SUNDAY FEATURE: That First NHL Call

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- From a young age, hockey players begin to dream about playing in the NHL.

For those lucky enough to pursue the game at a high-level and turn it into a career professionally, the attention immediately shifts to making that NHL debut.

"I think everyone worries about getting the opportunity to play that first game," Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon said after Wednesday night's game against Charlotte, upon being asked about Morgan Frost's NHL recall to Philadelphia earlier this week.

Gordon explained how he called Frost last Sunday to give him the news that he would be heading to Philadelphia.

"I think he pieced it together," Gordon recalled. "When I called, his roommate - Isaac Ratcliffe - saw my name on [Morgan's] phone and [Isaac] said you know what that means. Off he goes to Philly and something that he was a little shocked by. I didn't think he anticipated it."

The Phantoms' bench boss added that time will tell if it's the right time, but that Frost certainly showed he can manage the game in the AHL a lot better than when he first started in training camp and the first couple weeks of the season.

"He's progressed in that area, and now it's going to come down to how he handles the pace and strength of the game and those areas that you can't replicate here."

Not only did Frost make his NHL debut Monday night in Florida against the Panthers, he also scored his first career NHL goal in debut in the Flyers' 5-2 loss.

"I'm happy for anyone - especially when they get their first call up - to go up. Every player that comes through here, that's their goal - to get to the NHL," Gordon explained. "I talked to Cole [Bardreau] when got called up, congratulated him, and he said "I can die a happy man now."

"That being said, you can't wait to get that first game. It's something that you haven't just waited for this year as you turn pro, you thinking about it as you are in junior and in college and waiting for that day to come to play that first game," Gordon said, adding that in Frost's case "then on top of it to get the first goal in the first game makes it even more special."

Gordon Recalls His First NHL Call, Debut

Obviously, there are players that are more highly regarded as far as their status as a prospect - first round picks etc. - and it's inevitable that they will eventually get their first NHL game. For others, the thought doesn't creep into their mind until the moment they are given the news.

"Oh, yeah. I was a long shot," Gordon said when asked about his playing days and his first NHL call up. "The thing that was different about my circumstances is I wasn't highly regarded."

After playing in the ECHL for a majority of the 1988-89 season, Gordon said the following year he was playing in the AHL with the Halifax Citadels and got off to a pretty good start to the year.

"I had goalies in front of me so it wasn't even something I thought was a possibility. I was in the last year of a contract, a guy went up in front of me and then he came back and then it was time for another call up - a goalie got injured and I got the call."

Similar in some regards to how Frost got the news, Gordon said his coach came by the hotel room and recalled the situation feeling 'kind of weird'.

"He starting asking, what would be your favorite place to play?" Gordon said. "And being from Boston I said probably Boston Garden and he said mine would be Buffalo. I thought, okay that's interesting information, and then he goes well you're going up to Buffalo and you're going to play tomorrow. And I was like, really?"

The four-year pro would go on to make his NHL debut with the Quebec Nordiques in Buffalo, finishing the 1989-90 season with 10 NHL games under his belt while adding 13 more NHL starts to his resume the following year before eventually retiring his playing days after the 1993-94 season.

"So you get told that and you're like now what? When is the flight, what's the game plan - are they home or on the road, call your parents that whole thing," Gordon said. "There's a lot of things that starts rolling through your head, everything happens ultra fast. It's a pretty intense 24 hours until you play that game but it's something you never forget."