Sports stats



AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Weekly

October 14, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

No Games Played

OPENING NIGHT ROSTER SET: The Crunch enters their ninth American Hockey League season with a 23-man roster (2 goaltenders, 6 defensemen and 15 forwards). Eighteen of the twenty-three players (78%) were members of the 2001-02 Central Division Champion Crunch team that set franchise marks in wins (39) and points (96). A nineteenth, Pascal Leclaire, dressed for a Crunch playoff game but did not see any action and a twentieth, Ben Knopp, joined Syracuse at the end of his junior season the past two years but did not dress for a game.

Syracuse will enter the season with six players playing with rookie status (Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Matt Dzieduszycki, Tim Jackman, Ben Knopp and Mike Pandolfo). Ten of the twenty-three players have National Hockey League experience (Darrel Scoville, Derrick Walser, Duvie Westcott, Blake Bellefeuille, Mathieu Darche, Matt Davidson, David Ling, Brad Moran, Andrej Nedorost and Chris Nielsen). The average height of the Crunch's opening night roster is 6-feet and the average weight is 197 pounds. The Crunch's opening night roster contains players from five different countries (USA-4, Canada-16, Tanzania-1, Czech Republic-1 and Slovakia-1).

HIGH PRAISE FOR LECLAIRE: The Crunch will turn to rookie goaltender Pascal Leclaire to help fill the void created when All-Star goaltender J.F. Labbe won a spot on the Columbus Blue Jackets roster. Leclaire, one of the most heralded prospects to appear for the Crunch, is the second highest drafted prospect to play for Syracuse (Bryan Allen - 4th overall in 1998) after being selected by Columbus with the 8th overall pick in the 2001 Entry Draft.

He will become the 12th first round selection ever to appear in a Crunch uniform (Jim Sandlak - 4th overall in 1995, Allen, Dana Murzyn - 5th in 1985, Brandon Convery - 8th in 1992, Josh Holden - 12th in 1996, Reggie Savage, 15th in 1988, Jeff Ware - 15th in 1995, Jamie Heward - 16th in 1989, Robert Dome - 17th in 1997, Mike Brown - 20th in 1997 and Libor Polasek - 21st in 1992).

A native of Repentigny, Quebec, the 6-foot-2, 185 pound Leclaire joins the Crunch this season after appearing in 45 games for Montreal (QMJHL), posting a 15-23-4 record with a 3.29 goals against average. Leclaire helped Team Canada win a silver medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, en route to being named the tournaments Top Goaltender (4-1-0, 1.80 goals against average and a .937 save percentage).

HISTORIC 67th AHL SEASON: The American Hockey League enters its 67th season with a record 28-teams, with the addition of the Binghamton Senators and San Antonio Rampage. All 30 National Hockey League teams develop their top prospects in the AHL. During the 2002-03 season the Crunch will play 28 games against their Central Division foes (Rochester 12, Cincinnati 6, Cleveland 6 and Grand Rapids 4). Syracuse also has 24 contests against the South Division (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 8, Hershey 6, Philadelphia 6 and Norfolk 4). In addition, the Crunch will play Binghamton 8 times, Albany 6 times, Hamilton and St. John's 4 times each and Springfield, Bridgeport and the defending Calder Cup Champion Chicago Wolves 2 times each. Each AHL club will play an unbalanced 80 game schedule featuring traditional and regional rivalries. In total, 1120 AHL regular season games will be on the 2002-03 schedule. The AHL season opened on October 10 and will conclude on April 6.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS: Saturday, October 19

EXPRESS MART MINI CHAMPIONSHIP BANNERS: On Saturday, October 19 the Crunch will be giving away mini championship banners to the first 2,000 fans in attendance, courtesy of Express Mart. The banner is a replica of the teams' Central Division Champion Banner that will be raised to the rafters prior to the start of their first home game against the Binghamton Senators.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

HAMILTON (MONTREAL CANADIENS/EDMONTON OILERS): Syracuse opens their ninth American Hockey League season on Friday, October 18 at Copps Coliseum for the first of four meetings against the Bulldogs. Hamilton is in their first year of a duel affiliation with the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers. Lifetime Syracuse is 18-23-7 against the Bulldogs.

BINGHAMTON (OTTAWA SENATORS): Syracuse renews one of its most intense rivalries on Saturday when they square off against the Binghamton Senators in the Express Mart Opening Night. It will be Syracuse's first action against Binghamton since the 1996-97 season when they were the Binghamton Rangers. Binghamton relocated to Hartford following that season. Through two games this season the Senators have been lead by rookie of the year candidate Jason Spezza (2g, 2a). Spezza was the second overall pick in the 2001 Entry Draft. Syracuse will face Binghamton eight times this season.

INJURY UPDATE: Right wing Ben Knopp is listed as day-to-day after suffering a rib injury last week in practice.

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from October 14, 2002


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central