Syracuse Crunch Weekly - Vol. 31, No. 1
October 15, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release
CRUNCH TAKE PAIR OF WINS
The Crunch won twice in Week 1 to begin the season 2-0-0-0 for the second straight season.
For just the second time in team history, Syracuse earned a shutout in its season opener, a 5-0 win in Utica on Friday. Brandon Halverson made 26 saves for his second career AHL shutout. The next night, the Crunch won their home opener against the Belleville Senators, 2-1, in a shootout.
The Crunch are one of four teams that earned a pair of victories during opening weekend. They now hit the road for a three-in-three weekend with visits to Laval on Friday and Saturday and Belleville on Sunday.
TOP PERFORMERS
Rookie defenseman Dyllan Gill made an instant impact in his professional debut Friday in Utica. The 20-year-old, who is the youngest player on the Crunch roster, scored his first pro goal and the Crunch's first goal of the season at 6:51 of the first period. He then tallied his second goal of the night at 15:07 of the third to cap the night with two goals-including the game-winning goal-and a plus-2 rating.
The Riverview, New Brunswick native was limited to 12 games due to injury last season with Rouyn-Noranda in the QMJHL. His last regular season game prior to Friday was Nov. 19, 2023.
Gill was selected by the Lightning in the seventh round (#223) in the 2022 NHL Draft.
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Brandon Halverson logged his second career AHL shutout with a 26-save performance in the season opener on Friday. In the process, Halverson led the Crunch to only their second ever shutout win in a season opener (Pascal Leclaire, 2004-05).
A second-round draft pick by the New York Rangers in 2014, Halverson signed a PTO with the Crunch last November and then inked a two-year AHL deal with Syracuse that carries through the remainder of this season. His other previous AHL shutout was also a 26-save effort against the Comets on Nov. 24, 2023.
A WEEK OF FIRSTS
Last week featured three players scoring milestone goals for the Crunch. Dyllan Gill potted his first pro goal in his first pro game Friday at Utica. The 20-year-old defenseman added a second goal later that night.
Dylan Duke, 21, also scored his first pro goal against the Comets. It came in his ninth career AHL game.
Niko Huuhtanen potted his first career AHL goal in his fifth career game. It was also scored against Utica.
SHARING IS CARING
Out of their 19 skaters who played at least one game last week, the Crunch had 11 different players record at least a point.
Dyllan Gill, Maxim Groshev, Joel Teasdale, and Jesse Ylonen all have multiple points through the first couple of games with Gill being the lone player on the Crunch to have multiple goals.
UPCOMING WEEK
Friday, Oct. 18 at Laval | 7 p.m.
The Crunch begin a three-in-three weekend with the first game of a two-game set at Place Bell against the Laval Rocket. It marks the Rocket's home opener; Laval is 4-2-1-0 all-time in home openers but has dropped two straight. The Crunch have won three straight games as an opponent in home opening games on the road with the last two resulting in 5-0 shutout wins (Friday at Utica and Oct. 20, 2023 at Cleveland).
Saturday, Oct. 19 at Laval | 3 p.m.
The Crunch and Rocket wrap a two-game set Saturday afternoon at Place Bell. Syracuse has won its last two games in Laval, going 2-2-0-0 there last season.
The Crunch could face their all-time leading scorer this weekend. Alex Barré-Boulet, who compiled 302 points in 294 Crunch games since 2018-19, joined the Canadiens organization this summer and was loaned to Laval yesterday.
Sunday, Oct. 20 at Belleville | 3 p.m.
Syracuse closes out its busy weekend in Canada with an afternoon tilt against the Belleville Senators at CAA Arena on Sunday. The teams went to a shootout on Saturday in Syracuse before the Crunch prevailed, 2-1. That one win matches the Crunch's total against Belleville in eight tries last season (1-4-1-2). They were 0-2-0-2 in four visits to Belleville.
The Senators opened with a 1-0-0-1 mark in Week 1 and will host Utica in their home opener on Saturday.
WEEK 1 RESULTS
Friday, Oct. 11 | Game 1 at Utica | W, 5-0
Syracuse 2 2 1 - 5 Shots: 11-6-9-26 PP: 0/1
Utica 0 0 0 - 1 Shots: 13-2-11-26 PP: 0/4
1st Period-Gill 1 (Groshev), 6:51. Huuhtanen 1 (Teasdale), 10:57. 2nd Period-Duke 1 (Pouliot, Santini), 4:06. Groshev 1 (Ylonen), 8:00. 3rd Period-Gill 2 (Dureau, Ylonen), 15:07.. .. Halverson 1-0-0 (26 shots-26 saves) A-3,508
Saturday, Oct. 12 | Game 2 vs. Belleville | SOW, 2-1
Belleville 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 Shots: 7-9-9-6-0-31 PP: 0/3
Syracuse 0 1 0 0 1 - 2 Shots: 10-12-6-2-0-29 PP: 0/7
2nd Period-Teasdale 1 (Edmonds, Smith), 9:28. Shootout-Syracuse 1 (Edmonds NG, Dureau G, Ylonen NG), Belleville 0 (Bourgault NG, Rees NG, Crookshank NG).. .. Tomkins 1-0-0 (31 shots-30 saves) A-5,954
Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)
Power Play 0.0% (0-for-8) T-24th (N/A)
Penalty Kill 100.0% (7-for-7) T-1st (N/A)
Goals For 3.50 GFA (7) 12th (N/A)
Goals Against 0.50 GAA (1) 1st (N/A)
Shots For 27.50 SF/G (55) 21st (N/A)
Shots Against 28.50 SA/G (57) T-12th (N/A)
Penalty Minutes 19.50 PIM/G (39) 8th (N/A)
Category Leader
Points 2 Gill|Groshev|Teasdale|Ylonen
Goals 2 Gill
Assists 2 Ylonen
PIM 7 Huuhtanen
Plus/Minus +3 Dureau|Ylonen
Wins 1 Halverson|Tomkins
GAA 0.00 Halverson
Save % 1.000 Halverson
North Division GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O
1. Toronto 2 2 0 0 0 4 1.000 8 4 10 2-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 2-0-0-0 2-0-0-0 0-0
2. Syracuse 2 2 0 0 0 4 1.000 7 1 39 1-0-0-0 1-0-0-0 2-0-0-0 2-0-0-0 1-0
3. Belleville 2 1 0 0 1 3 0.750 4 4 29 0-0-0-0 1-0-0-1 1-0-0-1 1-0-0-1 0-1
4. Rochester 2 1 1 0 0 2 0.500 6 4 25 0-1-0-0 1-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-0-0-0 0-0
5. Laval 2 1 1 0 0 2 0.500 6 5 25 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-1-0-0 0-1-0-0 0-0
6. Cleveland 2 1 1 0 0 2 0.500 9 10 33 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-0-0-0 0-0
7. Utica 2 0 2 0 0 0 0.000 1 9 41 0-2-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-2-0-0 0-2-0-0 0-0
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