Phantoms' Season Again On Pause Due To AHL's Covid Protocols

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ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-2-2) have had a bit of a roller coaster ride the past 10 days.

Going back to March 10, their game in Newark, NJ was suspended just prior to the start of the 2nd period as the Binghamton Devils discovered -  apparently during the first intermission and as first-reported here shortly after the game was suspended - they had a positive COVID test result.

The American Hockey League (AHL) released a statement last Wednesday night stating the game was suspended due to the league's COVID-19 protocols affecting the Binghamton Devils.

The Phantoms, out of an abundance of caution, canceled their scheduled practices the following two days (March 11 and March 12) while the AHL postponed Binghamton's games on March 12 vs. Hershey and March 13 in Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley resumed on ice practice last Saturday, the day they were originally scheduled to host Binghamton, and were able to resume their playing schedule Sunday in Hershey.

Preparing for a mid-week Wednesday night home game against the Devils, InsideAHLHockey.com can confirm the Phantoms held practice on Tuesday, as we secured an after-practice phone interview with defenseman Derrick Pouliot Tuesday afternoon and had an extensive conversation about various topics surrounding the team and the player. (Stay tuned for a lot more on Pouliot in a separate story this weekend!)

From everything I've been able to gather this week, my understanding is that when the Phantoms entered Wednesday's regular game day testing routine that at least one positive test result was discovered. The AHL Wednesday afternoon released a statement, postponing Wednesday's Phantoms home game against the Devils and explaining the postponement was due to the league's COVID-19 Protocols affecting Lehigh Valley.

To be clear, this isn't the first time the Phantoms have had a positive test result on a gameday testing. In fact, we reported on that as well when the Phantoms had to cancel one of their preseason games back at the end of January due to what was eventually ruled a false-positive. From what I had been told earlier in the week - and am willing to divulge at this time - they didn't think it was just a scare this time around.

The league also later postponed the Phantoms' game Friday in Wilkes-Barre against their rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Neither of the Phantoms' postponed games this week have makeup dates determined yet, but the Phantoms and Devils will resume and play out the rest of their game from March 10 that was suspended after the 1st period of play. The game will resume tied 1-1 at the start of the middle frame on April 26th at 6 p.m. ET in Newark, NJ.

The Phantoms' Sunday afternoon home game against the Penguins at 3:15 p.m. ET remains on as scheduled at the time of this story's release.

EDIT: We later received word that the Phantoms did hold practice Saturday, and all signs point to Sunday's game being played as scheduled.

To be perfectly clear, our interview with Derrick Pouliot on Tuesday afternoon occurred BEFORE Wednesday's Phantoms COVID-related issues postponed their first two games of the week. Nonetheless, his time on the Philadelphia Flyers taxi squad also unfortunately coincided with the period when the NHL club had its own COVID-related troubles, and he shared his perspective on how difficult it is for veteran players to make the jump from AHL to taxi squad and hopefully into NHL action.

Little did he know on Tuesday how relevant to the Phantoms it would become on Wednesday.

"Yeah, no, it's definitely... it is tough. It's almost better to be in the American [Hockey] League and playing games because that's really, in the end, that's really how you get better," Pouliot said, reminiscing of what sounded like a three-week stretch in February he would like to forget. "When you’re on the taxi squad there, sometimes you might get a morning skate with the whole team or whatever, but most of the time it's three, four guys. And you know, there's not a lot you can do with those three, four guys. And then if a couple guys get COVID, and the team gets just shut down all of a sudden you're sitting around for for a week, or whatever it is, and you're not doing anything. So I mean, it's definitely a tough spot to be in. It's hard to be ready, you know, when you're up there, just practicing. Really what you need is to play some games."

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