Melting Hearts

His hair flowing down to the shoulders of his Phantoms jersey, Steve Fader had his hand-painted signs properly stacked in front of his ice-row seat at the Wachovia Spectrum, but his masterpiece was the tombstone that read "R.I.P."

On it was chained a stuffed Bear.

The Hershey Bears were in town to play Fader's beloved Phantoms, and Fader was ready to give it to them good.

"This is my therapy," said Fader, 42, who lives in Buckingham and said he breeds reptiles for a living. "Mentally, I'm trying not to think of next year. What I'm trying to do is make the best of every game while they're here and appreciate it."

Last night's game didn't help, though, as Hershey won, 5-3.

Next winter, Fader will have to find another form of therapy because the Spectrum will be gone and the Phantoms with it.

Comcast-Spectacor, owner of the Flyers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Phantoms, as well as the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum, reached an agreement Wednesday to sell the Phantoms to the Brooks Group of Pittsburgh.

The corporate giant is going to raze the Spectrum as part of a plan to develop the site as a retail and entertainment complex. The Phantoms have played at the Spectrum since 1996 and averaged 8,609 fans a game during the first 12 years.

A Phantoms season-ticket holder for seven years, Fader outlined his plans for the day the wrecking ball takes its first whack at the Spectrum.

"I'm going to chain myself to the wall outside and let them do what they've got to do," said Fader, who attends Phantoms games with his 14-year-old daughter, Darian. "I've been coming here since I was 3 years old, when I came for the circus. I've been here for Disney on Ice, concerts, Sesame Street, you name it."

But it's the Phantoms Fader will miss the most.

"You get to see the future of the NHL," he said. "You get to see guys give it 120 percent every game, and on any given day they can be called up to the big leagues, and I think that's special."

Part of the Phantoms' appeal has been cheaper tickets. The Bader family of Port Richmond - Bob, Nancy, and their children, Bobby and Katelyn - has made the Phantoms the centerpiece of family entertainment.

"I'm very upset," said Bob Bader, 39. "It's become a family tradition the last six years. The Flyers are a little too expensive for us. I mean, I understand the business side of it. But it's very disheartening. We have a summer home down the Shore, but this is our winter thing."