Philadelphia Phantoms Weekly

WEEK IN REVIEW
The Phantoms went 1-2 last week, but remained among the Eastern Conference leaders with 10 games remaining. On Tuesday, Pauli Levokari scored the game’s lone goal in the first period and Andy Chiodo made 15 saves to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 1-0 victory. The shutout was the third in a row for the Penguins over Philadelphia. Antero Niittymaki stopped 20-of-21 shots in suffering the loss. The Phantoms got revenge on Friday when John Slaney scored 1:24 into overtime of a 3-2 triumph over the Penguins. Kirby Law and Ben Stafford also scored for Philadelphia, while Niittymaki turned aside 21 shots. On Sunday, Grand Rapids made its lone visit of the year and came away with a 3-2 win. Marc Lamothe registered 22 saves to pick up the win, while Jeff Nelson tallied the game-winner with 7:47 left in the second period. B.J. Abel had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia and Neil Little stopped 11-of-14 shots over the first two periods.

NECK & NECK
Through games of March 21, the Phantoms are tied with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for first place in the AHL’s East Division. The teams each have 85 points, which is two behind the Eastern Conference-leading Hartford Wolf Pack. Philadelphia’s 39 wins through 70 games are third most in the AHL and the team’s most since finishing the 1999-2000 season with 44. The Phantoms’ 20 home wins are the most since totaling 21 in 1999-2000. Philadelphia’s 19 road wins are tied for most in the league.

VANDERMEER BECOMES ALL-TIME PIM LEADER
Peter Vandermeer became the Phantoms’ all-time penalty minutes leader on March 16 when he got in a fight with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Reid Simpson at the 3:05 mark of the second period. Vandermeer currently has 1,003 PIM in 199 games as a Phantom. Francis Lessard set the original mark of 997 in 202 games from 1999-2002. Vandermeer’s 355 PIM this year is the second-highest single-season total in club history after Lessard’s 416 accomplished in 1999-2000.

WOOD & ENGELHARDT SIGNED
Defenseman Stephen Wood was signed to an amateur tryout contract on March 21. The 22-year-old just completed his senior season at Providence College, where he was named to the Hockey East All-Star First Team after totaling 29 points (11G, 18A) and 66 PIM in 37 games. Wood led the Friars this season in PIM, plus/minus (+19), shots (132) and shorthanded goals (2), tied for first in power-play goals (6) and topped all Hockey East defensemen in league scoring with 20 points (9G, 11A). In 143 career games at Providence, he totaled 88 points (28G, 60A) and 260 PIM.

Right wing Brett Engelhardt was also signed to an ATO on March 22. A two-time captain at Michigan Tech University, Engelhardt compiled 25 points (12G, 13A) in 38 games this season. The 23-year-old totaled 105 points (51G, 54A) in 149 career games at Michigan Tech, including leading the Huskies in points (32) and goals (16) as a sophomore in 2001-02 to earn team MVP and WCHA All-Star honors. The native of Sheboygan, Wis. starred with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL for two years prior to attending Michigan Tech.

PENALTY LEADERS
The Phantoms continue to lead the league in penalty minutes (29.03 per game), major penalties (104), minor penalties (541) and game misconducts (23). They are tied for first in 10-minute misconducts (19).

UPCOMING OPPONENTS
The Phantoms are 2-3-1 vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers heading into Friday’s showdown. Philadelphia won the first encounter, 3-1, on Oct. 11 as Neil Little stopped 26-of-27 shots on goal and Peter White and Patrick Sharp each recorded two points. The teams then skated to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 17 thanks to second-period power-play goals by Martin Kariya and White. Bridgeport posted a 6-2 road win on Nov. 9 behind a pair of goals from both Rob Collins and Jeff Hamilton, and then scored the final three goals in a 3-2 home win on Nov. 15. Hamilton scored twice more on Dec. 12 to lead Bridgeport to a 4-1 road win. The Phantoms got back in the win column on Jan. 23 as Kirk Furey scored twice and Antero Niittymaki made 16 saves in a 2-0 decision. Philadelphia is 6-6-1-1 all-time vs. the Sound Tigers, including a 3-3-0-1 mark when playing at home. The teams meet for the eighth and final time on Saturday, April 10 in Bridgeport.

Philadelphia takes a 1-3 record vs. the Senators into Saturday’s match-up in Binghamton. In the teams’ first-ever meeting on Oct. 10, Denis Hamel scored twice and added an assist to lead the Senators to a 4-2 victory. Binghamton then posted a 5-1 win on Dec. 28 as Josh Langfeld recorded a goal and two assists. The game also included a combined 373 penalty minutes. Philadelphia got in the win column with a 2-1 victory on Jan. 10 thanks to goals by Ian MacNeil and Nick Deschenes, but Binghamton answered on Feb. 7 thanks to a hat trick by David Hymovitz. The teams will meet for the sixth and final time on Sunday, April 4 in Philadelphia.

The Manchester Monarchs make their only visit of the season to Philadelphia on Sunday night. The Monarchs entered the league as an expansion team in 2001-02 and did not play Philadelphia until last season, when the teams split two meetings. Manchester then won the first encounter of this season on March 13 as Mathieu Chouinard made 26 saves and Yanick Lehoux recorded a goal and an assist.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS
Friday, March 26 is Country Night, as one lucky fan will win a trip for two to Nashville to see the CMT Flameworthy 2004 Music Video Awards. The package includes roundtrip airfare, 4-day/3-night Hilton Suite hotel accommodations, two VIP tickets to the awards show on April 21, admittance into a private concert with Carolyn Dawn Johnson at the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Welcome Dinner at the Wild Horse Saloon, a tour of Nashville and CMT merchandise. There will also be plenty of giveaways and prizes courtesy of CMT, WXTU (92.5 FM) and Comcast-Spectacor, including an autographed guitar, a Clint Black autographed CD and t-shirts.

Team mascot Phlex will be celebrating his eighth birthday on Sunday, March 28. He will receive a cake during the first intermission and then join his mascot friends for a game of broomball during the second intermission. Also on Sunday, the Phantoms will be holding a silent auction in support of fundraising activities for Louise Arters, who portrayed one of the blonde bombshell groupies known as the “Sparkle Twins” in the 1977 Universal Pictures release “Slap Shot.” Appearing with Arters and “Sparkle Twin” twin sister Janet to drop the ceremonial opening puck will be fellow “Slap Shot” actors Paul D’Amato (Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken), Yvon Barrette (Denis Lemieux), Guido Tenesi (Billy Charlebois), Christopher Murney (Hanrahan) & Bill "Goldie" Goldthorpe, the real life player that the movie's infamous Ogie Ogelthorpe character was based on.

PHANTOMS TRANSACTIONS
3/16 - ADD Randy Jones, reassigned from Flyers (NHL)
3/17 - DELETE Nick Deschenes, reassigned to Trenton (ECHL)
3/18 - ADD Nick Deschenes, recalled from Trenton (ECHL)
3/19 - DELETE Randy Jones, recalled by Flyers (NHL)
3/21 - ADD Stephen Wood, signed to an ATO
3/22 - ADD Brett Engelhardt, signed to an ATO

PHANTOMS AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS (thru 3/21)
· Kirby Law is tied for fifth in points (63), seventh in assists (39) and tied for 14th in goals (24)
· Peter White is fourth in assists (42)
· Mike Peluso is tied for 10th in shots (208)
· Peter Vandermeer is first in penalty minutes (355)
· Boyd Kane is first in minor penalties (68)
· Neil Little is 13th in goals-against average (2.04), tied for ninth in wins (19) and tied for fifth in shutouts (5)
· Antero Niittymaki is tied for 12th in wins (18), tied for fifth in shutouts (5) and 16th in goals-against average (2.16)
· Dennis Seidenberg is tied for first among defensemen in game-winning goals (4)
· Randy Jones is tied for ninth among rookies in assists (22)
· Kirk Furey is tied for 11th overall and tied for eighth among defensemen in plus/minus (+19)
· John Slaney is first among defensemen in goals (16), second in power-play goals (9), tied for first in shorthanded goals (2) and game-winning goals (4) and seventh in points (38)
· Freddy Meyer is tied for fifth among defensemen in goals (11) and tied for fifth in power-play goals (6). Among rookies, he is tied for fourth in power-play goals.
· The Phantoms are third in shots allowed per game (25.67), tied for second in power-play goals scored (62) and fifth in goals allowed per game (2.20)

PHANTOMS NOTES
· Peter Vandermeer recorded his 200th point as a pro on March 21 vs. Grand Rapids.
· Philadelphia is 6-0 when wearing its purple third jerseys.
· Three of John Slaney’s four game-winning goals have come in overtime this season.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to all Phantoms home games are $19, $18 and $14 for adults, and $8 for all children 14 and under, and are available now at the Wachovia Center box office and all Ticketmaster locations throughout the Delaware Valley. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling (215) 336-2000, (856) 338-9000 or (302) 984-2000 or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com. Contact the Phantoms office at 215-465-4522 or log on to http://www.phantomshockey.com for information on group discounts, birthday packages and the Family Value Pack.

Comcast-Spectacor (comcast-spectacor.com) is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm which owns the Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Phantoms, the Wachovia Center, the Wachovia Spectrum, Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and ice hockey facilities, Comcast SportsNet, and three minor-league affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles - the Bowie Baysox, Delmarva Shorebirds and Frederick Keys. Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the public assembly facilities management firm with more than 35 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider; and Patron Solutions, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities.