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Beaulieu hoping to contribute to Phantoms' No. 2 line

By TIM McMANUS tmcmanus@poststar.com | Posted: Saturday, November 21, 2009 1:25 am | (0) Comments

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T.J. HOOKER T.J. Hooker - thooker@poststar.com Adirondack Phantoms' Jared Ross looks to pass during their game against Binghamton held at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Friday, November 13, 2009.

GLENS FALLS -- During pregame warm-ups at the Civic Center, you can usually spot Josh Beaulieu as one of the players digging pucks out of the net. It’s not the most glamorous job, but it’s pretty telling about Beaulieu’s role on the team:

He’s willing to do whatever, play wherever, to stay on the ice.

Beaulieu has skated on three of the Adirondack Phantoms’ four lines. Most recently, he earned a big promotion. On Wednesday, he replaced the recalled David Laliberte on the second line centered by captain Jared Ross with Krys Kolanos on the left side.

“You’ve got to try and put pieces of the puzzle together on every line and hopefully they can jell and create chemistry,” Phantoms coach Greg Gilbert said.

They’ll likely get a chance Saturday night as the Phantoms play at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, their only game of the weekend. The Penguins came into the weekend in fifth place in the East Division, one spot in front of the Phantoms.

On paper, the combination of Ross and Kolanos, who combined for 60 AHL goals last year, should be explosive. Neither has scored since Oct. 18. Together, they have just three goals.

Gilbert hopes the addition of Beaulieu is the tweak that makes the line go.

“I wanted a guy who is going to go in there and bang and crash,” Gilbert said. “Ross isn’t a banger and crasher, even though he competes, and neither is Krys. I tried to put someone in there that was going to go into the corners, go into the dirty areas and scrim out the pucks for them.”

Beaulieu, 22, a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2005, isn’t much of a scorer. Over parts of the last three seasons with the Phantoms, he has 10 points in 103 games. But it’s his work ethic and versatility that have made him valuable to this year’s team.

He began the season on the third line, centered the checking line for a few games, and now is back to the wing on a line that needs to score.

Beaulieu has one goal and one assist in 13 games. Maybe most importantly, he’s only taken one penalty.

“He’s been one of our more consistent forwards all year,” Gilbert said. “He can play the wing, he can play the middle, he can penalty-kill, obviously not so much power play, but he’s one of those role players that every team needs. He’s been doing a great job.”

Posted in Sports on Saturday, November 21, 2009 1:25 am Updated: 1:35 am. | Tags: Phantoms

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