AHL Syracuse Crunch

MacLean's Offense Continues to Impress

Published on March 24, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Center Donald MacLean put in another impressive performance this weekend, recording five points (3g, 2a), in two games against the Cleveland Barons. MacLean has appeared in 13 games with the Crunch since returning from a neck injury that cost him the first 61 games of the season, recording eight goals, six assists and six penalty minutes. MacLean, 26, won the John B. Sollenberg Award as the AHL's top scorer (87 points) and finished second in the AHL in assists (54) last season as a member of the St. John's Maple Leafs. In 290 career AHL games with Syracuse, St. John's, Lowell, Springfield and Fredericton, MacLean has tallied 106 goals, 142 assists and 192 penalty minutes. He has also appeared in 25 career regular season NHL games with Los Angeles and Toronto, recording five goals, three assists and six penalty minutes. A 6-foot-3, 208 pound native of Sydney, Nova Scotia, MacLean was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings with their second selection, 33rd overall in the 1995 Entry Draft. Columbus signed MacLean as a free agent on July 17, 2002.

DARCHE'S FIVE-POINT WEEKEND: Left wing Mathieu Darche continued his scoring ways this weekend, tallying five points (1g, 4a) against the Barons. Darche has at least one point in eight of his last ten games (5g, 9a) helping move within four career points (141) of Reggie Savage (145) for fifth on the Crunch's all-time scoring list. Darche has appeared in 70 games for the Crunch this season with a team high 29 goals and 56 points. He is expected to become the sixth player in Crunch history to appear in 200 games on Friday night (Mark Wotton - 310, Chad Allan - 282, Larry Courville - 225, Rod Stevens - 212 and Tyson Nash - 201).

NOT AGAIN!: Defenseman Darrel Scoville's bad luck continued on Sunday when he left the second period of the game against Cleveland with a knee injury that is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the season. Scoville has already missed 18 games with a broken foot suffered on January 6 @ Philadelphia and 31 games with an abdominal injury. A native of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Scoville has appeared in 24 games with the Crunch this season with four goals, nine assists and 26 penalty minutes.

SYRACUSE - COLUMBUS SHUTTLE: Thirteen players have appeared in both a Syracuse and Columbus uniform this season: Blake Bellefeuille, Mathieu Darche, Matt Davidson, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, J.F. Labbe, Pascal Leclaire* (served as back-up to Marc Denis), David Ling, Paul Manning, Andrej Nedorost, Darrel Scoville, Darren Van Impe, Derrick Walser & Duvie Westcott.

GALBRAITH RELEASED: The Syracuse Crunch announced today that they have released left wing Lance Galbraith from his professional try-out contract. Galbraith, 23, appeared in two games with Syracuse recording one assist and eight penalty minutes. A native of Brampton, Ontario, Galbraith signed a P.T.O. on March 22 with Syracuse.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

Tuesday, March 25

Advance Auto Parts Autograph Signing: On Tuesday, March 25, Crunch players Paul Manning, Trent Cull, Darrel Scoville, Jeremy Reich and Mike Pandolfo will be on hand at Advance Auto Parts, located in Cicero, by Market Place Mall from 4-5 p.m. to sign autographs.

ShoppingTown Mall Autograph Signing: On Tuesday, March 25, Crunch players Karl Goehring and Pascal Leclaire will be on hand at ShoppingTown Mall from 6-7 p.m. to sign autographs.

Wednesday, March 26

Crunch At Your Service Dinner: Wednesday, March 26 will be the United Parcel Service Crunch at Your Service Dinner to benefit the United Way of Central New York.

The Eighth-Annual UPS Crunch at Your Service Benefit Dinner will take place on Wednesday, March 26 at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool. Individual tickets can be purchased for $60 and tables for $550, which includes seating for ten (10) and waiter of your choice, if available.

Cocktail hour will be from 6 -7 p.m., where guests will have the opportunity to take pictures with their favorite Crunch players and bid on silent auction items. Dinner will begin at 7 p.m., as players 'work' for tips by performing crazy antics and strive for the honor of being 'Top Waiter'. Last year the honor went to goaltender Greg Gardner who raised a total of $1,622.

In additional, WSEN will be on hand to provide an emcee and music for the event, along with Crunch play-by-play announcer Bob McElligott.

This year's dinner will benefit United Way of Central New York whose mission is to improve the organized capacity of people to care for one another. Last year, over 60,000 people used United Way of Central New York to help people in need in Onondaga County.

For ticket information contact Matt Christiana in the Crunch office at (315) 473-4444 ext. 124.

Friday, March 28

Animal Planet Night: Friday, March 28 will be Animal Planet Night at the Crunch, courtesy of Time Warner Cable and Rosamond Gifford Zoo. During the first and second intermission Animal Planet character Crikey Crocodile, life-size standees of Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin and a zoo display will be set up in the Slapshot room, located in the basement of the War Memorial. Throughout the night Animal Planet and Zoo characters will roam the stands and family four packs to the zoo will be given out. There will be a surprise visit by a mystery zoo animal and the first 1,000 kids in attendance will receive a coloring sheet, courtesy of Times Warner Cable and Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

HAMILTON (MONTREAL CANADIENS/EDMONTON OILERS): Syracuse returns to the War Memorial at Oncenter on Friday, March 28 to host the Bulldogs for the final of four regular season meetings. Syracuse leads the series 2-1-0, after shutting out Hamilton 1-0 in their last meeting on November 24. Center Benoit Gratton (1g, 3a) leads all players in head-to-head scoring with four points. Defenseman Trent Cull (3a) leads all Syracuse players with three points. Ty Conklin has appeared in net twice for Hamilton with a 1-1-0 record, a 2.50 goals against average and .898 save percentage. Pascal Leclaire has appeared in two games for Syracuse with a 1-1-0 record, a 3.02 goals against average and .905 save percentage. Lifetime, the Crunch is 20-26-7 against the Bulldogs.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON (PITTSBURGH PENGUINS): Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton play a home and home series this weekend with Syracuse traveling to Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, March 29 and then returning to the War Memorial at Oncenter on Sunday, March 30 to play the seventh and eighth of eight regular season games. The series is tied at 3-3-0. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton shut out Syracuse 4-0 in their last meeting on March 19. Center Blake Bellefeuille (2g, 3a) leads all players in head-to-head scoring with five points. Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi (4a) and centers Matt Murley (2g, 2a) and Shane Endicott (1g, 3a) lead the Penguins with four points. Former Crunch goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin has appeared in net twice for the Penguins with a 1-1-0 record, 1.52 goals against average and .953 save percentage. Karl Goehring has appeared in four games for Syracuse with a 3-1-0 record, 2.18 goals against average and .935 save percentage. Lifetime, Syracuse is 20-11-5 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Trent Cull is listed as day-to-day with a groin injury, suffered February 14 vs. St. John's. Cull has missed the last 20 games with the injury... Center Blake Bellefeuille is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a neck injury suffered on March 16 @ Rochester. Bellefeuille has missed three games with the injury... Left wing Trevor Ettinger is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a neck injury suffered on March 16 @ Rochester. Ettinger has missed three games with the injury... Defenseman Darrel Scoville is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury suffered on March 23 @ Cleveland.

INJURIES BY THE NUMBERS: Through 74 games this season, Syracuse has lost 191 man-games due to injuries Darrel Scoville - 50, Trent Cull - 35, Brad Moran - 20, Paul Manning & Duvie Westcott - 13, Blake Bellefeuille - 9, Pauli Levokari - 8, Trevor Ettinger & Donald MacLean - 6, Ben Knopp - 5, Kent McDonell & Andrej Nedorost - 4, Radim Bicanek - 3, Matt Dzieduszycki, Martin Paroulek & Dan Watson - 2, Adam Borzecki - 1, represent the Crunch's injury list this season.

CRUNCHABLES: Defenseman Derrick Walser tallied his 150th AHL point on Friday night @ Cleveland... With Philadelphia defeating the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-4 in overtime on Sunday, Syracuse was officially eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs... Left wing Mike Pandolfo recorded the first multiple point game of his career Sunday @ Cleveland, scoring once with an assist... Playing in his first game against his former team, Cleveland defenseman Dan Watson needed just 15 seconds into the game to score his first goal against the Crunch... Syracuse tied a season high for most shots in a game, firing 46 shots against Cleveland on Sunday afternoon. The previous 46-shot effort was also against the Barons on February 7... Syracuse finished 3-0-0 against the Barons at Gund Arena this season and 0-3-0 at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2003


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