Phantoms finding momentum
Lehigh Valley has earned points in 7 of last 8 games
It’s the Holiday Season, and as the temperatures begin to dip, the frosty weather reminds us that hockey season must be in full swing.
And it is.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are 8-6-11, nearing the end of the first quarter of the season, and coming off a big 5-1 win over Rochester at the PPL Center last Saturday. The victory featured a four-point night (one goal, three assists) for Olle Lycksell and the first two goals of the season for newly signed veteran Artem Anisimov — who scored in the AHL for the first time in 13 seasons.
Saturday’s game capped a weekend of highs and firsts as the Phantoms defense allowed just 15 shots in the game, bettering their Lehigh Valley mark of 16 (against Hershey on March 1, 20-15), but shy of the franchise record of 12 allowed against Str. John’s in 2001 when the club played in Philadelphia.
“The team is playing hard now, the right way,” said second-year Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere. “It’s a lot of fun, but we have to keep doing it. Everyone is playing the way they should be playing.”
At 8-6-1-1, the Phantoms are in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with 18 points, but
have played the least amount of games in the division. They host the Hershey Bears (12-4-2-0) on Wednesday for MIlitary Appreciation Night. The Bears sit in second place in the division and won the previous two games this season between the teams, both in Hershey.
Make no mistake, this is not the 2021-22 Phantoms.
Laperriere is in his second season, and no one was harder on himself or more reflective than Lappy was after last season’s campaign.
After a season-opening win art Wilkes-Barre and a 2-1-1-0 start, the Phantoms went through a four-game losing streak that included losing all three of a three-in-three heading into Halloween. The team then lost to Belleville before winning at Laval to start a five-game victory streak that ended with a loss at Springfield.
The run included a pair of wins at league-leading Providence — 4-2 in regulation and 3-2 in shootout — to kick off a three-in-three weekend that ended with the loss in Springfield.
Providence has lost just two games in regulation, so those were quality wins by the Phantoms.
“The biggest difference is there is more skill up front and more skill from the defense,” Laperriere said.
Right wing Tyson Foerster (20 years old) is tied for the lead in team scoring (five goals and seven assists for 12 points) with 21-year-old defenseman Cam York (three goals, nine assists). Lycksell, a 23-year-old firstyear North American player from Sweden, has three goals and eight assists for 11 points, while 20-yearold Elliot Desnoyers leads the team with seven goals (plus two assists for nine points).
Ronnie Attard (23) is second among all rookie defenseman in scoring with four goals and five assists. He put up two goals in a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Monsters to cap a weekend split during the Phantoms’ PPL Center opening weekend back in October.
Competing at a High Level:
Attard Rising: Attard is a 6-4, 221-pound bear of a defenseman with a heavy right-handed shot and a tremendous upside. He also continues to improve his hockey IQ.
“Offensively, we know he’s got that big shot from the point and has a flair for offense,” Laperriere said, “but I’m really proud of the defensive side of his game that he’s developing. He’s battling harder and using that size to his advantage.”
Attard, a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2019 (872nd overall), left Western Michigan after three years to join the Flyers at the end of last season, where he played 15 games, scoring two goals and two assists.
“It was very helpful to play with the Flyers at the end of last season,” Attard said. “I got 15 games in with them and it helped me learn how to prepare over the summer. You’ve got to be on the top of your A-Game night in and night out. That helped me over the summer and at camp.”
As a junior, Attard was named captain of the gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2018 World Junior A Challenge.
With the Phantoms, he has been paired with veteran defenseman Kevin Connauton and plays both the power play and penalty kill. With Connauton as a steadying presence, Attard has been able to work on his puck clearing and using his big body to clog opposition passing lanes.
“A huge part of the game these days is both breaking the puck out successfully and defending it,” said Attard, a native of White Lake, Michigan. “It’s been a big key for me to focus on the details, to take up as much space as I can, and to break out the puck cleanly when I can because when the puck is on our sticks more, it leads to more offense.”
One of just a dozen U.S. citizens on the Phantoms roster, Thanksgiving was a full workweek for Attard, who managed to take some time on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate the holiday with his roommate, Bobby Brink, a winger who is recovering from off-season surgery to his hip.
He and Brink, a Minnesota native, also enjoyed some NFL games on Turkey Day, although his beloved Detroit Lions dropped a 28-25 heartbreaker to the Buffalo Bills.
With one game left in November and 13 set for December, including the first-ever New Year’s Eve game at the PPL Center for the Phantoms, Attard has his sights set on improving each night.
“I intend to continue developing my game,” he said. “That’s what being a pro is all about, getting better every day. I’m excited for our group here. We’ve got some really talented players and the sky’s the limit.”
Egor Zamula, a 22-year-old defenseman from Russia, got called up by the Flyers on Monday. The 6-3, 180-pounder started the season with the Flyers, playing nine games before being loaned to the Phantoms on Nov. 21 and played in both games last weekend.