AHL Syracuse Crunch

Filatov Set to Take on the World

Published on December 22, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Most 18-year old hockey players dream of playing in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-20 Championships, also commonly referred to as the World Junior Championships.

Syracuse Crunch rookie center Nikita Filatov is no different, so it is no surprise that the Columbus Blue Jackets allowed him to take some time out of his first pro season to go and compete in the prestigious annual tournament being held in Ottawa, Ontario.

The IIHF World Junior Championship is a tournament in which the likes of hall of famers Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and current NHL stars such as Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have all competed in, among countless others.

Filatov's Russian squad took home the bronze medal last year, defeating the United States in the bronze medal game. Filatov finished tied for second in the tournamen in scoring with nine points (4g, 5a) and registered a tournament-high plus-7 plus/minus rating.

Team Russia is looking to improve on last year's performance and is widely considered a legitimate threat to knock off four-time defending gold medal-winning Team Canada.

Filatov has appeared in 23 games with the Crunch this season, registering seven goals, 10 assists and 10 penalty minutes. He has also skated in four games with Columbus this year, notching his first NHL goal in his first NHL game on October 17 vs. Nashville.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Filatov was drafted by Columbus in the first round, sixth overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

PINEAULT PICKING IT UP: Crunch right wing Adam Pineault got off to a great start to the 2008-09 campaign with four points (1g, 3a) in his first two games. Through the season's first five games, Pineault was on a point per game pace with five points (2g, 3a).

Pineault then missed nine games with an injury and finally made his return to action on November 16 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Over his next 13 games, Pineault managed only two assists.

Lately, Pineault has been coming on and scored the tying goal with just under eight minutes to play on Friday night in Binghamton, helping the Crunch earn a point in a shootout loss against the Senators. He also tallied the only goal in the tiebreaker for the Crunch and was named the game's second star for his effort.

A native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Pineault has tallied three goals, five assists and 22 penalty minutes in 21 games for the Crunch this year. A native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Pineault was drafted by Columbus in the second round, 46th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

BINGHAMTON SENATORS (OTTAWA SENATORS): The Crunch travel down the I-81 corridor to the Broome County Veterans Memorial for the fourth and final time and sixth of eight overall meetings between these two clubs this year. Syracuse is 2-2-0-1 against the B-Sens this season and defenseman Clay Wilson (3g, 1a) and center Craig MacDonald (2g, 2a) pace the Crunch with four points each in the season series. Binghamton defenseman Mattias Karlsson leads all players with six assists and goaltender Brian Elliott is 3-1-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and .933 save percentage against Syracuse this year.

HAMILTON BULLDOGS (MONTREAL CANADIENS): The Crunch welcome in the Hamilton Bulldogs to the War Memorial at Oncenter for the first of eight meetings between these two clubs. The Crunch took the season series last year, going 7-1-0-0 against Hamilton. Joakim Lindstrom led all scorers with 12 points (3g, 9a) in six games, while Mathieu Carle paced all Bulldogs' scorers with four assists. Long time Blue Jackets netminder Marc Denis, now playing for Hamilton, is currently ranked fourth in the AHL with 12 wins.

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

Tuesday, December 23 OFF

Wednesday, December 24 OFF

Thursday, December 25 OFF

Friday, December 26 10:00 a.m. Skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Game @ Binghamton 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, December 20 10:00 a.m. Skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Game vs. Hamilton 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, December 21 TBD

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch have given up the first goal in six consecutive games...The Crunch power play is 4-for-76 over its last 14 games (5.26%) and is 24-for-184 (13.0%) on the season, currently ranked 25th out of 29 AHL clubs...With his start Saturday night, Dan LaCosta moved into soul possession of eighth place on the Crunch's all-time games played list for goaltenders (56)...Syracuse has played 18 of its 30 games on the road so far this season...Adam Pineault's goal Friday night was his first in 14 contests...Defenseman Nick Holden tallied his first professional point with an assist on Pineault's goal Friday...The Crunch have given up a shorthanded goal in three consecutive games and four on the year...Syracuse gave up just six shorthanded goals all of last season.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 22, 2008


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