AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Home For The Holidays

December 16, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse enters one of their busiest stretches this season, with eight games remaining this month, six of which are to take place at the War Memorial at Oncenter. The highlight of the month is a stretch of five games in six days between December 26 and December 31. The Crunch has struggled at home, with a 5-9-0-0 mark, compared to 6-5-1-0 away from the Salt City.

BELLEFEUILLE NETS TWO: Center Blake Bellefeuille recorded his first two-goal game as a professional on Saturday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. A native of Framingham, MA, Bellefeuille has appeared in 21 games this season for the Crunch, recording 5 goals, 4 assists and 18 penalty minutes. He has also appeared in three games with the Blue Jackets this season, without a point. Signed as a free agent by Columbus on May 31, 2000, Bellefeuille has appeared in 146 career games with Syracuse, tallying 21 goals, 28 assists and 69 penalty minutes.

BAD TIMING: The Crunch will be without the services of recently acquired defenseman Pauli Levokari for at least the next month after suffering a knee injury during the Crunch's 6-3 loss to Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night. Levokari has appeared in seven games with the Crunch this season with one goal, two assists and eight penalty minutes. A native of Luvia, Finland, the 6-foot-7, 260 pound Levokari was acquired by Columbus along with right wing Tomi Kallio in a trade from Atlanta for right wing Chris Nielsen and the rights to defenseman Petteri Nummerlin on December 2.

SIMILAR START TO LAST YEAR: Through 26 games this season, the Crunch is one point ahead of last seasons' total. Entering this week, Syracuse has 23 points (11-14-1-0) compared to 22 at this point last season. The 2001-02 version of the Crunch, which went on to a franchise high 96 points, had a 7-11-6-2 record through 26 games.

MILESTONES: Left wing Jeremy Reich (357 PIM's) jumped over Tyson Nash (348), Bert Robertsson (349) and Andrej Sryubko (350) to move into eighth place on the Crunch's all-time penalty minute list Friday night @ Rochester. Reich trails Brian Loney (378) by 21 for seventh all-time...Left wing Mathieu Darche (50g) trails Rod Stevens by four goals for sixth place on the Crunch's all-time goals list. In addition, Darche (21 career power play tally's) is within two power play goals of Brian Loney for fourth on the club's all-time power play goals list. Darche is also one point shy of tying Rick Girard (106 points) for eighth on the Crunch's all-time scoring list... Right wing David Ling is one assist shy of tying Peter Schaefer and Brian Bonin (66a) for seventh on the Crunch's all-time list... Right wing Kent McDonell is one short-handed goal shy of tying Jarkko Ruuto, Brian Loney and Darren Sinclair (4) for fifth on the Crunch's all-time short-handed goals list. He is also one game-winning goal short of tying Jarkko Ruuto, Larry Courville and Mathieu Darche (7) for fourth on the all-time game-winning goals list.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

CINCINNATI (MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM): Cincinnati visits the War Memorial at Oncenter on Wednesday, December 18 for the fifth of six regular season meetings this season. Syracuse leads the series 3-1, after defeating Cincinnati at home 2-1 on December 11. Left wing Andrej Nedorost (5g) leads all Crunch players against Cincinnati in scoring with five points. Right wing Jonathan Hedstrom (2g, 2a) and center Tony Martensson (1g, 3a) lead the Mighty Ducks with 4 points in head-to-head scoring. Goaltender Karl Goehring has appeared twice in net for Syracuse, posting a 1-1-0 record, a 2.93 goals against average and .897 save percentage. Lifetime, Syracuse is 10-18-2 against Cincinnati.

ALBANY (NEW JERSEY DEVILS): Syracuse hosts the Albany River Rats on Friday, December 20 for the third of six regular season meetings. The series is tied at one a piece. Four River Rat and three Crunch players are tied at two points a piece in head-to-head scoring. Goaltender Ari Ahonen has appeared in both games for Albany, posting a 1-1-0 record, a 2.01 goals against average and .932 save percentage. Lifetime, Syracuse is 32-30-0 against the River Rats.

SPRINGFIELD (TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING/PHOENIX COYOTES): Syracuse concludes the week on Saturday, December 21 when they host the Springfield Falcons in the final of two regular season meetings. Springfield leads the series 1-0, after defeating Syracuse 6-3 on December 6. Center Jeff Taffe (3g) leads all players in head-to-head scoring with three points. Left wing Andrej Nedorost leads the Crunch in head-to-head scoring with 2 points (2a). Springfield goaltender Evgeny Konstantinov recorded the victory, making 23 saves. Pascal Leclaire appeared in net for Syracuse, recording 26 saves. Lifetime, Syracuse is 6-12-5 against Springfield.

INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Darrel Scoville is expected to miss three to five weeks with an abdominal tear. Scoville, who suffered his injury on October 26 vs. Grand Rapids, underwent surgery the week of November 11 and has missed 22 games... Center Brad Moran is listed as day-to-day with an abdominal strain suffered on November 22. Moran has missed 12 games with the injury... Defenseman Paul Manning is listed as day-to-day after suffering a groin injury on November 27 vs. Cleveland. Manning has missed nine games with the injury... Defenseman Pauli Levokari is expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee injury. Levokari suffered the injury on December 14.

INJURIES BY THE NUMBERS: Through 26 games this season, Syracuse has lost 53 man-games due to injuries Darrel Scoville - 22, Brad Moran - 12, Paul Manning - 9, Radim Bicanek - 3, Blake Bellefeuille & Martin Paroulek - 2 and Trent Cull & Adam Borzecki - 1, represent the Crunch's injury list this season.

CRUNCHABLES: On Friday, December 13 vs. Rochester, the Crunch set season marks for least shots taken in a game with 21 and most combined penalty minutes in a game with 130... Former Crunch defensemen Derrick Walser and Duvie Westcott each recorded an assist in Columbus' loss to Detroit on Saturday night.

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