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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly â€Â" Vol. 28, No. 13

January 11, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH OPEN 2022 WITH THREE WINS

Following a three-week break, the Crunch collected three wins in four nights to begin 2022. Riding a four-game winning streak dating back to Dec. 15, the Crunch are above 0.500 at 11-10-2-1. The team already has more wins in January (3) than they picked up in both November (2) and December (2).

Syracuse topped Rochester twice in Week 13, securing a 2-1 win at Blue Cross Arena Wednesday before ending the week with a 3-1 victory at Upstate Medical University Arena. Sandwiched in between was a 5-3 triumph over the Hershey Bears as the Crunch took care of the teams ranked third and fourth in the Eastern Conference.

The Crunch face another stiff challenge in Week 14 with a trip to Laval plus a home-and-home series with AHL-leading Utica.

TOP PERFORMERS

Rookie Cole Koepke carried his hot play into the new year with goals in all three Crunch wins in Week 13. With game-opening goals Wednesday and Friday, plus an empty-net goal Saturday, Koepke rides a five-game goal-scoring streak, which is tied for the longest in the AHL this season.

Koepke's five-game goal streak is the longest by a Crunch rookie since Alex Killorn netted a goal in six straight games Dec. 9-22, 2012.

The Hermantown, Minnesota native ranks second on the Crunch and is tied for 14th among AHL rookies in scoring with 18 points (7g, 11a) in 20 games this season. Overall, he has points in six straight games and in eight of the last nine since Nov. 26.

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Otto Somppi extended his scoring streak to five games with one goal and two assists in Week 13. He had helpers Wednesday and Friday before firing home a power-play goal to open the scoring in Saturday's win.

The Finnish forward, who missed eight games with an injury after leaving the season opener in October, is finding his stride with six points (2g, 4a) in the last nine games. Last season, Somppi ranked third on the Crunch with 26 points (12g, 14a) in 32 games.

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Goaltender Max Lagace pushed his personal win streak to four games with back-to-back wins to open Week 13. The veteran netminder turned aside 17 of 18 shots in Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Rochester. He made 20 more saves to beat the Hershey Bears Friday, improving to 5-3-0 this season.

During his four-game winning streak, Lagace has posted a 2.27 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

LABRIE'S BIG RETURN

The Crunch signed P.C. Labrie to a two-year AHL contract Friday. He dressed in both weekend games for the Crunch, logging a fight in both outings and scoring a goal Friday.

Labrie last played for the Crunch during a two-year stint at the start of the Lightning affiliation; he appeared in 77 games for the Crunch between 2012 and 2014. This season with Hartford and Syracuse, the 35-year-old has nine points (3g, 6a) in 23 games.

UPCOMING: LAVAL, UTICA

The Crunch open Week 14 Wednesday with their first trip to Laval since Jan. 22, 2020. It is the second of eight head-to-head matches this season with the Crunch securing a 4-0 shutout win in their first clash Nov. 6. The Rocket have won five of their last six games, but they have not played since Dec. 17 due to AHL Covid-19 protocols. Wednesday's game is expected to be played without fans at Place Bell.

Syracuse then meets Utica in a home-and-home series starting Friday at the Adirondack Bank Center. They will be the fourth and fifth games of their 14-game season series. The Comets have won the first three against the Crunch on their way to a 19-3-3-0 record. The rivals are slated to meet four times in a nine-day span with another home-and-home next weekend.

WEEK 13 RESULTS

Wednesday, Jan. 5 | Game 22 at Rochester | W, 2-1

Syracuse 0 2 0 - 2 Shots: 6-8-2-16 PP: 1/3

Rochester 0 1 0 - 1 Shots: 4-4-10-18 PP: 0/5

2nd Period-Koepke 5 (Somppi), 1:27. Dumont 11 (Barré-Boulet, Ryfors), 17:24 (PP). . . . Lagace 4-3-0 (18 shots-17 saves) A-2,439

Friday, Jan. 7 | Game 23 vs. Hershey | W, 5-3

Hershey 1 1 1 - 3 Shots: 6-10-7-23 PP: 2/4

Syracuse 2 1 2 - 5 Shots: 10-6-10-26 PP: 0/2

1st Period-Koepke 6 (Dumont, Barré-Boulet), 2:45. Green 1 (Koepke, Huntington), 12:51. 2nd Period-Labrie 3 (Jones, Hudon), 1:15. 3rd Period-Fortier 5 (Green, Somppi), 1:58. Barré-Boulet 2 (Koepke), 19:51 (EN). . . . Lagace 5-3-0 (23 shots-20 saves) A-3,853

Saturday, Jan. 8 | Game 24 vs. Rochester | W, 3-1

Rochester 0 1 0 - 1 Shots: 9-13-9-31 PP: 1/3

Syracuse 0 2 1 - 3 Shots: 9-15-8-32 PP: 2/2

2nd Period-Somppi 2 (Cajkovic, Ryfors), 6:16 (PP). Hudon 7 (Barré-Boulet, Day), 18:43 (PP). 3rd Period-Koepke 7 (Unassisted), 19:49 (EN). . . . Alnefelt 3-3-1 (31 shots-30 saves) A-4,378

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 22.6% (21-for-93) 3rd (6th)

Penalty Kill 77.5% (69-for-89) 28th (27th)

Goals For 2.96 GFA (71) T-17th (22nd)

Goals Against 3.21 GAA (77) 23rd (T-26th)

Shots For 30.08 SF/G (722) 13th (12th)

Shots Against 27.58 SA/G (662) 5th (7th)

Penalty Minutes 12.83 PIM/G (308) 16th (17th)

Category Leader

Points 20 Dumont

Goals 11 Dumont

Assists 12 Day

PIM 36 Dumont

Plus/Minus +8 Claesson|Sustr

Wins 5 Lagace

GAA 2.65 Miftakhov

Save % .907 Miftakhov

North Division

GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O

1. Utica 25 19 3 3 0 41 0.82 91 59 278 11-2-1-0 8-1-2-0 5-2-3-0 0-1-0-0 1-0

2. Rochester 29 18 11 0 0 36 0.621 108 103 373 9-4-0-0 9-7-0-0 5-5-0-0 0-1-0-0 2-0

3. Toronto 26 14 10 1 1 30 0.577 85 89 390 8-5-1-1 6-5-0-0 5-5-0-0 3-0-0-0 1-1

4. Laval 24 12 10 2 0 26 0.542 84 84 350 8-3-2-0 4-7-0-0 5-4-1-0 2-0-0-0 1-0

5. Cleveland 27 11 9 4 3 29 0.537 80 85 340 4-5-1-1 7-4-3-2 2-6-2-0 0-1-0-0 1-3

6. Syracuse 24 11 10 2 1 25 0.521 71 77 308 5-6-0-1 6-4-2-0 6-4-0-0 4-0-0-0 1-1

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