West Point grad Gahagen leads the charge in 2-0 start
As nice as it would be to have a Stanley Cup champion Las Vegas Golden Knight player on their roster, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are pleased to have a Black Knight in the lineup.
Goalie Parker Gahagen, a 2017 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy West Point, is 2-0 for the Phantoms this season, helping them earn their first win of the season as well as their win on Sunday as the Phantoms completed their first three-in-three by going 2-1 with bookend wins in that series.
Gahagen, 30, was signed in the offseason and expected to be assigned to the Reading Royals of the ECHL, but with the Flyers keeping both Sam Ersson and Felix Sandstrom, the Phantoms have held onto Gahagen with good results.
“That’s a new guy on the team here and he has played two games and he’s impressed,” said Phantoms forward Olle Lycksell, who scored five goals in the three-in-three last week, including his first AHL hat trick in the first game of weekend grind.
“I have a lot of respect for that kid,” Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere said. “West Point kid. I’m a big fan of this kid personally. When his number is called, he is ready. He’s a great teammate. He’s here early. He goes into the gym. He stays late just to make sure he’s ready when his number is called.”
Gahagen said he learned that work ethic while at West Point.
“There are a lot of factors in hockey, especially professional hockey, that you have no control over,” said Gahagen, who is living in an apartment with his wife and pet Corgi while the organization decides his fate this season.
“You really have to focus on your own game. It’s like West Point. The first year, you’re just trying to survive, adapting from [two years] of Junior, a period where you have a bunch of free time, and then you go into a way more regimented way of life. You have to learn how to prioritize. Time management is the biggest key, and that translates to your daily life.”
Gahagen grew up in the Buffalo area and attended Williamsville North High School, adding two years of Junior play with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres before heading off to a four-year career as a Black Knight from 2013-14 through 2016-17.
As a systems engineer, he drew his first assignment at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, and got some time off for rookie and developmental camp with
San Jose, but changed his MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] in order to join the World Class Athlete Program with hopes of making the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team.
When he didn’t make the team, he had to return to his active duty at Fort Collins in Colorado, and played pickup hockey in an attempt to keep sharp.
“I pretty much played beer league hockey for about a year-and-a-half,” Gahagen said. “I was a pretty good beer league player.”
He ended up serving a military commitment of four years, 10 months before resuming his professional hockey journey. He had a tryout contract with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL at the start of the 2019-20 season, but they balked on signing him because they felt they would only have him a few weeks before someone else offered him a higher level contract.
“It’s tough getting a contract when you’ve been out for 20 months or so. It’s like you fell off the face of the Earth. I ended up in the [SPHL] with the Evansville Thunderbirds for a couple of weeks, and then signed with Newfoundland where [current Phantoms assistant coach Jon Snowdon] was coaching, and then got a contract with Toronto. And then COVID.”
In the 2020-21 season, he played with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and picked up three games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where he had his last AHL win prior to this season.
Lights Out Lycksell
Lycksell made it easy for the American Hockey League.
The 24-year-old left wing is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he was thesecond-leadingscoreronthePhantoms when he scored 14 goals and a team-leading 31 assists for 45 points in just 53 games, only three points behind Tyson Foerster, who reached 48 points in 66 games.
Lycksell, who played eight games with the parent club Philadelphia Flyers last season, was instrumental with the Phantoms going 2-1 in their three-inthree last weekend.
The Oskarshamn, Sweden, native recorded his first career hat trick last Friday in a 5-2 win over Springfield, scoring one every period, had the only goal in the 5-1 loss to Hartford, and added a power play goal in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Springfield at PPL Center.
His five-goal weekend has him tied for the AHL lead in goals scored with 5, power play goals with 3, and gamewinning goals with 2.
The AHL noticed and selected him as the Howies Hockey/AHL Player of the Week for the week ending Oct. 22, an explosive week for the Phantoms, who are 3-2 on the season after going 1-1 on opening weekend.
What prompted the offensive prowess?.
“For me, it’s all the mental part of it,” Lycksell said. “The first two games [were] a bit rough for the team and for me. I worked on my mental game and got things going. I play with two great linemates [Cooper Marody and rookie Samu Tuomaala] that really make me look good out there.”
He said that Marody has a knack for finding him.
“When Coops has the puck, I just try to keep my stick on the ice. I know he’s going to find me. He is a great player.”
Laperriere is elated that Lycksell is exhibiting his scoring touch early.
“I’m happy for him,” Laperriere said. “He’s a big part of this team. He was a big part of this team last year. He’s only doing himself favors … If you need a left winger, guess what? He’s No. 1 on the depth chart. He’d like to be on the Flyers, but he’s happy to be with his teammates here. He’s been improving every day. It’s good for him, but especially for us.”
Special teams paying off
The Phantoms have scored five power play goals in five games so far, scoring on 5-of-27 for a percentage of 18.5.
“We’ve got five really well-rounded players who can play every position [on the power play],” Lycksell said. “We move it around very well. [Sunday] I scored from a position I don’t usually play. We can play every position and get great movement and great passes.”
The penalty kill has been explosive to say the least.
After a subpar season-opening 5-2 loss to Cleveland, the Phantoms bounced back with a 5-2 win over the Belleville Senators. Cooper Marody, Adam Ginning and Rhett Gardner all scored shorthanded, rallying from down 2-0.
“We want to be more aggressive this year, and when they get rewarded, I love it, but I don’t want to see them cheat, and I don’t think we cheated,” Laperriere said.