Lehigh Valley Phantoms (33-27-8) vs. Syracuse Crunch (34-21-12)
Oncenter War Memorial, Syracuse, NY
Friday, April 11, 2025 (7:00 p.m.) – Game #69
TONIGHT – The Phantoms have officially CLINCHED and are now playing out the stretch in advance of the Calder Cup Playoffs in less than two weeks. Tonight, the Phantoms travel to central New York to take on the Syracuse Crunch, AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Before the Phantoms participate in the AHL’s Big Dance, there are still four games remaining in the regular season. Lehigh Valley will look to gain momentum and cohesion in advance of the team’s first-round Best of 3 series which will begin a few days after the conclusion of the regular season on April 19.
Lehigh Valley (33-27-8) is tied for fifth-place with Springfield and will enter the postseason as a 5 or 6 seed.
Syracuse (34-21-12) is closing in for a playoff berth but hasn’t clinched yet. With a Magic Number of four, the Crunch could potentially clinch tonight via a victory over the Phantoms in conjunction with a Belleville regulation loss vs. Springfield. The Crunch also just moved ahead of Cleveland and Toronto for third place in the division which also provides a first-round playoff bye in the North Division.
LAST TIME – For a game with no scoring for over 64 minutes, there sure was a lot of action. Goaltenders Parker Gahagen and Vadim Zherenko stood on their heads in the intense and exciting goaltenders’ duel last Saturday at PPL Center but the visiting Springfield Thunderbirds eventually took the dramatic 1-0 overtime decision. Gahagen desperately sprawled backward and threw out his arm on the ice to deny Nikita Alexandrov point-blank on three consecutive chances in the second period. Lehigh Valley blasted away for eight shots on goal in the overtime but Ellis was equal to all of them including Ethan Samson’s breakaway and a shot from Anthony Richard in tight that went up and over and then off the top of the crossbar and back out. New addition Calen Addison’s first goal with the T-Birds was the only marker for either side to conclude only the second regular-season game in Lehigh Valley history to go to overtime in a 0-0 deadlock.
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
OLLE ARRIVES, ROD RETURNS – The Phantoms lineup has received an additional boost with the return from the Philadelphia Flyers of forwards Olle Lycksell and Rodrigo Abols.
Lycksell, 25, leads the Phantoms in scoring with 17-24-41 in just 40 games played and he also represented the Phantoms at the AHL All-Star Classic. Lycksell has played in 19 games with the Flyers this season scoring 0-5-5.
Ābols, 29, has played in 22 games with Philadelphia this season scoring 2-3-5. He his NHL debut on January 21 against Detroit and scoring his first career NHL goal on February 4 at Utah. The Lativa product has scored 12-15-27 with the Phantoms in 44 games.
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 10-2-2, 1.83, .933. Among goaltenders with five or more games played in that stretch, Gahagen rates second in the entire AHL trailing only Matt Murray of Toronto (5-4-1, 1.62, .937).
In his last three games since his return to the Phantoms from Reading, Gahagen has gone 2-0-1, 0.98, .963 allowing exactly one goal in each of his last three games with 77 saves on 80 shots.
PHANTASTIC – Lehigh Valley is 20-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 22-1-3 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.
– The Phantoms are 24-7-4 when scoring the first goal and are 19-4-1 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 Ronnie Attard had 12 goals in 2022-23 and is only the fourth blueliner in Lehigh Valley history to reach 11 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 after Gendron blasted one home for a second-consecutive game last Friday. Gendron has four goals in the last eight games and became just the third rookie in Lehigh Valley history to score 20 goals in a season.
– Alex Ciernik made his AHL debut last Saturday against Springfield. The native Slovakian joined the Phantoms from the Nybro Vikings IF in Sweden’s Allsvenskan League. Ciernik, 20, was selected by the Flyers in the fourth round (#120 overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. His father, Ivan Ciernik, played 89 NHL games with Ottawa and Washington and over 200 games in the AHL with the Worcester IceCats, Cincinnati Migty Ducks, Adirondack Red Wings and Portland Pirates.
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)
Brandon Manning – 11 (2014-15)
Ethan Samson – 11 (2024-25)
FEELING CRUNCHY – 
Best friends reunite as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Syracuse Crunch tangle in Central New York. Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere has been best buds with Syracuse bench boss Joel Bouchard for as long as they can remember and since they played hockey and other sports together beginning at five years old. Syracuse (34-21-12) has heated up with a five-game win streak to pull away from the other contenders in the North but there’s still work to be done as the Crunch have a Magic Number of four points to clinch a position in the Calder Cup Playoffs which they are hoping to trim to zero tonight. Syracuse had a shared 3-0 shutout at PPL Center on March 21 with Matt Tomkins departing in the third period for Ryan Fanti. The Phantoms are 2-1-0 against the Crunch including an overtime win at Syracuse on January 4 via Brendan Furry’s winner. 32-year-old NHL veteran of almost 600 games Conor Sheary (18-38-56) paces the offense while former Phantom Derrick Pouliot (7-44-51) is third in the AHL in assists and is second among AHL defensemen in scoring. University of Michigan fourth-rounder Dylan Duke (18-17-35) is having a strong rookie season. Brandon Halverson (21-10-8, 2.25, .914) is eighth in the AHL in GAA and backstops a defense allowing just 2.51 goals per game which is tied for best in the AHL with Laval.
Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-16-36
Anthony Richard 16-19-35
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 13-17-30
Alexis Gendron 20-8-28
Crunch
Conor Sheary 18-38-56
Derrick Pouliot 7-44-51
Dylan Duke 18-17-35
Max Crozier 9-22-31
Jack Finley 14-14-28
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 16.8%, 25th / PK 80.5%, 22nd / PP vs. SYR 0-9
Syracuse – PP 16.8%, 25th / PK 83.5%, 10th / PP vs. LV 2-11
SEASON SERIES (2-1-0)
1/4/25 Away W 3-2 (OT)
2/15/25 Home W 4-2
3/21/25 Home L 3-0
4/11/25 Away
SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Alexis Gendron 3-0-3
Rodrigo Abols 0-2-2
Louie Belpedio 0-2-2
Syracuse
Conor Geekie 2-1-3
Derrick Pouliot 1-2-3
Jack Finley 0-2-2
COMING UP – The Phantoms return home for a Saturday showdown with the rival Hershey Bears on Star Wars Night in the penultimate home game of the 2024-25 regular season.
UPCOMING
Friday, April 11 (7:00 pm) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Saturday, April 12 (7:05 pm) – Hershey Bears at Phantoms. Star Wars Night!
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
