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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Palmieri Piling up the Points

March 21, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Wednesday, March 23 @ Binghamton (36-27-3-4, 79 points) fifth place, East Division

Friday, March 25 vs. Albany (30-35-1-3, 64 points) sixth place, East Division

Saturday, March 26 vs. Rochester (30-33-3-3, 66 points) seventh place, North Division

Sunday, March 27 @ Bridgeport (23-36-4-7, 57 points) seventh place, Atlantic Division

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Wednesday, March16 ALBANY 6 Crunch1

Friday, March 18 CRUNCH 1 Toronto 0

Saturday, March 19 CRUNCH 6 Charlotte 2

Sunday, March 20 Crunch 5 HERSHEY 2

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

PALMIERI PILING UP THE POINTS: Crunch rookie right wing Kyle Palmieri has been red-hot lately. Palmieri collected seven points (6g, 1a), a plus-4 rating and scored the game-winning goal in all three of the Crunch's wins this past week, helping his club to a 3-1-0-0 record in four games. He scored the only goal of the game with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation in a 1-0 win over Toronto on Friday, earning second star of the game honors for his effort. Friday's contest proved to just be a warm-up for Palmieri, as he exploded for a season-high four points (3g, 1a), recording his second hat trick of the season in the process and was named the game's first star in a 6-2 win over Charlotte on Saturday.

Palmieri was again named the game's first star after adding two more tallies on Sunday at Giant Center, catapulting the Crunch to their third straight win, a 5-2 victory over Hershey. A native of Smithtown, NY, Palmieri ranks 11th in scoring among AHL rookies with 38 points (20g, 18a) this season and his 20 goals leads the Crunch. In addition, the AHL All-Star was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the second time this year on March 21 and leads the club with 12 multiple-point games this season.

The 20-year old Palmieri turned pro after completing his freshman season at the University of Notre Dame (CCHA) in 2009-10, where he recorded 17 points (9g, 8a) in 33 games. Palmieri won a gold medal with the United States at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships and a bronze medal at the 2011 tournament. He was selected by Anaheim in the first round, 26th overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

FINDING TIMO: It has been an up-and-down season for Crunch rookie goaltender Timo Pielmeier. After getting off to a great start through his first six games in which he went 4-2-0 with a 2.18 goals against average and .937 save percentage, Pielmeier struggled to find his game for an extended stretch of time.

He seems to have found his early-season form recently, going 2-0-0 with a 1.13 goals against average and .966 save % over his last three appearances. Pielmeier made his first appearance in nearly three weeks on March 13, stopping 16 of 17 shots in 40 minutes of relief after replacing J.P. Levasseur to start the second period in a 4-1 loss at Albany.

He made his first start on Friday night since February 26 and turned in one of his best performances of the season, stopping all 30 shots he faced to record his first professional shutout while backstopping the Crunch to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Toronto. The win was Pielmeier's first since a 2-1 victory over Rochester back on January 15.

In addition, Pielmeier turned in a 40-save performance the following night in a 6-2 win over Charlotte and was named the game's third star for his effort. A native of Deggendorf, Germany, Pielmeier was acquired by Anaheim along with Nick Bonino from San Jose in exchange for Kent Huskins and Travis Moen on March 4, 2009.

UPCOMING GAMES:

BINGHAMTON SENATORS (OTTAWA SENATORS): The Crunch travel south on I-81 to battle the Binghamton Senators on Wednesday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Left wing Nicolas Deschamps leads all Crunch players with four points (3g, 1a), as Syracuse has taken one of the first six games in the season series. For Binghamton, Corey Locke has 12 of his AHL-leading 80 points this season against the Crunch (2g, 10a), while Ryan Keller (6g, 0a), Jim O'Brien (4g, 2a) and Kaspars Daugavins (3g, 3a) lead all other active Senators players with six points each against the Crunch this year.

ALBANY DEVILS (NEW JERSEY DEVILS): The visiting Albany Devils come to town on Friday night to battle the Crunch for the eighth and final time this season and third time in a nine day span. The Crunch are 3-3-0-1 in the first seven contest between the two clubs and have dropped three straight against the Devils after taking three of the first four meetings of the 2010-11 season. For the Crunch, Matt Beleskey leads all active players with four points (2g, 2a) in four games, while Nick Bonino (2g, 1a) and Nicolas Deschamps (1g, 2a) have each notched three points against Albany this year. Timo Pielmeier has appeared in three games vs. the Devils this season, going 2-0-0 with a 2.25 goals against average and .918 save percentage. For Albany, Adam Henrique leads his club and all players in the season series with seven points (3g, 4a), while goaltender Mike McKenna is 3-2-0 with a 2.01 goals against average and .925 save percentage.

ROCHESTER AMERICANS (FLORIDA PANTHERS): The Crunch welcome in I-90 rival Rochester on Saturday for the tenth and final game between the two clubs this season. Syracuse is 4-4-1-0 against Rochester this season and have won four of the last six game after dropping the first three contests in the season series. For the Crunch, Patrick Maroon leads the Crunch with 12 points (5g, 7a) in nine combined games with the Crunch and Adirondack this year, while nine of Maxime Macecauer's 23 points this season have come against Rochester (4g, 5a). For Rochester, Chris Taylor leads his club with 10 points (2g, 8a), while Mike Kostka has seven points (2g, 5a) against the Crunch in 2010-11.

BRIDGEPORT SOUND TIGERS (NEW YORK ISLANDERS): The Crunch travel to Bridgeport on Sunday to take on the Sound Tigers for the second and final game between these two clubs this season. Bridgeport won the first contest back on December 11 by a 4-3 score on the strength of three points (1g, 2a) from Rhett Rakhshani and a goal and an assist from Jeremy Colliton. For the Crunch, Matt Kennedy notched two assists, while Matt Beleskey, John Mitchell and Mat Clark scored the club's three goals.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

US JEWELRY EXCHANGE NIGHT THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 26: At the Crunch's Saturday, March 26 game vs. Rochester, fans can bring their broken or unwanted gold jewelry, platinum, silver, coins, diamonds, stamps, rings and antiques and exchange them for cash at the US Jewelry Exchange table, which will be set up on the concourse of The Oncenter War Memorial Arena. Fans can start visiting the US Jewelry Exchange table when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. US Jewelry Exchange is locally owned and operated and is located at at 2105 West Genesee St. (across from Westvale Plaza). For more information about how to exchange your unwanted or broken jewelry for cash, please call (315) 877-0126.

QUICKWAY 'SCORE WITH YANCEY'S FANCY' PROMOTION: From now through April 1, anyone that purchases a Yancey's Fancy cheese product at a participating area Quickway location will receive $5 off a regularly-priced adult ticket to any remaining regular season Friday night Crunch home game. The Crunch's remaining Friday home games are March 25 and April 1. Fans must bring their Quickway Food Stores register receipt to the Oncenter Box Office to receive the discount. This cannot be combined with any other offers.

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch have won seven of their last nine games.The Crunch have 11 goals over their last two games after scoring three in their previous three contests.The Crunch PK has only allowed four power play goals against over the last nine games (41-for-45), good for a 91.1% success rate.Palmieri leads the Crunch with 12 multiple-point games this season, with the Crunch going 8-3-1-0 during those contests.Palmieri leads all AHL rookies with 173 shots on goal.The Crunch now have 10 shorthanded goals on the season, which ties them for fourth in the AHL in that category.

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