ALLENTOWN The Lehigh Valley Phantoms debuted to a capacity crowd as the AHL officially arrived at Allentown's new PPL Center. The Phantoms got an assist from their NHL parent club, the Philadelphia Flyers for the opening, with about a dozen Flyers players making the trip to the Lehigh Valley for the game. The two squads playing were dubbed Team White and Team Orange, with each team having players from both the Phantoms and Flyers, with Team Orange collecting a 5-3 win in the game.

Coaches, players and fans all gave the new facility great grades and the game - which was billed as the "Battle on Hamilton" - went off with only a few small glitches that didn't dull the experience for anybody."I think the whole idea of having hockey in the Lehigh Valley and having this amazing place for them to play in is fantastic. It's going to be a lot of fun and we'll definitely be back," said Rob Zenz of Bethlehem, who describes himself as a huge fan of the Flyers.The new facility was filled with fans in orange and black, craning their necks to take in every inch of the place and holding up cell phones to capture the night in pictures. Throughout the night, fans were rewarded with promotions that provided upgraded seat locations and a tricycle race on the ice between periods. Fans also joined together to take part in the first "Let's Go Flyers" chant and the first wave in the history of the PPL Center.As for the game, it wasn't exactly a real representation of the type of hockey that will be played during the regular season. There was only one penalty assessed in the 60 minutes of play and the only big hit of the night was an accidental collision around the goal that had goalie Andrew Stolarz laying on the ice with the trainer attending to him. He was soon up on his feet and later described it as "just a stinger" that won't have any lasting effects.While admitting that the game's intensity was at a low level, Phantoms coach Terry Murray was happy with what he saw on the ice as players jockey for position in the Flyers organization. Murray is also among the fans of the facilities and what they bring to his players and the fans alike."This is an amazing facility. Everything from the locker room to the weight room and the medical facilities for the players are top-notch, it's beautiful," reported Murray. "I think the fans enjoyed the game, there was a lot of good puck movement, individual skills and some pretty good goals were scored."Phantoms defenseman Brett Flemming, handled a pass from Zac Rinaldo and fired it into the net for the first goal of the game. The 1-0 lead for Team White was temporary. Team Orange came back early in the second period with two goals within 18 seconds to take a 2-1 lead that they wouldn't surrender. Flemming tallied his second goal of the night with less than two-minutes left in the game to make it a 4-3 game, but Chris VandeVelde of the Orange Team fired a shot into an empty net with ten-seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.The Phantoms open their official pre-season schedule Wednesday night at the PPL Center when the Hershey Bears, the top affiliate of the Washington Capitals, come to town.