It may have been somewhat symbolic that the Phantoms ended their inaugural season in the Lehigh Valley much the way it played out throughout the season; a ton of penalties. Lehigh Valley dropped their season finale to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by a 5-1 score in a game that saw the two teams combine for 108 minutes of penalties. The 54 minutes of penalties for Lehigh Valley put their season total to 1,834 minutes, 108 minutes more than the second most penalized team in the AHL (the Bridgeport Sound Tigers).

The loss left Lehigh Valley with a final record of 33-35-7-1 for 13th place in the Eastern Conference, 13 points out of the playoffs. The 8,689 fans in attendance left them in fourth place attendance-wise in the league, with a per game average of 8,163 fans. Minor league hockey isn't measured simply by wins and losses, but by the development of young players throughout the season and head coach Terry Murray believes that in those terms, there was definitely a lot to like about the 2014-15 Phantoms."Every player has their own story here. I thought overall, guys improved," said Murray. "We had young guys who were seeing more minutes in critical situations, we had guys who were called up this year and I thought handled themselves pretty well at the next level. It's a process and this is Year One of it."The process is to play games at the pro level. You get 76 games under your belt. For these young guys to come in out of juniors or out of college, this is exactly what you have to do. They're going to be twice the players that they are next year because of this year of pro hockey, so it was a real good year for that."Murray made a point of mentioning the progress that he's seen in defenseman Brandon Manning, the team's only all-star this year. Murray has coached Manning for three seasons now and has seen steady development in his on-ice play, but this year, saw a big leap in some intangible areas of his game."Brandon Manning has really come a long way. He got through training camp in Philadelphia this year and came here and I think he still wasn't in the right place on the emotional part of the game, but I've really loved to see what he has done. To me, he's ready to take the next step. He contributes in all parts of the game and I'm looking forward to seeing his training camp year and making the big team and having a big impact up there," said Murray.After discussing his team, the post-game questions turned to Murray's future with the franchise and in hockey in general. The question became more intense when the Flyers fired coach Craig Berube last week, leaving an opening that was once held by Murray, who coached the Flyers and other NHL teams in his career. When asked where he thought he would be next season, he was quick to respond, but not with a lot of information."I don't have that crystal ball; I've been searching for that thing for 50 years," joked Murray. "I don't know. It's been a great game, it's great to be a part of it, so I keep pushing. I still love doing it, so we'll see where that goes."When the question turned to where he would like to be next season, Murray was a little more serious with his answer, but still left some questions unanswered."The whole process here that we've been talking about with the players, is no different with anybody else. Whether it's Dan [Dan Fremuth, Phantoms media relations manager], Dan wants to get up there, the coaches want to get up there, all the training staff, they want to get up there, that's what it's all about, that's the place to play," said Murray. "I've been there a long time, it's a great place to work. You get in first class on the airplane, you've got catered meals, you've got a lot of good perks, but it's hard; it's hard. The work is very demanding, the pressure is great, the stress is there, you have to perform, we see that already, with a lot of changes that have happened, but that's always where you want to get to. The possibility of getting back for one more try, so I am no different than anybody else."