Sotto Voce

Philadelphia native Tony Voce has been released from the Phantoms due to a disagreement with head coach Kjell Samuelsson.

Judging from the little bit of information in Panaccio's article there is a lot more than meets the eye, since, well, when has a simple disagreement over a practice where the player's anger gets the better of him, result in a dismissal?

Voce has been known to be a fiery, temperamental sort on the ice. He has been benched for periods here and there over his three-year stint with the Phantoms in order to bring his competitive streak in check and to continue his adjustment to the pro game from the college ranks. From all accounts and from these two eyes, when he's on, he displays a sniper's flair with an eye for punishing contact. When he's off? That's another matter that apparently has only been dealt with away from the ice and within Phantoms management.

The 26-year-old developed from a clear work-in-progress with unlimited talent during the team's 2005 Calder Cup season, to a bona-fide two-way player and team-leading scorer last season, to a part-time skater who has been clearly frustrated and shackled under Samuelsson.

Why a player of his caliber, even with his sometimes unrestrained brand of passion, was sent home with no chance of returning to South Broad Street indicates only one of two things: that he has exhibited a pattern of discord with Samuelsson and the coaching staff before this point, or that Samuelsson's plan for the hometown lad was vastly different with where his talent and skill lay, and the argument was simply the catalyst to get Voce out of town.

In either instance, it is a sad ending for someone whom I legitimately pegged as having a chance to crack the Flyers lineup in future seasons as part of its youth revival. Aside from just being a native Philadelphian, Voce is equal parts venom and velvet, someone who has worked to become very Flyer-like, a second-line checker with some pop in the Peter Zezel or early-Rick Tocchet mold. He rose from a role playing freshman on Boston College's 2001 National Championship squad to captain and leading scorer in his senior season, so he knows how to handle himself and others both on and off the ice.

The fact that Paul Holmgren went to the philosophical well and pulled out another old chestnut from venerated former head coach Fred Shero to explain Voce's release indicated an old-school mindset about the incident that is woefully out of line with today's athlete. So he had a blowup at practice, and he's frustrated about his role? So what? Even if it's not the first time it happened, did anyone on the coaching staff or front office talk to Voce before about his temper? Did Samuelsson or Holmgren or anyone else meet with Voce before the decision was made to dump him? Again, there's more to the story we're missing.

In any event, despite the brave front Holmgren may construct, the Phantoms are now missing their spark plug, and a huge impact player from their ranks. Where they will get offense from an already goal-challenged lineup is a total mystery. Where they will find any better marketable attraction than a hometown-boy-does-good story, is equally mysterious.

After this move, the real questions should be: Do the Flyers really care that much about the Phantoms as a hockey team, or are they nothing more than a conveyor belt for the big club, spare parts for inevitable injury bugs which strike the team each season? Do the Flyers care that their once-proud minor-league franchise is a shell (no pun intended) of its former self, catering to families and kids and half-empty houses? Can anybody even hear themselves think over the incessant din of the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song?