Dora can't save the Crunch

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Dora can't save the Crunch

by Ed Gonser
February 19, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)


Syracuse, (February 19, 2003) -- A midweek contest in the American Hockey League is not usually a highly attended affair. The Syracuse Crunch, playing its fourth game of a six-game homestand, knew that and with two weekend games upcoming, it needed a hook to bring in the fans.

Monday they tried one dollar concession prices, but 10 inches of snow kept the fans away.

This hook should have been a quality team on the ice that everyone would want to see, but with only 16 wins and racking up losses faster than snow piling up in Central New York the Crunch management went to another gimmick, Dora the Explorer, the popular star of Nick Jr.'s Dora the Explorer show was on hand to the delight of 5,741 fans.

Not even the line for the restroom could rival the thousands that waited to get to hug Dora.

It would have been a good compliment if the team on the ice was able to explore why it has trouble putting the puck in the net and wins on the board. Syracuse was winless in its last six games.

So, Syracuse took to the ice against the Hershey Bears in the first of two consecutive games. The teams will square off again on Friday. Hey! another gimmick - SpongeBob SquarePants. No, Syracuse already did that one, darn.

Well, scoring two goals in the third period after holding Hershey to just one goal in the first two periods and killing off six penalties in the first 40 minutes seemed like the ticket to success.

Naw, that didn't work either. Syracuse started the third period on the power play, but Hershey's leading scorer Brian Willsie netted a pair of third-period goals including a shorthanded breakaway just over a minute into the third period that paced the Hershey Bears to a 6-2 win over the Crunch Wednesday at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.

Willsie's shorthanded blast gave the Bears a two-goal cushion after Jordan Krestanovich had put Hershey (25-19-11-2) on the board with a goal in the final two minutes of the first period.

It was the first of five goals by Hershey in the third period.

Syracuse (16-32-6-3) cut the lead to one on a goal by Mike Pandolfo less than two minutes after Willsie's breakaway blast.

Willsie gave the Bears back its two-goal advantage less than two minutes after Pandolfo swept the puck into the Bears net.

Syracuse cut into the lead once more on a power play goal by Kent McDonell near the midpoint of the period banging home a rebound past Hershey goalie Peter Budaj.

The word went out into the halls, Syracuse is back in the game. The fans started back toward their seats but before anyone could move up in line for those that headed for the stands the Syracuse defense pulled a disappearing act.

It only took the Bears' forward Bruce Richardson, 23 seconds to put the puck behind Syracuse goalie Pascal Leclaire once again.

Less than two minutes later Brett Clark scored for the Bears and Charlie Stephens added a goal late in the period.

While the win snapped a Hershey three-game losing skid the loss extended Syracuse to seven games without a win.

So Syracuse looks for a way it fix its troubles and put a ray of sunshine in the cloudy gloom of a disappointing season. Can they fix it? Hmmm, I've heard that somewhere...Oh yea, Can we fix it, yes we can. Look for Bob the Builder night in Syracuse soon!

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2003


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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