By Brian Fairbrother 
Head Athletic Trainer, Hartford Wolf Pack
AHL PHATS Executive Committee President 

As we welcome the start of the 2023-24 season, we would like to acknowledge many of our members for a successful summer. The Hershey Bears captured their 12th Calder Cup Championship with a game 7 overtime win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds, who had an impressive inaugural season.

We were again welcomed by the JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort for another outstanding program put together by PHATS/SPHEM. The opportunity to reconnect, relax, and reinvent ourselves is something we look forward to each year. 

As a group, we have been hard at work with the American Hockey League to improve medical standards to support the safety of our players. We have recently helped our physicians develop the AHL PHATS Team Physician Society, and subsequently our first AHL Joint Health and Safety Committee to evaluate and progress best practice. These efforts have encouraged restructuring of constitutional bylaws to provide a safer place for our players to develop and chase their NHL dreams.

The 88th AHL season will be highlighted by the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, scheduled for Sunday, February 4, and Monday, February 5 at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, California hosted by the San Jose Barracuda. 

In closing, we would like to wish all of our members within PHATS/SPHEM a safe, healthy, and successful season.