One of the keys to sports is establishing a good rivalry.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have a couple of solid rivalries with the Hershey Bears and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Last season, the majority of the games between the Phantoms and Penguins were squeezed into the late-season portion of the schedule, but this season the meetings are more evenly distributed.

The two teams meet a total of 12 times during the regular season, and they’ve now played three of those games through the season’s first month. The Penguins took the series opener at home on Oct. 13, and the next day, the Phantoms took the second game in a 3-2 nail-biter back at the PPL Center. The third meeting was Friday night and it was a classic, with the Phantoms getting a 6-5 win in shootouts.

The game saw three Phantoms players – T.J. Brennan, Tyrell Goulbourne and Mikhail Vorobyev – all score their first goals of the season. In addition, Danick Martel netted his 11th goal and Chris Conner recorded a season-high four points with a goal and three assists.

Hershey is off to a slow start, and the Phantoms have added to their misery by winning each of the first two games between the two teams. The third meeting is coming up Saturday night in Hershey. The Phantoms opened the season against Hershey with a 7-2 win at home and then beat the Bears in Chocolate Town Oct. 15 in a 4-3 shootout win.

One of the keys to the rivalries with both teams is that the three combatants are all in the Atlantic Division and are all usually battling for playoff positioning. The playoff battle appears that it may be a two-team fight this season, with Hershey off to a 4-6-0-2 start, sitting seventh in the eight-team division.

Meanwhile, the Penguins and Phantoms have their usual battle going on at the top of the division. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is leading the Atlantic with a .750 winning percentage, with Charlotte at .727 and Lehigh Valley at .692. In the points race though, those three teams are turned around, with the Phantoms leading with 18 points, Charlotte at 16 and the Penguins with 15.

WAY TO GO, KIDDO! ... Forward Mike Vecchione was named the CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month for October. The 24-year-old had two goals and eight assists in 10 October games. Vecchione also has a plus-eight rating on the ice for Lehigh Valley and is tied for the AHL lead in rookie scoring with 10 points and is second among rookies with his eight assists.

YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM ... Martel continues his scoring assault on AHL opponents. In Sunday night’s 5-1 loss to Toronto, Martel was the only Phantom to set off the Mack Truck horn at the PPL Center when he scored his league-leading 13th goal and stretched his streak of games with at least one goal to five. In those five games, Martel has picked up six goals and an assist. His closest competitor in goals is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Daniel Sprong, who has eight goals this season. Martel is also tied for the league lead in points with 17.

COMINGS AND GOINGS ... The Phantoms have been busy on the transaction wire lately. Defenseman Will O’Neill was recalled by the Flyers last Tuesday and made his NHL debut on Thursday. Unfortunately for O’Neill, he was back with the Phantoms on Sunday. James de Haas, 23, is in his first professional season and was promoted from Reading to Lehigh Valley last Wednesday. Defenseman Adam Comrie signed a professional tryout deal with Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Comrie played last season with Syracuse after spending two seasons with the Phantoms. This season, he was playing with Reading in the ECHL.