AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Complete Preseason Sweep of IceCaps with 6-5 OT Win

October 7, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Clarenville, Newfoundland - A hat trick from Alex Killorn and overtime game-winner from Ondrej Palat lifted the Crunch over the St. John's IceCaps 6-5 tonight in Clarenville, Newfoundland. With this afternoon's win the Crunch completed a three-game preseason sweep of the St. John's IceCaps and captured the Mary Brown's Cup.

The St. John's IceCaps jumped out to an early lead thanks to a goal from Newfoundland native Jason King just 35 seconds into play. King pushed a rebound past Crunch netminder Dustin Tokarski, unassisted, for the early score. The Crunch responded 62 seconds later when Alex Killorn's shot from the right beat IceCaps goaltender Mark Dekanich. Killorn's goal was assisted by Richard Panik and J.P. Cote.

The IceCaps recaptured the lead at the 4:41 mark when Carl Kingberg broke loose and scored on a shorthanded breakaway. The Crunch tied the game on a power-play goal from Panik with just 1:48 remaining in the first frame. Panik knocked in his own rebound, assisted by Brett Connolly and Killorn. Shots were 14-8 in favor of the Crunch during the first period.

Killorn gave the Crunch a 3-2 lead with his second goal of the game at the 6:57 mark of the second stanza. Killorn's one-timer from the circle was assisted by, Mark Barberio and J.T. Brown.

The IceCaps pulled even with a power-play goal from Will O'Neill. O'Neill's shot from the point beat Tokarski with just .6 seconds remaining in the period. Shots during the second were 13-4 in favor of Syracuse. Cory Conacher put the Crunch up 4-3 less than a minute into the final frame. Conacher stick- handled the puck towards Dekanich before beating him with a low shot, the goal was assisted by

Keith Aulie. The IceCaps refused to quit and pulled even with 13:45 to play in regulation with a power-play goal from Zach Redmond.

The Crunch took a brief 5-4 lead with Killorn's third goal of the game, but seconds later Klingberg tied the game when his initial shot deflected off Tokarski high and he was able to bat the puck into the goal to tie the game 5-5. At the end of regulation shots were 33-22 in favor of the Crunch. Ondrej Palat one-timed a feed from Mark Barberio for the game-winning goal with 1:28 to play in overtime.

The Crunch will travel to Rochester on Oct. 12 to start the regular season and host the Hershey Bears on Oct. 13 at the War Memorial. Tickets for the 2012-13 Crunch campaign are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Crunch office at 315- 473-4444, or by stopping by the Crunch office in the War Memorial Arena located at 800 South State Street in downtown Syracuse. For the latest Crunch information, fans can visit the team's official website (www.syracusecrunch.com), or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/syracusecrunch).

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American Hockey League Stories from October 7, 2012


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