AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Clinch Trip To Calder Cup Playoffs

March 27, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


With a 3-2 win over Hamilton, Syracuse clinched a playoff spot for the eighth time in their 12 year history and fourth time during their affiliation with Columbus. Entering this week Syracuse is four points ahead of Manitoba for second place in the North Division. Each team has ten games remaining.

CRUNCH SIGN RIGHT WING BRENT WALTON: The Syracuse Crunch announced today that they have signed right wing Brent Walton to an amateur try-out contract.

Walton, 22, appeared in 40 games with Western Michigan (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) registering 26 goals and 17 assists. A native of Elmira, Ontario, Walton has appeared in 154 career CCHA games, tallying 72 goals, 84 assists and 58 penalty minutes.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

ROCHESTER (BUFFALO SABRES AND FLORIDA PANTHERS): Syracuse plays a home-and-home series with Rochester this weekend on Friday, March 31 at Blue Cross Arena and Saturday, April 1 at the War Memorial at Oncenter for the ninth and tenth of twelve regular season games. The Crunch lead the series 6-2-0, after defeating the Amerks 6-5 on March 10 at the War Memorial at Oncenter. Defenseman Andy Delmore (3g, 7a) leads all Syracuse players in head-to-head scoring with 10 points. Center Jiri Novotny (4g, 6a) leads Rochester in head-to-head scoring with 10 points. Goaltender Martin Prusek has appeared in three games for Syracuse, posting a 2-1-0 record. Rochester goaltender Michael Leighton has posted a 1-6-0 record against Syracuse. Lifetime, the Crunch are 54-64-14 against the Amerks.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

Crunch Announce Details of Score with P&C Promotion: The Syracuse Crunch announced the details of the Score with P&C Promotion.

Beginning March 25, Syracuse Crunch fans that purchase any of the designated Acosta brand products noted below from P&C will be eligible to purchase up to four adult or child tickets for only $10 a ticket (up to $8 savings on each ticket) until April 15, 2006.

Customers must purchase any of these Acosta Products at P&C to receive the Syracuse Crunch Ticket Discount:

Hershey's Campbell's Duncan Hines

Heinz

Once customers purchase these products with their P&C Wild Card they will receive a checkout coupon with their receipt. They simply need to bring the checkout coupon to the Crunch box office to receive their Syracuse Crunch ticket discount.

Just one more way P&C and the Syracuse Crunch have teamed up to save Crunch fans more!

CRUNCH GAME-WORN JERSEY AUCTION: The Crunch's 2005-06 game-worn jersey auction is currently ongoing.

Available for the auction this year are the teams' home jerseys (white color), road jerseys (blue color), third jerseys (red color), theme jerseys, St. Patrick's Day jerseys and warm-up jerseys. All of the available Crunch jerseys can be viewed on the Crunch's official website (www.syracusecrunch.com) beginning Friday, March 17

Fans can bid on Syracuse's 2005-06 game-worn jerseys at remaining Crunch home games or on the Crunch's official website www.syracusecrunch.com/shop/jersey_auction_new.cfm.

Bids must be made in $20 increments (for example - if current bid is $500, bids of $520, $540, $560, etc... will be accepted).

All winning bids will be notified within 48 hours of the conclusion of the auction. The auction will conclude Wednesday, May 3 at 5 p.m.

Winners are responsible for shipping and handling costs. Jerseys are not autographed.

Saturday, April 1

Empire Vision Centers Poster Night II: The Syracuse Crunch announced today that their Saturday, April 1 game against Rochester will be Empire Vision Centers Poster Night II at the Crunch.

The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a 2005-06 Crunch poster, compliments of Empire Vision Centers.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The Crunch's weekly schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, March 28 10:30 a.m. practice @ Meacham

Wednesday, March 29 10:30 a.m. practice @ Meacham

Thursday, March 30 10:30 a.m. practice @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Friday, March 31 10:00 a.m. skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

7:30 p.m. game @ Rochester

Saturday, April 1 10:00 a.m. skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

7:30 p.m. game vs. Rochester

Sunday, April 1 Off Day

*All practice times and locations subject to change

CRUNCHABLES: On Friday, March 24, Syracuse set a franchise mark for home wins in a season, breaking the old record of 22 set in 2000-01... Defenseman Andy Delmore set the record for most assists in a season by a defenseman on Saturday night, passing Chris O'Sullivan's record of 47 (1999-00). He is also one point shy of tying Chris O'Sullivan (1999-00) and Radim Bicanek (2000-02) for most points by a defenseman in a season (65)... In Syracuse's 9-3 win over Binghamton on Friday night, the Crunch allowed 52 shots on net, the most this season... Right wing Joe Motzko tallied his second hat-trick of the season on Friday night vs. Binghamton.

2005-06 RECORD: 43-21-4-2, 92 points (24-7-2-1 home, 19-14-2-1 road), second place, North Division

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Friday, March 31 @ Rochester (32-35-2-2), 68 points, fifth place, East Division

Radio: SportsRadio 620 WHEN, Internet: B2 Networks (www.syracusecrunch.com)

Saturday, April 1 vs. Rochester (32-35-2-2), 68 points, fifth place, East Division

Radio: SportsRadio 620 WHEN, Internet: B2 Networks (www.syracusecrunch.com)

*Radio station subject to change.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Friday, March 24 CRUNCH 9 Binghamton 3

Saturday, March 25 CRUNCH 3 Hamilton 2

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 27, 2006


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