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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly

November 22, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH CELEBRATE MILESTONE WEEK

The Crunch extended their winning streak to four games and earned a milestone win for the franchise and for head coach Ben Groulx in the process.

Syracuse began the week with a three-goal, third period comeback win in Springfield, stunning the T-Birds with a 5-4 shootout victory. It was the Crunch's first win when trailing by three goals in the third period since Feb. 28, 2016 (at Binghamton).

The Crunch then went to Belleville and won their 1,000th game in franchise history by beating the Senators, 5-4. It was also Ben Groulx's 300th career win as an AHL head coach.

Winners of five of their last six games, the Crunch are home for three games this week. Syracuse has climbed back to 0.500 with a 6-6-1-2 record. The Crunch are in fourth place in the North Division with 15 points.

TOP PERFORMERS

Defenseman Declan Carlile helped power the Crunch to their two wins in Week 6. He was one of three Crunch players to log three points over the two games. The rookie scored the game-tying goal with less than three minutes remaining in the third period in the Crunch's 5-4 shootout win in Springfield. He also added an assist in the game for his second multi-point performance of the season.

With another assist Saturday, Carlile now has six points (4g, 2a) in 14 games this season. He leads all Crunch rookies, and ranks third among the team's defensemen, in scoring.

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Rookie forward Ilya Usau found his scoring touch in Week 6, contributing his first two career points. The 21-year-old earned his first AHL point with an assist in Wednesday's comeback win over the Thunderbirds. He then scored his first AHL goal to open the scoring as the Crunch defeated the Senators, 5-4, Saturday.

Usau has two points in 13 games this season. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightning to a three-year, entry-level contract as an undrafted free agent in March.

1,000 WINS

The Crunch became the seventh AHL franchise to win 1,000 games with their win over the Senators Saturday in Belleville. They are the fourth active franchise with 1,000 wins, joining Hershey, Rochester and Providence.

The Crunch are 1000-849-129-79 (plus 96 ties) in 2,153 all-time regular season games. The win was also their 374th win as the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning (374-240-60-43), tying the most wins they've accumulated with an NHL partner (Columbus).

BEN GROULX'S MARK

Saturday's victory over the Senators was also a milestone for Crunch head coach Ben Groulx. It was his 300th win as an AHL head coach, making Groulx the 24th head coach in AHL history to reach that mark.

Groulx has a 300-208-31-34 career record between the Crunch and the Rochester Americans. He has a 0.580 career points percentage. He has a 227-132-29-25 mark in his seven seasons with the Crunch, good for a 0.615 points percentage. He is the all-time leader in Crunch wins.

UPCOMING: TORONTO|PROVIDENCE

The Crunch face a stiff test with the two Eastern Conference division leaders coming to town in Week 7.

They host the North Division leading Toronto Marlies on Wednesday. It will be the third of six head-to-head matches this season. The teams faced off twice in three days in October; the Marlies won both, including an overtime win in Syracuse. After a 9-2-1-0 start to the season, the Marlies (10-4-1-0) have dropped two of their last three games, including a Sunday home loss to the Abbotsford Canucks.

The Crunch round out the Thanksgiving week with back-to-back home matches versus AHL-leading Providence. The Bruins (10-2-2-2) own the top spot in the Atlantic Division and the AHL with 24 points, although they have gone winless in three straight games (0-1-1-1) after collecting a point in 12 of their first 13 games. The Crunch swept the two-game season series in 2021-22. The last time Syracuse and Providence played more than twice in the regular season was 1994-95; they are slated for four meetings this season.

WEEK 6 RESULTS

Wednesday, November 16 | Game 14 at Springfield | W, 5-4 (SO)

SYR 1 0 3 0 1 - 5 Shots: 13-12-14-4-1-44 PP: 0/4

SPR 3 1 0 0 0 - 4 Shots: 6-9-2-1-0-18 PP: 4/5

1st Period-Smith 4 (Jones, Carlile), 12:38. 3rd Period-Raddysh 6 (Barré-Boulet, Ryfors), 11:40. Ryfors 9 (Usau, Smith), 12:40. Carlile 4 (Goncalves, Finley), 17:11. Shootout-Syracuse 2 (Ryfors NG, Goncalves G, Smith G), Cleveland 1 (Highmore NG, Bitten G, Neighbours NG). . . . Lagace ND (6 shots-3 saves) Alnefelt 2-2-1 (12 shots-11 saves) A-6,793

Saturday, November 19 | Game 15 at Belleville | W, 5-4

Syracuse 4 1 0 - 5 Shots: 13-8-8-29 PP: 1/6

Belleville 1 3 0 - 4 Shots: 9-12-6-27 PP: 2/7

1st Period-Usau 1 (Barré-Boulet, Raddysh), 4:52. Finley 2 (Walcott, Element), 5:29. Carrick 4 (Carlile, Barré-Boulet), 7:42 (PP). Element 2 (Raddysh, Carrick), 9:03. 2nd Period-Walcott 5 (Robert), 6:19. . . . Alnefelt 3-2-1 (27 shots-23 saves) A-2,377

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 19.2% (10-for-52) T-21st (T-13th)

Penalty Kill 72.1% (44-for-61) 28th (22nd)

Goals For 3.80 GFA (57) 3rd (7th)

Goals Against 3.73 GAA (56) 27th (26th)

Shots For 32.67 SF/G (490) 8th (7th)

Shots Against 31.13 SA/G (467) 19th (28th)

Penalty Minutes 15.27 PIM/G (229) 12th (10th)

Category Leader

Points 23 Barré-Boulet

Goals 9 Ryfors

Assists 19 Barré-Boulet

PIM 34 Labrie

Plus/Minus +9 Carrick|Goncalves

Wins 3 Alnefelt|Lagace

GAA 2.67 Alnefelt

Save % .909 Alnefelt

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

1. Toronto 15 10 4 1 0 21 0.700 54 47 202 4-2-0-0 6-2-1-0 7-2-1-0 0-1-0-0 0-0

2. Rochester 15 8 5 1 1 18 0.600 49 48 131 5-1-1-0 3-4-0-1 5-3-1-1 1-0-0-0 0-1

3. Cleveland 15 8 5 0 2 18 0.600 62 62 184 4-1-0-0 4-4-0-2 5-3-0-2 4-0-0-2 2-2

4. Syracuse 15 6 6 1 2 15 0.500 57 56 229 3-2-1-0 3-4-0-2 5-4-1-0 4-0-0-0 1-2

5. Belleville 15 7 7 1 0 15 0.500 54 60 287 5-4-0-0 2-3-1-0 5-5-0-0 0-1-0-0 2-0

6. Laval 17 5 9 3 0 13 0.382 54 67 199 4-4-3-0 1-5-0-0 3-5-2-0 1-0-0-0 1-0

7. Utica 12 4 6 1 1 10 0.417 33 39 170 3-2-1-1 1-4-0-0 3-5-1-1 0-1-0-0 0-1

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2022


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