Colin McDonald's Valentines Day Return To The Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania - Colin McDonald had Friday night's Valentine's Day game circled on his calendar for quite some time, or at least as far back as November when he spoke with InsideAHLHockey.com following his first game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as a member of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers back on November 2nd in Connecticut.

"This will be my first time kind of having - I don't want to say a homecoming - but knowing that myself and [Cole Bardreau] are going to get a nice welcome back," McDonald told InsideAHLHockey.com back in November. [The date has] definitely been circled, plans have been made."

Cole Bardreau was called up to the NHL's New York Islanders and not with Bridgeport when the Sound Tigers rolled into PPL Center Thursday, but McDonald was joined by his wife Lexi and daughter Ryleigh - their first child was born in Allentown on March 21st, 2019 during McDonald's fourth and final season with the Phantoms.

The Phantoms had faced McDonald and the Sound Tigers twice in Bridgeport, but Friday night's game at PPL Center marked McDonald's first game back in Allentown where he had played the previous four seasons in the orange and black.

The first captain in Lehigh Valley Phantoms franchise history, McDonald ranks among the franchise's leader in games played (248 - third), goals (60 - fourth) and points (129 - fifth). Away from the numbers on the stat sheet, the captain was well-respected in the locker room.

"It's not ideal playing against my friends because I try and play a physical style," McDonald explained. "This was really nice to see all the guys and catch up with them quickly, which was unique about Lehigh Valley is we had the same core for pretty much four years. You don't get that a lot in the AHL. Our girlfriends and wives became close, obviously the guys are close. We had really good years and some not so good years but we went through everything together."

During a 1-on-1 with InsideAHLHockey.com back in Bridgeport, McDonald stopped the interview nearly a dozen times to quickly say goodbye to his former teammates. You could see McDonald made his mark on the franchise by the numbers, but seeing every one of his teammates and coaches from last season stop and catch up with him it was easy to see he made a lasting impression off the ice as well.

Last season was a tough one for McDonald and the Phantoms. With all of the distraction from the Philadelphia Flyers, the firing of their GM and head coach and subsequent loss of AHL head coach Scott Gordon, McDonald was relied upon heavily during the chaotic months that followed.

"It was a whirlwind. It was something that a lot of us just never had to experience before," McDonald recalled of last season's debacle. "You get the coaching change, and you don't see that in the AHL -  them getting called up [doesn't happen] too often. Just a lot of moving pieces and I did my best trying to navigate that ship tying to help out [Bill Downey] and [Kerry Huffman] the best I could to keep the guys focused. Definitely a learning experience and definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth to not make playoffs with the team we had and not getting a chance to make up for it this year, but like I said it's a part of hockey and a part of life."

With the management change mid-season, McDonald began to get a sense toward the end of the year that re-signing with the Flyers organization might not happen. When the summer came, it was Bridgeport stepping up and expressing interest.

"Not going to lie, it was definitely disappointing. We had four good years there, not just hockey-wise but obviously Ryleigh being born there and Lexi being with us there, I felt like we were a part of the community. The community embraced our family," McDonald said, adding, "That's stuff that means a lot now that I'm an older player. If I was younger, you don't think twice about that, so just trying to take that all in. It was definitely tough to move on but it's part of the business."

"That being said, Bridgeport checked off a lot of boxes for us," McDonald continued. "I think most importantly just very thankful to still be playing. It's very tough to get jobs for someone in my position. I don't score a lot anymore so a team really has to - I don't want to say do me a favor - but maybe look into my character and what I bring outside of points. [And] to be close to home is something I haven't had in a long time."

In 48 games with the Sound Tigers this season, McDonald - an assistant captain of the New York Islanders affiliate - has tallied 15 points (two goals, 13 assists). While Bridgeport remains in last place in the Atlantic Division, McDonald continues chugging along in pro hockey.

Friday night's game marked 893 pro games for McDonald, who has in the past mentioned to InsideAHLHockey.com that the 1000-game plateau is one of his remaining career goals besides winning a championship.