AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly

Published on October 9, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Last Week

Thu., Oct. 4 - Crunch at St. John's - W, 4-1

Fri., Oct. 5 - Crunch at St. John's - W, 3-2 SO

Sun., Oct. 7 - Crunch at St. John's - W, 6-5 OT

This Week

Fri., Oct. 12 - Crunch at Rochester, 7:05 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 13 - Crunch vs. Hershey, 7:30 p.m.

Need to Know

- Crunch sweep preseason series in Newfoundland vs. St. John's to capture Mary Brown's Cup.

- 19th season of Crunch hockey begins Friday in Rochester; home opener Saturday vs. Hershey.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Transactions

The Crunch trimmed their training camp roster by two Oct. 2, assigning defenseman Dan Milan and goaltender Pat Nagle to ECHL-Florida.

Preseason Game 1: Four goal scorers, two goalies lift Crunch in first exhibition, 4-1

Cory Conacher, Philip-Michael Devos, Richard Panik and Alex Killorn each tallied goals for Syracuse Thursday in a 4-1 victory over St. John's in Corner Brook, NL, the first contest of the team's Tampa Bay Lightning era. Syracuse took a lead halfway though the first period when reigning AHL defensive player of the year Mark Barberio set up the reigning AHL MVP and rookie of the year Conacher to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead. After a game-tying power-play strike from IceCaps center Ben Maxwell late in the first, Syracuse responded with two goals in the second and one in the third. Syracuse's third goal potted by Devos came shorthanded. Starting goalie Riku Helenius was replaced by Dustin Tokarski midway through the second period.

Preseason Game 2: Shootout win gives Crunch 3-2 victory

The Crunch overcame a two-goal deficit Friday in Stephenville, NL and won in a shootout to beat St. John's 3-2 to clinch the Mary Brown's Cup. The IceCaps scored on a 5-on-3 power play in the first and extended the lead early in the second. Brett Connolly, who spent the entire '11-12 season with the Lightning (68 games), started the Crunch comeback with a goal midway through the second period. Defenseman Matt Taormina, who split '11-12 between the New Jersey Devils and Albany Devils (30 and 33 games, respectively) knotted the score in the third. Ondrej Palat, Connolly and Tyler Johnson scored in the shootout and Crunch starting netminder Riku Helenius turned aside three St. John's shooters to give the Crunch a 3-2 victory.

Preseason Game 3: Perfect preseason complete with 6-5 OT win

Alex Killorn notched four points, including a hat trick and one assist, in the final training camp game for the Crunch in Newfoundland, a 6-5 OT win over the IceCaps Sunday in Clarenville. Ondrej Palat scored the game winner with 1:28 left in overtime to capture the victory and a Syracuse preseason sweep. The Crunch and Caps traded scores throughout the game with neither side buildng a lead larger than one goal. Richard Panik and Cory Conacher each chipped in their second goals of the preseason to help overcome St. John's largest offensive outburst of the exhibition series. Dustin Tokarski recorded the victory with 17 saves in regulation.

Notes

Rookie center Alex Killorn led Syracuse with three goals in the team's three exhibition games. Last year -- following a 46-point effort (23g, 23a) for Harvard -- Killorn posted 18 points (5g, 13a) in 27 AHL games (2-3-10 regular season, 3-9-17 postseason)

Picking up where his '11-12 MVP season left off, left wing Cory Conacher opened the Crunch's preseason scoring Thursday in a 4-1 win. As the league's top rookie last season, Conacher led the AHL with 39 goals and led rookies in scoring with 80 points.

Seven different players scored goals for the Crunch in the preseason: Alex Killorn (3), Cory Conacher (2), Richard Panik (2), Brett Connolly, Philip-Michael Devos, Ondrej Palat and Matt Taormina.

Defenseman Mark Barberio notched primary assists on three goals this preseason, including Sunday's game-winner from Palat. With 61 points (13g, 48a) last season, Barberio was the AHL's '11-12 defenseman of the year.

Goaltenders Riku Helenius and Dustin Tokarski each played half of Thursday's game. Helenius played all of Friday's contest and Tokarski all of Sunday's. The two are expected to split the first two regular season games, but starters have not yet been announced by head coach Jon Cooper.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Crunch at Rochester Americans - Friday, 7:05 p.m.

The Syracuse Crunch play their first regular season game as a Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate Oct. 12 at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena, ushering in the 19th season of the franchise's history in Syracuse. The inter-conference rivals meet 10 times during the regular season, making the Amerks Syracuse's most frequently scheduled opponent.

Crunch vs. Hershey Bears - Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

The Crunch unveil their reborn mascot and revamped uniforms (featuring the colors of new NHL affiliate Tampa Bay) Oct. 13 as Syracuse's War Memorial Arena marks its 62nd season of operation. The visiting Hershey Bears, who will be playing their first game of the season, are pinned against the Crunch six times in '12-13.

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics

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