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Prospect Info: Phantoms (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), NCAA, Jrs., Int'l, etc. [Mid-April Edition]

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Henry Miller said:
I have really fond memories of the Peter White, Mike Maneluk days in the late 90’s early 2000’s when I was young and just getting into hockey. It seems like the Phantoms haven’t been good since that stacked team that won the Calder Cup in 04/05. That’s really all I got and I just wanted to get it off my chest
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04-05. That was my first year really watching hockey. I got to see the Phantoms a lot (and still do obviously). I remember Niitty always stoning us and Jon Sim always torching us. In spite of that, that team interested me enough to follow them through the playoffs (at least as well as a non local could follow the AHL in 2005) and eventually become a Flyers fan the next season. Big mistake! Those Phantoms were legit scary good though. I still remember the Bears finally getting the better of them in a shootout on NYE 2004. Probably one of my earliest live hockey memories and probably my second favorite memory from that season. They put that whole game on YouTube during the lockdowns but I think it's been removed since then. Good times. 2004-05, that is, not spring 2020. Sorry, I'm rambling.
 
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Strawberry Fields said:
04-05. That was my first year really watching hockey. I got to see the Phantoms a lot (and still do obviously). I remember Niitty always stoning us and Jon Sim always torching us. In spite of that, that team interested me enough to follow them through the playoffs (at least as well as a non local could follow the AHL in 2005) and eventually become a Flyers fan the next season. Big mistake! Those Phantoms were legit scary good though. I still remember the Bears finally getting the better of them in a shootout on NYE 2004. Probably one of my earliest live hockey memories and probably my second favorite memory from that season. They put that whole game on YouTube during the lockdowns but I think it's been removed since then. Good times. 2004-05, that is, not spring 2020. Sorry, I'm rambling.
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Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I think the AHL used to be a great league, especially for kids. It doesn’t have the same feel anymore. It used to be a nice mix of AHL stars, up and coming NHL players/stars, and goons. It was great, cheap entertainment. I still have a few of those media books that have the Flyers on one side, and if you turn the book upside down and go to the back it’s the Phantoms, at my parents house. Flipping through them ~once a year when visiting is like a dopamine hit of nostalgia
 
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Henry Miller said:
Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I think the AHL used to be a great league, especially for kids. It doesn’t have the same feel anymore. It used to be a nice mix of AHL stars, up and coming NHL players/stars, and goons. It was great, cheap entertainment. I still have a few of those media books that have the Flyers on one side, and if you turn the book upside down and go to the back it’s the Phantoms, at my parents house. Flipping through them ~once a year when visiting is like a dopamine hit of nostalgia
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The lockout year was especially good with a lot of talented young players who would've been in the NHL otherwise. Spezza, Staal, Bergeron, Duncan Keith (okay, not sure if he was an NHL lock that year but he made it the year after) to name a few

I think I still get more out of the AHL since the Bears are still usually good (as opposed to the Flyers) and nearby but there's something lacking. I think intensity plays a part. Hershey still played WBS and the Phantoms like 10+ times but the teams clearly hated each other and made it interesting. Now Hershey plays them both 26 times a year combined and they're like any other game, plus they never play anyone out of conference like they used to either

And yeah, as much as I love the speed and skill of today's game, it was fun as a 7-8 year old kid to see the end of the goon era. Guys like Bonvie, Fedoruk, Gratton, Pete Vandermeer, Biz, etc.
 
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Tripod said:
How can a league be taken seriously when:

A 3 game series is all in 1 hime teams rink

Then that winner of the series starts in the road vs a team that had a worse record than them?

oh, and be the 2nd best league in hockey? Man.
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Charlotte gets 5 straight home games to start the playoffs. Despite finishing 11 points ahead and earning a bye, Hershey has to start on the road against them. So Charlotte gets two weekend games to kick things off while the Bears get two midweek games and a Sunday once they go back home (if it goes 5 games). The bye's not that huge of an advantage anyway because by the time the Bears play their first playoff game, it will have been 13 days since their last regular season game.

I still get more enjoyment from the AHL than NHL anymore but the playoffs format is completely FUBAR. Wish they would've never switched from four best-of-7 series.
 
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Henry Miller said:
Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I think the AHL used to be a great league, especially for kids. It doesn’t have the same feel anymore. It used to be a nice mix of AHL stars, up and coming NHL players/stars, and goons. It was great, cheap entertainment. I still have a few of those media books that have the Flyers on one side, and if you turn the book upside down and go to the back it’s the Phantoms, at my parents house. Flipping through them ~once a year when visiting is like a dopamine hit of nostalgia
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I've suspected the AHL suffers some from the NHL moving away from goons and DPE guys to finding all the skill they can.
 
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Strawberry Fields said:
04-05. That was my first year really watching hockey. I got to see the Phantoms a lot (and still do obviously). I remember Niitty always stoning us and Jon Sim always torching us. In spite of that, that team interested me enough to follow them through the playoffs (at least as well as a non local could follow the AHL in 2005) and eventually become a Flyers fan the next season. Big mistake! Those Phantoms were legit scary good though. I still remember the Bears finally getting the better of them in a shootout on NYE 2004. Probably one of my earliest live hockey memories and probably my second favorite memory from that season. They put that whole game on YouTube during the lockdowns but I think it's been removed since then. Good times. 2004-05, that is, not spring 2020. Sorry, I'm rambling.
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Got to go to most of those playoff games in 2005, including the finals. Cool to see the building grow as they got further.
 
Tripod said:
How can a league be taken seriously when:

A 3 game series is all in 1 hime teams rink

Then that winner of the series starts in the road vs a team that had a worse record than them?

oh, and be the 2nd best league in hockey? Man.
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2nd best league? I think the KHL, SHL are ahead of the AHL, and Liiiga is about even.

The reason SHL players go to the AHL is the different ice surface and style of play, the angles are different, the windows are smaller and play is more physical.
 
Beef Invictus said:
I've suspected the AHL suffers some from the NHL moving away from goons and DPE guys to finding all the skill they can.
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This and it also seems like young guys with top 6 or top pair potential are cutting their teeth in the NHL instead of developing in the AHL. So I feel without future high end NHL talent and no goons, the AHL has become a very vanilla league
 
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Henry Miller said:
This and it also seems like young guys with top 6 or top pair potential are cutting their teeth in the NHL instead of developing in the AHL. So I feel without future high end NHL talent and no goons, the AHL has become a very vanilla league
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I think this is a mistake a lot of bad teams make, which keeps them bad.

The AHL schedule is far more conducive to hands on coaching, there are generally none or one game during the week, with most of the games on the weekend.
That often allows 3-4 days of practice where coaches can work on player fundamentals.
In the NHL, the schedule, including extensive travel, makes it hard to do anything in practice other than focus on executing the team's schemes.

Whether or not Lappy can game coach, the assistant coaches on the Phantoms seemed to have done a good job this season, watching the development of a number of prospects. To me, that is the most important part of running your AHL team.
 
deadhead said:
2nd best league? I think the KHL, SHL are ahead of the AHL, and Liiiga is about even.

The reason SHL players go to the AHL is the different ice surface and style of play, the angles are different, the windows are smaller and play is more physical.
Click to expand...

NLA is probably pretty even too... and Extraliga not far behind.
 
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Back in the day Manchester had a series against Worcester (I think) where they were the road team. The schedule was first 2 in Manchester, next 3 on the road, game 6 in Manchester and game 7 on the road. This was back in 10/11. So the AHL has been doing things like this for awhile.
 
deadhead said:
MacEwen is RW, Lycksell a LW.

When MacEwen moved up the lineup, JVR, Allison, Laczynski, Brown, were all out, they were playing Willman, Sedlak, Bellows. When JVR and Allison came back, MacEwen went to the 4th line then was traded.
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macwen should have never moved up regardless of circumstances. You go into the stands to get someone rather than move him up
 
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BackToTheBrierePatch said:
Back in the day Manchester had a series against Worcester (I think) where they were the road team. The schedule was first 2 in Manchester, next 3 on the road, game 6 in Manchester and game 7 on the road. This was back in 10/11. So the AHL has been doing things like this for awhile.
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I think the circus used to go through the region at the time. There were times where Providence had to play series 3-3-1
 
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Strawberry Fields said:
It was an easy decisionWould be cool if the Ghosts actually had two goalies like Charlotte so they didn't have to ride the guy who played five periods for them last night.

Of course, they technically shouldn't have even been in the playoffs anyway and wouldn't have before last season.
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Technically they don't have 2 goalies. One of theirs was an AHL dinosaur who happened to pull a rabbit out of his hat. In true form the Phantoms dinosaur spent the year on the IR. It was an easy decision to go with their 2nd goalie given they were facing an IL coached team
 
I watched the Phantoms' last two playoff games. Uninspiring. I can't even say it was a coaching issue -- it just seemed like Charlotte had better players.

I was hoping for more out of the kids. And the Phantoms' vets didn't stack up to Conacher and Riley Nash.

Attard blows defensively, and I don't think his offensive game is good enough to compensate.

Andrae had a ton of turnovers. But I could still see where he's going to end up a solid NHLer once he adjusts to the smaller rink.

Foerster was meh. Brink was almost a complete non-entity. Desnoyers was involved and had chances, but let's face it, offense isn't going to be his forte in the pros.

Ginning was their best D in game 2 but did not have a good game 3.
 
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Ghosts Beer said:
I watched the Phantoms' last two playoff games. Uninspiring. I can't even say it was a coaching issue -- it just seemed like Charlotte had better players.

I was hoping for more out of the kids. And the Phantoms' vets didn't stack up to Conacher and Riley Nash.

Attard blows defensively, and I don't think his offensive game is good enough to compensate.

Andrae had a ton of turnovers. But I could still see where he's going to end up a solid NHLer once he adjusts to the smaller rink.

Foerster was meh. Brink was almost a complete non-entity. Desnoyers was involved and had chances, but let's face it, offense isn't going to be his forte in the pros.

Ginning was their best D in game 2 but did not have a good game 3.
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I wouldn't read too much into a 3 games in 4 days on the road series.
 
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