Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank

Last Games of Regular Season

April 16, 2025

Allentown, PA – The postseason matchup isn’t known yet but soon we will have the info on the team’s first-round Best of 3 series in the Calder Cup Playoffs presented by PenTeleData. But before we Rally the Valley with the intensity of the postseason, the Phantoms have two more games this weekend to wrap up the regular season.

Lehigh Valley (34-28-8) is in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and stands two points ahead of sixth-place Springfield. The Phantoms host the Cleveland Monsters on Friday in the regular-season home finale at PPL Center and then travel to Chocolatetown for one more rivalry showdown against the Hershey Bears on Saturday to wrap it up.

After that, the Phantoms will likely square off against either the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins or the Providence Bruins in the first round with dates of the series to be determined.

The Phantoms have received an influx of new players in recent weeks and fans might get to see the pro debuts of Alex Bump or Carson Bjarnason on the horizon.

LAST WEEK
April 11 – Syracuse Crunch 2 – Phantoms 1
April 12 – Phantoms 5 – Hershey Bears 1

THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, April 18 (7:05) – Cleveland Monsters at Phantoms
Saturday, April 19 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, April 11, 2025
Syracuse Crunch 2 – Phantoms 1
The Phantoms got off to a great start at Syracuse but couldn’t maintain momentum as the Crunch rallied from behind for a 2-1 win on home ice. Anthony Richard (17th) staked Lehigh Valley to a 1-0 lead in the first period. The Crunch outshot Lehigh Valley 37-21 and received second-period goals just 24 seconds apart from Tristan Allard (6th) and Gabe Fortier (11th) to squeak past the Orange and Black despite a terrific 35-save effort from Parker Gahagen.

Saturday, April 12, 2025
Phantoms 5 – Hershey Bears 1
Lehigh Valley defensemen cranked it up for four of the team’s five goals in decisive triumph at PPL Center before an excited sellout crowd on Star Wars Night. The Force was with Ben Gleason (2nd), Ethan Samson (12th), Hunter McDonald (4th) and Helge Grans (8th) while the recently returned Rodrigo Abols (13th) was the only forward to strike back at Clay Stevenson. Cal Petersen produced 33 saves in repelling the dark forces while the Phantoms were outshot 34-24.

NEWEST ADDITIONS: BUMP AND BJARNASON – Exciting rookies Alex Bump and Carson Bjarnason have joined the Phantoms this week and are eligible to make their pro debuts.
Bump, 21, is coming off an NCAA National Championship victory for Western Michigan on Saturday after he was NCHC Forward of the Year as a sophomore. The 2022 Round 5 selection scored 23-24-47 with the Broncos and was previously a USA Today High School Hockey Player of the Year when he captained Prior Lake High School to its first ever appearance at the Minnesota State Championships.
Bjarnason, 19, is a goaltender who was a Round 2 selection of the Flyers in 2023 and went 22-18-3, 2.93, .913 with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL this season. The 6’3″ product of Carman, Manitoba also represented Team Canada at the World Juniors Tournament and has previously played at PPL Center in the 2023 and 2024 NHL Rookie Series Flyers vs. Rangers games.

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

MAN ON THE YEAR – Hunter McDonald has been selected as the IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for his outstanding contributions to the Lehigh Valley community during the 2024-25 season. McDonald has established himself as an admirable presence in the local community. “It was great, I enjoyed all the events,” McDonald said. “It was cool to be able to give back to the community and just see kids going out to school or doing sled hockey, and even the hospital. So, it was fun to get with the guys and go out and try to make people’s day a little better.”

ON TO THE PLAYOFFS – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have punched their ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs for a third consecutive season. Nine players have spent parts of the 2024-25 season playing for both the Phantoms and the Philadelphia Flyers including Emil Andrae, Rodrigo Abols, Aleksei Kolosov, Jacob Gaucher, Adam Ginning, Helge Grans, Jett Luchanko, Olle Lycksell and Anthony Richard.

This is the fifth time for Lehigh Valley to qualify for the playoffs and it is also the 15th time for the franchise which began as the Philadelphia Phantoms in 1996. Making it in for three consecutive seasons has not happened since the Philadelphia Phantoms qualified in each of their first six seasons from 1997 through 2002. The Philadelphia Phantoms twice won the Calder Cup in 1998 and exactly 20 years ago in 2005.

PARK IT! – Stopping pucks has been a walk in the park for 31-year-old Army Captain Parker Gahagen. In his second season with the Phantoms, the lifelong ECHL’er has more than found his stride at the AHL level and has become one of the best goaltenders in the league since the Holiday Break.

Since December 28, Gahagen has gone 10-3-2, 1.85, .934. Among goaltenders with five or more games played in that stretch, Gahagen rates third in the entire AHL in GAA trailing only Matt Murray of Toronto (1.62) and Trent Miner of Colorado (1.83).

PHANTASTIC – Lehigh Valley is 21-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 23-2-3 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.

– The Phantoms are 25-8-4 when scoring the first goal and are 20-5-1 when leading at the first intermission.

– Second-year pro Ethan Samson is the first Phantoms defenseman to score 10 or more goals in a season since and is just the third Lehigh Valley blueliner to score 12 goals in a season.

– It’s down to the wire for the team goal-scoring title. Alexis Gendron and Jacob Gaucher are tied at 20 goals apiece.

– Ty Murchison made his pro debut on Friday at Syracuse and then made his home debut the following night against Hershey. The 22-year-old from Corona, California signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers on March 26, 2025 and the fifth-rounder in 2022 joins the Phantoms following four seasons at Arizona State.

Lehigh Valley Record Book:
Goals by Rookie
Elliot Desnoyers – 23 (2022-23)
Danick Martel – 22 (2016-17)
Alexis Gendron – 20 (2024-25)

Single Season, Goals by Defenseman
T.J. Brennan – 21 (2016-17)
T.J. Brennan – 14 (2017-18)
Ronnie Attard – 12 (2022-23)
Ethan Samson – 12 (2024-25)

UPCOMING
Friday, April 18, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Cleveland Monsters
Cleveland (35-23-11) hasn’t clinched but could do so on Wednesday at Rochester. Even if they do clinch, the Monsters still have motivation entering the weekend with designs of catching Syracuse for third place in the North which carries first-round bye. Experience drives the offense with Trey Fix-Wolansky (26-33-59) and Rocco Grimaldi (17-41-58) ranking fourth and seventh in the conference in scoring. 21-year-old Luca Del Bel Balluz (25-25-50) is a second-rounder who is thriving in his second pro season. 20-year-old Gavin Brindley (6-11-17) was a #34 overall pick who twice played on Team USA at the World Juniors including scoring 6-4-10 for the 2024 Gold Medal team. Jet Grevaes (21-11-6, 2.62, .920) is up with Columbus where he shut out the Flyers on Tuesday to keep the surprising Blue Jackets in the playoff race. The Phantoms are 2-1-0 against Cleveland including a 3-2 overtime win at Cleveland on December 14 on Louie Belpedio’s winning strike and a February 7 shootout win at PPL Center on goals y Olle Lycksell and Massimo Rizzo and then a winning shootout goal for J-R Avon.

Saturday, April 12, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Hershey Bears at Phantoms
Hershey (43-19-7) is just two points from clinching the Atlantic Division and could potentially do so Wednesday night against Syracuse but the Bears are unlikely to catch Laval for the Kilpatrick Trophy as the Rocket have a four-point lead for the top record in the AHL. The Phantoms thumped the Bears 5-1 at PPL Center last Saturday with four defensemen burning Clay Stevenson.
Lehigh Valley is 4-4-1 against the two-time defending Calder Cup Champions. Defenseman Ethan Bear (10-36-46) leads the team in scoring and has racked up 2-7-9 against the Phantoms including a game-winning goal at PPL Center in November. Penn State product Alex Limoges (16-25-41) is having another strong season. Clay Stevenson (18-8-4, 2.94, .888) has been recalled to Washington while last year’s Bastien Memorial Award winner as top goaltender in the league, Hunter Shepard (22-11-3, 2.81, .891), has been returned from the Caps. Helge Grans (3-2-5), Olle Lycksell (2-3-5) and JAcob Gaucher (3-1-4) are among Lehigh Valley’s scoring leaders in the season series while Cal Petersen (4-3-1, 2.19, .918) has been especially strong against our I-78 rivals.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-17-37
Anthony Richard 17-19-36
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 13-17-30
Rodrigo Abols 13-16-29
Alexis Gendron 20-8-28

UPCOMING

Friday, April 18 (7:05 pm) – Cleveland Monsters at Phantoms. Regular Season Home Finale

Saturday, April 19 (7:00 pm) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears. End of Regular Season

Calder Cup Playoffs – Round 1, Best of 3 Series – Dates and Opponent TBD

 

 

 

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