Lehigh Valley Phantoms (33-28-8) vs. Hershey Bears (43-18-7)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Saturday, April 12, 2025 (7:05 p.m.) – Game #70
TONIGHT – The Force shall be with the Phantoms as they return to PPL Center on Star Wars Night against the evil empire, otherwise known as the Hershey Bears.
Lehigh Valley has officially CLINCHED and is now playing out the stretch in advance of the Calder Cup Playoffs in less than two weeks.
Before the Phantoms participate in the AHL’s Big Dance, there are still three 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 (33-28-8) is tied for fifth-place with Springfield and will enter the postseason as a 5 or 6 seed.
Hershey (43-18-7) has put a recent losing slide in the rear-view mirror and has now won four straight after a 4-2 victory at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night. The first-place Bears have a Magic Number of four to clinch the Atlantic Division. The Bears are also only two points behind Laval for the top record in the AHL and the Kilpatrick Trophy. The Phantoms are 3-4-1 against their rivals from Chocolatetown after the Bears took a 2-1 victory at PPL Center last Friday. The Phantoms faced Hershey last year in the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. The current standings would lead to a potential second-round matchup against Hershey again.
LAST TIME – Parker Gahagen put forth another solid effort between the pipes displaying his high-compete level on several scrambly efforts by the Syracuse Crunch but ultimately a pair of goals just 24 seconds apart in the second period would be enough for the hosts to hang on for a 2-1 win as Lehigh Valley was unable to find the late equalizer. The Phantoms were the better team in the first period with a 13-8 shots advantage plus a goal from Anthony Richard (17th) set up by Hunter McDonald. But the Syracuse Crunch took control the rest of the way and received goals from Tristan Allard (6th) and Gabe Fortier (11th) en route to their sixth straight win while trimming their own Magic Number down to just two points. Syracuse out shot the Phantoms 37-21 in the contest.
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 41 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 45 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 10-3-2, 1.85, .934. 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).
PHANTASTIC – Lehigh Valley is 20-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 22-2-3 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.
– The Phantoms are 24-8-4 when scoring the first goal and are 19-5-1 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 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 nine 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.
– Ty Murchison made his pro debut on Friday at Syracuse. The 22-year-old from Corona, California signed his entry-level contract with the Flyes 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)
Brandon Manning – 11 (2014-15)
Ethan Samson – 11 (2024-25)
ROARING INTO A-TOWN – Hershey (43-18-7) is revving it up before the playoffs and carries a four-game win streak into tonight after rallying from behind for a 4-2 win at the Penguins on Friday led by Luke Philp with two goals. First-place Hershey has now opened up a seven-point lead ahead of second-place Charlotte and the two-time defending Calder Cup Champs have a Magic Number of just four points to clinch another Atlantic Division title. They are also in a neck-and-neck race with Laval for the Kilpatrick Trophy for the top regular-season record. The Rocket hold a two-point lead right now at 95-93.
The Bears won at PPL Center last Friday 2-1 and are 5-2-1 against the Phantoms this season while Lehigh Valley is 3-4-1 against the Bears. 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) was certainly pleased with the NCAA regional results at PPL Center two weeks ago. Clay Stevenson (18-7-4, 2.87, .891) has taken over as the top goaltender after Hunter Shepard’s recall to Washington. J.R. Avon (1-4-5) and Jacob Gaucher (3-0-3) are among Lehigh Valley’s scoring leaders in the season series while Cal Petersen (3-3-1, 2.39, .908) has been especially strong against our I-78 rivals.
Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-16-36
Anthony Richard 17-19-36
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 13-17-30
Alexis Gendron 20-8-28
Bears
Ethan Bear 10-36-46
Alex Limoges 16-25-41
Pierrick Dubé 19-21-40
Ivan Miroshnichenko 20-19-39
Mike Vecchione 19-20-39
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 16.7%, 25th / PK 80.7%, 22nd / PP vs. HER 1-21, 4.8%
Hershey – PP 18.7%, 14th / PK 84.0%, 8th / PP vs. LV 3-27, 11.1%
SEASON SERIES (3-4-1)
10/30/24 Away W 2-1
11/16/24 Home L 3-6
11/29/24 Home W 2-1 (OT)
12/7/24 Home OTL 2-3 (OT)
12/8/24 Away L 4-5
1/7/25 Away W 5-4
3/2/25 Away L 0-4
4/4/25 Home L 1-2
4/12/25 Home
4/19/25 Away
SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Olle Lycksell 2-3-5
J.R. Avon 1-4-5
Helge Grans 2-2-4
Samu Tuomaala 1-3-4
Anthony Ricahard 0-4-4
Jacob Gaucher 3-0-3
Cal Petersen 3-3-1, 2.39, .908
Hershey
Ethan Bear 2-6-8
Mike Sgarbossa 2-4-6
Pierrick Dube 1-4-5
Spencer Smallman 1-4-5
x – Ethan Frank 3-1-4
Mike Vecchione 2-2-4
Clay Stevenson 2-0-1, 1.49, .943
COMING UP – The Phantoms return for the regular-season ome finale on Friday, April 18 against the Cleveland Monsters and then visit the Hershey Bears on Saturday, April 19 in Game #72 of the 2024-25 campaign.
UPCOMING
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
