John Stevens: Calder Cup winner, Stanley Cup winner, and baker extraordinaire

Five Questions: Rebuilding the Phantoms and Titans

By Marcello De Feo
Posted on 04/12/2013 at 8:00 am

Flyers Faithful revisited a former recurring feature, Five Questions, to address some current hot and important topics, including the draft, prospects, and the future of the Flyers. For this edition of Five Questions, we asked John Saquella, Jim Butler, James Centifonti, Joshua Janet, and our very own Jared Abbott to participate. Below, you will find their answers to today’s question. The organization has failed to produce winning clubs at the AHL and ECHL levels in recent years. With your GM cap still on, how do you go about fixing that? Is it even a big deal? John Saquella: Winning at …

Atlantic Watch: Penguins on winning streak, Devils snap losing streak, Islanders’ point streak ends

By Craig F
Posted on 03/13/2013 at 11:00 am

The Philadelphia Flyers lost their first two games this week to stretch their losing streak to three games before they edged out the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday for a pair of points. Philly will have a home-and-home with a struggling Devils club over the next few days, as they look to gain a spot in the Eastern Conference’s top eight. The Orange and Black had the Pittsburgh Penguins beat on Monday, but they let their hated rivals come back for a 5-4 win at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. Jakub Voracek had two power-play goals and the tandem of …

Ben Holmstrom leaves the ice after a morning skate the day of the AHL Outdoor Classic in January.
Photo by Tim McManus

Holmstrom’s loss a serious one. So now what?

By Tim McManus
Posted on 12/14/2012 at 8:00 am

After covering the Phantoms for three years, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how they go about their business. But the organization surprised me Thursday by issuing a statement addressing Ben Holmstrom’s knee injury and upcoming surgery. I can’t speak for the Philadelphia years, but that’s an unprecedented step since the move to Glens Falls in 2009. I can’t recall the team making any official comment on injuries, and there have been a few significant ones. Johan Backlund, the team’s 2009-10 MVP, missed large chunks of time. Krys Kolanos — don’t laugh, he was a big AHL deal …

Answering reader mail, even when there isn’t any

By Tim McManus
Posted on 10/26/2012 at 8:00 am

I’ll let you in on a little media secret. Every time a writer uses a column to answer mail, or even better, “clean out the mailbag,” it usually means they just don’t have a strong enough premise to carry a whole piece. Or they just ran out of time. I cop to both those this week. With the Phantoms having played only four games, two of them in the far reaches of St. John’s, Newfoundland, there isn’t a whole lot of new material to cover. So please forgive me for me turning to the old writer’s crutch of answering reader …

The Phantoms player I’m most interested to follow during the lockout may surprise you

By Tim McManus
Posted on 10/12/2012 at 8:00 am

In three seasons covering the Adirondack Phantoms, only two players made me stop and say, “Wow.” Brayden Schenn and Matt Read belonged in a different league from their first shifts. Instead of rookies, they looked like 16-year-olds with forged birth certificates who faked their way into some 13-and-under house league. They were the only sure things. And you didn’t need to be a hockey genius to see it. If you asked me, however, who was the third most impressive forward I covered, I bet you’d be surprised by the answer. This time last year, Matt Ford was a third-liner for the …

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