Lehigh Valley Phantoms (American Hockey League) @ PPL Center (Allentown, PA)

The life of a Phantom(s preseason game)

*This trip occurred on October 5, 2025.

Since this is the first time we’re diving into affiliated "minor league hockey" on this blog, I figured I’d give a little rundown of how it's structured, because it’s (theoretically) a lot simpler than baseball’s structure.

Each team in the NHL has only two minor league affiliates (for the most part; the few that don't are getting their second affiliate soon-ish IIRC). The higher affiliate is in the American Hockey League (AHL), and the lower affiliate is in the ECHL (which is technically no longer an acronym); both leagues consist of teams across the United States and Canada unlike how baseball has much smaller, regional leagues like the International League (AAA), Eastern League (AA), or South Atlantic League (High-A). One thing that separates the two systems, however, is that while Minor League Baseball typically sees players rise through the levels to get to MLB, it’s rarer for players to rise through the ranks of the hockey leagues: many players who get drafted start in the NHL right away, and going to the AHL or ECHL pretty much means they’re not likely to become regular NHL players (let alone stars). Because of this, the quality of play in the AHL (and more so in the ECHL) is often viewed as being inferior to the NHL (as well as top level NCAA programs and the CHL’s three leagues, which typically produce a significant amount of the draft's talent). This problem can actually be seen in player contracts, where some players will have a two-way contract with the NHL team, but others will have a contract that’s (almost) purely with the AHL (or ECHL) team.

Anyhoo, let’s get into the actual game I attended. As mentioned WAY back when I visited the IronPigs, the Phantoms are the AHL affiliate (i.e. the higher affiliate) of the Philadelphia Flyers¹. However, the Phantoms' history is actually really interesting: the Flyers established the team in 1996, and they originally played IN PHILADELPHIA at the Spectrum (Center) - the Flyers’ (and Sixers’) former arena that they moved out of in favor of their current arena (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena). They were, as minor league teams go, fairly successful, but what I remember most is them winning the AHL’s championship the year of the year-long NHL lockout². In fact, the team played many of its playoff games that season at the Flyers’ arena, which helped them set the AHL record for single playoff game attendance during their 2005 championship run (and was the AHL single game attendance record at the time).

When the time came for the Spectrum to be demolished in 2009, the Phantoms were (obviously) forced to relocate; they ended up in Glens Falls, NY as the Adirondack Phantoms. However, this was temporary, as a move to Allentown was announced in 2011, but delays in construction of their new arena pushed the actual move to 2014. While the team never made the playoffs while in the Adirondacks, they did (re)set the AHL’s all time attendance record when they returned to Philadelphia to play one of their fiercest rivals - the Hershey Bears (AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals) - at Citizens Bank Park.

Since moving to Allentown, the team has been...fine. While they don’t seem to be as big a “draw” as the IronPigs (they’re middle-ish of the AHL attendance rankings), they still draw decent crowds. They’ve made the playoffs more times than missing them (not counting the two seasons with no playoffs whatsoever), but they’ve only been as far as the conference finals (3rd round), and they only got there once.

Planning this game was weirdly difficult because for whatever reason, AHL schedules are WEIRD. The Phantoms’ Sunday games are at 3, which is very nice (especially given that it’s winter, so it gets dark early), but when I first started looking into this, they only had two Sunday games in 2025: one on a date I wanted to keep open, and the other one on the last Sunday of 2025 when I’m usually not home. However, the team later announced their preseason schedule, and that included a Sunday game (with no conflicts), so I ended up going for that.

One of the advantages of this being a preseason game: "firsthand" tickets were ten dollars less than a regular season ticket! However, I ended up using SeatGeek to get an even better deal on this ticket (I guess the Phantoms don't use TicketMaster for their resale market). Strangely, however, a number of resale tickets I saw were MORE than what they'd be firsthand - though that may be due to the fact that the opponent for this game was the aforementioned Hershey Bears. I also booked parking at a garage attached to the arena, and that came out to a whopping SEVEN dollars - more than the IronPigs, but less than other MiLB teams I visited this past season (and very inexpensive for being in a PRIME location)!

As mentioned earlier, the arena (PPL Center) opened with the Phantoms moving in in 2014. I thought this would be a "standard" indoor arena with not much to talk about, but I was wrong! Let's talk about what I found interesting:

1. Most of the entrances are at the same level as the concourse. However, I couldn't tell from inside, but it seems that the arena is built into a hill, as one entrance (the one I came in from which is attached to the garage) is below concourse level (similar to the entrances at Prudential Center in Newark).
2. There's a TIM HORTONS. It's next to one of the main entrances, and seemingly was closed off to the non-ticketed public for the game (as I was able to walk into it after scanning my ticket).
3. Similar to the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA, there's a premium area along one side of the concourse, but here, it's on one of the "long sides". I THOUGHT this would mean that the concourse was not fully accessible without a premium ticket, but it turns out that wasn't true! A passageway behind this premium area "completes" the full 360, and this part of the concourse has (the arena's obligatory) Chickie's and Pete's.
4. The seating bowl here is...not really that much of a bowl. There is a full ring of seats just off the concourse, but one end and one corner only go a few rows down before stopping. The Phantoms emerge onto the ice from the end area, and the corner is where the ice resurfacers come and go from.
5. There's a second deck along one side of the ice; I ended up watching most of the game from here, and it was actually a pretty good view because it lets you see more of what's going on without being too far away (as you can see in the photo above).
6. There's a real goal horn here (which, from the arenas I've been to, seems to be a 50/50 thing), and it's in the rafters near the upper deck. It's not SUPER loud and you'll pretty much know it's coming when the crowd starts cheering, but if you're close enough, you might be able to smell the gas used to power it...

This game was lightly attended, to say the least; you can see the swaths of empty seats in the photo above. However, the crowd seemed to get decently into the game, and there were indications that they act like a college crowd (which means I have to come back some time to see the building a bit fuller). Unfortunately for them, however, the Phantoms couldn't keep up after a hot start and ended up losing (but again, it's the preseason, so it technically doesn't matter THAT much).

In addition, the team was celebrating the recent release of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" - playing nothing but her music/remixes throughout the game (including the goal song). No word on which Phantoms player, if any, will have a song written about their stick however³...

(And as a note to TSN’s BarDown crew: it’s “lee-HIGH”, NOT “LEE”. I’m not even from the area and I got mad at them butchering that!)

MERCH

There are two merch areas on the concourse: A small one near the Tim Hortons, and the main one at the top of the stairs/escalator from the parking garage (I should note that this puts them at adjacent corners of the concourse). If you are thinking about getting merch, it's important to know that both areas closed BEFORE the game ended.

While most of what you'll find is standard sports team fare (jerseys, hats, other clothing, and hockey-related novelties), they did have a few pairs of "gloves" that were interesting (one pair was based on what the mascot typically wears). However, I only bought one thing: a jersey - and I need to talk about it.

The AHL currently has CCM as its jersey manufacturer - a company with a long history in hockey (as they had the NHL contract 20 years ago). Historically (or at least in recent history), I've found that CCM's replica jerseys are...not good: the logos on them are heat pressed (i.e not stitched on) and the shoulder patches are shockingly low quality (I’ve bought MANY replica and a few authentic CCM jerseys as they used to do CHL jerseys until 2025, and it is INSANE how much better the authentics are - especially on the shoulders)⁴. HOWEVER...something must have changed between 2022-23 and now, because the jersey I got has MUCH BETTER shoulder patches, and not only that, they're stitched on! The front logo still isn't however...

Also, I should mention that the Phantoms had three different jerseys: I did something I usually don't do and went for their white jersey, as it had additional details that I like better than the other two (which are just copies of the Flyers' main jerseys).

I thought about getting a puck, but they didn't have any game pucks for sale (I specifically go for GAME PUCKS as each team has a unique one), and I didn't like any of the hats as I wanted one with just their logo and no text - the only version of this was a women's hat.