As soon as we ascended to the upper level, the brawl broke out. We leaned over the railing and joined the fans’ roar, volume oscillating with each flurry of punches thrown. Grabbing each other’s uniforms at arm’s length, the two skaters-turned-prize fighters continued to take swings until the refs intervened. With the fight quelled and the crowd subdued, we took a chance to survey the scene around us—and quickly realized that thirty collegiate males are not the Philadelphia Phantoms typical fanbase. In fact, we were probably the oldest people there without children.

The future Flyers fanatics are bred at the Wachovia Spectrum. They are hockey aficionados in training. Watching the Phantoms, they learn the rules on the ice, and more importantly, in the bleachers: when to cheer, when to jeer, and when to sacrifice your head covering in the name of a hat trick. Over time, the youngsters gain an appreciation for the game and transfer their pride across the parking lot to the Wachovia Center, where many of their favorite Phantoms will have traded up their orange and purple uniforms for Flyers orange and black.

In the meantime, back at the Spectrum, the decibel level for a home team goal is rivaled by the young crowd’s shrill and unanimous accompaniment to Spongebob Squarepants played as a rallying cry over the speakers. I cannot say this with the utmost certainty, however, because I did not see a single goal scored. My group invested too much faith in the efficiency and speed of SEPTA subways and we did not arrive until late in the second period.

What we missed was another disappointing night for Philadelphia hockey. In their contest against first-place division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Phantoms struck first with a late first period goal by Jussi Timonen. That lead was soon reversed, as the Penguins scored twice to open the second period. The Phantoms Mark Cullen tied the game at 2 with a snapshot goal, but only temporarily. The Penguins netted the go-ahead goal just three minutes later, defended their goal successfully to the final horn, and left the ice 3-2 victors.

The loss was the Phantoms second-straight, keeping them tied with the Albany River Rats at fifth place in the East Division with identical 7-8-1 records (15 points). Those two teams face off in New York’s capital tonight at 5:00.