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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Weekly

December 17, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Last Week

Tue., Dec. 10 - Crunch at St. John's - L, 6-2

Wed., Dec. 11 - Crunch at St. John's - L, 5-1

Sat., Dec. 14 - Crunch vs. Rochester - W, 1-0

This Week

Wed., Dec. 18 - Crunch at Hershey - 7 p.m.

Fri., Dec. 20 - Crunch vs. Binghamton - 7 p.m.

Sat., Dec. 21 - Crunch at W-B/Scranton - 7:05 p.m.

Need to Know

- Syracuse has signed winger Jon DiSalvatore, an 11th year pro who has averaged 22 goals per season in the AHL.

- With a 1-0 win over Rochester Saturday, the Crunch improved to 3-0 vs. the Amerks this season.

- The Crunch face three East Division opponents in Week 12, including the first meeting with Hershey Wednesday.

Syracuse snapped a four-game skid with a 1-0 victory against Rochester Saturday at the War Memorial, a game that featured Brett Connolly's first game-winning goal of the season, Kristers Gudlevskis second shutout in his seventh AHL game and the fewest shorthanded situations of the season.

Bouncing back from two lopsided losses in St. John's with a complete effort Saturday vs. Rochester, Syracuse enters Week 12 fourth in the East Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference with 27 points in 25 games (12-10-1-2) for a points percentage of .540. The Crunch visit the Hershey Bears Wednesday, host the Binghamton Senators Friday and play at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday.

Transactions

- 12/17/2013 Carl Nielsen (RW) Reassigned to Florida (ECHL)

- 12/16/2013 Jon DiSalvatore (LW) Signed to SPC

- 12/16/2013 Ray Kaunisto (LW) Released from PTO

Syracuse adds veteran goal scorer Jon DiSalvatore

The Crunch signed forward Jon DiSalvatore to an AHL contract Monday. The 32-year-old winger has been playing overseas with Munich EHC of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), where he had 17 points (6g, 11a) in 22 games. He's expected to join the Crunch in time for Friday's game vs. Binghamton.

An 11th year pro, DiSalvatore has played 746 regular season games in the AHL since 2003-04. He has 540 points (224g, 316a) during that time, playing for Cleveland, Worcester, Peoria, San Antonio, Lowell, Houston and Hershey. He had 49 points (18g, 31a) in 68 games for the Hershey Bears last season.

The Bangor, Maine native totaled 142 points (59g, 83a) during a four-year career with the Providence College Friars. He was drafted in the fourth round, 104th overall, by the San Jose Sharks in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

In a corresponding move Monday, Ray Kaunisto was released from his professional tryout contract. The winger had a goal in six games with the Crunch after signing his PTO Nov. 29. He scored his only goal that night, in his first game with Syracuse, in a 4-2 win over the IceCaps.

Milestone

Mike Angelidis scored the Crunch's first goal Tuesday against St. John's. The goal was the 100th of his professional career. He has 89 goals in the AHL, one in the NHL and 10 in the ECHL since 2006-07.

The week in review

Game 23: Syracuse downed 6-2 by St. John's

Syracuse fell to St. John's, 6-2, Tuesday at Mile One Centre in St. John's, the team's third consecutive loss. The Crunch were outshot 47-15, the most lopsided margin of shots this year by a wide margin. The 47 shots for the IceCaps were the most against Syracuse this year and one shy of a St. John's record. The Crunch managed only four shots in the first, five in the second and six in the third for a season-worst 15. Syracuse also racked up a season-high 63 penalty minutes, thanks to three fights and three misconducts.

A Crunch netminder was chased for the first time this season as Kristers Gudlevskis allowed four goals on 20 shots, including the last two in the span of 12 seconds seven minutes into the second period, before Cedrick Desjardins came on, finishing with 25 stops on 27 shots in relief. Mike Angelidis and Cedric Paquette did the scoring for Syracuse. Paquette, Max Parent and Brett Connolly garnered assists.

Game 24: Crunch fall to IceCaps Second Straight Night

Philip-Michael Devos netted his first Crunch goal of the season as the Crunch lost to the IceCaps 5-1 Wednesday, their fourth straight loss. St. John's built a 4-0 lead before Syracuse was eventually able to get on the board about four minutes into the third period.

Devos' goal was his first in the AHL since April 20 against the Worchester Sharks. He scored one goal in 14 games while playing for Elmira (ECHL) earlier this season. Dmitry Korobov and Brett Connolly had assists on the goal.

Cedrick Desjardins made 31 saves on 36 shots in the loss for the Crunch. In the other net Eddie Pasquale made 25 saves on 26 shots for the IceCaps.

Game 25: Syracuse Snaps Streak with Shutout Win Over Rochester

Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 27 Rochester shots as the Crunch beat the Amerks 1-0 in the Tired Teddy Toss game Saturday. The win snapped the Crunch's four-game losing streak.

Brett Connolly scored the lone goal of the game with under six minutes to play in the first period. From the slot, he redirected a Dmitry Korobov pass past Amerks goaltender Nathan Lieuwen to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead. That came a few minutes after Artem Sergeev hit the post, crossbar, and other post without the puck crossing the goal line. Despite that, the goal light went on, and the Teddy Toss commenced, although the game remained scoreless, until Connolly's marker.

Gudlevskis made several keys saves to earn the shutout, including a stop on Johan Larsson's shorthanded breakaway in the waning minutes of the first period. He made 12 of his 27 saves in the third period. Its his second shutout in his AHL career.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Crunch at Hershey-Wednesday, 7 p.m.

ESPN Radio 97.7 FM & 1200 AM, Syracuse; 100.1 FM & 1440 AM, Oswego

The Crunch travel to Hershey to play the Bears for the first time this season. Hershey comes in to the game in fifth place in the East Division and 11th place in the Eastern Conference, two points back from Syracuse.

Last season Syracuse won four of the six games between the two teams, including two of three in Hershey.

The Bears took four out of six points last week with a pair of victories over Binghamton sandwiched around a loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Jeff Taffe (7g, 7a) and Peter Leblanc (6g, 8a) lead the Bears with 14 points in 24 games. Casey Wellman is tied for the team lead in goals (7) and has 13 points in 23 games this season (7g, 6a).

David Leggio has appeared in 14 games for the Bears with a record of 5-7-2. He has a 3.03 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Goaltender Michael Neuvirth, who is on a conditioning assignment from Washington, played Saturday against Binghamton. In his first AHL game since the 2010 Calder Cup the Czech Republic native allowed four goals on 37 shots. Neuvirth had a 2-3-1 record with a 2.83 GAA and a .912 save percentage in seven games in Washington this season.

Crunch vs. Binghamton-Friday, 7 p.m.

ESPN Radio 97.7 FM & 1200 AM, Syracuse; 100.1 FM & 1440 AM, Oswego

The Senators have won four of the five meetings this season with the lone Crunch victory coming on October 19 in Binghamton.

Binghamton is winless in their last seven games (0-4-0-3) and has only won two of their last ten. The Senators last victory came on Nov. 27 they defeated the Crunch 5-1 in Binghamton. In the last ten games they have dropped from first in the East Division and third in the Eastern Conference to second in the division and seventh in the conference.

Mike Hoffman leads the Senators with 27 points (12g, 15a) in 24 games. Stephane Da Costa is second on the team with 22 points (7g, 15a). Cole Schneider, who scored twice on Saturday against Hershey, has the second most goals on the team (8). Defenseman Cody Ceci was third on the team with 17 (2g, 15a) until being recalled to Ottawa on Dec. 12.

In net Nathan Lawson and Andrew Hammond have each played 14 games for the Senators. Lawson has posted a 8-4-0 record with a 2.45 GAA and .927 save percentage. Lawson has started all five games against the Crunch this season with a 3-1-0 record. Andrew Hammond has posted a 6-5-3 record with a 3.44 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Hammond has appeared in one game against the Crunch with a record of 1-0-0. He played the final two periods on Nov. 27 replacing an injured Nathan Lawson. Hammond allowed one goal on 21 shots in the 5-1 victory.

Crunch at W-B/Scranton-Saturday, 7:05 p.m.

ESPN Radio 97.7 FM & 1200 AM, Syracuse; 100.1 FM & 1440 AM, Oswego

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (16-7-1-2) sits atop the East Division with 35 points. The Penguins have won back-to-back games and three of their last four. Two of those four victories have come by way of shutout.

Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton have played three times this season with the road team winning each game.

Brian Gibbons leads the Penguins with 27 points (9g, 18a) in 23 games. Captain Tom Kostopolous is second on the team with 19 points (10g, 9a) in 23 games. The Penguins, like the Crunch, have had several top scorers recalled to Pittsburgh. Center Andrew Ebbett recorded 15 oints (6g, 9a) in 18 games. Simon Despres, who had 11 points (3g, 8a) in 17 games, had five points (1g, 4a) in three games against Syracuse this year.

In net Jeff Deslauriers has seen most of the work playing in 19 games posting a record of 11-6-2 with a 2.31 GAA and a .902 save percentage. Deslauriers 11 wins are the third most in the AHL. Rookie Eric Hartzell has appeared in five games. He has posted a 4-1-0 record with a 2.00 GAA and a .923 save percentage. The rookie has recorded two shutouts including a 22 save shutout on Dec. 14 vs. Utica.

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