AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Weekly

November 19, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Last Week

Fri., Nov. 15 - Crunch vs. W-B/S - L, 5-3

Sat., Nov. 16 - Crunch vs. Albany - SOL, 2-1

This Week

Fri., Nov. 22 - Crunch at Hamilton in Montreal - 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Nov. 23 - Crunch vs. Hamilton - 7 p.m.

Need to Know

- The Crunch play Hamilton in Montreal's Bell Centre Friday, a homecoming for several Syracuse players.

- Syracuse hosts Hamilton Saturday, as former Crunch goalie Dustin Tokarski returns to the War Memorial.

- Nikita Kucherov has AHL-bests with 24 points and 13 goals; J.P. Cote has a career-best five-game scoring streak.

Syracuse heads to Montreal to face the Canadiens' AHL affiliate, Hamilton, Friday at 7:30 p.m., then hosts the Bulldogs Saturday at the War Memorial at 7 p.m. The games are the first two of four Syracuse-Hamilton matchups.

The Crunch (9-4-1-1) dropped out of the East Division lead in Week 7, picking up one of four possible points. Syracuse lost at home to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday, 5-3, and suffered its first shootout loss, 2-1, Saturday vs. Albany. Now with 20 points, the Crunch are third in their division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Scoring streaks

Saturday vs. Albany Vlad Namestnikov was held without a point for only the second time this season and the first time since Game 1, Oct. 5. His scoring streak ended at 13 games (8g-13a-21pts), the longest streak in the AHL this season. His one-goal, one-assist performance Friday vs. W-B/Scranton was his sixth multi-point game.

J.P. Cote has Syracuse's longest active scoring streak with assists in each of the last five games. The streak is the longest in the 31-year-old defenseman's 527-game AHL career. He has seven points this year after 17 all of last year.

Transactions

Forward Carl Nielsen, 25, was recalled from ECHL-Florida Saturday and made his Syracuse season debut vs. Albany taking one minor. The former Michigan Tech captain played two games for the Crunch on an ATO last season and signed a one-year AHL contract in August. In 12 games with Florida he had a goal and three assists.

Defenseman Jordan Henry, 27, was signed to a professional tryout agreement Friday and released from the PTO today. He was scoreless in two games for Syracuse. The seventh-year pro is under contract with the Florida Everblades with whom he's registered nine points (1g, 8a) in 12 contests this year. Syracuse is the 10th team for which Henry has played professionally, including the ECHL, AHL, KHL and elite leagues in Finland and Sweden. Of Henry's 386 pro games, 201 came with the Rochester Americans from 2007 to 2010.

Special Teams rollercoaster

The Crunch power play was 0-for-9 in two Week 7 games, and has only one power-play marker in its last four contests (1-for-17). Syracuse has slipped from second to fifth in the AHL at 22.7% (17-for-75). Nikita Kucherov, who had six power play goals in October, has yet to score on the man advantage in the month of November.

After stifling opposing power plays in six of seven games, the Crunch penalty kill allowed one power-play goal in each Week 8 contest (6-for-8). While dropping to 15th on the penalty kill overall (82.9%, 58-for-70), Syracuse's road penalty kill is unchanged, still best in the AHL at 90.9% (30-for-33).

Inter-conference Matches

When the Crunch face the Hamilton Bulldogs this week, it will be the fourth and fifth time this year that Syracuse plays against the Western Conference. The Crunch play 18 games this season against the Western Conference, including eight against Rochester, four against Utica, four against Hamilton, and two against Toronto.

Syracuse is 3-0 in if first three games against the Western Conference this season. The Crunch beat the Amerks 5-1 Oct. 12 in the home opener. They also beat the Comets 2-1 in a shootout Oct. 25 and Rochester 5-4 in a shootout Nov. 1.

The Crunch played 18 games against Western Conference opponents last season. They went 7-8-2-1 in those games. The Crunch were 3-5-1-1 against Rochester, 3-1-0-0 against Hamilton, 1-1-0-0 versus the Toronto Marlies, and 0-1-1-0 against the Lake Erie Monsters.

Bienvenue chez vous à Montréal

A Week 8 trip to the Bell Centre in Montreal will be a sort of homecoming for several Crunch players.

Crunch forward Danick Gauthier was born and raised just outside of Montreal, in nearby Repentigny. Defenseman Charles Landry is originally from just across the St. Lawrence River, in Longueuil, and Joey Mormina was born in Montreal.

Although from Quebec City, a trip to Montreal is also a homecoming of sorts for J.P. Cote, who started his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens. He made his NHL debut for Montreal in November 2005 and played eight games with the Canadiens. He spent five seasons with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Cedric Paquette played two seasons with the QMJHL's Blainville-Boisbriand Armada who play 30 minutes from the Bell Centre.

Tanner Richard and Nikita Kucherov roomed together in Montreal last summer in order to train with Mark Lambert, the Tampa Bay Lightning's strength and conditioning coach.

Somebodies we used to know

Syracuse goaltender Cedrick Desjardins and Hamilton's Dustin Tokarski swapped places last season when Montreal and Tampa Bay completed a trade exchanging the two goaltenders Feb. 14.

In 33 games for the Crunch last season Tokarski posted a 18-8-4 record with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. He was 6-8 after the trade, posting a 2.22 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

Desjardins played 22 games for Hamilton last year with a 7-13-2 record, a 2.94 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. He then won eight of 14 games for Syracuse with two shutouts and a 2.12 goals-against average. In the Calder Cup playoffs Desjardins set Crunch postseason records with 13 wins and three shutouts in 18 games.

Cedrick played in 114 regular season games for the Bulldogs between 2006-2010, and in 2012-13. He also appeared in ten playoff games for the Bulldogs in the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Hamilton forwards Mike Blunden and Maxime Macenauer also spent time in Syracuse. Blunden played for the Crunch from 2008 to 2010 appearing in 64 games and totaling 37 points (16g, 21a). Macenauer suited up for the Crunch in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. He appeared in 92 games scoring 38 points (17g, 21a). Macenauer also appeared in 29 games for Anaheim in the 2011-12 season when they were the Crunch's NHL affiliate.

Milestones

With his fight major Friday vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Mike Angelidis reached 1000 penalty minutes for his pro career. He now stands at 1004, and 185 with Syracuse.

In 14 games this season, Vlad Namestnikov has 21 points (8g, 13a) equaling his total from the entire 2012-13 regular season campaign (7g, 14a) attained in 44 games. He's more than tripled his scoring pace, with 1.50 points per game this year compared to 0.48 a season ago.

Dana Tyrell's next game for Syracuse will be his 15th this season, equaling the number of games he played for the Crunch last year.

The week in review

Game 14: Penguins' hot start dooms Syracuse

Three goals in the first period by the Penguins were too much for the Crunch to overcome Friday night as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated Syracuse 5-3.

In the first period goals from Simon Despres, Jayson Megna, and Chris Conner put Syracuse down 3-0. Despres picked up assists on the Megna and Conner goals giving him three points in the first period.

Tempers flared with a little under six minutes remaining in the period as Mike Angelidis and Joey Mormina fought Penguins within a minute of each other.

Syracuse continued to beat opponents in the second period as they outscored W-B/Scranton 2-1 in the frame. Vlad Namestnikov got Syracuse on the board and extended his point streak to 13 games at 7:29 of the second. Evan Rankin picked up his fifth goal of the year as time was winding down in the period to cut the Penguin lead to 4-2 after two.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored early in the third to extend its lead to 5-2. Danick Gauthier added his second of the season halfway through the period to cut the deficit back to two goals, but the Crunch were unable to beat goaltender Jeff Deslauriers again. For Syracuse, Riku Helenius, making his first start since Oct. 19, made 22 saves on 27 shots.

Game 15: Devils sneak by Crunch with shootout win

The Crunch dropped back-to-back games for only the second time this season as Albany defeated Syracuse, 2-1, in a shootout on Saturday. The Crunch had won their first three shootouts of the season.

Neither team was able to score in the first period as Albany's Keith Kinkaid and Syracuse's Cedrick Desjardins kept the score at 0-0.

In the final minutes of the second period the only two goals of regulation were scored 24 seconds apart. Albany took advantage of a penalty to Phil Paradis late in the period and scored on the power play to take a 1-0 lead, defenseman Reece Scarlett's first career goal. Nikita Kucherov tied the game almost immediately, taking a stretch pass from J.P. Cote and beating Kinkaid to the glove side. The score extended Cote's career-high point streak to five games and kept Kucherov atop the AHL scoring leaders wt 24 points (13g, 11a).

The third period and overtime resulted in no goals so the two teams went to a shootout to decide the game. Albany's Reid Boucher scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Devils a 2-1 victory.

Cedrick Desjardins made 32 saves on 33 shots in the loss. The Crunch power play was once again held off the board going 0-for-5.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Crunch at Hamilton (Montreal, QC)-Friday, 7:30 p.m. & Crunch vs. Hamilton-Saturday, 7 p.m. (ESPN Radio)

Hamilton and Syracuse play the first two of their four-game season series with a pseudo home-and-home series this weekend, beginning Friday in Montreal's Bell Centre and concluding Saturday at the War Memorial Arena.

The Crunch and Bulldogs played four times last season with the Crunch winning three of the four contests, including a 4-1 win at the Bell Centre. Syracuse's only loss to the Bulldogs last season, a 1-0 shutout, came in goaltender Dustin Tokarski's return to Syracuse after being traded to Hamilton for Cedrick Desjardins in February.

Hamilton snapped a six-game losing streak in their last contest with a 3-2 shootout win over the Lake Erie Monsters. The Bulldogs (6-7-0-1) are in fourth in the Western Conference's North Division with 15 points.

Sven Andrighetto leads the Bulldogs with 11 points (7g, 4a) in 15 games so far this season. Martin St. Pierre is second on the team with ten points (3g, 7a) in 13 games. Tokarski has played in 11 of 16 games for Hamilton this season posting a 5-3-1 record with a 2.88 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. Hamilton has three former Crunch players on the roster: Tokarski and forwards Mike Blunden and Maxime Macenauer.

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 19, 2013


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