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 High School Schedules, Standings & Stats SJSports Top 10 Rankings |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, July 28, 2005 By Al Cohen The 2005 Calder Cup champion Philadelphia Phantoms today announced that center B.J. Abel has been re-signed to a one-year American Hockey League contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed. Abel, 25, appeared in 29 games with the Phantoms last season, totaling eight points (4G, 4A), a plus-5 rating and 13 penalty minutes. He also compiled 24 points (6G, 18A) and 18 PIM in 28 regular-season games with the Trenton Titans before registering 12 points in the playoffs to help Trenton capture the ECHL's Kelly Cup title. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, July 7, 2005 By Al Cohen The 2005 Calder Cup champion Philadelphia Phantoms today announced that left wing Riley Cote and defenseman Charlie Cook have both been re-signed to one-year American Hockey League contracts. Per team policy, terms of the deals are not disclosed. Cote, 23, signed with the Phantoms just hours before the club's season opener on Oct. 16 and proceeded to compile a team-high 280 penalty minutes and 11 points (4G, 7A) in 61 games. He was named the Phantoms' Most Coachable Player following the season, and also received the Unsung Hero Award from the team's Phan Club. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, June 10, 2005 By Al Cohen Jon Sim and Patrick Sharp each scored twice tonight to help the Phantoms complete a four-sweep of the Chicago Wolves with a 5-2 victory in Game Four of the Calder Cup Finals. An AHL playoff-record 20,103 fans attended the game at the Wachovia Center. Antero Niittymaki made 28 saves on 30 shots to earn the win and clinch the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs. Niittymaki finished the postseason with a 15-5 record and 1.75 goals-against average, including stopping 132-of-136 shots faced against Chicago. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, June 4, 2005 By Al Cohen Patrick Sharp scored the game-winning goal 3:50 into the second overtime tonight at Allstate Arena to lift the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Wolves in Game Two of the Calder Cup Finals. Philadelphia, which posted a 1-0 win in Thursday's opener, now owns a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Phantoms will now host the next three games of the series, as Game Three is set for Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center and Game Four is on Friday. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, May 23, 2005 By Al Cohen Brad Boyes scored 14:08 into overtime tonight at the Dunkin' Donuts Center to lift the Providence Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite the loss, Philadelphia still holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Games Four and Five set for Wednesday and Friday here in Providence. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, May 21, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki stopped all 33 shots he faced tonight at the Wachovia Center as the Philadelphia Phantoms cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Providence Bruins and a two-games-to-none lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. Philadelphia, which posted a 4-2 win in Game One on Friday, is now halfway toward advancing to the Calder Cup Finals as the series shifts to Providence on Monday for Game Three. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, May 20, 2005 By Al Cohen Defenseman Freddy Meyer scored three times tonight at the Wachovia Center to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 4-2 victory over the Providence Bruins in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals. Meyer scored twice in the first period and added another in the second as Philadelphia improved to 7-0 at home during the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs. The Phantoms will also host Game Two of the best-of-seven series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Mike Richards added an empty-net goal and chipped in a pair of assists, while Jon Sim also finished with two assists. Antero Niittymaki stopped 22-of-24 shots to move into a tie for the league lead in postseason wins (8). |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, May 13, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms scored a team-record six goals in the third period tonight to rally for a 7-4 victory and a four-games-to-one win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Game Five of the East Division Finals. Philadelphia avenged last year's six-game defeat to the Penguins in the division finals and advanced into the conference finals for the first time since 1999. The Phantoms will host Games One and Two of the Eastern Conference Finals next Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center against either the Providence Bruins or Lowell Lock Monsters. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 By Al Cohen Jon Sim and Mike Richards each recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 5-3 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight in Game Four of the East Division Finals. With the win, the Phantoms assumed a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game Five is set for Friday at 7:05 p.m. in Philadelphia. Antero Niittymaki stopped 26-of-29 shots for the Phantoms, who are trying to avenge last year's division finals loss to the Penguins in six games. Philadelphia also dropped six of 10 regular-season meetings with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, May 7, 2005 By Al Cohen Colby Armstrong and Matt Hussey scored 20 seconds apart early in the third period to snap a scoreless tie and help lift the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Three of the East Division Finals tonight at the Wachovia Arena. Philadelphia still holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series thanks to a pair of 4-1 home wins on Wednesday and Friday. Game Four is set for Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre and Game Five will be played in Philadelphia on Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, May 6, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki made 30 saves and four different Phantoms scored as Philadelphia cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight in Game Two of the East Division Finals. The Phantoms also posted a 4-1 win in the series opener on Wednesday and will take a two-games-to-none lead into Game Three in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night. The Penguins also host Game Four on Tuesday. Joni Pitkanen, Jon Sim, Jeff Carter and Eric Meloche all scored, while Mike Richards and Patrick Sharp each contributed two assists. The Phantoms tallied a pair of power-play goals for the second straight game and have killed all nine Wilkes-Barre/Scranton man-advantage situations in the series. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, May 1, 2005 By Al Cohen Mark Murphy scored the game-winner with 4:59 remaining as the Philadelphia Phantoms rallied to capture their East Division Semifinal series against the Norfolk Admirals with a 4-2 victory tonight in Game Six at the Wachovia Center. Philadelphia defeated the Admirals in six games in the division semifinals for the second year in a row, and will now face off with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the East Division Finals for the second straight year. The Phantoms are set to host the first two games of the best-of-seven series this Wednesday and Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, April 29, 2005 By Al Cohen Craig Anderson made 25 saves and Pavel Vorobiev scored a pair of third-period goals as the Norfolk Admirals stayed alive in the East Division Semifinals with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Five. The Phantoms still lead the best-of-seven series, three games to two, with Game Six set for Sunday at 7:05 p.m. in Philadelphia. Jeff Carter tallied the lone goal and Antero Niittymaki stopped 41-of-45 shots for Philadelphia, which dropped two of three games in Norfolk after capturing the first two match-ups of the series at home. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 By Al Cohen Jeff Carter scored twice and added an assist as the Philadelphia Phantoms registered a 4-1 victory over the Norfolk Admirals tonight in Game Four of the East Division Semifinals. With the win, Philadelphia assumed a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and can advance into the division finals on Friday in Game Five at the Scope. R.J. Umberger and Patrick Sharp also scored, while Antero Niittymaki stopped 40-of-41 shots for the Phantoms, who have outscored Norfolk 11-5 in the series. Philadelphia also improved to 11-2 all-time in Game Four of a playoff series. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, April 25, 2005 By Al Cohen Craig Anderson made 30 saves tonight at the Scope to lead the Norfolk Admirals to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Three of the East Division Semifinals. Philadelphia still holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Games Four and Five set for Wednesday and Friday in Norfolk. If necessary, Games Six and Seven would be played in Philadelphia on Sunday and Monday. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, April 23, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki made 32 saves to record his first career playoff shutout as the Philadelphia Phantoms posted a 3-0 victory over the Norfolk Admirals tonight in Game Two of the East Division Semifinals. With the win, Philadelphia assumed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Games Three and Four are set for Monday and Wednesday in Norfolk at 7:30 p.m. Niittymaki, who stopped 29-of-30 shots in Friday's 3-1 Game One victory, made 14 saves in the second period and 12 in the third tonight. The 24-year-old also helped kill all nine Norfolk power-play attempts, including a combined 2:43 of 5-on-3 time. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, April 22, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki made 29 saves and the Philadelphia Phantoms scored three times in the second period en route to a 3-1 victory over the Norfolk Admirals in Game One of the East Division Semifinals. Niittymaki recorded 11 saves in both the second and third periods to help Philadelphia take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game Two is set for Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 By Kevin Kurz The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League announced today that defenseman Dennis Seidenberg has been named the Toyota Phantoms Player of the Month for April. In nine games last month, Seidenberg tied for the team lead in points with 11, led the Phantoms in assists with eight and his +4 rating was also tied for the club lead as Philadelphia secured second place in the East Division and home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, April 16, 2005 By Kevin Kurz The Philadelphia Phantoms scored twice in the first period and twice in the third, and Antero Niittymaki made 36 saves in defeating the Albany River Rats at Pepsi Arena, 4-0. With the win, Philadelphia crept to within one point of the Binghamton Senators for first place in the East Division. Binghamton plays later tonight against the Hershey Bears in its final game of the season, while the Phantoms conclude their regular season tomorrow at home against the Norfolk Admirals. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, April 15, 2005 By Al Cohen Four different Phantoms scored and Antero Niittymaki made 21 saves to set a club record for wins in a season as Philadelphia posted a 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Jon Sim, Ben Stafford, Freddy Meyer and Mark Murphy all lit the lamp as Philadelphia won its third straight game and reached 47 wins for the first time since 1998-99. The Phantoms also remained three points behind first-place Binghamton in the East Division. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, April 14, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League today signed center Jeff Carter to an amateur tryout contact. The 6-3, 200-pound forward was the Philadelphia Flyers' first-round selection (11th overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Carter, who recently finished his junior season with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, also signed a tryout contract with the Phantoms last season and appeared in all 12 of their playoff games. He recorded four goals and an assist with a club-high two game-winning goals during his first action as a professional. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, April 10, 2005 By Al Cohen Dennis Seidenberg scored 41 seconds into overtime to lift the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 3-2 victory over the Albany River Rats tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Philadelphia went on its third and final power play with 49 seconds to go in regulation when Albany's David Hale was sent off for roughing. With a 4-on-3 advantage in overtime, Philadelphia calmly worked the puck around between Jon Sim, John Slaney and Seidenberg, who one-timed a rocket past River Rats goaltender Scott Clemmensen. The goal was Seidenberg's 13th of the year and his sixth game-winner, which leads all AHL defensemen. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, April 8, 2005 By Al Cohen Justin Papineau tallied the game-winning goal in the second period and Wade Dubielewicz made 19 saves to lead the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Chris Campoli and Jason Guerriero also scored as Bridgeport won for the third time in its last five games. The Sound Tigers also ended a five-game losing streak when playing in Philadelphia and finished with a split of the eight-game season series. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Pavel Vorobiev scored a penalty shot goal in the third period that turned out to be the difference, as the Norfolk Admirals defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Norfolk Scope, 4-3. The Phantoms led 2-1 entering the third period before three unanswered goals by the Admirals. First, Matt Keith tallied his second goal of the night when he deflected a slap shot by Marty Wilford past goaltender Antero Niittymaki at 2:43. Later, Matt Ellison scored on a two-on-one rush with Anton Babchuk at 11:08 to give Norfolk its first lead of the game. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, April 3, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms clinched a playoff berth and took over first place in the AHL's East Division with a 4-2 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Dennis Seidenberg had a hand in every score, recording a goal and three assists, while R.J. Umberger and Ben Stafford contributed two points apiece. Antero Niittymaki stopped 30-of-32 shots to notch the victory. Philadelphia (44-22-3-4, 95 points) won for the sixth time in its last seven games and captured its fifth straight home game to move one point ahead of Binghamton for first place in the division. The Phantoms have seven games remaining in the regular season, while the Senators have six. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, April 2, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Jon Sim scored once in regulation and twice in a shootout, leading the Phantoms to a 4-3 victory over the Norfolk Admirals at the Norfolk Scope on Saturday night. With the Phantoms leading 2-1 entering the third period, the Admirals scored twice on goals by Krys Barch and Rene Bourque to take a 3-2 lead. After Bourque's goal at 11:26, Sim took a feed from R.J. Umberger and sent a one-timer past goaltender Adam Munro just 20 seconds later for his 35th goal of the season, leading the team. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, April 1, 2005 By Al Cohen Patrick Sharp and Tony Voce each recorded a goal and two assists to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 4-3 victory over the Hershey Bears tonight in front of a crowd of 8,425 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Dennis Seidenberg added a goal and an assist and Antero Niittymaki made 22 saves as Philadelphia won its fourth straight home game and improved to 7-3 vs. the Bears this season. The Phantoms picked up their eighth win in their last 11 games, but remained one point behind first-place Binghamton in the East Division. The Senators, who pulled out a 3-2 shootout win over Worcester tonight, have played one more game than Philadelphia. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Thursday, March 31, 2005 By Mike Pontonio During the spring of 2004 officials from the South Jersey High School Ice Hockey league noticed some irregularities and an apparent shortage in our checking accounts. After reviewing copies of account statements and other records it became clear to us that we had been victimized by our former treasurer Michael Stern. It was also clear that Stern in his capacity as our league treasurer had been embezzling money from our program for a number of years. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 By Al Cohen The Binghamton Senators scored four consecutive goals to start the third period en route to a 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. After the Phantoms rallied to even the score at 3-3 through two periods, Pat Kavanagh and Jason Spezza each scored in the first 5:20 of the third to give the Senators a 5-3 lead. Minutes later, cross checking minors on Ben Eager and Joni Pitkanen gave Binghamton a 5-on-3 advantage and Chris Neil tallied his second of the game at 9:32 to make it a three-goal game. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, March 26, 2005 By Al Cohen Jon Sim tallied his second game-winning goal in as many nights as the Philadelphia Phantoms pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Hershey Bears tonight at the GIANT Center. Philadelphia trailed 2-1 through two periods before captain Boyd Kane evened the score 1:41 into the third when Joni Pitkanen set him up for a breakaway from the blue line. Freddy Meyer also assisted on Kane's eighth goal of the year. |
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South Jersey Ice Hockey: Friday, March 25, 2005 By Ike Richman The nation's best Tier II PeeWee youth hockey players will compete in the 2005 USA Hockey Tier II 12 & Under National Championships from Wednesday, March 30 through Sunday, April 3, 2005 at the Sovereign Bank Flyers Skate Zone at Voorhees. Twelve teams were selected to compete from 11 geographical districts. Two area teams are from the Atlantic district: the Quakers (West Chester, PA) and the host team, Flyers Youth (Voorhees, NJ). The districts that will be represented are New York, New England, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Atlantic, Southeastern, Mid-American, Michigan, Alaska, Massachusetts, Central, and Host. All teams have qualified for National Championships by winning their respective District Championship; Flyers Youth gets an automatic berth as the host team. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, March 25, 2005 By Al Cohen Five different Phantoms scored and Antero Niittymaki needed to make just 19 saves as Philadelphia posted a 5-1 victory over the Springfield Falcons tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Ryan Ready and Jon Sim gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes of play before Josh Gratton and Tony Voce each recorded a goal and an assist in the third to blow the game wide open. Philadelphia won for the sixth time in its last eight games as it assumed sole possession of first place in the AHL's East Division. The Phantoms (87 points) are now two points ahead of Binghamton and three in front of Norfolk, both of which were idle tonight. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, March 20, 2005 By Al Cohen Neil Little made 32 saves and Jon Sim scored two more goals to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 5-0 victory over the Portland Pirates tonight in front of a crowd of 9,575 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Rookie R.J. Umberger added a goal and two assists, while defensemen Joni Pitkanen and John Slaney each chipped in a pair of assists as Philadelphia won for the fifth time in its last seven games. With the win, Philadelphia (85 points) moved into a first-place tie with Binghamton in the AHL's East Division. However, the Phantoms have played one less game than the Senators. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, March 19, 2005 By Al Cohen Denis Hamel scored on a two-on-one rush in overtime, as the Binghamton Senators erased an early two-goal deficit to defeat the Philadelphia Phantoms at Broome County Arena, 4-3. Hamel raced in with Antonie Vermette and roofed a wrist shot past goaltender Antero Niittymaki with 1:04 left in the extra session to give the Senators the victory. Binghamton tied the game 2-2 early in the third period, when Brandon Bochenski's slap shot beat Niittymaki through a screen just 57 seconds in. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, March 18, 2005 By Al Cohen Ben Stafford, John Slaney and Boyd Kane all scored third-period goals to lift the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 4-2 victory over the Worcester IceCats tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Jon Sim added a power-play goal in the second period for Philadelphia, which has captured four of its last five games. Antero Niittymaki won his fourth straight start by stopping 23-of-25 shots. With the victory, Philadelphia remained tied with Norfolk for second place in the AHL's East Division with 82 points. Binghamton owns first place with 83, but the Senators and Admirals have both played two more games than the Phantoms. |
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Monday, March 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino Moorestown opened the Flyers Cup Tournament with a 4-1 win over Wissahickon, despite the efforts of goaltender Nick DiSammartino who was brilliant in nets for the visiting Trojans as Moorestown out shot Wissahickon 43-15. As was the case all season, Moorestown had four different players score and used back-up goalie Max Paluszynski in nets. After a scoreless first period, Moorestown broke out on top as Mike Furey came down the right side and used his speed to turn the corner and beat DiSammartino with just over six minutes left in the second period. Just over three minutes later, Kevin Schaeffer broke down the left side and his cross-ice pass deflected on the defenseman and into the net for a 2-0 lead. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, March 13, 2005 By Kevin Kurz R.J. Umberger broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period to give the Philadelphia Phantoms the lead for good in a 4-1 victory over the Worcester IceCats at the DCU Center. On the game-winning goal, the rookie center took a feed from Jon Sim and found the back of the net just 24 seconds into the middle frame. It was Umberger's 16th goal of the season. Antero Niittymaki made 32 saves to pick up the victory in net, as the Phantoms finished a four-game road trip with three wins against just one loss. Philadelphia returns to the Wachovia Spectrum on Friday to face Worcester on its home ice. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, March 12, 2005 By Al Cohen Brian Willsie scored twice in the second period to lead the Portland Pirates to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms this afternoon at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Rookie Tony Voce tallied both goals for Philadelphia, which fell to 2-1 on its four-game road trip through the Northeast. Neil Little made 21 saves as the Phantoms lost on the road for just the third time in their last 11 tries. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, March 11, 2005 By Al Cohen Jon Sim continued his recent scoring spree with two goals tonight to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 4-2 victory over the Manchester Monarchs at Verizon Wireless Arena. Sim scored twice for the third game in a row and has 11 goals in his last eight games for Philadelphia, which improved to 2-0 on its four-game trip through the Northeast. Tony Voce and Joni Pitkanen also scored to help the Phantoms win for the eighth time in their last 10 road games. |
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Wednesday, March 9, 2005 By Mike Costantino Led by their top line of Patrick McMahon, Lou Sarcone and Justin Kinniry, Cherokee skated to an easy 6-1 win over Washington Township and won its second title in four years. With the familiar #23 jersey worn by Jeff Burd, hanging behind their bench, this emotionally driven group of young men, with one goal in mind, got stronger with each game. Coach Rumbus prior to the game told his players that this was the last year that Jeff's name could go on the trophy, but to go out and also play for each other. Cherokee goalie Bobby Casolaro played a strong game in nets, while the top line accounted for eight points, with McMahon and Kinniry scoring two goals each. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, March 9, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Antero Niittymaki made 31 saves and Jon Sim scored twice as the Philadelphia Phantoms defeated the Lowell Lock Monsters at Tsongas Arena, 2-0. Sim, who has now scored a goal in three consecutive games, registered his 24th goal of the season 7:30 into the game. On the play, Sim skated the puck from the corner boards towards to the crease, lost control and caught a break as the puck bounced off of a couple of Lowell defenders and then behind goaltender Brent Krahn. |
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Monday, March 7, 2005 By Mike Costantino Justin Kinniry, Patrick McMahon and Lou Sarcone, combined for 12 points as Cherokee rolled over Washington Township 10-6 in championship playoff action at Hollydell. In handing Township its first loss in the double elimination tournament, Cherokee will now host Township on Wednesday night at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Fred Brewer scored three goals for Township and Kinniry also had a hat trick for Cherokee. Township will need stronger play from their defense and better goaltending, but that still might not be enough as this Cherokee team has raised its level during this tournament. After Brewer gave Township its only lead at 1-0 early in the game, Cherokee scored twice in less than two minutes to take control of the game. First Sarcone broke in with defenseman Steve Sheridan, who had a solid game for Cherokee, and after drawing the defenseman over Sarcone slid the puck to Sheridan and his one-timer beat Matt Corvino and tied the game at 1-1. |
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Monday, March 7, 2005 By Mike Costantino Each year South Jersey Sports Online, Inc. presents hockey awards to players from the South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League, and each year the selections become more difficult. This year the league combined the Tiers and made it that much more difficult, but next season we will return to the Tier system, which will produce more competitive games. On Monday night before the beginning of the championship game, SJHSIHL along with SJSports were honored to present awards to players and coaches who have demonstrated the ability to bringing sportsmanship, determination and showmanship to the league. Here are the awards that were handed out to the following players: |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, March 7, 2005 By Kevin Kurz The Philadelphia Phantoms raised $37,800 in the team's first post-game jersey auction of the season on Sunday, a new high total in franchise history. The Phantoms auctioned off the team's purple third jerseys from the 2003-04 season, with a portion of the proceeds to be donated to the Phantoms Wives Charities. Silent bidding for the game-worn jerseys was held in the Wachovia Spectrum concourse and ran through the second intermission. The highest silent bids were then used as the starting point for the live auction at Bullies Sports Bar and Restaurant following the game. All Phantoms players and coaches who were on last season's team helped to personally auction off their own jerseys. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Sunday, March 6, 2005 By Mike Costantino Washington Township and Cherokee will meet on Monday night at 7:30 at Hollydell in the championship round of the SJHSIHL Tournament. Cherokee has been playing their best hockey in the last few games and is riding an emotional high. While Township, having gone through the double elimination tournament as the only undefeated team, need to win on Monday to be crowned champions. Cherokee needs to win Monday to force a second game on Wednesday night at Voorhees. The teams met earlier in the tournament with Township winning 4-2. In that contest Cherokee managed only 21 shots in the penalty filled game as the teams split 20 infractions. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, March 6, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms overcame a three-goal third-period deficit but suffered a 4-3 loss when Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Shane Endicott scored with 2.4 seconds remaining tonight in front of a crowd of 9,874 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Matt Hussey's second goal of the night at 2:32 of the third period gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 3-0 lead before the Phantoms began their rally. Jon Sim started the comeback at 7:01 when he deflected a Tony Voce shot past Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. R.J. Umberger also assisted on the power-play goal. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, March 5, 2005 By Al Cohen Matt Hussey scored a pair of power-play goals early in the third period to lift the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at Wachovia Arena. Ramzi Abid and Colby Armstrong also scored for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which has won five of its last six games and four in a row at home. Dany Sabourin finished with 27 saves to help the Penguins take a 5-3 lead in the 10-game season series. Rookie Tony Voce scored twice and Antero Niittymaki made 16 saves as Philadelphia lost for just the second time in its last eight road games. |
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Friday, March 4, 2005 By Mike Costantino Cherokee rallied from a 5-3 deficit, scoring four goals in the final eleven minutes, to upset top seed Moorestown 7-5 and move into the final round against Washington Township. Lou Sarcone led the attack with four goals and Matt Loprete added two, Moorestown had goals from five different players. In front of a standing room only crowd at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, both teams came into the game knowing that if you lose your season is over. Super sophomore TJ Brennan put Moorestown on top early in the game as his slap shot along the ice found the long side corner for a 1-0 lead. Cherokee had some opportunities to tie but Colin Higgins stoned Zach Sawyer and Pat McMahon to keep Cherokee off the board. Late in the period Cherokee had a two-man advantage, but excellent penalty-killing by Kevin Schaffer and Mike Bodine denied Cherokee. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, March 4, 2005 By Al Cohen Neil Little recorded his 200th career AHL victory in style, stopping all 33 shots he faced as the Philadelphia Phantoms cruised to a 4-0 shutout victory against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Little became just the 10th goaltender in the history of the league to amass 200 victories. John Slaney and R.J. Umberger led the way offensively for Philadelphia as each tallied a goal and two assists. |
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Wednesday, March 2, 2005 By Mike Costantino Bobby Casolaro stopped 34 shots as Cherokee defeated Rancocas Valley 3-2 in playoff action at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Cherokee will now meet Moorestown, with the winner advancing to play Washington Township in the championship round. Rancocas Valley took its only lead at 1-0 one minute into the game as Patrick Hennessey was set-up by Aaron and Ryan Smith. Patrick McMahon with a nifty move down low tied the game at 1-1 for Cherokee about four minutes later. With both teams playing stay at home defense, the period ended at 1-1 and the shots were even at nine. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, March 2, 2005 By Al Cohen Dennis Seidenberg scored his second goal of the game 1:51 into overtime tonight to lift the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 4-3 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Wachovia Spectrum. Jon Sim and Boyd Kane also scored, while Wade Skolney added a pair of assists as Philadelphia won for the sixth time in its last eight games. The Phantoms evened the eight-game season series at three wins apiece, including a perfect 3-0 mark at home vs. the Sound Tigers. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, March 1, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League announced today that rookie center R.J. Umberger has been named the Toyota Phantoms Player of the Month for February. Umberger will receive his award in a pregame presentation on Sunday, March 6, when the Phantoms host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Wachovia Spectrum at 5:05 p.m. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, February 28, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League drew a total of 25,373 fans for their games on Friday and Sunday for the team's most successful weekend at the gate in five years. A season-high crowd of 13,226 attended Friday's 4-1 win over Hershey, which featured the club's first-ever Teddy Bear Toss. Thousands of stuffed animals were thrown onto the ice following Philadelphia's first goal of the night, and will now be distributed by the Phantoms to local children's hospitals and shelters in the Philadelphia area. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, February 27, 2005 By Al Cohen Shane Endicott's shorthanded goal with 3:37 remaining was the difference tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins posted a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in front of a crowd of 12,147. Philadelphia trailed 2-0 entering the final period before Freddy Meyer and Ben Stafford scored 2:18 apart early on to even the score. Penguins center Erik Christensen was then sent off for tripping at 14:47 to set up the decisive power play. |
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Friday, February 25, 2005 By Mike Costantino Four different players scored goals in the first period as Cherokee 2 continued its mastery over Paul VI with a convincing 6-2 win in playoff action at Hollydell. It was the third straight time this season that Paul VI has lost to Cherokee 2, twice in the playoffs. Matt Cardillo paced the offensive attack with two goals and an assist for Cherokee 2. Brett Doyle and Dustin Isbert scored the goals for Paul VI. Cherokee scored right off the opening face-off as Shane Kelly broke down the middle and after Eric Lake made the initial save, Cardillo was there to put home the rebound and nine seconds into the game, Cherokee led 1-0. |
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Friday, February 25, 2005 By Mike Costantino Chris Keyser scored three goals to lead Washington Township over Cherokee in a tense playoff game at Hollydell on Friday night. With the win, Township advances in the double elimination tournament and will meet Moorestown at the Igloo on Monday night. These teams are the only remaining undefeated teams left in the winner bracket, and the victor on Monday night will advance into the championship series. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, February 25, 2005 By Al Cohen Jon Sim scored three times in the second period and Antero Niittymaki made 34 saves as the Philadelphia Phantoms posted a 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears in front of a season-high crowd of 13,226 tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Tony Voce also scored and Todd Fedoruk added three assists to help Philadelphia win for the fifth time in its last six games. The Phantoms also snapped a three-game losing streak vs. Hershey and took a 5-3 lead in the 12-game season series. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 By Mike Costantino South Jersey Sports Online recently announced its annual high school ice hockey awards presented to the SJHSIHL. The seven awards selected this year included several players of the year, best defenseman, leadership and coach of the year awards. As is always the case, it was difficult selecting one individual for each category, as we had a number of players with good seasons. Here are this year’s recipients: |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 By Kevin Kurz After a scoreless first period, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks scored four times in the second en route to a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Cincinnati Gardens behind goaltender Frederic Cassivi. The loss ended the Phantoms' four-game winning streak, but Philadelphia still finished 4-1 on its longest road trip of the season. It was the Phantoms' first loss in Cincinnati since March 28, 2001 as they went 5-0-1 in their last six trips there. |
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Monday, February 21, 2005 By Mike Costantino Taylor Facchinei scored with just under three minutes remaining in double overtime as Paul VI defeated Cherry Hill East 7-6 in exciting playoff action at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel on Monday night. The loss ended the season for Cherry Hill East, Paul VI moves on to face Cherokee 2, a team that beat them earlier in the double elimination tournament. The game was a seesaw affair, with Paul VI controlling the first period scoring two power play goals, with senior forward Rich Ferro involved in both. |
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Monday, February 21, 2005 By Mike Costantino Shawnee had its season ended abruptly as Cherokee 2 skated to a 6-1 victory on Monday night in tournament action played at the Igloo. Cherokee 2 now advances to the next round and will face Paul VI at Hollydell on Friday night. Shawnee, coming off a 10-5-3 season and a berth in the Flyers Cup, could not muster much offense in the playoffs, scoring just 5 goals. Cherokee 2 has played solid defense and enjoyed hot goaltending by SJ Broadt. Mike Prince led the attack with two goals as Cherokee jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and never looked back. |
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Monday, February 21, 2005 By Mike Costantino Derrick Schemmel scored both goals and Ryan Doner stopped 27 shots as Eastern defeated Clearview 2-1 at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel. With the win Eastern advances into the next round and will play Williamstown on Friday night at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, for Clearview their season is over. Eastern is trying to become the first three-peat team in league history and will need more efforts like tonight’s game should they want to advance. Eastern got on the board first as Richard Smith fed a pass from behind the net to Schemmel who was camped in front and his quick shot beat Bobby Kovarovic with just under two minutes remaining in the opening period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, February 20, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Patrick Sharp had two goals and an assist and Neil Little made 30 saves in his first start in over a month as the Phantoms routed the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena, 6-1. The Phantoms jumped ahead early with two goals in the first period before Blake Sloan cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second period. Philadelphia responded with three goals later in the frame, however, to take control of the game. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, February 19, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki made 28 saves to notch his second shutout in as many nights as the Philadelphia Phantoms posted a 2-0 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals tonight at the Bradley Center. Niittymaki, who registered 36 saves in Friday's 3-0 win in Cincinnati, stopped 12 shots in the second period and eight in the first and third tonight to record his fourth shutout of the year. The 2005 AHL All-Star has now compiled shutouts in consecutive starts for the first time since March 27 & 31 of last season. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, February 18, 2005 By Al Cohen Antero Niittymaki made 36 saves and rookie Ben Eager had a goal and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 3-0 victory over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks tonight at Cincinnati Gardens. Making his 12th consecutive start in net for the Phantoms, Niittymaki stopped 12 shots in the first period, 11 in the second and 13 in the third stanza to notch his third shutout of the season. The 2005 AHL All-Star now has 10 career shutouts as a Phantom and 18 as a pro. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, February 17, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League are proud to announce a new partnership with the Philadelphia Zoo that will include the team's first-ever Teddy Bear Toss, the adoption of a polar bear and a Zoo On Wheels appearance at a game later in the season. The Phantoms' first Teddy Bear Toss is set for Friday, Feb. 25, when the team hosts the Hershey Bears at the Wachovia Spectrum. Fans are encouraged to bring new or gently used stuffed animals to the game and then throw them onto the ice following Philadelphia's first goal. An example of a Teddy Bear Toss from a game in London, Ontario can be found by clicking on this release on www.phantomshockey.com. |
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 By Mike Costantino Fred Brewer had a goal and three assists to lead Washington Township over a very tough Cherokee 2 squad 6-2 in second round playoff action at Hollydell on Wednesday night. After having a bye in the first round, Township drew Cherokee 2 fresh off its defeat of Paul VI on Monday night, thanks in large part to the stellar play in nets by S.J. Broadt. And after a scoreless first period, Broadt was still on his game turning away all 12 shots. Marco Jordan got Township on the board early in the second period on a nifty pass from Brewer and Chris Keyser. Matt Corvino, playing well in nets for Township, made that lead stand until the last three minutes of the period. With Cherokee down a man, Shane Kelly was sent in by Matt Cardillo and Steve Dellavecchia, and his short-handed goal tied the game at 1-1, heading into the final period. |
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 By Mike Costantino Rob Brown scored four goals and Aaron Smith added two goals and two assists to pace Rancocas Valley over West Deptford 7-0 in second round playoff action at Hollydell. Brown, who also quarterbacks the football team, gave Rancocas a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game, scoring on a breakaway. West Deptford had a golden opportunity to climb back into the game late in the period as they had a four-minute power play that carried over into the second period. Unfortunately they not only did not capitalize, but Brown, stole the puck and scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 early in the second period. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 By Mike Costantino The South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League was fortunate enough to have seven teams from their league invited to the annual Flyers Cup Tournament. The teams that were selected on Sunday are: Moorestown, Washington Township, Cherokee, Clearview, Eastern, Shawnee and Williamstown. Most of the teams will play on the road, with Washington Township and Moorestown the only two teams hosting games at Voorhees. The Tournament will begin on March 14th. We believe this is the most teams invited to the Flyers Cup from South Jersey since the inception of the league back in 1993. Listed below are the match-ups and locations, no times have been set yet and as always the locations could change at the last minute: |
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Monday, February 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino West Deptford proved last night that hard work, good goaltending and few penalties go a long way as they defeated Eastern 3-2 in opening round playoff action at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. From the opening period, West Deptford did not look like the 12th seeded team, the last one to make the playoffs, they played as if they belonged and they sure shocked the Vikings. West Deptford carried the play in the first period as they out-shot Eastern 11-8 and scored with just over a minute remaining as Tyler Chellew put home a rebound of a shot by Kevin Walsh. The Vikings responded twenty seconds later as Torin Lawson got the equalizer with the assists going to Chris Ball and Chris Lieg. |
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Monday, February 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino Chris Riggs had a hat trick and Shaun Stamm added two goals as Clearview rallied from a 2-0 deficit and went on to defeat Williamstown 6-4 in first round playoff action for both teams. Clearview will now face Cherokee on Wednesday night at the Skate Zone in Voorhees and Williamstown will move into the loser bracket. Williamstown led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Justin Osterdahl and Tom Ruiz and excellent goaltending by Joshua Haines as he stopped all 18 shots. The second period Clearview continued the pressure and scored three goals in less than two minutes to take a 3-2 lead. |
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Monday, February 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino In a battle of goaltenders S.J Broadt was just a little better than Eric Lake as Cherokee 2 defeated Paul VI 2-1 in an opening round playoff game of the SJHSIHL playoff tournament. Broadt stopped 39 of 40 shots and Lake faced 32 shots and allowed just the two goals. After Rich Ferro gave Paul VI a 1-0 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the first period on a slap shot from just inside the blue line, Cherokee’s Kyle Manny tied the game on a feed from Dan Maugieri two minutes later. Heading into the second period the atmosphere had the feel of playoff hockey and both teams were hitting. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, February 12, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms scored twice in the opening three minutes of the game and then held on for a 2-1 victory over the Norfolk Admirals tonight at the Norfolk Scope. Goals by Eric Meloche and Patrick Sharp gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead 2:27 into the game before goaltender Antero Niittymaki took over and held Norfolk to just one late score. Making his 10th consecutive start for Philadelphia, the Finnish netminder stopped 34-of-35 shots to earn the win. |
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Friday, February 11, 2005 By Mike Costantino The Williamstown Braves struggled early with Highland but scored four goals in the second period on the way to a 7-1 victory at Hollydell on Friday night in the final regular season game for both teams. Justin Osterdahl and Tyler Dornewass scored twice for the Braves and Mike Zelaskey scored the lone goal for Highland. After a scoreless first period in which both teams had nine shots on goal, Dornewass and Osterdahl scored goals in the opening two minutes of the second period. Dornewass started the scoring right after the face-off and with Highland on the power play Osterdahl anticipated a cross-ice pass and intercepted the puck and his breakaway goal put the Braves up 2-0. |
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Friday, February 11, 2005 By Mike Costantino Clearview scored three goals in a span of two minutes to break open a close game and went on to defeat West Deptford 7-2 in the last regular season game for both teams. Clearview will meet Williamstown and West Deptford will open with Eastern. Mike Sullivan and Shaun Stamm each tallied twice to lead the Clearview attack. Cory Jackmuff put West Deptford up 1-0 as Clearview started out slowly. Sullivan tied the score at 1-1 as he scored short-handed using the defenseman as a screen. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, February 11, 2005 By Al Cohen Cam Ward stopped all 28 shots he faced as the visiting Lowell Lock Monsters posted a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Ward made eight saves in the first period and 10 in the second and third to notch his fifth shutout of the season. Mike Zigomanis provided the only goal as Lowell won for the fourth time in its last six games. Antero Niittymaki made 22 saves in the loss for Philadelphia, which was shut out for the first time in 2004-05. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, February 9, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Mark Murphy broke a 1-1 tie late in the third period and Tony Voce added an insurance goal on the power play as the Phantoms broke a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Norfolk Admirals. Murphy took a feed from Patrick Sharp and one-timed it past goaltender Mike Leighton with just 3:15 left for the game-winning goal. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, February 5, 2005 By Kevin Kurz The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored three times in the second period en route to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms at Wachovia Arena on Saturday night. With the loss, the Phantoms slipped further behind in the standings in the East Division and remain in fourth place. Philadelphia is just 5-15 in its last 20 games, including a current four-game losing streak. After Wilkes-Barre's David Koci scored his first goal of the season at the 4:48 mark of the second period to open the scoring, Erik Christensen made it 2-0 on the power play at 8:09. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, February 4, 2005 By Al Cohen Joey MacDonald stopped 36-of-37 shots to lead the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight in front of 7,764 fans at the Wachovia Spectrum. Four different Griffins scored and Todd Robinson and Bryan Helmer each contributed two assists as Grand Rapids improved to 3-0 all-time when playing in Philadelphia. The Phantoms are set to make their only appearance in Grand Rapids on Feb. 20. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, February 2, 2005 By Al Cohen Jeff Ulmer had a goal and two assists and Peter Budaj made 29 saves to lead the Hershey Bears to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at GIANT Center. Mathieu Darche added a pair of goals and Cody McCormick chipped in a goal and an assist as Hershey won for the fourth time in its last five games. After losing 16 straight meetings with the Phantoms, the Bears have now won three in a row. Riley Cote tallied the lone goal and Antero Niittymaki stopped 23-of-26 shots for Philadelphia, which lost its fourth consecutive road game. |
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Monday, January 31, 2005 By Mike Costantino Dan Drazen had three goals and two assists to lead the Eastern Vikings over Shawnee 6-4 at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Monday night. Ryan Doner stopped forty-two of forty-six shots as Eastern jumped into fourth place in closing out their regular season schedule. The two teams exchanged goals in the opening period as Rory Levinson used his reach to poke check the puck into the net and give Eastern a 1-0 lead. Dave DeBarth answered one minute later scoring on the power play for Shawnee. Drazen gave the Vikings the lead early in the second period scoring on a break and then made it 3-1 late in the period on a nice breakout pass from Richard Smith. |
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Monday, January 31, 2005 By Mike Costantino Chris Riggs scored four goals and assisted on two more as Clearview defeated Cherokee 2 at the Skate Zone in Voorhees by a score of 8-3. Cherokee broke out on top early in the first period as Tom Paradise gave the Chiefs fans something to cheer about just over three minutes into the game. Riggs responded sixty seconds later on a give and go with Mike Sullivan. Less than three minutes later those same two hooked up again, this time Riggs fed Sullivan and his quick shot put Clearview on top 2-1. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, January 29, 2005 By Al Cohen Chris Campoli's goal 3:33 into the third period was the difference tonight at the Arena at Harbor Yard as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers edged the Philadelphia Phantoms, 2-1. Campoli's fifth goal from Jim Campbell and Blaine Down allowed Bridgeport to take a 3-2 lead in the eight-game season series. The Sound Tigers also won just their second game in their last 13 tries and captured a game in regulation for the first time since Dec. 15. R.J. Umberger scored the lone goal and Antero Niittymaki stopped 18-of-20 shots for Philadelphia, which had a two-game win streak snapped. The Phantoms outshot the Sound Tigers, 32-20, but finished 0-for-7 on the power play. |
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Friday, January 28, 2005 By Mike Costantino Tom Ruiz had a hat trick and Justin Osterdahl added two goals and two assists to lead the Williamstown Braves to a 7-3 victory over Clearview in high school ice hockey action at Hollydell. Since losing to Moorestown back in November 5-2, the Braves are now unbeaten in their last six games going 4-0-2 and with this surge have solidified there hold on the last playoff spot. After a scoreless first period Williamstown took a 1-0 lead as Ruiz scored a power play goal by putting home a rebound of a point shot by Eric Finn. Just twenty five seconds later, Osterdahl made a great pass from behind the net hitting Andrew Lima on the short side and a wide open net to put the Braves up 2-0. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, January 28, 2005 By Al Cohen Ben Stafford scored a pair of goals tonight to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 5-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack in front of a crowd of 10,921 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Randy Jones, B.J. Abel and Ryan Ready also scored, while Boyd Kane and Todd Fedoruk each added two assists. Antero Niittymaki stopped 28-of-29 shots as Philadelphia avenged a season-opening 2-1 loss to Hartford. Wolf Pack goaltender Steve Valiquette, who entered the game with a league-leading 1.48 goals-against average, made 19 saves on 23 shots. The Wolf Pack had won four of their last five games, but have now lost five of their last seven on the road. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, January 27, 2005 By Al Cohen Philadelphia Phantoms defenseman Joni Pitkanen and goaltender Antero Niittymaki were among the 20 skaters and three goaltenders named today to the PlanetUSA team roster for the 2005 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic, to be held Feb. 13-14 at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. The Finnish duo will both be making their first AHL All-Star Game appearances. Pitkanen was chosen a starter via on-line balloting at theahl.com, while a committee of AHL coaches selected the remainder of the roster. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 By Al Cohen Philadelphia Phantoms center Patrick Sharp was among the 22 skaters and three goaltenders named today to the Canadian team roster for the 2005 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic, to be held Feb. 13-14 at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. Sharp, who will be making his first AHL All-Star Game appearance, currently leads the Phantoms in points (33), goals (15) and power-play goals (7). He has also compiled 18 assists and three game-winning goals over 38 games to help Philadelphia remain atop the East Division standings virtually all season. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, January 24, 2005 By Al Cohen Todd Fedoruk and Boyd Kane each recorded a goal and an assist to help the Philadelphia Phantoms pull out a 3-2 victory over the Albany River Rats tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Patrick Sharp also scored as Philadelphia snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 4-0 vs. Albany this season. The Phantoms are also unbeaten in their last eight home match-ups with the River Rats. Playing in his 200th game as a pro, Antero Niittymaki snapped a personal eight-game losing streak by stopping 27-of-29 shots. His counterpart Scott Clemmensen was unscored upon after 40 minutes of play, but surrendered three goals over the first seven minutes of the third and finished with 34 saves on the night. |
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Friday, January 21, 2005 By Mike Costantino Lou Sarcone scored on a breakaway as time expired and Cherokee rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the last ninety seconds to defeat Washington Township 5-4 and hand Washington Township their first loss of the season. Fred Brewer led Township with two goals and Pat McMahon scored twice for Cherokee. Brewer scored the only goal of the first period on the power play, picking the top corner. McMahon then scored his two goals in a sixteen second span, his second one on a breakaway to put Cherokee up 2-1 early in the second period. |
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Friday, January 21, 2005 By Mike Costantino Jeff Scully scored two goals and Timber Creek got contributions from all three lines in defeating Cinnaminson 6-4 and win their first game of the season. With fifteen underclassmen on their roster and the return of Tier 2 next season, Timber Creek hockey should be on the rise. After Scully scored two minutes into the game, Cinnaminson tied the score as Justin Fillmyer scored on a backhander to the short-side. Scully put Timber Creek back on top at the nine-minute mark on a feed from Ryan Johnson. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, January 21, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Paul Gaustad scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, as the Rochester Americans defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Blue Cross Arena, 2-1. With the game tied 1-1, Gaustad controlled the puck and skated towards the net. Phantoms defenseman Joni Pitkanen was there to knock the puck away, but it bounced off of Pitkanen's stick and behind goaltender Antero Niittymaki just over seven minutes into the final frame. The defeat extended Philadelphia's losing streak to four games. |
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Monday, January 17, 2005 By Mike Costantino Terry Brennan scored twice as Moorestown continued its winning ways with a convincing 6-1 victory over Paul VI in high school ice hockey action at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel. Brennan led a balanced attack as five different players scored for Moorestown. Paul VI in their final regular season appearance played well for the first ten minutes of the game, but frustration seem to grow as the game wore on. After Brennan scored at the three-minute mark on a nifty move along the left circle, Paul VI responded on the power play as Rich Ferro feathered a cross-ice pass to Dustin Isbert in front and his goal tied the score at 1-1. That was the extent of the offense for Paul VI despite eleven power play opportunities, they were only able to cash in once and that was the difference in the game. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, January 16, 2005 By Al Cohen Jason Morgan and Mikhail Yakubov scored in Norfolk's last two shootout attempts as the Admirals pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Each team converted just one of its first three shootout tries before Morgan launched a slap shot past Phantoms goaltender Antero Niittymaki leading off the fourth round. Philadelphia's Mark Murphy was then denied by Michael Leighton and Yakubov sealed the win with his successful penalty shot opportunity. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, January 16, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League today announced that their game against the Albany River Rats, originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 23 at 5:05 p.m., has been moved to Monday, Jan. 24 at 7:05 p.m. The change is being made to alleviate potential parking and traffic problems due to the NFC Championship Game scheduled for Jan. 23 at Lincoln Financial Field between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons. |
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Friday, January 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino Joe Piarulli scored with just over a minute left in the game as Cherry Hill West defeated Timber Creek 3-2 in action played at Hollydell. Gary Scott scored both goals for Timber Creek and Justin Hoch scored twice for West. Cherry Hill took an early 1-0 lead on the power play as Hoch went through the defense and ripped a shot into the net. Scott however tied the game scoring on a breakaway midway through the period. |
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Friday, January 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino Washington Township scored twice in the third period to snap a 5-5 tie and defeat Clearview 7-5 before a packed house at Hollydell. In a game that was tight throughout, where neither team could get an edge or any kind of momentum, Townships’ depth was a huge factor in this win. Clearview seemed to have the edge in fans in the stands, and Chris Riggs gave them something to cheer about early, as he scored in the opening thirty seconds. Township responded on the power play as Dave Smetaniuk scored with Fred Brewer and Mike Rohach assisting. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, January 14, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Mike Brown scored a breakaway goal at 7:30 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie and Norfolk exploded for four goals in the third period as the Admirals gave the Philadelphia Phantoms their worst loss of the season, 6-2. Philadelphia fell to 1-1-2 against its East Division rival, but still holds an eight-point lead over Norfolk. The Admirals jumped out to a quick lead when they scored just 65 seconds after the opening faceoff. The goal came when Matt Keith won an offensive zone faceoff draw and Matt Wisniewski fired a slap shot towards goaltender Neil Little that was tipped in by Rene Bourque. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 By Al Cohen Denis Hamel scored twice to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in front of a crowd of 9,143 tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Brandon Bochenski and Jason Spezza each added two points as Binghamton evened the six-game season series at two wins apiece. The Senators have now won eight of their last 10 games and drew within six points of the first-place Phantoms in the AHL's East Division. Ray Emery picked up the win by stopping 29-of-31 shots, while Neil Little made 19 saves in the loss. |
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Monday, January 10, 2005 By Mike Costantino Rory Levinson and Dan Drazen scored two goals each as Eastern came back and defeated Paul VI 7-4 in high school ice hockey excitement at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Coming off a loss to Williamstown on Friday night, Eastern rebounded nicely and battled all night in this seesaw affair. Drazen got things going early scoring in the opening two minutes of the game. After Paul VI tied the score at 1-1 on a goal by Zack Booth, Chris Ball put home a rebound of a shot by Levinson to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, January 9, 2005 By Al Cohen Neil Little stopped all 27 shots he faced and Jon Sim scored a pair of third-period goals as the Philadelphia Phantoms posted a 3-0 victory over the Albany River Rats tonight in front of a crowd of 8,561 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Dennis Seidenberg and Ryan Ready each added two points for the Phantoms, who snapped a four-game home losing streak. Philadelphia is now 3-0 vs. Albany this season and unbeaten in its last seven meetings (6-0-1) with the River Rats at home. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, January 8, 2005 By Kevin Kurz Patrick Sharp scored two shootout goals and Neil Little stopped Michel Ouellet on the final attempt by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as the Phantoms defeated the Penguins at Wachovia Arena, 4-3. With Philadelphia leading 3-2 heading into the third period, Kris Beech scored a breakaway goal just 21 seconds into the frame. There was no more scoring from either team from that point on, until the game had to be decided in a shootout. Ben Stafford and Joni Pitkanen also scored in the shootout, as Philadelphia increased its lead over the rival Penguins to seven points in the East Division. |
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Friday, January 7, 2005 By Mike Costantino Chris Riggs scored seven goals as Clearview defeated Timber Creek 11-3 at Hollydell on Friday night. In just his second game back, Riggs looked like his old self, dominant on almost every shift and creating scoring chances for himself and his teammates. Timber Creek actually led 1-0 as Danny Cavallaro scored in the firs three minutes of the game. Clearview took over form there as Sean Stamm set-up Riggs twice over the next five minutes, once on the power play, to put Clearview ahead 2-1. Goals by Matt Klancer, short-handed, and Steve Short, on the power play put Clearview ahead 4-1 and in control heading into the second period. |
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Friday, January 7, 2005 By Mike Costantino Justin Osterdahl scored five goals, including the game winner with twenty-three seconds left in the game as Williamstown upset Eastern 6-5 in high school ice hockey action played at Hollydell. Williamstown led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Eric Finn on the power play and one by Osterdahl on a breakaway. Eastern fought back to tie the game at 2-2 as Andrew Kaiser scored two goals less than a minute apart early in the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, January 7, 2005 By Al Cohen Jamie Pushor's first goal of the year midway through the third period was the difference tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum as the Syracuse Crunch defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms, 2-1. Mark Hartigan also scored and Karl Goehring made 22 saves for Syracuse, which completed a two-game season sweep of the Phantoms. The Crunch, who had dropped four of their last five games entering tonight, also posted a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Nov. 28 that snapped the Phantoms' AHL-record 17-game winning streak. Jon Sim scored the lone goal and Antero Niittymaki finished with 29 saves as Philadelphia lost its fourth straight home game. The Phantoms are now winless in their last six meetings with Syracuse since their last win in the series in February 2003. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, January 2, 2005 By Al Cohen Thomas Vanek recorded a goal and an assist and Ryan Miller made 27 saves as the visiting Rochester Americans posted a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. The North Division-leading Americans built a 3-0 lead tonight before surviving a rally by the East Division-leading Phantoms. Rochester recorded its seventh consecutive victory and ended a 10-game winless streak vs. Philadelphia, defeating the Phantoms for the first time since Feb. 9, 2001. Patrick Sharp and B.J. Abel each scored for Philadelphia, which was playing its fourth game in the last five days. Antero Niittymaki stopped 22-of-25 shots to suffer his fifth straight loss. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, January 1, 2005 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms snapped a five-game losing streak tonight with a 5-4 shootout win over the Albany River Rats at Pepsi Arena. Playing in their fourth shootout in the last six games, the Phantoms scored on their first two attempts by Mark Murphy and Patrick Sharp to take a 2-1 lead through two rounds. Following misses by both teams, Ben Stafford and Albany's Eric Johansson each scored in the fourth round as Philadelphia clung to a 3-2 lead. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, December 31, 2004 By Al Cohen Mathieu Darche scored a hat trick in regulation and Peter Budaj did not allow a goal during the shootout as the Hershey Bears pulled out a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Giant Center. In the 100th regular-season meeting between the teams, the score was knotted at 1-1 through two periods before Patrick Sharp and Jon Sim each scored to put the Phantoms up by two goals. But Darche tallied a pair of goals in a span of 1:49 late in the period to force overtime. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 By Al Cohen Mikhail Yakubov scored two minutes into overtime to lift the visiting Norfolk Admirals to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight in front of a season-high crowd of 11,571 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Philadelphia goaltender Neil Little stopped 46-of-47 shots in regulation, but was not able to handle the lone shot in overtime. Michal Barinka and James Wisniewski worked the puck to Yakubov on the decisive play and the center faked out a pair of Phantoms in the corner before heading to the net. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, December 26, 2004 By Al Cohen Kris Beech recorded a goal and two assists to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at Wachovia Arena. Michel Ouellet and Ben Eaves each added a goal and an assist while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton evened the season series at two wins apiece. The Penguins have captured four of their last five games to draw within eight points of the first-place Phantoms in the AHL's East Division. Todd Fedoruk, John Slaney and Joni Pitkanen all scored for Philadelphia, which has lost three games in a row. Antero Niittymaki made 19 saves to drop his third straight start. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 By Al Cohen Steve Regier scored the tying goal with one-tenth of a second left in regulation and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers won their first-ever franchise shootout over the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Arena at Harbor Yard, 3-2. With time winding down on the clock and with Philadelphia nursing a slim one-goal lead, Regier deflected in a shot by Kevin Colley that appeared to be going wide past goaltender Antero Niittymaki. In the shootout, the Sound Tigers scored on three of four attempts while the Phantoms managed just one goal by Patrick Sharp. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Monday, December 20, 2004 By Mike Costantino Moorestown continued its winning ways as they defeated Shawnee 3-1 in high school ice hockey action played at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel. The loss was the first of the season for Shawnee as their record for the year is now at 6-1-2; Moorestown improved to 13-1-0 and maintains a five-point lead on Paul VI, with a game in hand. Ian Gill and Terry Brennan scored goals thirty-two seconds apart in the first period as Moorestown controlled play out-shooting Shawnee 14-5. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, December 19, 2004 By Al Cohen Chris Kelly scored twice in regulation and Brandon Bochenski tallied the decisive shootout goal as the Binghamton Senators edged the Philadelphia Phantoms, 3-2, tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Kelly netted his second of the game with 5:25 remaining in the third period to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead. The Phantoms called their timeout with 47 seconds left and pulled goaltender Antero Niittymaki at the 19:27 mark. With the seconds ticking down, Dennis Seidenberg and Jon Sim worked the puck to Patrick Sharp beyond the far circle. The center settled the puck and fired a long slap shot that made its way through traffic and over the shoulder of Binghamton netminder Billy Thompson for his second goal of the game with 4.1 seconds to go. |
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Friday, December 17, 2004 By Mike Costantino Rich Ferro scored a power play goal late in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and propel Paul VI to a 5-3 win over Clearview. Bret Balco led the way with three goals and Clearview welcomed back Chris Riggs as he added a goal and an assist. After a scoreless opening period where the teams combined for seven penalties, Balco broke through for Paul VI at the four minute mark for a brief 1-0 lead. Seconds later Riggs tied the game on a pass from Jim Fritz. Clearview took the lead with Mike Sulllivan scoring on the power play. Zack Booth tied the score at 2-2 on a nice feed from Ferro. |
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Friday, December 17, 2004 By Mike Costantino Fred Brewer and Chris Keyser scored four goals each as Washington Township pounded Highland 16-2 in high school ice hockey at Hollydell. In yet another example of why there should be two tiers, Township after leading just 3-2 after the first period, exploded for seven goals in the second period. Mike Varano and Andrew Trapani scored the Highland goals both in the opening period. Marco Jordan added two goals and an assist and Christian Biscardi assisted on four goals. Win the win Township remained unbeaten for the season. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, December 17, 2004 By Al Cohen In a battle between the top two teams in the AHL, Antero Niittymaki stopped all 24 shots he faced as the Philadelphia Phantoms posted a 1-0 victory over the Manchester Monarchs tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Manchester entered the game with the best record (21-3-1-1, 44 points), offense (4.19 goals per game) and power-play unit (21.5 percent) in the league, but was shut out for the first time this season. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League today announced that former head coach Bill Barber and legendary tough guy Frank "The Animal" Bialowas have been selected as the first two members of the team's Hall of Fame. The Phantoms will hold a special Hall of Fame induction ceremony prior to their game on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 5:05 p.m. vs. the Albany River Rats at the Wachovia Spectrum. |
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Monday, December 13, 2004 By Mike Costantino When you ask coaches what are the keys to being successful, usually they will answer, goaltending, defense and success on special teams and last night Moorestown had all three working as they defeated Cherokee 4-1 in front of a packed house at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. The first ten minutes of the game was a feeling out process, with neither team wanting to make a mistake, and both goalies making solid saves, Bobby Casolaro for Cherokee and Colin Higgins for Moorestown. Zach Sawyer gave Cherokee its only lead scoring with just over four minutes remaining in the period but Moorestown responded three minutes later as Mike Furey beat Casolaro from in close. |
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Monday, December 13, 2004 By Mike Costantino Martin Marshall scored early into the third period to lift Timber Creek into a 2-2 tie against Williamstown in high school hockey action played at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. In a well-played game between two evenly matched teams, the game was tight from start to finish. Justin Osterdahl scored the only goal of the first period, on the power play as he was stationed in front of the net and put home a rebound of a shot by Mark Cunnard. Timber Creek came back to tie the game, again with Williamstown on the power play. |
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Monday, December 13, 2004 By Mike Costantino With just forty-four seconds remaining and just one second left on the man advantage, Anthony Ciccotelli scored a power play goal for Cherry Hill East as they rallied to tie Paul VI 2-2 in a SJHSIHL game played in Voorhees. With the tie Paul VI moved into a tie for second place with Clearview and trails first place Moorestown by five points. After Tim Woods scored the only goal of the first period to give East a 1-0 lead, Paul VI responded with two power play goals in the second period. Brett Balco set-up both goals, first finding Dustin Isbert early in the period to tie the game at 1-1. Then with East down a man midway through the period, Balco found Jared Brasten and his goal put Paul VI up 2-1. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, December 12, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Josh Gratton scored twice and Neil Little made 26 saves as the Philadelphia Phantoms coasted to a 5-1 victory over the defending Calder Cup-champion Milwaukee Admirals tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Patrick Sharp, Dennis Seidenberg and Eric Meloche also scored to help the Phantoms snap a season-high three-game losing streak. Philadelphia has won the last three home match-ups with Milwaukee and now owns a 4-3 lead in the all-time series. Playing in his 400th AHL game, Little stopped all 13 shots he faced over the first two periods as Philadelphia built a 4-0 lead by scoring even strength, on the power play, shorthanded and with a penalty shot. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, December 11, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Michel Ouellet scored three times, including the game-winner with 1:29 remaining, tonight at the Wachovia Arena to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms. Kris Beech added a goal and three assists, while Matt Murley contributed a goal and two assists for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which avenged a pair of 3-2 shootout losses to the Phantoms earlier this season. The Penguins were hosting the Phantoms for the first time since eliminating them in Game Six of last year's East Division Finals. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, December 10, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Ryan Steeves and Carl Corazzini each scored third-period goals tonight at the Wachovia Center as the Hershey Bears rallied for a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia, ending the Phantoms' 16-game winning streak in the series. Philadelphia swept all 12 meetings between the teams in 2003-04 and captured the first four match-ups this year. Tonight's loss was the first vs. Hershey since April 5, 2003 and the first at home to the Bears since Feb. 23, 2003. Philadelphia's 16-game win streak over Hershey is believed to be the longest in AHL history vs. a single team. |
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Monday, December 6, 2004 By Mike Costantino Aaron Smith scored four goals and brother Ryan chipped in with four assists as Rancocas Valley defeated Timber Creek 9-2 in high school ice hockey played at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Monday night. The opening period featured a wide-open style as both teams generated numerous scoring opportunities and combined to score seven goals. Smith scored the games first two goals in the first two minutes both on passes from Ryan. After Timber Creek’s Dan Visco cut the lead to 2-1 on a nice pass from Gary Scott Jr., Justin Nusspickel responded thirty seconds later for Rancocas finishing off a pass from Aaron Smith and the lead was 3-1. |
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Monday, December 6, 2004 By Mike Costantino Lenape goalie John Hood stopped 31 shots and withstood an Eastern power play in the final minutes as Lenape skated to a 2-2 tie with Eastern on Monday night in Voorhees. It was the third straight tie for Lenape, after last week’s ties with Clearview and Cinnaminson. After a scoreless first period, Lenape scored twice in just over a minute. Jim Sauerbaum converted a pass from Alex Shaffer early in the period and then on the power play Frank Wittman made it 2-0 with the assists going to Matt Bozman and Brad Reed. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, December 4, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Pavel Vorobiev's breakaway goal with 41.1 seconds left in overtime lifted the Norfolk Admirals to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Wachovia Center. The Phantoms had possession in the Norfolk zone on the decisive play and a centering pass to Patrick Sharp from behind the net barely missed its target before Vorobiev gained control near mid ice. The right wing dashed in alone on Antero Niittymaki and netted his fifth goal of the year at 4:18 as Norfolk notched its third consecutive win. The Admirals also avenged a 3-2 overtime loss in Philadelphia back on Nov. 14. |
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Friday, December 3, 2004 By Mike Costantino Mike Weaver set-up both goals as Moorestown edged Clearview 2-1 and took over sole possession of first place in the SJHSIHL. Playing on the road, Moorestown continued its strong play this season, skating three lines and playing solid, stay at home defense. The first period was played tight and featured only two penalties and not many quality scoring chances. That is until the final thirty seconds when Weaver knocked the defenseman off the puck in the corner and fed Kevin Schaffer at the point, he found Bodine in the slot and his shot beat Bobby Kovaroic for a 1-0 lead. After Dan Greene scored a power play goal for a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second period, Moorestown seemed to be in control, but things were just about to heat up. |
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Friday, December 3, 2004 By Mike Costantino Times they are a changing, it use to be most boys would put sports ahead of girls, but anymore dances are taking precedent over games. Paul VI had their junior ring dance and only skated two lines, but thanks to Brett Balco and the leadership of Rich Ferro they had just enough to defeat Highland 4-1 in hockey action played at Hollydell. On a night when Highland goalie AJ Michalski was on his game stopping thirty-eight of forty-two shots, Paul VI was able to capitalize on the power play, scoring three times with the man advantage. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, December 1, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent The Philadelphia Phantoms got back in the win column tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum as Ben Stafford converted two attempts during a shootout to lift the team to a 3-2 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. After having its AHL-record 17-game winning streak snapped on Sunday in Syracuse, Philadelphia found itself knotted at 2-2 through regulation tonight. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Ryan Whitney was called for tripping 19 seconds into overtime, but the Phantoms could not beat Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during the 4-on-3 situation. |
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Monday, November 29, 2004 By Mike Costantino Cherry Hill East scored four goals in the first period and held on to defeat Moorestown 5-4 in a fierce battle between two of the top teams in the SJHSIHL. Kevin Vaks led East with two goals and Colin Corley netted two goals for Moorestown. Vaks and Kevin Smith scored goals twenty-one seconds apart in the opening two minutes of the game as East broke out early against Moorestown freshman goalie Max Paluszynski. Louis Stomel and Vaks on the power play gave East 1 4-0 lead after the first fifteen minutes. Despite launching 13 shots against East goalie Mike McNulty, Moorestown could not find the net. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, November 28, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent The Philadelphia Phantoms' AHL-record 17-game winning streak came to an end tonight at the War Memorial at Oncenter as Tim Jackman and Aaron Johnson each scored in a 2-1 victory by the Syracuse Crunch. Philadelphia lost its first two games of the year before reeling off 17 wins in a row. The team matched the Baltimore Skipjacks' league record of 16 straight victories with Friday's 4-2 triumph over Hershey and broke the mark on Saturday with a 3-1 decision in Hershey. It was the Phantoms' first setback since Oct. 17 in Bridgeport. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, November 27, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent The Philadelphia Phantoms established a new American Hockey League record tonight with their 17th straight win, posting a 3-1 victory over the Hershey Bears at GIANT Center. Following a pair of season-opening road losses, Philadelphia has now reeled off 17 victories in a row to break the league record for longest win streak (16), which was established by the Baltimore Skipjacks from Feb. 23-March 23, 1985. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, November 26, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent The Philadelphia Phantoms matched an AHL record with their 16th consecutive victory tonight at the Wachovia Center as Ben Stafford compiled four points in a 4-2 win over the Hershey Bears. Playing in front of a team season-high crowd of 11,064, Philadelphia tied the league record for longest win streak, which was established by the Baltimore Skipjacks from Feb. 23-March 23, 1985. The Phantoms can now break the record on Saturday when they face off with the Bears again in Hershey. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Jon Sim registered two goals and an assist as the Philadelphia Phantoms rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Providence Bruins tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum to extend their club-record win streak to 15 games. Philadelphia is now tied for the second-longest winning streak in AHL history and can match the record of 16 straight victories on Friday when it hosts the Hershey Bears at the Wachovia Center. The Baltimore Skipjacks established the current league record during the 1984-85 season. |
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Monday, November 22, 2004 By Mike Costantino Nine different players scored as Cherokee rolled over Highland 10-0 in the South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League action at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Monday night. Cherokee scored six goals in the first period and never looked back and were led by Patrick McMahon with two goals and two assists, Dan Altieri and Angelo DiBatista added a goal and an assist. One can only wonder if the league will wake up and correct this unbalanced schedule. For example, the two games we saw last night would have been more competitive had they switched opponents. |
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Friday, November 22, 2004 By Mike Costantino Holy Cross was looking for its first win of the season, but Clearview had too much firepower as they defeated the Lancers 7-0 in action at Voorhees on Monday night. Seven different players scored for Clearview and Holy Cross could only manage 9 shots for the game, and just one in the final period. After Mike Sullivan and Andrew Michaels gave Clearview a 2-0 lead after one period, a four goal second period put the game out of reach. After Steve Short's laser-like blast just over the blue line caught the long side and put Clearview up 3-0 in the first minute of the second period, Clearview continued to put the pressure on Holy Cross. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, November 21, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Jon Sim scored in overtime for the second night in a row as the Philadelphia Phantoms won their 14th straight game with a 4-3 victory over the Providence Bruins at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. After scoring 90 seconds into the extra session in Saturday's 4-3 win in Albany, Sim tallied his fifth of the year 1:14 into overtime tonight. Mark Murphy took control of the puck following a Bruins turnover and fed Sim, who just joined the Phantoms on loan from the Utah Grizzlies one week ago. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, November 20, 2004 By Kevin KurzPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Jon Sim had two goals and an assist, including the game-winner in overtime, as the Philadelphia Phantoms extended their winning streak to 13 games with a 4-3 victory over the Albany River Rats at Pepsi Arena. Philadelphia led 3-1 entering the third period, but a couple of quick goals by Dean McAmmond at 1:01 and Aleksander Suglobov at 1:45 tied the game. Sim won the game for the Phantoms at 1:30 of the overtime period, with the assists going to Freddy Meyer and Joni Pitkanen to make it a baker's dozen for the Phantoms as they continue to extend their franchise-record streak. |
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Friday, November 19, 2004 By Mike Costantino Paul VI launched 43 shots at Timber Creek goalie Brian Glass, and Brett Doyle and Zack Booth were able score two goals each as Paul VI defeated Timber Creek 7-1 on Friday night in high school ice hockey played at Hollydell. With the win Paul VI joined four other teams in a tie for first place. Getting only his second start of the season, Glass withstood several early breaks by Paul VI. First Brett Balco was stopped on a breakaway and then Rich Ferro was stopped on a 2-on-1 as Glass just robbed Ferro as he slid across and took away what looked to be an empty net. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, November 19, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Randy Jones recorded a goal and two assists and Antero Niittymaki made 26 saves as the Philadelphia Phantoms extended their win streak to 12 games with a 3-1 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tonight in front of a crowd of 8,971 at the Wachovia Center. R.J. Umberger and Mark Murphy also scored for Philadelphia, which hasn't lost since Oct. 17 in Bridgeport. The win streak is a club record and the longest in the AHL since the Albany River Rats won 15 games in a row from Nov. 11-Dec. 23, 1995. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 By Al CohenPhiladelphia Phantoms Correspondent Patrick Sharp scored Philadelphia's lone goal in regulation and tallied the game-winning shootout goal as the Phantoms extended their club-record win streak to 11 games with a 2-1 victory over the Binghamton Senators. The Phantoms' third-annual School Day Game drew a crowd of 7,032 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Antero Niittymaki made 20 saves over the first three periods and overtime before stopping all six Binghamton penalty shot attempts during the shootout. The Phantoms also came up empty in their first five attempts vs. Senators goaltender Ray Emery, but Sharp made good on the team's sixth try with a wrister into the top right corner of the net. |
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Monday, November 15, 2004 By Mike Costantino The Moorestown Quakes have been just under the radar this season while winning their first six games, but after Monday night’s shutout of the Eastern Vikings by 4-0, they are definitely a team to watch. With three lines and unselfish play they resemble the formula the Vikings have used to win consecutive titles the last two years. Eastern started out strong and controlled play for the first six minutes of the game launching nine shots during that time but it was their inability to convert on the power play that would wind up costing them. After Moorestown killed off the first of seven Vikings advantages, the game seemed to turn as the Quakes proceeded to pepper Eastern goalie Ryan Doner with the next thirteen shots. Mike Bodine finally beat Doner, after Kyle Rupin made a great hustle play to keep the puck in at the point, putting home a rebound with Colin Corley and Kevin Schaffer getting the assists. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, November 14, 2004 By Al Cohen Ben Stafford scored 2:41 into overtime tonight to lift the Philadelphia Phantoms to their club-record 10th straight victory, a 3-2 decision over the Norfolk Admirals at the Wachovia Spectrum. Philadelphia controlled the puck during overtime, not allowing a shot on goal by Norfolk, and won the game during a lengthy possession in the Admirals end. Wade Skolney and Mark Murphy worked the puck to Stafford between the circles and the third-year center had time to collect himself and rip a shot over goaltender Craig Anderson's shoulder for his second of the year. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, November 13, 2004 By Kevin Kurz The Philadelphia Phantoms tied a franchise record with their ninth straight victory, as they defeated the Binghamton Senators at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, 3-2. R.J. Umberger scored the game-winner for the second straight night, as his goal in a shootout on Friday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lifted Philadelphia to a victory. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Friday, November 12, 2004 By Mike Costantino Chris Keyser scored the only three goals of the game and Derek Anderson stopped all sixteen shots as Washington Township defeated West Deptford 3-0 in high school ice hockey league play at Hollydell. Keyser scored a goal in each of the periods as Township never really was able to control the game, thanks to the efforts of Jacob DeHart in nets for West Deptford. DeHart faced 38 shots and only allowed the three goals. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, November 12, 2004 By Al Cohen Peter White evened the score with 36.2 seconds left in the third period and rookie R.J. Umberger tallied the game-winning shootout goal as the Philadelphia Phantoms notched their eighth straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Antero Niittymaki stopped 23-of-25 shots in 65 minutes of play, but surrendered shootout goals by the Penguins' second and third shooters - Kris Beech and Erik Christensen. Meanwhile, Mark Murphy and Tony Voce failed on Philadelphia's first two attempts, setting up an important attempt by Joni Pitkanen. |
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Monday, November 8, 2004 By Mike Costantino Shawnee survived a two-man advantage by Williamstown in the final minutes of the game and held on for a 4-3 victory in high school ice hockey action played at the Skate Zone. Shawnee scored the lone goal of the first period as Williamstown got caught in a line change and TJ Flynn broke in all alone and his quick blast found the back of the net. Tom Ruiz would tie the game at 1-1 as he was fore-checking with his team down a man and he stole the puck and deposited it into the net. Shawnee scored a late power play goal and led 2-1 heading into the third period. |
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Monday, November 8, 2004 By Mike Costantino Skating with just eight players the West Deptford Eagles defeated Timber Creek 6-4 at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Monday night. Led by a hat trick from Tyler Chellew, I was expecting tired legs in the third period, but playing with a lead seem to inspire these Eagles and they played a strong third period and Timber Creek seemed a step behind. West Deptford carried the play for the first two periods, out-shooting Timber Creek 33-6, and actually set a team record holding Timber Creek without a shot on goal in the second period. Gary Scott scored the first of his two goals in the opening period and Timber Creek despite being out-shot 16-6, led 1-0, thanks in large part to the play of goaltender Derek Cafasso. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, November 7, 2004 By Al Cohen Mark Murphy and R.J. Umberger each scored in the third period to help the Philadelphia Phantoms extend their winning streak to seven games with a 3-1 victory over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Ben Stafford added a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which is 7-0 since beginning the season with a pair of losses. It is the team's longest win streak since also capturing seven in a row from Nov. 18-Dec. 2, 2000. Making just his second appearance of the season, Neil Little stopped 20-of-21 shots to earn the win. The veteran goaltender improved to 4-0-1 in his last five starts dating back to last season. |
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Friday, November 5, 2004 By Mike Costantino Jim Fritz scored his second goal of the game with less than three minutes left in the third period as Clearview defeated Eastern 5-4 in SJHSIHL action played at Hollydell. The game was a seesaw affair with each team taking leads, but neither team taking control of the game. After a scoreless first period, Clearview took a 1-0 lead as Mike Sullivan scored a power play goal from the circle. Midway through the period with Eastern on the power play, Sullivan stole the puck and scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0. Eastern responded seconds later on the same man advantage, Dan Tavana put home a rebound of a Nick Rubino shot to cut the lead to 2-1. |
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Friday, November 5, 2004 By Mike Costantino Zack Booth scored three goals and Brett Balco added a goal and three assists as the Paul VI Eagles defeated the West Deptford Eagles 7-1 on Friday night at Hollydell. Booth scored the only goal of the first period four minutes into the game, and despite out-shooting West Deptford 14-4; Jacob DeHart was solid in nets for West Deptford. Paul VI kept the pressure on in the second period launching 20 shots and scoring three goals. First, Mike McCoy from the top of the right circle beat DeHart to make it 2-0. Then moments later Balco found Booth for his second of the game and a 3-0 lead. |
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Friday, November 5, 2004 By Kevin Kurz Dennis Seidenberg tallied three points, including the game-winning goal in the second period on the power play, as the Philadelphia Phantoms won their sixth consecutive game with a 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears at the Wachovia Spectrum. Philadelphia has now won 14 straight games against its intra-state rival, including the first two matchups this season, and remains in first place in the East Division with 12 points. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, November 3, 2004 By Al Cohen Patrick Sharp and Mark Murphy each recorded a goal and two assists as the Philadelphia Phantoms won their fifth straight game with a 4-2 decision over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks tonight at the Wachovia Spectrum. Jeff Smith and Ryan Ready both added their first goals of the year and Antero Niittymaki stopped 18-of-20 shots to win his fourth start in a row. After losing its first two games of the season, Philadelphia has captured five consecutive games to move into a first-place tie in the AHL's East Division. |
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Monday, November 1, 2004 By Mike Costantino It's been eight long years since Cherry Hill East beat the Eastern Vikings, but led by senior defenseman Kevin Smith, East ended the drought with a 4-2 win over Eastern. Smith, along with the rest of his team, was disappointed with their power ranking, which had them listed at number eight. Coach Deroschers took the opportunity prior to the game to point out the ranking and challenged his team to prove us wrong. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Monday, November 1, 2004 By Mike Costantino The Williamstown Braves came back from a two goal deficit and earned a 4-4 tie with Paul VI in high school ice hockey action played at the Skate Zone on Monday night. Tom Ruiz led Williamstown with two goals. Bret Balco also tallied two for Paul VI. Balco scored the only goal in the first period, as Dustin Isbert and Mark Forte assisted on the goal in the opening moments. Dennis Cunnard got the equalizer for Williamstown after Ruiz was stoned by Eric Lake. Cunnard was camped in front for the easy rebound goal. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, November 1, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League announced today that rookie left wing Tony Voce has been named the Toyota Phantoms Player of the Month for October. Voce, who leads the team with four goals and is tied for the lead in scoring with six points, will receive his award in a pregame presentation later this week. |
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Friday, October 29, 2004 By Mike Costantino Washington Township came back from a three goal deficit to defeat Paul VI 7-5 and remain undefeated in league play. Marco Jordan paced the Township attack with two goals, five different players scored for Paul VI. T.J. Dispaldo opened the scoring for Township four minutes into the game, but goals by Zack Booth and Dustin Isbert in the periods last five minutes gave Paul VI the lead, Isbert's goal came with his team short-handed. Eric Lake made several key saves including stoning Mike Rohach in the final moments to keep Paul VI ahead. |
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Friday, October 29, 2004 By Mike Costantino Lou Sarcone and Patrick McMahon scored goals on breakaways late in the second period to break a scoreless tie and propel Cherokee to a 4-2 win over previously undefeated Clearview at Hollydell on Friday night. After a scoreless first period, thanks in large part to Bobby Kovarovic in nets for Clearview, Sarcone broke the tie as he was sprung by Steve Sheridan breaking out of the zone with less than five minutes left in the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, October 29, 2004 By Al Cohen Defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Randy Jones scored 26 seconds apart early in the second period to help the Philadelphia Phantoms record their fourth straight win, a 4-1 decision over the Hamilton Bulldogs tonight at Copps Coliseum. Rookie Ben Eager also scored late in the second period, when the Phantoms scored three times to snap a 1-1 tie through 20 minutes of play. Antero Niittymaki won his third straight start by stopping 29-of-30 shots. After losing their first two games of the season, the Phantoms have now won four in a row. Philadelphia also posted a 5-3 triumph over Hamilton last Friday and completed its second straight two-game season sweep of the Bulldogs. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms scored four times in the second period and Antero Niittymaki stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 5-0 rout of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tonight at the Wachovia Center. Freddy Meyer, Patrick Sharp, David Printz and Northeast Philadelphia native Tony Voce all scored in the decisive middle period to help the Phantoms win its third straight game. Philadelphia finished with three power-play goals and registered its largest margin of victory since March 8 of last season. Niittymaki made 10 saves in the second period and eight in the third in recording his first shutout of the year. Last season, the native of Finland finished with a club-record seven shutouts. |
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Monday, October 25, 2004 By Mike Costantino Cherry Hill East was unable to capitalize on a two-man advantage for a full two minutes and Cherokee scored four goals in the third period to break open a close game and won going away, 8-2 in high school ice hockey action played at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Trailing just 3-2 with less than five minutes remaining in the second period East went on the power play with a chance to tie and possibly take the lead. But they never got set-up in the offensive zone and failed to generate any shots on goal. |
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Monday, October 25, 2004 By Mike Costantino Andrew Trapani scored with eleven second left in the game as Highland battled back to tie the Holy Cross Lancers 4-4 in entertaining Tier 2 action played at the Skate Zone. With the Highland goalie pulled for an extra skater, Trapani shot the puck through a maze of players and amazingly it just trickled over the line as Highland rallied from a 4-2 deficit. AJ Kirschner led Holy Cross with three goals and Mike Varano led Highland with two goals. After Kirschner scored in the opening minute of the first period, Varano tied the score on a breakaway. Kirschner scored late in the period to give Holy Cross a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, October 23, 2004 By Al Cohen Philadelphia native Tony Voce scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner 1:09 into overtime, as the Phantoms continued their recent success against the Hershey Bears with a 3-2 victory tonight at the GIANT Center. A day after scoring his first career goal in Philadelphia's 5-3 win over Hamilton, Voce evened the score at 1-1 early in the third period and recorded his first game-winning goal in the extra session. The rookie from Boston College University gained possession at center ice on the decisive play before dropping it back to a trailing Joni Pitkanen. The defenseman gave it right back to Voce, who beat Hershey goaltender Tom Lawson from a difficult angle to lift the Phantoms to their second straight win. |
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Friday, October 22, 2004 By Al Cohen Patrick Sharp and Philadelphia native Tony Voce each scored third-period power-play goals to lift the Phantoms to a 5-3 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs tonight in front of 10,152 fans at the Wachovia Center. Eric Meloche, Riley Cote and Peter White also scored for Philadelphia, which posted its first win of the season after dropping a pair of games on the road last weekend. Goaltender Antero Niittymaki earned the win by stopping 19-of-22 shots. Tomas Plekanec tallied two power-play goals and Dan Ellis finished with 45 saves for Hamilton, which has lost three straight meetings against the Phantoms. |
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Friday, October 22, 2004 By Mike Costantino Chris Keyser scored four goals as Washington Township pounded St. John Neumann 10-3 on Friday night at Hollydell. Township jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and was simply too fast and too deep for Neumann. Marco Jordan set-up Kaiser in the opening moments to put Township up 1-0, then eleven seconds later after Kaiser was stopped on a breakaway. Sean Rainey put home the rebound to make it 2-0. Billy Choy found Dave Moore in the slot to increase the lead to 3-0, and Kaiser closed out the opening period with a late goal on a feed from T.J. Dispaldo. |
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Friday, October 22, 2004 By Mike Costantino Shaun Stamm scored three goals and Mike Sullivan added two goals as Clearview defeated Cherry Hill West 7-1 in high school ice hockey action played at Hollydell. Leading just by 2-1 heading into the third period, Clearview erupted for five goals to pull away from an under-manned Cherry Hill West team. Skating with only ten players, West kept the game close as goaltender Andrew Silcox only allowed goals by Stamm and Mike Wolk in the first two periods while turning aside 22 shots. Cybulski scored the only goal for West on the power play early in the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, October 21, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms today bolstered their lineup by signing left wing Todd Fedoruk to an AHL contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. To make room for Fedoruk on the roster, center B.J. Abel was loaned to the Trenton Titans of the ECHL. Fedoruk, 25, began his professional career with the Phantoms during the 1999-2000 season and has appeared in 42 games with the team over parts of four seasons, recording seven points (1G, 6A) and 145 penalty minutes. His most recent time spent with the Phantoms came last season when he compiled a pair of assists during a two-game conditioning assignment by the Flyers in late November. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 By Mike Costantino There are some old clichés such as “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, or “Be careful what you wish for”, or my personal favorite “On any given Sunday”, but as I contemplated the change the SJHSIHL league made this year in eliminating the Tier system, I could only think of, “You gotten to be #!!!?& me Pyle!!” Why the league, in my opinion would take three steps backward, is inconceivable, how many competitive games will there be this season? Well, I am glad you asked. For those who are not familiar to what has happened, let me update you. No longer are the teams separated by Tier 1 and Tier 2, everyone is equal. Is the talent level the same? No, that’s why they have Tier 1 and Tier 2, I mean had. |
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Monday, October 18, 2004 By Mike Costantino Mike Varano had three goals and Andrew Trapani, Matt Zelasky and Mike Salvatore added two goals each as Highland defeated Triton 10-3 in high school ice hockey action in Voorhees. Highland jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Varano and Trapani scored moments apart in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead as Highland launched 17 shots on goal. Frank Vannoni scored late in the period to put Highland ahead 3-0. |
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Monday, October 18, 2004 By Mike Costantino Zachary Booth scored with fifteen seconds left in the game as Paul VI rallied to tie Shawnee 1-1, in SJHSIHL action played at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. With goalie Eric Lake pulled for an extra skater, Booth raced down the left side and his quick shot deflected off Shawnee goalie Cippolone and into the net. Cippolone had kept Paul VI off the scoreboard making several outstanding saves, including stops on Brett Doyle and Brett Balco both on deflections. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Sunday, October 17, 2004 By Al Cohen Dieter Kochan made 34 saves and Barrett Heisten converted a key third-period penalty shot to lead the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms today at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Ryan Kraft and Justin Papineau each scored in the first period and Eric Godard added an empty-netter for Bridgeport, which never trailed in the game. Mark Murphy and Patrick Sharp tallied Philadelphia's goals, while Antero Niittymaki stopped 21-of-24 shots as the Phantoms fell to 0-2 this season. The Phantoms also had a three-game unbeaten streak vs. Bridgeport halted, as they had allowed just one combined goal in posting two wins and a tie to end last year's season series. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, October 16, 2004 By Al Cohen In a battle of the Eastern Conference's two division winners from a year ago, the Hartford Wolf Pack pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at the Hartford Civic Center in the 2004-05 AHL season opener for both clubs. Dominic Moore and Alexandre Giroux each scored for the Atlantic Division-champion Wolf Pack, while Jason LaBarbera stopped 21-of-22 shots to notch the win. LaBarbera earned AHL Most Valuable Player honors last season after leading the league in wins (34) and shutouts (13). |
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Friday, October 15, 2004 By Mike Costantino Ryan Morris, Dustin Isbert and Brett Balco scored goals late in the third period to break open a close game as Paul VI captured its first win of the season, defeating St. John Neumann 5-1 at Hollydell on Friday night. Neumann goalie Andrew McKissick was the only reason Neumann was still in the game as his team could only generate two shots through the first two periods, while he faced twenty four. Eric Pollag scored the only goal of the first period, his first as an Eagle, as his shot from the blue line found the short side. |
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High School Ice Hockey: Friday, October 15, 2004 By Mike Costantino Steven Short had a natural hat trick as Clearview defeated Cherry Hill East 6-3 in high school ice hockey action played at Hollydell. Short scored the first three goals of the game, all in the first period, as Clearview took control early and never looked back. After scoring early in the period to put his team up 1-0, Short stole the puck with Cherry Hill on the power play and netted a short-handed breakaway midway through the first period to make it 2-0. Senior goaltender Bobby Kovarovic had an impressive game as he kept East off the scoreboard while Clearview built its lead. Kovarovic stopped breakaways by Woods, Stomel and Woods again early in the second period. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Friday, October 15, 2004 By Joe Klueg The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that members of the Flyers' coaching staff will assist in the instruction of local youth hockey players and their coaches through a series of events in October and November. Flyers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock will be teaching a series of ice hockey clinics at the Sovereign Bank Flyers Skate Zone at Voorhees this October and November. Along with Assistant Coach Terry Murray, the two Flyers coaches will work with local hockey players and coaches in the following four educational clinics: |
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Monday, October 11, 2004 By Mike Costantino There were eight games scheduled on the first day of high school ice hockey in our area and in all of those games, it was a brand new season of high hopes. Last year the Red Devils loss in the semi-finals to Eastern and were looking to start off the season with a win. Aaron Smith scored twice and Kevin Kraft stopped 31 shots as Rancocas Valley defeated Paul VI 4-0 in their season opener at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. |
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Monday, October 11, 2004 By Mike Costantino Just because the NHL has decided not to start their season on time, or even have a season at all doesn't mean there isn't any ice hockey to watch. Sure there's the AHL but we're talking the SJHSIHL. Dan Drazen scored twice and Ryan Donner stopped 27 shots as the Eastern Vikings shut out Highland 5-0 in the season opener for both teams. Having lost the nucleus from their past two championship teams, the Vikings find themselves in unfamiliar territory, no longer the odds on favorites to win the title. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, October 11, 2004 By Al Cohen Mark Murphy and Tony Voce each recorded a goal and two assists as the Philadelphia Phantoms concluded preseason play with a 4-0 victory over their ECHL affiliate, the Trenton Titans, tonight at Sovereign Bank Arena. Eric Meloche and Ben Eager also scored as Philadelphia posted its first win in four exhibition games this preseason. Neil Little started in goal and made nine saves over the first 32-plus minutes before Chris Houle came on and stopped 11 shots to complete the shutout. Andrew Allen finished with 28 saves for the Titans, who were squaring off against the Phantoms for the first time. |
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Friday, October 8, 2004 By Al Cohen Craig Anderson recorded 30 saves and Matt Ellison had a goal and an assist as the Norfolk Admirals posted a 4-1 preseason victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms today at the Sovereign Bank Flyers Skate Zone. Anton Babchuk added a pair of assists for Norfolk, which was eliminated by the Phantoms in the East Division Semifinals last spring. Travis Moen, Mike Brown and former Phantom Jim Vandermeer tallied the other goals for the Admirals. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, October 5, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms dropped a 4-2 decision to the Albany River Rats this afternoon at South Mountain Arena in their second of four preseason games. The game was tied at 1-1 through the first period, and again at 2-2 at the end of the second, but Albany was able to score the only two goals of the third period to pull away for the win. Zach Parise scored on the power play at 2:57 for the game-winner, while Aaron Voros added an insurance goal just under seven minutes into the frame. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, October 2, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms opened their four-game exhibition schedule tonight with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Albany River Rats at the Polonia Bank Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia. Philadelphia and Albany skated to a 2-2 draw through three periods of play and the five-minute overtime session, giving the teams their first experience at the AHL's new shootout rule. The River Rats picked up the victory when Aleksander Suglobov was the only one to score among the 10 players chosen to compete. Suglobov was the second of five River Rats shooting against Phantoms goaltender Antero Niittymaki. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League will open their 2004 training camp this Monday, Sept. 27 at the Sovereign Bank Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. A total of 33 players are set to hit the ice as the Phantoms prepare for their 2004-05 season opener on Saturday, Oct. 16 in Hartford. Fifteen players from last year's East Division championship squad are participating in training camp, including goaltenders Antero Niittymaki and Neil Little; defensemen John Slaney, Dennis Seidenberg, Freddy Meyer, Randy Jones and Wade Skolney; and forwards Peter White, Patrick Sharp, Boyd Kane, Mark Murphy and Ben Stafford. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Saturday, September 4, 2004 By Gregg Williams For some time, The World Cup of Hockey and its predecessor, the Canada Cup, represented the only world hockey championships truly open to the world's best players. In this year's event, Canada and USA opened the World Cup of Hockey by facing each other in their first game in Montreal. After Team Canada defeated Team USA 2-1 in their first game of the World Cup of Hockey, some of the Flyers answered questions about the game and the World Cup of Hockey. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Thursday, September 2, 2004 By Al Cohen The first-ever match-up against the Trenton Titans highlights the Philadelphia Phantoms' 2004 preseason schedule, which was released today. The Phantoms will play three of their four exhibition games in the Philadelphia/Trenton area. The preseason schedule commences on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 7:00 p.m., when Philadelphia hosts the Albany River Rats at the Polonia Bank Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia. The teams will then meet again on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the New Jerseys Devils' practice facility, South Mountain Arena, in West Orange, N.J. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 By Al Cohen Philadelphia Phantoms left wing Nick Deschenes will be camping out for 24 hours on the roof of Sam's Club in Williamstown, N.J. this Saturday, Aug. 28 to benefit the Children's Miracle Network at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Deschenes' camp-out will begin at 11:00 a.m. and run through the following morning. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League are proud to announce a new fund-raising endeavor for Big Brothers Big Sisters that will allow hundreds of children and their BBBS mentors to attend a Phantoms game together at the end of the 2004-05 season. From now through April 3, Phantoms sales executives will end each phone transaction by asking fans for a voluntary $1 donation to benefit the Big Brothers Big Sisters End of the Year Celebration. The same will occur following Phantoms ticket purchases at the Wachovia Complex box offices. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 By Claudio Oliveira Philadelphia Flyers alum Al Hill and his son, Jarrod, are teaching a week-long ice hockey school, "Hilly's Hockey School," at the Flyers Skate Zone at Bethlehem (320 East First Street) from Monday, August 23 through Friday, August 27. Aspiring local players from the Lehigh Valley will be given the opportunity to build the skills necessary to become a successful hockey player. Long time Flyers goaltender and current Director of Pro Hockey Personnel Ron Hextall will serve as a special guest instructor. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 By Al Cohen The reigning East Division-champion Philadelphia Phantoms today announced they will open their 2004-05 American Hockey League season on Saturday, Oct. 16 in Hartford against the Atlantic Division-champion Wolf Pack. Philadelphia's home opener is then set for Friday, Oct. 22 at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center vs. last year's winner of the North Division, the Hamilton Bulldogs. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, August 4, 2004 By Al Cohen The Phantoms are extending an invitation to all their season ticket holders to be their guests at a Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 22 at 1:35 p.m. Season ticket holders who would like to attend the Blue Rocks game for free just have to RSVP to the Phantoms sales office (215-465-4522) by Friday, Aug. 20. Transportation is not included. The Wilmington Blue Rocks are the Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 By Al Cohen The Philadelphia Phantoms today re-signed centers Ben Stafford and B.J. Abel and goaltender Chris Houle to one-year American Hockey League contracts. Per team policy, terms of the deals are not disclosed. Stafford, 25, will be returning for his third full season with the Phantoms. Over 73 games last year, he recorded 32 points (12G, 20A) with a plus-five rating and three game-winning goals. The former Yale University standout was the only Phantom to appear in all 80 games in 2002-03 and had his streak of 177 consecutive games played end on March 31, 2004 due to an elbow injury. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 By Al Cohen The Phantoms will face a league-high 19 different teams during the 2004-05 season, including 52 of their 80 games against fellow East Division foes. Philadelphia will take on the rival Hershey Bears the most (12 games), followed by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Norfolk (10 games apiece), Bridgeport (8 games) and Albany and Binghamton (6 games apiece). |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 By Jill Lipson The Philadelphia Flyers will open their 38th National Hockey League season on Wednesday, October 13 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. After three more games on the road the Flyers will commence the home portion of their 2004-05 regular season schedule on Thursday, October 21 against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wachovia Center. The 82-game regular season slate will conclude on Saturday, April 9, with a game in New York against the Islanders. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Monday, July 5, 2004 By Jason Chaimovitch SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews announced today that the league’s Board of Governors has approved, following an independent and thorough evaluation, a number of rule changes aimed at increasing the flow of the game and generating additional offensive opportunities. The changes were approved at the league’s Annual Meeting on Hilton Head Island, S.C., last week. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 By Zack Hill The Philadelphia Flyers are proud to announce the launch of their newest community relations program, Hooked On Hockey. The program is designed to reach children throughout the Delaware Valley. The program’s main goal is to create hockey awareness among children and teach them how they can benefit from and have fun with the sport of hockey. Flyers forward Todd Fedoruk will be on hand for the inaugural event, which takes place on Wednesday, July 7, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Central Branch YMCA in Wilmington, Delaware. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Wednesday, June 9, 2004 By Al Cohen SPRINGFIELD, Mass./ST. CATHARINES, Ont. … The American Hockey League and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association today announced the extension of the AHL-PHPA Collective Bargaining Agreement through August 31, 2007. The two-year extension of the existing CBA has been ratified by both the AHL’s Board of Governors and an overwhelming majority of AHL players. The agreement provides for increased contributions towards health and welfare benefits, as well as amendments which increase licensing fees to the PHPA while providing enhanced player likeness rights to the AHL. |
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Ice Hockey Spotlight: Tuesday, June 8, 2004 By Al Cohen Former Phantoms forward Ruslan Fedotenko played a key role in the Tampa Bay Lightning capturing the Stanley Cup. The 25-year-old recorded 14 points (12G, 2A) in 22 playoff games, including both goals in Tampa Bay's 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in Game Seven on June 7. Fedotenko finished tied for second in the NHL in postseason goals, while adding five power-play goals and three game-winners. |
| Ice Hockey Coverage from 2003-2004 Season |
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