Last season, Josh Gratton was fighting against the Phantoms; this season, he's fighting for them.
Gratton, who signed with the Flyers organization over the summer, is a big, strong player who has been known in his brief pro hockey career for his active fists. He leads the team in penalty minutes, with 149.
But it would be a mistake to consider the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Gratton just an imposing physical presence on the ice.
"He's a pretty talented kid," said Phantoms coach John Stevens. In fact, Gratton is more talented than he probably realizes, Stevens added.
"He's a powerful skater" and has good hands, Stevens said. He also is developing his skills. "I just think that he's starting to be an effective guy. He's not a liability on the ice... I wouldn't put any kind of limits on this guy."
The left winger plays on a line with center Jeff Smith, who is in his third AHL season, and Todd Fedoruk, who has played in 220 games for the Phantoms' parent team, the Flyers.
As for the penalty minutes, those aren't a result of undisciplined infractions, Stevens said. Gratton mixes it up "when other teams take liberties with us," the coach said, adding that Gratton is "a courageous guy" who stands up for his teammates.
"We're all a big family here," Gratton said, explaining how he feels about his teammates.
Gratton, 22, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, and a cousin of former Flyers center Chris Gratton, is in his second year in the American Hockey League. He played 21 games for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks last season (including a game in February with the Phantoms in which he got into two first-period fights.) Before joining the Ducks, he played three seasons in Canadian juniors.
It was plain that, as Gratton skated through practice yesterday, working through the drills with his blond hair sticking out from under his helmet, that he has a good time playing hockey.
"You've got to be loose" and can't allow things to become "too stressful," he said after the Phantoms finished their workout at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees.
Gratton, who said he has been playing hockey since he was 4 or 5, sees himself as "a physical player that knows the game." (Although, he added, you can never assume you know enough, because every game is different.)
Like just about everybody in minor-league hockey, Gratton would like to play in the NHL, but knows it requires maximum effort.
"I still need a lot of work to get up to the next level," he said. "I've just got to improve on everything. There's not one specific thing. I could always use improvement. I work on my skating. Coach tells me every day to keep my feet moving. I can slack a bit... and he just reminds me."
The NHL lockout has had one benefit as far as Gratton is concerned. "It's just given me an opportunity to play with better players in this league," he said. "You take everything in is the way you've got to do it."
And you keep on playing. "You can't ask for a better life," he said.