to be this teams strength, its offense, more specifically the lack of a power play.

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Got a phone call this morning regarding the winter classic sweepstakes.  Got home and the company was closed for the night.  Did anyone else recieve a call from Van Wagner Communications?

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After only playing three games in two weeks, the Phantoms just completed three games in three nights.  Many around here were worried about back-to-back-to-back games, but the boys managed points in all three games.  Finishing the weekend with two wins and an overtime loss.  The Phantoms sit 3-2-1 for 7 points, good enough for third place in East Division.

On paper this team appeared to have no questions on offense, but had many questions in the defensive end.  After six games there seems to be more questions about the offense and less about the defense.  The Phantoms have managed only 14 goals so far.  Not to mention their 20th ranked power play is only 6 for 26 on the season.  This included opening the season 0 for 10 before getting a power play goal against Springfield.  The defense has been very solid except for two periods in Syracuse that led to six goals.  The addition of Randy Jones, a late Flyer cut, instantly gave another veteran presence to the defense.  Nic Riopel, Johan Backlund, and Brian Boucher have all seen action in goal for the Phantoms.  Riopel looked solid on opening night, but gave up a lot of rebounds.  Backlund appears to be the real deal, and could be a solid back-up at the NHL level.  Boucher got the start tonight on a conditioning assignment from the Flyers.  Anytime you have a goalie with NHL experience you stand a better chance of getting two points.

So far the Phantoms are averaging 4,282 people per game.  Just a reminder for you all, the Glens Falls Civic Center holds a little over 4,800 for hockey.  This includes an opening night record of 5,411.  The Phantoms drew 4,912 this Saturday for their first game versus the Albany River Rats.  Adirondack will play the Rats 11 more times this season in the Time Warner Cup.  This is a 12 game series with the winner getting a trophy, the Time Warner Cup, at the end.  Both teams are wearing special third sweaters for this series.

Jared Ross was named captain, with Joey Mormina and Sean Curry serving as assistant captains.  Matt Clackson has quickly become a fan favorite.  He is willing to drop the gloves with anyone and leads the team with 24 penalty minutes.  Krys Kolanos leads the team in scoring with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points.  Kolanos has done this while only playing in four of the Phantoms six games.  He fell victim to the AHL veteran rule early in the season.  The Phantoms are only allowed to dress 6 players with more than 260 games experience at the AHL, NHL, and/or Elite European league level.  The Phantoms have 7 players currently on the roster who are considered veterans by this rule.  Coach Greg Gilbert claimed he was going to have to make that call each night, making a veteran a healthy scratch.

Overall the Phantoms are off to a good start here in Glens Falls.  There is a lot talk around town about the team and having the AHL back once again.        

After watching other teams make move after move this summer, the Adirondack Phantoms have finally joined party.  The Flyers have signed four players recently that all could see significant time in Glens Falls this season.  The team also announced that they will have a new coach and who the Phantoms will play this year. 

Although a formal schedule has not been set, the Phantoms know who their opponents will be this season.  A few weeks back the AHL announced its new divisional set-up -- this does change every year.  The biggest move has the Syracuse Crunch moving into the Eastern Division of the Eastern Conference with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers moving to the Atlantic Division.  The Phantoms will see the Albany River Rats 12 times during the regular season, Binghamton 10 times, and Hershey, Norfolk, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 8 times each.  The Syracuse Crunch and the Phantoms will meet a total of 6 times.  

The Phantoms will play every team in the Atlantic Division twice, except Bridgeport who they will face 4 times.  The Phantoms will only play three Western Division teams, Rochester 4 times, Hamilton 4 times, and Toronto twice.  Opening night will be on Saturday, October 3rd, an opponent has yet to be announced.  The Phantoms will play the River Rats in two preseason games on September 25th and 26th.  Tickets for these games are $10 and the home and home will start in Glens Falls.

The Flyers also announced that they have promoted Phantoms head coach John Paddock to Assistant General Manager.  His new duties are to include the oversight of the Phantoms and their coaches.  A new coach should be named in the next few weeks.  Many people around here are hoping for Gord Dineen.  His father, Bill, coached the Adirondack Red Wings to two Calder Cups in the 1980s.  The family still has a group of homes on one of the local lakes and are very visible in the local community during the summer.  The only issue is that no one seems to know what Gord's contract status is since the Ducks pulled out of Des Moines at the beginning of this summer and will not have a team in the AHL this upcoming season.

The Flyers have also made a couple of player moves over the past few weeks that could help the Phantoms this season.  The team signed Joey Mormina, a 6-6 defensemen that spent last year in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Mormina has also spent time as a River Rat and as a Manchester Monarch.

Also signed was Krystofer Kolanos, a 6-2 forward.  Kolanos had 31 goals and 51 points in only 45 games with Houston last year.  Kolanos spent 21 games with the Minnesota Wild last year.  He was the 19th overall pick in the 2000 draft.

Lukas Kaspar a left-winger was signed away from Worcester.  Kaspar had 44 points in 65 games for the Sharks last season.  Kaspar was the 22nd overall pick in the 2004 draft.  His 44 points last season was his highest total in three AHL seasons.

The last signing is by the far the most interesting for the Flyers and Phantoms.  This is the two-way contract signed by Jason Ward.  Ward spent 2005-2008 in the NHL, but spent most of last year with Norfolk, seeing only one game with Tampa Bay.  Ward was the 11th overall pick in the 1997 draft.  If Ward starts the season in Glens Falls he could have a "C" on the front of his jersey.

The Phantoms recently held a pick-a-seat day at the Glens Falls Civic Center.  Phantoms players Jonathan Matsumoto and David Laliberte were there.  The team had floor hockey for the kids, gave away preseason tickets, and overall did a great job in selling their product.  As of Saturday, the team had the equivalent of 2,000 season tickets sold.

Hello from upstate New York!  I stopped by the Glens Falls Civic Center yesterday to pay the balance on my season tickets and I can tell you the orange and black is fresh on the walls!  The Phantoms locker room was being painted and the team offices are done.  A lot of people in this neck of the woods are excited to have the AHL back!

I will be reporting at least once a week on what is going on here in Glens Falls (Adirondack).  It might even be twice a week, if I get a student teacher during the season!  I will also contribute when someone gets a call-up or if a trade is made during the season that involves someone at this level.  I realize that some of you that read this already know the Phantoms better than I do at this time.  Give me a few weeks into camp and I'll get up to speed.

As happy as I am to have AHL back in Glens Falls, I also feel for Phantom fans in Philadelphia.  In 1999, we lost the Adirondack Red Wings to a barn that was to be built.  Does this sound familiar?  The Wings never made it to Ohio, and later sold the AHL franchise.  I can tell you the Flyers prospects are going to be in a very good place.  This community supports its team and its players like few do.  Many former A-Wings still live in the area or make this area their summer home.

I started loving hockey in 1979, the first year the Red Wings were in town.  My parents had season tickets for all 20 years the A-Wings were in Glens Falls.  I spent many a night on my father's lap watching the Wings play.  As I got older I split games with my folks, basically one of them would stay home so I could go.  I was only two years old when the Wings came to Glens Falls, but still remember their first Calder Cup in 1980-1981.  I still remember them skating around the rink with the cup and kicking balloons around the ice.  Now I get to bring my young son to games!  I guess things have gone full circle for me.  As a teacher this line is huge:  I am looking forward to September and October 3rd, our opening night.

As the summer goes on I'll check-in with some Phantom updates and I'll give you a feel for Glens Falls.  Just a little bit about the area itself and the great hockey tradition it had in the 80s and 90s.  I also encourage you all to make a trip up and check out a game.  The Glens Falls Civic Center is a great old barn and there is not a bad seat in the house.