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Bob Hartley by Tricia McMillan

Help Wanted: In one fell swoop, two AHL teams found themselves short a head coach. The Colorado Avalanche decided to replace Marc Crawford with the guy who's been training the kids for them - Hershey Bears coach Bob Hartley gets his first NHL coaching job. And to assist him, the Avalanche raided the Portland Pirates for Bryan Trottier. While the Pirates have no word on a replacement - let's face it, the Capitals have other things on their minds right now - the Avalanche wasted no time replacing Hartley, moving current Colorado assistant Mike Foligno to Hershey to head up the Bears for next season.

On Second Thought: After a few years as a dual affiliation between Hartford and Phoenix, the Coyotes unceremoniously dumped the Whale out of Springfield with the intent of going it alone. They didn't even make it to the start of the season, agreeing to take a few Kings players to bulk up their roster, and for the 98-99 season the Falcons return to a dual agreement. While the Coyotes will remain the primaries, the Kings will now provide at least eight and up to 12 players to Springfield for next season.

That would appear to preclude Los Angeles sending any players to Fredericton, so don't be surprised if the young Habs enter an agreement with another team to take a few players. Hershey continues to talk with teams about a secondary affiliation, as Dallas, Chicago and possibly Nashville search for potential player placement sites.

One team that apparently is not going anywhere for a long time is the St. John's Maple Leafs. Despite swirling rumors the Maple Leafs would pull their players and start an AHL team in Toronto, St. John's and the Leafs have come to an agreement in principle which would keep the team in St. John's and a Maple Leafs affiliate for the next six seasons. The lone catch is that the Canadian government must match the funds ponied up by the city of St. John's and the Newfoundland province to build a new arena before the deal becomes final. The fate of St. John's will determine the fate of the Maritime teams, as only Saint John is viable without the existence of other Maritime teams.

Sign 'em Up: Well, as we know, Ryan Bast signed with the Flyers while under contract to Saint John. Meanwhile, Tyrone Garner played with Calgary and is travelling with Saint John even though he doesn't have a contract with either team. Calgary decided to rectify that little discrepancy and signed Garner over the weekend to an NHL contract.

Put Me In Coach: The AHL has decided where to put the Lowell Lock Monsters - divisionally speaking, that is. Lowell will join the Atlantic Division with the Maritimers and Portland, bringing the AHL's Eastern Conference even with two five-team divisions. The Western Conference remains unchanged.

CALDER CUP FINALS

Game One, May 30: Philadelphia 3, Saint John 2 (2 OT)
Game Two, May 31: Saint John 3, Philadelphia 2
Game Three: Wednesday, June 3, Philadelphia @ Saint John, 7:30 PM (ADT)
Game Four: Friday, June 5, Philadelphia @ Saint John, 7:30 PM (ADT)
Game Five: Sunday, June 7, Philadelphia @ Saint John, 7:00 PM (ADT)*
Game Six: Wednesday, June 10, Saint John @ Philadelphia, 7:00 PM (EDT)*
Game Seven: Friday, June 12, Saint John @ Philadelphia, 7:00 PM (EDT)*

Frank Bialowas by Kevin Fischer

My pick: Saint John in six.

Game One: Saint John sure knew how to say hello to the Phantoms, storming them in the first few minutes of the game and peppering Neil Little. Then the Phantoms handed it right back to the Flames and the balance of the game shifted back and forth - for five periods. The most excitement came in a rare playoff moment - a fight between certified heavyweights Frank Bialowas and Rocky Thompson. Bialowas notched a takedown and left Thompson down for the count with an injury to his right eye, causing him to miss the rest of the game.

But that was about the only thing the Phantoms won for most of the game, as their power play was absolutely woeful at 0-for-7 and indeed they may have had only one shot with the extra man, because of an absolute failure to put the puck on net. Shaquille O'Neal on the free throw line doesn't miss that many nets. Heck, the Phantoms often were yards away. The Flames, for their part, shot a little too straight - directly into the shin pads of the Phantoms standing in front of them. Try six inches either direction, guys.

Saint John got on the board first in a second-period power play, scoring late on the extra man when Todd Hlushko rescued a rebound and shot it past a downed Little. But the worst thing a team can do is give up a goal in the final minute of a period and that's precisely what Saint John did, as Mike Maneluk cruised into the Flames' end and sent a shot towards Tyler Moss that proceeded right through the five hole for a soft tying goal at 19:42. The Phantoms later took the lead in the third, as Ryan Bast failed to pick up Maneluk behind the net and the Flyer sniper had free rein to send the puck out to a charging Andy Delmore, who rang it in off the post. Then the Phantoms shut things down, and finally Saint John pulled Tyler Moss in the final moments desperately seeking a tie. They got it from Martin St. Louis with three seconds remaining in the game. The Phantoms crowd was in the process of counting down when the goal was scored: Five! Four! Dead silence.

Then on to the first overtime, when both teams had their chances, including Philadelphia on a too many men call against Saint John, but no dice. And it appeared it wouldn't be long before no ice - it was visibly melting. The puck was bouncing and the going was slow. "I can tell you right now, both those teams are dog tired," commented the Flames' Jeff Cowan.

Sean O'Brien by Tricia McMillan

So how much longer could it go on? Not much longer. Just 1:27 into the second overtime, Moss stopped Bruce Coles' point blank shot but gave up a huge rebound that Sean O'Brien slammed off the opposite post. Game, Phantoms, finally. Moss stopped 34 shots, Little 39.

Of course, no game in Philadelphia would be complete unless it included Neanderthals with tickets. Those would be the ones in my section that not only had no clue as to the basic rules of hockey but taught my nine-year-old companion words she shouldn't have learned yet; and the ones behind the Saint John penalty box who not only tried to climb over the wall to get at a Saint John player, but kept trying to get at him despite ten security guards trying to get them back out. I skipped Game Two for health reasons - I wanted to continue breathing.

Game Two: Round Two had a remarkable resemblance to Round One. Both teams scored in the first period, Saint John scored with three seconds remaining, Mike Maneluk scored, the Flames were caught with too many men on the ice, the Phantoms couldn't do anything with the extra man, the Flames scored late to send the game into overtime, the team that scored first lost, and the final score was 3-2. One major difference - this time it was Saint John on the happy end of overtime.

Jamie Heward by Tricia McMillan

After a pitiful extra-man performance in Game One, the Phantoms were handed a power play in the first minute the game when Eric Charron was sent off just 31 seconds after the opening faceoff and Todd Hlushko followed him 17 seconds later, giving the Phantoms a five-on-three only 48 seconds into the game. Apparently the Phantoms need the full two-man advantage because this time Philadelphia finally accomplished something on the power play as quarterback Jamie Heward scored at the 57-second mark to give the Phantoms an early lead. The Phantoms would go on to receive eight more power plays in the game - and squandered every single one of them. After two games, Philadelphia's much vaunted power play stood at 1-for-16. Not good.

Speaking of not good, what was that about allowing late goals? This time Saint John tied the game up in the waning seconds of the first period, scoring at the 19:57 mark for the second time in two games. Officially speaking, Ladislav Kohn redirected Hnat Domenichelli's late shot with 2.9 seconds remaining for both a power-play tally and his playoff leading 13th goal and the Flames left the ice even all. The Phantoms came back to take the lead late in the second, when Mike Maneluk scored yet again for his 10th playoff goal - and with Jim Montgomery in the box, this one was short-handed.

The Phantoms held the 2-1 lead for nearly 18 minutes into the third period, but once again the Flames were able to tie the score, this time courtesy of Montgomery. At 17:57, Saint John's Eric Landry sent a shot netward which Montgomery accidentally deflected into his net.

Chris O'Sullivan by Tricia McMillan

Back to overtime we all go. While the game once again ended barely a minute and a half into the overtime period, fortunately it was the first overtime and not the second when Chris O'Sullivan's blue line blast was redirected by Todd Hlushko into the net at 1:26. (Ever notice this recurring redirection theme?) O'Sullivan also set up the first Flames goal to be the lone multi-point man of the game; Tyler Moss started again despite shakiness in Game One and stopped 26 shots for Saint John. Neil Little stopped 31 shots. The now tied series heads to Saint John for three games.

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