Philadelphia Phantoms

In their first regular season game on October 4, 1996, the Phantoms defeated the Springfield Falcons 6-3 . Two days later, on October 6, the club in front of its spectators, who gathered 9,166 people, defeated the Rochester Americans team 3-1 in the Spectrum home arena. It was the first game of the AHL regular season since 1979, when the Firebirds team left Philadelphia. At the end of the season, Phantoms scored the most points in the league - 111, 10 points more than Hershey Bears . Center Forward - Peter White , won the Sollenberger Trophy , gaining 105 points. In the second round of the Callers Cup playoffs, the Phantoms met their main rival, Hershey Bears, now. After losing in the opening game with a score of 5: 3, Phantoms equalized in the series, winning 7: 4. This game was remembered as follows: 350 minutes of a penalty (171 of which were Phantoms), 14 match penalties, two forced stoppage of a game, a fight between goalkeepers, Neil Little and Sinuha Wallinheimo, and the appearance of 5 goalkeepers in the game (Jean-Francois Labbeux, Wallenheimo, Sylvain Rodrigue in Hershey, Little and Dominic Russell in Philadelphia). The Hershey series ended in the seventh match when the Bears pulled out a 3–2 win (the Hershey won their eighth victory in the Coder Cup a few weeks later).

The 1997–1998 season, the Phantoms again finished first, with 106 points scored, Peter White again received the Sollenberger Trophy , gaining 105 points. In the sixth game of the final series, held on June 10, 1998, before the fans of the Spectrum filled to capacity (the ninth full house of the year), the Phantoms showed an almost flawless game against the St. John Flames, won with a score of 6: 1, thanks to a star game at the gates of Neil Little, who set a playoff record for victories (15: 5) and striker Mike Manelyuk, who received the Jack Butterfield Trophy, as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Team captain John Stevens (who also won the Calder Cup with Hershey in 1988 and with Springfield in 1991, and then as a Phantoms coach in 2005) and team members, made a lap of honor in the arena with the Cup Calder, as the Flyers once had with their first Stanley Cup , 24 years ago.

On January 24, 1999, Phantoms hosted the All- AHL All-Star Game 1999, at the First Union (now Vacovia) Center. Philadelphia defender - Sergey Klementyev , center forward Richard Pak , goalkeeper Jean-Marc Pelletier played for the US Planet team in this game, while center forward Peter Uyat and Jim Montgomery, with head coach Bill Barber and assistant Mike Sloters in the team Canadians ”, in which Peter White was also the captain of the team. Pelletier received the award of the most valuable player of the match won by the US team 5: 4.

After the 1999-00 season, head coach Bill Barber was appointed assistant (and later head) of the Flyers coach, assistant coach John Stevens (forced to end his career as a player after a serious eye injury) became the second Phantom coach in June 2000. Stevens, the team’s first captain, soon teamed up with two former Flyers players, defender Chell Samuelsson and striker Don Neichbaur, who joined the newly formed Phantoms coaching staff. In November 2003, tough guy and former Flyers player Craig Berubi joined the team and, after completing his 18-year professional career at Phantoms, became the assistant coach of the team. In the 2004–05 season, Don Neichbaur left the team, returning to WHL, where he became the head coach of the Tri-City Americans team. When John Stevens became the assistant coach of the Flyers in the 2005-06 season, Berubi became the third head coach of the Phantoms. After Stevens was appointed head coach of the Flyers, Berubi became his assistant, after which Samuelsson, who worked as an assistant coach for 6 seasons, became the fourth head coach in the history of Phantoms.

In the 2004–05 season, the Calder Cup returned to Philadelphia for the second time. Having won in their first two games of the season, the Phantoms won their first home victory over Hamilton on October 22. After defeating Hershey, 4-1, Antero Niitimaki broke a club record for the number of wins in a season that he won - 32, thereby breaking a record for 31 wins set by Neil Little, in seasons - 96-97, 97-98 . While the Phantoms were preparing to enter into the playoff rivalry, the squad was replenished by two players selected by the Flyers in the first round of the 2003 draft - center forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards - who had previously played in the Ontario Hockey League ( OHL ), after their clubs dropped out of the Memorial Cup playoffs. Carter, joined the team in the last week of the regular season and became the leader of the AHL in the number of points scored in the playoffs, 23 points (12 + 11) in 21 games. Richards appeared on the team in the second round of the playoffs and chalked up 15 points (7 + 8) in 14 games. The 2005 playoffs for Phantoms began with a game against the Norfolk Admirals, a team that had defeated the Philadelphians in six of their last ten meetings in the AHL regular season, including the last game of the season, April 17th. The first round of the playoffs went to Phantoms, with a score in the series 4-2. In the second round, the Phantoms met with Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins , who had already beaten the Binghamton Senators in the first round. After the first two home games of the Phantoms and the third, fourth games, in Wilkes-Barre, the series returned to the Wahovia Center and became one of the most memorable in club history. Losing in the middle of the third period of the fifth game, with a score of 1-4, the Phantoms exploded with six unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes and won with a score of 7-4, reaching the final of the Eastern Conference. against the Providence Bruins, which the Phantoms managed in six games, also set a record for victories on home ice (11-0). With a victory over Providence, the Phantoms returned to the Calder Cup finals, for the first time since 1998, where they met Chicago Wolfs, another well-playing team on their ice, and beat Manitoba Moose in the finals of the Western Conference. The series was the battle of two Finnish goalkeepers - Nitimäki and Kari Lehtonen . The first three games were replete with power struggle and low performance. In the first game, it all ended with a score of 1-0, in favor of the Phantoms, the second game also ended in a victory for the Philadelphians, in overtime 2-1. The series returned to the third game in Philadelphia. Nititymyaki again allowed himself to score only one goal, scoring a victory with a score of 2-1, in the third game. In the fourth game on June 10, Philadelphia managed to defeat Chicago with a score of 3-0. rookie Jeff Carter, with 23 points, received an individual award as the top scorer in the playoffs, while Niithimaki was awarded the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable playoff player.

In the 2004–05 season, after the Calder Cup returned to Philadelphia for the second time, some players in the 2005–06 season began performing in the NHL . Eight players: Antero Nititymyaki , Jeff Carter , Mike Richards , Patrick Sharp , John Sim , Joni Pitkanen , Dennis Seidenberg and Ar JA Amberger , could be seen in the 2005-06 season as part of Flyers , Ben Eager , Randy Jones , Ryan Rainy , so were involved in the team during the season. Richards, Jones, Nithityaki, Carter, Eager and Pitkanen became the main players in the team.

Season

Goals (47) - Mike Manelyuk (1999-00)

Assists (78) - Peter White (1997-98)

Glasses (105) - Peter White (1996-97, 1997-98)

Penalty (416) - Francis Lessard (1999-00)

Goal conceded ratio (1.96) - Neil Little (2003-04)

Club Career

Goals - 153- Peter White

Assists - 319 - Peter White

Points - 472 - Peter White

Penalty - 1046 - Pete Vandermere

Goalkeeper Wins - 177 - Neil Little

Dry Games - 18 - Neil Little

Games - 431 - Peter White

Team Official Website