All I can tell you is that sometime in February, I believe, Rats president Garen Szablewski told me prior to a game that the two sides would remain affiliated in 2009-10, and all that was needed was the proverbial "dotting the I's and crossing the T's." There has been so much talk about the Canes moving their farm team closer to Raleigh; there was one faction absolutely convinced that when the Chicago Blackhawks left Norfolk a few years back that Carolina's prospects were headed there. While location is important, so is the envirnonment; the Canes are happy in Albany. However, as we all know, nothing lasts forever.
I'll leave it to trainer Todd Pletcher, who said this morning: "I think it is a solid field. It's maybe not top quality 10 deep but I think it's a solid field. To me, I think you identify how good the 3-year-old races are later in the year when they start running against older horses."
My understanding is that they are keeping the Phantoms "brand" that they established in Philly and will carry with them when they move back to PA. All of their season ticket literature refers to the team as the Adirondack Phantoms. Keeping "Adirondack" allows them to feel as if they have some sort of link to the previous AHL team there though, personally, I think it's a stretch.
Posted on July 31 at 12:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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