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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly

January 3, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH DROP THE BALL IN LAVAL

The Crunch lost a pair of games in Laval against the Rocket to close out 2022.

After a week-long break for the holidays, the Crunch and Rocket resumed what turned into a three-game set. The Crunch won in Syracuse before the break Dec. 21. The Rocket responded and took down the Crunch, 6-3, to begin Week 12 last Wednesday. The rematch on Friday also went to the Rocket by a 5-1 score as the Crunch lost their eighth straight regular season game at Place Bell (0-6-2-0).

The pair of losses snapped the Crunch's four-game winning streak and left the Crunch with a 13-11-2-2 record heading into 2023. Syracuse is now in fourth place in the North Division with 30 points.

TOP PERFORMERS

Defenseman Declan Carlile was one of two Crunch players to notch a point in both games in Week 12. He set up the Crunch's first goal in their 6-3 loss to the Rocket last Wednesday and then netted their lone goal in a 5-1 loss two days later.

The Hartland, Michigan native leads the crop of Crunch rookies with 12 points (5g, 7a). He is also tied for the team lead with a plus-13 rating.

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Gemel Smith's point streak reached a career-best 14 games before being halted in the final game of Week 12. He extended the streak last Wednesday with an assist, giving the Toronto native 19 points (8g, 11a) in the 14 games. It also tied Smith with Boris Katchouk (2020-21) for the longest streak by a Crunch player during the Lightning affiliation; it is tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history.

The veteran is third on the Crunch in goals (11), assists (18) and points (29). He has registered at least one point in 21 of his 24 games played.

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Daniel Walcott snapped a nine-game scoring drought with a pair of assists in Week 12. The veteran-who recently became the franchise leader for games played-collected an assist in both games last week to bring his total to eight on the season. The eighth-year-pro has 15 points (7g, 8a) in 28 games; he is four points away from matching a career high and he is six points away from 100 in his AHL career.

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Alex Barré-Boulet scored two of the four Crunch goals last week. Both tallies came in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Rocket, marking Barré-Boulet's third multi-goal game of the season. He remains second on the team in scoring with 33 points (8g, 25a) in 26 games, despite being held off the scoresheet in three of the last four games.

Barré-Boulet is currently second all time in franchise history with 232 points in 228 games. He needs 10 more points to set a new franchise record; he is also five assists away from a new team record.

SEE YA, 2022

Despite the consecutive losses to end the calendar year, the Crunch still had a successful 2022. They finished the year with a 46-27-7-3 record over 83 games, good for a 0.615 points percentage.

Syracuse was 29-9-3-1 at home versus 17-18-4-2 on the road in 2022. Alex Barré-Boulet led the Crunch and was third overall in the AHL in scoring during the regular season in 2022, finishing with 92 points (23g, 69a) in 80 games.

THREE-IN-THREE

This weekend marks the first three-in-three of the season for the Crunch. Syracuse will play three games in three nights, starting with two home games before finishing in Hershey Sunday.

The team has five scheduled three-in-three weekends, including one more at the end of January.

UPCOMING: BELLEVILLE|ROCHESTER|HERSHEY

The Crunch open 2023 with a home match against the Belleville Senators Friday night. The Crunch have earned two wins in the first three meetings, including the only other one in Syracuse (Nov. 11). Belleville ended 2022 on a four-game losing streak (0-3-1-0) to drop to last in the North Division.

Syracuse hosts red-hot Rochester Saturday in the sixth head-to-head match. The Amerks have won six straight games and remain in second place in the North Division.

The busy weekend ends Sunday at Giant Center against the AHL-leading Hershey Bears (22-7-2-1).

WEEK 12 RESULTS

Wednesday, December 28 | Game 27 at Laval | L, 6-3

Syracuse 0 1 2 - 3 Shots: 13-9-10-32 PP: 1/4

Laval 3 2 1 - 6 Shots: 11-8-14-33 PP: 0/2

2nd Period-Barré-Boulet 7 (Carlile, Ryfors), 9:54. 3rd Period-Barré-Boulet 8 (Raddysh, Smith), 11:35 (PP). Fortier 6 (Myers, Walcott), 11:59. . . . Lagace 5-6-3 (19 shots-14 saves), LaFontaine ND (14 shots-13 saves) A-9,058

Friday, December 30 | Game 28 at Laval | L, 5-1

Syracuse 1 0 0 - 1 Shots: 9-7-6-22 PP: 0/2

Laval 0 2 3 - 5 Shots: 7-10-11-28 PP: 2/6

1st Period-Carlile 5 (Walcott), 10:23. . . . LaFontaine 1-1-0 (27 shots-23 saves) A-8,787

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 18.3% (17-for-93) 24th (24th)

Penalty Kill 77.7% (87-for-112) 20th (21st)

Goals For 3.68 GFA (103) 7th (3rd)

Goals Against 3.61 GAA (101) 26th (26th)

Shots For 32.39 SF/G (907) 3rd (3rd)

Shots Against 30.86 SA/G (864) 19th (19th)

Penalty Minutes 17.21 PIM/G (482) 3rd (6th)

Category Leader

Points 35 Raddysh

Goals 12 Robert|Ryfors

Assists 26 Raddysh

PIM 65 Element

Plus/Minus +13 Carlile|Carrick

Wins 7 Alnefelt

GAA 2.63 Alnefelt

Save % .911 Alnefelt

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

1. Toronto 30 19 9 1 1 40 0.667 104 92 413 7-6-0-1 12-3-1-0 7-2-0-1 0-1-0-0 0-1

2. Rochester 28 17 9 1 1 36 0.643 95 92 262 9-3-1-0 8-6-0-1 7-3-0-0 6-0-0-0 1-1

3. Utica 28 14 9 4 1 33 0.589 95 90 376 8-4-2-1 6-5-2-0 7-2-1-0 6-0-1-0 0-1

4. Syracuse 28 13 11 2 2 30 0.536 103 101 482 8-4-2-0 5-7-0-2 6-4-0-0 0-2-0-0 1-2

5. Laval 31 12 15 3 1 28 0.452 108 116 391 7-5-3-1 5-10-0-0 5-4-0-1 2-0-0-0 1-1

6. Cleveland 28 12 13 1 2 27 0.482 104 115 343 6-7-1-0 6-6-0-2 3-7-0-0 0-5-0-0 3-2

7. Belleville 31 12 16 3 0 27 0.435 102 121 518 8-7-0-0 4-9-3-0 3-5-2-0 0-3-1-0 3-0

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