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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch set AHL shutout record

March 25, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


RECORD: 34-22-13-5, 86 points (20-11-7 home, 14-16-6 road), first place, Central Division

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Friday, March 29 @ Rochester (29-27-15-2), 75 points, third place, Central Division
Saturday, March 30 @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (20-39-12-3), 55 points, fourth place, South Division

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Wednesday, March 20 CLEVELAND 4 Crunch 2
Friday, March 22 Hamilton 4 CRUNCH 2
Saturday, March 23 CRUNCH 5 Albany 0
HOME TEAM IN CAPS

CRUNCH SET AHL SHUTOUT RECORD: J.F. Labbe's shutout of the Albany River Rats on Saturday night was the Crunch's 11th of the year, setting an American Hockey League record for most team shutouts in one season, surpassing the Springfield Falcons mark of ten set in 1995-96. Labbe (7 shutouts) is two away from tying the AHL individual record of 9 set by Gordie Bell (Buffalo) in 1942-43. Greg Gardner (2) and Karl Goehring (1) have individual shutouts this season and Labbe and Gardner combined to blank the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on March 17.

COLUMBUS RECALLS DAVIDSON - RETURN WESTCOTT: The Crunch announced today that the Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled right wing Matt Davidson and returned rookie defenseman Duvie Westcott. Davidson has appeared in 47 games for the Crunch this season with 9 goals, 11 assists and 64 penalty minutes. He netted one goal in six games with Columbus earlier this season.

Westcott returns to the Crunch after appearing in three games since his most recent call-up on March 18. In all, Westcott has appeared in four games with the Blue Jackets, recording two penalty minutes. In 62 games with Syracuse, Westcott is sixth on the team in scoring with 33 points (4g, 29a).

HOME WINS MARK: Syracuse's 5-0 victory over Albany on Saturday night was their 20th home win of the season, tying the franchise mark set last year. The Crunch are 20-11-7 at the War Memorial at Oncenter this season.

WALSER TAKES OVER AHL LEAD - MOVES IN ON CRUNCH MARK: AHL All-Star Derrick Walser's (21) two goals on Saturday night vs. Albany moved him into sole possession of the AHL lead for goals by a defenseman, passing Philadelphia's John Slaney (19). Walser is now one goal shy of tying Radim Bicanek's franchise mark of 22 goals. A native of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Walser has appeared in 68 games for Syracuse this season, leading the club with 56 points (21g, 35a).

PRONGER CONTINUES HOT STREAK: Team Captain Sean Pronger has netted six goals in his last five games, tying him with Brad Moran for the team lead in goals with 23. Pronger is third on the Crunch in scoring this season with 49 points (23g, 26a) in 54 games.

SELLOUT!: Saturday nights' crowd of 6,401 was the Crunch's fifth sellout of the season, surpassing last years total of four. Through 38 home games Syracuse is averaging 5,277 fans a game, up from the 5,169 mark of the 2000-01 season.

PLAYOFF RACE IN FULL SWING: Syracuse enters this week 10 points ahead of the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks for first place in the Central Division and two points ahead of the Norfolk Admirals for the second seed in the Western Conference. The Crunch trails Grand Rapids by three points for the top spot in the Conference. Syracuse has never won a division title before.

* WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
Team GP Pts Record
Grand Rapids (1) 73 89 39-23-11-0
SYRACUSE (2) 74 86 34-22-13-5
Norfolk (3) 74 84 34-24-12-4
Utah (4) 73 84 38-27-6-2
Chicago (5) 74 81 35-28-7-4
Houston (6) 73 80 33-26-9-5
Hershey (7) 73 79 31-25-11-6
Philadelphia (8) 73 77 29-25-14-5
Cincinnati (9) 73 76 32-29-9-3
Rochester (10) 73 75 29-27-15-2
Milwaukee 74 70 28-32-10-4
Cleveland 74 62 26-38-6-4
Wilkes-Barre 74 55 20-39-12-3

*The Division leaders are seeded 1 through 3, based on points. The remaining clubs, regardless of Division, are then seeded in point order. The top ten teams will qualify for post-season, with the 7th seed playing the 10th seed and the 8th seed playing the 9th seed in a best-of-three 'qualifying round'. The first round of the playoffs will follow and be played as a best-of-five series with 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc. All subsequent rounds will be played as best-of-seven series.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS/APPEARANCES:

Wednesday, March 27

BEST BUY IN-STORE CHALLENGE: Crunch stars David Ling, Mathieu Darche, Derrick Walser, Blake Bellefeuille, Kent McDonell and Jeremy Reich will be on hand at the Best Buy store in the Carousel Mall from 6-8 p.m. Players will be available to sign autographs and compete against Best Buy customers in a video game challenge.

Saturday, April 6

SPONGE BOB NIGHT: During the Saturday, April 6 game vs. Albany there will be Sponge Bob clips shown, along with Sponge Bob t-shirts being thrown out in the crowd. The first 1,000 kids in attendance will receive a Sponge Bob collector's magazine.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

ROCHESTER (BUFFALO SABRES): Syracuse travels to Rochester on Friday for the 10th of 12 regular season meetings. The Crunch leads the series 4-2-3. In head-to-head scoring, Rochester center Chris Taylor leads all players with nine points (2g, 7a). Taylor also leads all Rochester players with 64 points (20g, 44a) in 71 games. Center Chris Nielsen leads Syracuse with six points (3g, 3a). Goaltender J.F. Labbe has appeared in three games against Rochester, posting a 1-0-2 record, a 1.58 goals against average and a .950 save percentage. Lifetime the Crunch is 31-43-11 against the Amerks.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (PITTSBURGH): The Crunch concludes the weekend on Saturday night at Wilkes-Barre for the final of 12 regular season meetings. Syracuse leads the series 7-1-3. Defenseman Derrick Walser leads all players in head-to-head scoring with 12 points (2g, 10a). Left wing and former Crunch player Martin Sonnenberg leads all Penguins with 48 points (19g, 29a) in 72 games. Labbe has appeared in seven games against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posting a 5-0-2 record, a 1.71 goals against average and a .942 save percentage. Lifetime the Crunch are 16-8-5 against Wilkes-Barre.

INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Tim O'Connell is expected to miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken orbital bone on March 10 @ Wilkes-Barre... Center Brad Moran is expected to miss this weekend with a sprained finger, suffered March 9 against Cleveland. Moran has missed eight games with the injury... Defenseman Jeff Ware announced his retirement from hockey on January 25 due to a chronic knee injury. He has missed the last 51 games with the injury...Defenseman Paul Manning is expected to miss the remainder of the season after injuring his shoulder on January 25 @ Rochester. He has missed 31 games with the injury... Left wing Martin Spanhel is listed as day-to-day after suffering a broken rib on March 13 @ Rochester. Spanhel has missed seven games due to the injury.

INJURIES/CALL-UPS BY THE NUMBERS: Through 74 games this season, Syracuse has lost 464 man-games due to injuries (271) and call-ups (193). Jeff Ware - 51, Andrej Nedorost - 34, Paul Manning - 31, Darrel Scoville - 28, Matt Davidson - 16, Jeremy Reich - 15, Martin Spanhel 13, J.F. Labbe - 11, Martin Paroulek, Brad Moran & Dan Watson - 10, Tim O'Connell - 7, Kent McDonell & Derrick Walser- 6, Blake Bellefeuille - 5, Brett Harkins -- 4, Andrei Sryubko - 3, Adam Borzecki, Trevor Ettinger, Paul Traynor & Duvie Westcott - 2, Mathieu Darche, Preston Mizzi & Jody Shelley - 1, represent the Crunch's injury list this season.

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

Tuesday, March 26 10:30 a.m. practice @ War Memorial
Wednesday, March 27 10:30 a.m. practice @ War Memorial
Thursday, March 28 10:30 a.m. practice @ TBA
Friday, March 29 10:00 a.m. practice @ TBA
7:35 p.m. game @ Rochester Saturday, March 30 10:00 a.m. practice @ TBA
7:05 p.m. game @ Wilkes-Barre
Sunday, March 31 OFF
*All practice times and locations subject to change CRUNCHABLES: Fourteen different players (Kron, Harkins, Shelley, Nielsen, Heward, Darche, Spanhel, Davidson, Pronger, Bellefeuille, Moran, Ling, Westcott and Labbe) have appeared in a Columbus and a Syracuse uniform this season... Former and current Crunch players have appeared in a total of 404 games with Columbus this season, recording 30 goals, 57 assists and 278 penalty minutes.

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