Philadelphia -- The Phamtoms Calder Cup team was on the ice with the Cup. It brought back some memories of that lockout season for me and certainly for the fans that were cheering some of the members of the 2005 squad.

The Hershey Bears got a quick goal when Phantoms goalie, Michael Leighton, made two kick saves but the second went to Chris Bourque and he lifted the puck into the back of the net to give his team the 1-0 lead 28 seconds into the first period. The crowd of well over 30,000 (over 45,653 paid, shattering the old league record)
Bears goalie Braden Holtby made a nice glove save off a Kyle Wellwood wrist shot maintaining the early lead.

Phantoms forward Mark Testwuide tied up the game at 12:03 of the second period with a nice one-timer in the crease that found the twine. He shot through the Hershey defender to knot up the score 1-1.

The Bears took a 2-1 lead when Leighton didn’t cover up a rebound and Greentree knocked it back into the net pretty quickly at 18:37 of the middle period. Cody Eakin was wreaking havoc in the crease and got a helper. There were some cheers and then boo’s rained down as the period was coming to a close.

There were fireworks, literally, in-between the 2nd and 3rd periods.

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was at the game. The Phantoms had Holtby moving all over when Luke Pither eventually put one past the netminder to make it a 2-2 tie at 7:03 of the third period. He was right at the doorstep to put in a rebound.

The action got a lot faster when it was under the 10:00 minute mark to go in the third period.

Soon after the Bears got a power play, Bourque came down the ice and dished off a nice backhand pass that Graham Mink deposited to give Hershey the 3-2 lead.

The Phantoms got a power play chance right after that but didn’t connect.

With time winding down in the game Ben Holmstrom tied up the game 3-3 at 19:39.

The overtime period would last just 58 seconds, that when Phantoms winger Shane Harper who got on the break and he skated around a defender trying a sliding block and he put the biscuit in the basket to get the 4-3 win.

Fans stood and cheered the team that used to play across the street and they celebrated the win.

*Download this exclusive pre-game interview
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_IUCHqyVLRhNGFiMWNhOWYtZDg3YS00NDA0LWJ...
with Bears star Cody Eakin. We talk about the World Juniors, outdoor hockey and more.

*photo by Feldman

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