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Lehigh Valley closes out season with a victory

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wrapped up their second season with a 5-2 win over Syracuse Sunday night to finish the season 34-35-4-3, finishing 12th in the conference, 12 points out of the AHL playoffs.

The win was a nice way to cap a disappointing home season that saw Lehigh Valley go 14-21-1-2 at the PPL Center this season, the second-worst home record in the league.The 2015-16 season was a breakout one for goalie Anthony Stolarz, who established himself as one of the better goalies in the AHL. Stolarz made 19 saves in Sunday's win and went 21-18-7 this season with a 2.61 goals-against average. The 22-year-old goalie was one of two Phantoms to make the AHL All-Star Game this season, and was called up by the Flyers multiple times.While this season's version of the Phantoms didn't fare as well as they would have hoped, they had a number of young players step up to give a glimpse of the future, which appears to be very bright.First-round pick Travis Sanheim scored his first professional goal on Sunday, playing in just his fourth game with the Phantoms. Sanheim also added an assist and was named the Star of the Game by the media covering the game. The 20-year-old Sanheim wasn't the only new face netting a goal Sunday, as Nic Aube-Kubel also scored for Lehigh Valley. Young players Oskar Lindblom, Reece Wilcox, and Steven Swavely also scored their first career goals during the season with the Phantoms."I think the last couple of weeks was important for me," said Sanheim. "I think you saw in my game that I was feeling more comfortable, and making better plays and smarter decisions with the puck."The team finished with a franchise-record 24 sellouts, including 13 straight sold-out games. The attendance of 321,219 was even better than their inaugural season in the Lehigh Valley when they drew 310,199 fans."We wanted to put on a good show for the fans who supported us all year," said Tim Brent, who scored his 10th goal of the season Sunday. "I think they got that tonight."PHANTOM FACTS: On Monday, Adam Comrie was returned to the Reading Royals, who are in the ECHL playoffs ... Lehigh Valley finished well, winning seven of their final 10 games, outscoring their opponents 34-20 over the stretch ... Chris Conner led the team in assists (39) and points (55), while rookie Danick Martel led the team in goals with 22. Conner's 50-point season was the fourth of his career, and fell just short of his career-high of 56 points set in the 2009-2010 season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ... Defenseman Samuel Morin was the only player to appear in all 76 games for the Phantoms this season. Morin finished with four goals, 15 assists and 118 penalty minutes ... The Phantoms saluted Flyers owner Ed Snider with a video tribute and a moment of silence prior to Friday's game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Snider, the founder of the Flyers, passed away on April 11 at the age of 83.