Lamothe helps Griffins turn back Crunch

by Ed Gonser
Published on October 26, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL)

Syracuse, (October 26, 2002)--The Syracuse Crunch could not tame the high flying Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter dropping a 6-2 decision.

Michel Picard scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the Griffins, while former Syracuse goalie Marc Lamothe turned back 25 of 27 Syracuse shots.

Mathieu Darche netted his third goal of the season in the first period and along with a Darrel Scoville's first of the year Syracuse erased a two-goal deficit with just over five minutes left in the first period.

But the Crunch would not find the back of the net the rest of the game.

Picard became Grand Rapids leading goal scorer so far this season with his fourth of the year with five minutes left in the second period that gave the Griffins a three-goal cushion. The goal was the third power play marker of the game for the Griffins who took full advantage of the eight chances with the man advantage.

Picard and Griffins goalie Marc Lamothe help frustrate the Crunch with Lamothe stopping the Syracuse shots and Picard always positioned to help clear what rebounds Lamothe gave up.

After Hugo Boisvert opened the scoring early in the first period with both teams at even strength, Tim Skarperud slapped home a rebound from the top of the crease for the first power play tally.

Ryan Barnes' power play goal with just over a minute remaining in the first gave the Griffins back the lead on a screen shot that eluded Syracuse starting goalie Pascal Leclaire.

Grand Rapids dominated play in the second period. Syracuse area native Mark Mowers increased the Griffins lead when he put away a rebound off the end boards by Patrick Boileau at the midpoint of the period.

In the third period Syracuse head coach Gary Agnew tried to rally his team by pulling Leclaire for backup Karl Goehring. Leclaire was victimized five times on 25 Grand Rapids shots while Goehring stopped 11 of 12.

It didn't take the Griffins long to figure out the new netminder as Tomas Kopecky walked in all alone on Goehring before the period was five minutes old and fired a shot through the Crunch goalie's pads to close out the Griffins' scoring.

Syracuse tries to get back into the win column on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phantoms with a 7:00 pm faceoff.

American Hockey League Stories from October 26, 2002

• Lamothe helps Griffins turn back Crunch - OSC Original by Ed Gonser
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