Tuesday's Phantoms Practice Update 10/13

The Phantoms took to the ice in Whitehall this morning.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have another week of practice leading up to their first road trip of the season - Friday night in Springfield, Mass. and Saturday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. - and it began today in Whitehall without their team captain Colin McDonald, who left Saturday's season opener with an undisclosed injury.

Updates on McDonald, Jason LaBarbera as well as a look at the new line combinations from today's practice after the jump. Also, click on the link below for this week's Phantoms story in The Home News. It features a 'fast' start by Danick Martel.


After talking with head coach Scott Gordon after practice, the injury remains undisclosed as Gordon remained tight-lipped about the status of McDonald moving forward. When asked if it was an upper or lower body aliment, Gordon replied, "Yes. It's the body."

He followed that response up with a statement that McDonald was visiting doctors today and it might not be as bad as they first thought. Still, his status for this weekend's games is very much in question. 

With Jason LaBarbera still in Philadelphia with the Flyers while Steve Mason tends to a personal matter, the Phantoms called up goaltender Martin Ouellette to give the team two goalies at practice. Gordon said he was expecting to have LaBarbera back for this weekend's games, but that nothing was set in stone and that it's always subject to change.

With McDonald not on the ice for practice, the lines were shuffled a bit. Chris Conner was bumped up from the third line to take McDonald's place on the second line alongside Danick Martel and Nick Cousins. Tyrell Goulbourne jumped up to the third line with Cole Bardreau and Petr Straka. The defense pairings also had a slight tweak from the home opener.

Phantoms' Lines

Taylor Leier - Tim Brent - Aaron Palushaj
Danick Martel - Nick Cousins - Chris Conner
Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Petr Straka
Jay Rosehill - Pavel Padakin - Michael Parks 

Shayne Gostisbehere - Andrew MacDonald
Sam Morin - Robert Hagg
Davis Drewiske - Mark Alt
Matt Lashoff - Jesper Pettersson

Anthony Stolarz - Martin Ouellette   

The AHL's Veteran Rule

In the American Hockey League (AHL), there's a rule in place which limits the amount of veterans a team can dress in their lineup. The rule states that of the 18 skaters in the lineup, only five veteran players who have played more than 320 professional games (including the NHL, AHL, European Elite Leagues and the KHL) are able to play. In addition, one 'tweener' player who has played more than 260 games but fewer than 320 can also dress.

The number of games played at the start of the season is the number used for the rule. Here's the six players on the Phantoms (with amount of games played in parenthesis) who fall under the veteran category:

Tim Brent (602), Chris Conner (593), Colin McDonald (592), Andrew MacDonald (545), Jay Rosehill (542), Aaron Palushaj (379) and Davis Drewiske (284)

Basically, Davis Drewiske can play as that 'tweener' player I mentioned above. Then, only five of the six players classified as veterans in the above list can play - meaning one will have to be scratched every game.With Colin McDonald currently injured, Jay Rosehill can slot back into the lineup while McDonald remains out.