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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly - November 2, 2016 - Vol. 23, No. 3

November 2, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


LAST WEEK Fri., Oct. 28 - Crunch at Binghamton - W, 4-3 Sat., Oct. 29 - Crunch vs. Providence - W, 3-2 Sun., Oct. 30 - Crunch at W-B/Scranton - L, 6-1

THIS WEEK Fri., Nov. 4 - Crunch at Rochester - 7:05 p.m. Sat., Nov. 5 - Crunch vs. Utica - 7 p.m.

Winning Weekend makes Crunch 4-3-0-0 Syracuse's first of five three-in-three weekends yielded two wins. The Crunch raced out to 2-0 leads Friday and Saturday, and held on for one-goal wins each night: Friday in Binghamton, 4-3, and Saturday vs. Providence, 3-2. Sunday's 6-1 setback in Wilkes-Barre leaves Syracuse at 4-3-0-0 (.571), third in the North Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference. Four of the next six Crunch games are at home.

Top Performers Adam Wilcox earned two wins in two days last week. After 24 saves on 27 shots Friday in Binghamton, Wilcox earned first-star honors Saturday, saving 24 of 26 Providence shots. He was No. 1 star twice as a rookie.

Wilcox had never started on consecutive days in his pro career. Last season he appeared in games on consecutive days four times, never winning twice.

Wilcox has three wins in five appearances this season. Last year, his third win came in his 11th appearance which did not occur until Jan. 9. He made 24 starts and three relief outings last year (9-12-6, 3.34 GAA).

Wilcox, who did not play in Sunday's loss, can equal his career high of three wins in three games (accomplished twice) with a victory in his next appearance.

Jeremy Morin led the Crunch in scoring during Week 3 with three assists, the first points of his Syracuse career (four games). The Auburn, New York native assisted on Adam Erne's Friday goal in Binghamton. He had two helpers Saturday vs. Providence, one on Yanni Gourde's first-period marker and the other on Halmo's winner. Morin has 203 points (97g, 106a) in 271 AHL games.

Mike Halmo scored his first two goals of the season in Week 3. He scored the game-winning goal Saturday vs. Providence and the team's lone marker Sunday at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Halmo has 58 goals and 115 points in 221 career AHL games. He collected a career-high 22 goals and 41 points last year in 74 games with Bridgeport. He has one goal in 20 NHL contests.

Through seven games, Gabriel Dumont remains Syracuse's top scorer at eight points (4g, 4a). He was the first star Friday in Binghamton with his third multi-point performance (1g, 1a) and his first game-winning goal.

Transactions Slater Koekkoek and Matt Taormina swapped roster spots Monday. Koekkoek, 22, made his Lightning season debut Tuesday in Brooklyn with one assist; he was scratched for the first three games of Tampa Bay's season before being reassigned to Syracuse Oct. 19. In his five-game stint with the Crunch, Koekkoek posted two assists.

Taormina, 30, did not see game action over 12 days on Tampa Bay's roster. He had one assist in two games with Syracuse to start the year. He's played 59 career NHL games.

Cory Conacher returned to the Crunch lineup Sunday in Wilkes-Barre after his Lightning season debut Saturday in New Jersey (13:26 TOI). It was Conacher's first NHL game since Dec. 4, 2014 (Islanders at Ottawa), and first Lightning game since April 2, 2013 (vs. Florida). Out of 434 pro regular season and playoff games (NHL, AHL, ECHL, Switzerland), 170 have been with the Tampa Bay organization (39%).

Adam Comrie made his Crunch debut Sunday. The 6-foot-5 defenseman was recalled from ECHL-Kalamazoo Thursday after one assist in two games with the K-Wings.

Special Teams The Crunch power play cooled from 26.3% to 18.2% after a 1-for-14 Week 3. At 6-for-33 for the year, Syracuse ranks 12th in the AHL, down from 7th last week. The Crunch were scoreless against two of the league's top penalty killing units: Providence (90.0%, 3rd) Saturday and W-B/Scranton (93.8%, 1st) Sunday. Syracuse's penalty kill slipped from 6th to 14th with an 8-for-11 weekend.

Upcoming: Rochester, Utica Syracuse faces two division opponents in Week 4: at Rochester Friday and home vs. Utica Saturday.

The Amerks (4-3-0-0) split two games in St. John's last weekend, falling 5-3 Friday before bouncing back in a 5-2 win Saturday. The Crunch have taken two meetings with the Amerks, winning 4-1 at home Oct. 15 and 6-3 in Rochester the following day. Cole Schneider leads the team with 10 points (4g, 6a).

The Comets (2-5-1-0) snapped a three-game skid with a 4-3 win Saturday in Hartford, but fell in overtime Wednesday at St. John's. Utica has allowed three or more goals in seven of eight games, surrendering 3.71 goals per contest, third-worst in the league. Utica defeated Syracuse in the first of 12 meetings, 5-4, Oct. 21 at the War Memorial. Jordan Subban and Michael Chaput have nine points each. Richard Bachman is 2-2-0 (3.52); rookie Thatcher Demko is 0-3-1 (3.74).

Week 3 Results

Friday, October 28 | Game 5 at Binghamton | W, 4-3 SYR 2 2 0 - 4 Shots: 11-5-15-31 PP: 1/4 BNG 1 1 1 - 3 Shots: 9-12-6-27 PP: 1/4 1st Period-Erne 2 (Morin, Dotchin), 1:59. Bournival 4 (Dumont, Condra), 9:27. 2nd Period-Peca 3 (Vermin, Blujus), 0:39 (PP). Dumont 4 (Ikonen, Walcott), 1:04. . . . Wilcox 2-2-0 (27 shots-24 saves).

Saturday, October 29 | Game 6 vs. Providence | W, 3-2 PRO 0 1 0 - 1 Shots: 11-7-8-26 PP: 0/4 SYR 2 1 0 - 3 Shots: 13-10-2-25 PP: 0/6 1st Period-Darcy 1 (Letourneau-Leblond, Blujus), 2:14. Gourde 2 (Morin, Ikonen), 8:44. 2nd Period-Halmo 1 (Morin, Bournival), 9:25. . . . Wilcox 3-2-0 (26 shots-24 saves).

Sunday, October 30 | Game 7 at W-B/Scranton | L, 6-1 SYR 0 0 1 - 1 Shots: 6-10-7-23 PP: 0/4 WBS 3 1 2 - 6 Shots: 13-4-12-29 PP: 2/3 2nd Period-Conacher 2 (Thomas, Erne), 10:51 (PP). . . . Gudlevskis 1-1-0 (29 shots-23 saves)

Category standings (previous week) Power Play 18.2% (6-for-33) 12th (6th) Penalty Kill 84.4% (27-for-32) 14th (6th) Goals For 3.29 GFA (23) 12th (3rd) Goals Against 3.29 GAA (23) 21st (17th) Shots For 29.00 SF/G (203) 17th (10th) Shots Against 24.86 SA/G (174) 1st (1st) Penalty Minutes 15.00 PIM/G (105) 14th (17th)

Crunch Leaders Points 8 Dumont Goals 4 Dumont, Bournival Assists 4 Dumont, Blujus PIM 22 Dotchin Plus/Minus +3 Dumont, Bournival, Koekkoek Wins 3 Wilcox GAA 2.60 Wilcox Save % .897 Wilcox

Syracuse Crunch single game and season tickets for the 2016-17 season are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch office located in the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse or by calling the office at 315-473-4444. For the latest Crunch news, visitwww.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch.

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