PREVIEW: TEDDY BEAR TOSS TIME!

Phantoms vs. Bears, Game #21

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-4) vs. Hershey Bears (15-5-3)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Saturday, December 7, 2024 (7:05 p.m.) – Game #21

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-4) host the first-place Hershey Bears in perhaps the most heartwarming promotion of the season during the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss Game presented by Big Woody’s.

The arena will turn into a scene of flying plushie chaos after the Phantoms score their first goal of the game as part of the annual tradition. Thousands of teddy bears will eventually make it over the glass and onto the ice to be collected for our friends at Valley Youth House in Bethlehem to benefit area kids in need during this holiday season. Last year, it was Zayde Wisdom’s goal that triggered a Lehigh Valley record 10,869 teddy bears.

Lehigh Valley and Hershey are meeting for a third time in three weeks and for the fourth time this season. It is also the opener of a home-and-home weekend set. The Phantoms and Bears will rematch on Sunday at 5:00 at GIANT Center in Chocolatetown. Lehigh Valley is 2-1-0 against the two-time defending Calder Cup Champions

LAST TIME – Lehigh Valley’s three-game win streak and four-game point streak came to a crashing halt in the first-ever meeting against the Rockford IceHogs in a frustrating 7-3 result on Wednesday night at PPL Center. Cole Guttman led the Hogs with a pair of goals while former Phantom Jackson Cates opened the scoring against his ex-team and first-rounder Frank Nazar contributed a goal and an assist. The Phantoms trailed 7-1 after two periods with Anthony Richard contributing the lone tally. Goals in the third for Helge Grans and Rhett Gardner helped provide a closer final margin but the Phantoms ultimately suffered their worst loss of the season while giving up more goals than they had in almost exactly a year.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for both teams and the AHL at the following link. https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/

TEDDY BEAR MANIA – Tonight’s game marks the return of the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s. Fans should bring their stuffed animal donations to the game and then will get to throw them onto the ice after the Phantoms score their first goal of the game. Last year, the Phantoms set a team record with 10,869 flying furry stuffies when Zayde Wisdom scored. That brought the combined total to 56,677 teddy bears and stuffed animals donated to our friends at Valley Youth House for distribution to area kids. Who will bring the Raining Teddy Bear Chaos this time?

Phantoms Teddy Bear Goal Scorer:
2014: Brett Hextall
2015: Andrew MacDonald
2016: Nic Aube-Kubel (:59 into the game)
2017: Matt Read
2018: Connor Bunnaman
2019: Chris Bigras
2021: Gerry Mayhew
2022: Cooper Marody
2023: Zayde Wisdom

Teddy Bear Count:
2014: 1,728
2015: 2,773
2016: 4,125
2017: 4,970
2018: 7,148
2019: 10,091
2021: 6,593
2022: 8,480
2023: 10,869
Total: 56,677

HIGHWAY TO HELGE – The Flyers have assigned defenseman Helge Grans back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Grans, 22, was recalled to the Flyers on November 18 and played in six games during his first career NHL opportunity. Grans recorded one assist in his NHL debut on November 18 against Colorado. He has also played in 15 games for the Phantoms this season scoring two goals with two assists including a goal in his first game back with Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. Last year with the Phantoms, Grans played in 56 games scoring 1-7-8. He is in his fourth season in the AHL having played 186 career games with the Ontario (Cal.) Kings and Lehigh Valley Phantoms combined scoring 12-33-45.

TRANSACTIONS – 
Dec 2 Helge Grans – Add – Loaned from Philadelphia
Dec 3 Sawyer Boulton – Del – Loaned to Reading
Dec 3 Sam Sedley – Del Loaned to Reading

PHANTASTIC – 

– Lehigh Valley has played in 13 one-goal decisions out of its first 19 games going 7-2-4 in the squeakers. That’s second in the AHL for most one-goal games this season trailing only Hershey (14). The Phantoms are 5-0-1 at home in one-goal games.

– Olle Lycksell leads the AHL with 81 shots on goal ahead of Pierrick Dube of Hershey who has 76 for second-most. Lycksell (5-11-16) has moved up to second on the team in scoring. Last year, he averaged over a point-per-game while tying for the team lead in goals when he scored 19-20-39 in just 38 games played with the Phantoms while also playing in 18 NHL games with the Flyers last year.

– Samu Tuomaala (8-12-20) racked up four points last weekend including a two-goal game with an overtime winner on Wednesday at Hartford. The second-year winger leads the Phantoms in scoring and is tied for 14th in the AHL.

– 27-year-old veteran Anthony Richard has scored 2-2-4 in four games since returning to the Phantoms from the Philadelphia Flyers last week. The high-scoring impact player is approaching an impressive milestone of 500 career AHL games. Richard has played in 492 games with Milwaukee, Syracuse, Chicago, Laval, Providence and Lehigh Valley scoring 150 goals with 163 assists for 313 points. He also has played in 31 career NHL games including seven games with the Flyers in his November call-up scoring two goals with four assists.

HEY THERE, HERSHEY – First-place Hershey (15-5-3) got momentum rolling again with a 6-1 thrashing of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday. The Phantoms are 2-1-0 against the Bears entering this weekend’s home-and-home series and prevailed 2-1 in overtime against Hershey in their last encounter last Friday via Olle Lycksell’s overtime heroics.

Ethen Frank (16-7-23) is on a five-game goal streak and continues to lead the AHL in goals and is third in points. The third-year pro from Western Michigan has scored 75 career goals in the AHL but has yet to play in any NHL games. Penn State product Alex Limoges (6-12-18) and veteran Mike Sgarbossa (2-16-18) are also among the returnees leading the offense for third-year head coach Todd Nelson who has back-to-back Calder Cup titles to his credit with the Chocolate and White. The incredibly appropriately named Ethan Bear (4-8-12) helps shore up Hershey’s stingy defense and scored a winning goal at PPL Center on November 16 breaking a 3-3 tie in the third period. Bear brings 275 career NHL games to the table including stints with Edmonton, Carolina, Vancouver and Washington.

No fewer than five former Phantoms are on Hershey’s roster including Calder Cup overtime clinching goal scorers Mike Vecchione (2023) and Matt Strome (2024) as well as Logan Day, Brennan Saulnier and former Adirondack Phantoms center Garrett Roe who wore the Orange and Black from 2011-13 before the Phantoms had arrived in the Lehigh Valley in 2014. This weekend marks the third and fourth meetings between the two teams in a 22-day stretch. After this one, the Bears do not return to Allentown until April.

SCORING LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Samu Tuomaala 8-12-20
Olle Lycksell 5-11-16
Anthony Richard 6-7-13
Jacob Gaucher 7-5-12
Ethan Samson 4-6-10
Oscar Eklind 4-6-10

Hershey
Ethen Frank 16-7-23
Alex Limoges 6-12-18
Mike Sgarbossa 2-16-18
Henrik Rybinski 5-11-16
Mike Vecchione 4-11-15

Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 21.3%, 5th / PK 82.9%, 14th / PP vs.HER 0-7
Hershey – PP 22.3%, 3rd / PK 83.8%, 9th / PP vs. LV 1-11

SEASON SERIES
Oct 30 – Win – Lehigh Valley 2 at Hershey 1
Nov 16 – Loss – Hershey 6 at Lehigh Valley 3
Nov 29 – Win – Hershey 1 at Lehigh Valley 2 (OT)
Dec 7 at Lehigh Valley
Dec 8 at Hershey
Jan 7 at Hershey
Mar 2 at Hershey
Apr 4 at Lehigh Valley
Apr 12 at Lehigh Valley
Apr 19 at Hershey

SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Olle Lycksell 2-2-4
Samu Tuomaala 1-2-3
Cal Petersen 2-1-0, 1.61, .950

Hershey
Ethan Bear 1-1-2
Ethen Frank 1-1-2
Clay Stevenson 0-0-1, 1.99, .923
Hunter Shepard 1-1-0, 2.55, .900

COMING UP –  The Phantoms play four straight on the road next week against some of the top teams in the AHL beginning with a Sunday evening rematch at Hershey followed by a Tuesday excursion to the Toronto Marlies and then a pair of games at the North Division-leading Cleveland Monsters. Lehigh Valley’s next home games are Wednesday, December 18 against the Providence Bruins and Friday, December 20 against the Toronto Marlies on meLVin Youth Knit Winter Cap Night for the kids in a game featuring holiday-style fun!

UPCOMING

Saturday, December 7 – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears – Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s

Sunday, December 8 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

Tuesday, December 10 (6:00) – Phantoms at Toronto Marlies

Thursday, December 12 (7:00) – Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters

Saturday, December 14 (7:30) – Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters

 

 

 

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