It’s Another Teddy Bear Record! Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank

Thousands of Teddy Bears for Valley Youth House

December 9, 2024

Allentown, PA – It was another fantastic Teddy Bear Toss Night with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as thousands of stuffed animals rained down upon the ice on Saturday evening when Jacob Gaucher scored a shorthanded breakaway goal with 29.9 seconds remaining in the second period.

It was the longest stretch into a game to achieve the magical moment and was also the first shorthanded goal to trigger the flying plushie chaos.

And the big event established another first as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms again broke their own team record via 11,853 teddy bears beating last year’s record of 10,869. An amazing achievement thanks to our generous fans!

Meanwhile, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-8-5) have three road games this week against two of the top teams in the North Division beginning with a Tuesday evening matchup in Toronto followed by a pair of games in Cleveland on Thursday and Saturday.

LAST WEEK
December 4 – IceHogs 7 at Phantoms 3
December 7 – Bears 3 at Phantoms 2 (OT)
December 8 – Phantoms 4 at Bears 5

THE WEEK AHEAD
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

WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, December 4
IceHogs 7 – Phantoms 3
The first-ever meeting between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Rockford IceHogs is one the Phantoms would prefer to forget as the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks racked up seven goals in the first 40 minutes to cruise to a 7-3 win at PPL Center on Wednesday night. Cole Guttman scored a pair of goals and first-rounder Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and now leads all AHL rookies with 11 goals. Former Phantom Jackson Cates opened the scoring against his ex-team with his first of the season. Anthony Richard (6th) scored in the first period to make it a 2-1 game before Rockford ran away with it. Helge Grans (2nd) scored in his first game from Philadelphia and Rhett Gardner (3rd) concluded the scoring.

Saturday, December 7, 2024
Bears 3 – Phantoms 2 (OT)
Jacob Gaucher (8th) brought over 11,000 teddy bears raining down onto the ice with his shorthanded breakaway strike in the final ticks of the second period but the Hershey Bears stunned the Phantoms with a late rally in a 3-2 overtime win at PPL Center on Saturday night. Helge Grans (3rd) had given Lehigh Valley the lead with just 3:39 left on his wraparound goal but Hershey wouldn’t go away and Henrik Rybinski (6th) knocked home the tying goal with just 2.9 seconds left. After Olle Lycksell was denied on an overtime breakaway via a big save by Clay Stevenson to again keep his team alive it was Chase Priskie scoring the overtime winner, his second in as many seasons against Lehigh Valley.

Sunday, December 8, 2024
Bears 5 – Phantoms 4
A see-saw game in Chocolatetown seemed poised to result in a Phantoms victory as the Orange and Black continued pressing and largely dominating in the third period in hopes of breaking a 4-4 tie. But Ethen Frank (17th, 18th) blasted home his second of the game and league-leading 18th of the season with just 3:07 left to snag another win for Hershey. J.R. Avon and Zayde Wisdom both knocked in their first goal of the season with Wisdom’s shorthanded marker from Brendan Furry providing the Phantoms with a 2-1 lead. But former Phantom Mike Vecchione (5th) quickly equalized for Hershey who took a 4-2 lead in the second. The Phantoms rallied with consecutive goals by Rhett Gardner (4th) and Alexis Gendron (6th) on the power play. Anthony Richard had a Lehigh Valley season-high three assists.

TEDDY BEAR MANIA – We did it again! Lehigh Valley Phantoms fans set another team record on Teddy Bear Toss Night presented by Big Woody’s. Amazing!!

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
2024: Jacob Gaucher

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
2024: 11,853
Total: 68,630

TRANSACTIONS – 
Dec 2 Helge Grans – Add – Loaned from Philadelphia
Dec 6 Sawyer Boulton – Del – Loaned to Reading
Dec 6 Sam Sedley – Del – Loaned to Reading
Dec 8 Sawyer Boulton – Add – Recalled from Reading
Dec 8 Sam Sedley – Add – Recalled from Reading
Dec 8 Mason Primeau – Add – Recalled from Reading

PHANTASTIC

– The Phantoms lead the AHL with 10 overtime games out of 22 games total. The Phantoms are 4-4 in overtime decisions and are 1-1 in shootouts. Lehigh Valley is second in overtime wins trailing only Cleveland (5).

– Lehigh Valley has played in 15 one-goal decisions out of its first 22 games going 7-3-5 in the squeakers. That’s second in the AHL for most one-goal games trailing only Hershey (16). The Phantoms are 5-0-2 at home in one-goal games.

– Helge Grans had a two-game goal streak upon his return to the Phantoms from the Philadelphia Flyers where he played in six games including his NHL debut on November 18 against Colorado

– Olle Lycksell leads the AHL with 89 shots on goal ahead of Pierrick Dube of Hershey who has 82 for second-most.

– Ethan Samson is second among AHL defensemen with 54 shots on goal

– 27-year-old veteran Anthony Richard has scored 2-5-7 in six games since returning to the Phantoms from the Philadelphia Flyers two weeks ago. That includes a three-assist performance his last time out on Sunday at Hershey. The high-scoring impact player is approaching an impressive milestone of 500 career AHL games. Richard has played in 494 games with Milwaukee, Syracuse, Chicago, Laval, Providence and Lehigh Valley scoring 151 goals with 166 assists for 317 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.

UPCOMING

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 (6:00)
Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON
Phantoms at Toronto Marlies

Toronto (11-3-5) has the fewest regulation losses in the AHL with their most recent coming against Laval 5-4 on Saturday.  New head coach John Gruden is the father of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton player Jonathan Gruden. The former Islanders and Bruins assistant coach previously played 91 games in the NHL and also with Providence and Grand Rapids in the AHL. Fourth-year pro Alex Steeves (12-4-16) leads the Marlies again after cranking out 27 goals last year. Former Buffalo first-rounder who played with the WBS Penguins last year Alex Nylander (8-4-12) joined the Marlies on an AHL contract but two weeks ago was signed to an NHL deal with Craig Berube’s Maple Leafs. 23-year-old rookie fourth-rounder Artur Akhtyamov (7-0-1, 1.70, .933) has the top goals-against average in the AHL fronting a three-goalie rotation that includes Matt Murray and Dennis Hildeby. Combined they have backstopped Toronto’s defense to a league-best 2.47 goals allowed per game which includes an 87.7% penalty kill success rate that is best in the conference and fourth in the AHL. 22-year-old defenseman Topi Niemela is also a highly regarded third-rounder

Thursday, December 12, 2024 (7:00)
and
Saturday, December 14, 2024 (7:30)
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, OH
Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters

The speedy Cleveland Monsters (15-6-2) racked up a franchise-best 10-game win streak that ended last week and show little sign of slowing down. Cleveland enters the week in a first-place tie in the North Division with the Laval Rocket. The AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets is cranking up 3.57 goals per game, 5th in the AHL, led by the Eastern Conference’s top two point producers; Luca Del Bel Balluz (15-11-26) and Trey Fix-Wolansky (12-13-25). Del Bel Belluz is second in the AHL after a four-goal weekend against Syracuse that included a Friday game with back-to-back goals in the final minutes to overcome a two-goal deficit setting up an enthralling overtime win. Little Trey Fix-Wolansky is third in the AHL just one point behind his teammate. Veteran Rocco Grimaldi (6-17-23) has proven he’s still got it after he signed right before the season started. The 31-year-old scored a career-high 36 goals with the Chicago Wolves last year and is approaching the 400 point milestone in his impressive career with 181-212-393. Defenseman Daemon Hunt recently joined from the Iowa Wild coming over in a trade for hard-shooting former #6 overall draft pick David Jiricek. Jet Greaves (8-4-2, 3.21, .902) as been the primary goaltender following the recall of Pavel Cajan. 35-year-old native Ohioan Trent Vogelhuber is in his second season with the Monsters and is the youngest head coach in the AHL.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Samu Tuomaala 8-12-20
Olle Lycksell 5-12-17
Anthony Richard 6-10-16
Jacob Gaucher 8-5-13
Ethan Samson 4-6-10
Oscar Eklind 4-6-10
Rhett Gardner 4-6-10

UPCOMING

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

Wednesday, December 18 (7:05) – Providence Bruins at Phantoms – Pregame Happy Hour, $2 Draft Beers

Friday, December 20 (7:05) – Toronto Marlies at Phantoms – meLVin Youth Winter Knit Cap presented by Reilly Children’s Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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