AHL Syracuse Crunch

Wilson in All-Star Form

Published on January 28, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


It has been a tumultuous year for Crunch defenseman Clay Wilson. On November 15, 2007, he was acquired by Columbus along with Aaron Rome from Anaheim in exchange for Geoff Platt.

He made a nice transition, notching 9 points (2g, 7a), in his first seven games with the club and helped turn the Syracuse power play into one of the most dangerous in the league.

Wilson went the next twelve games with just 3 points (1g, 2a) and could not seem to find a rhythm back on the Crunch blue line.

When the month of January rolled around, it seemed that Wilson's New Year's resolution was to get back to the form he had displayed when he first came to the Crunch. He did just that, and has racked up 9 points (1g, 8a) in 12 games since January 2.

He has been especially good lately, tallying 4 points (1g, 3a), in four games last week, including a two-point effort (1g, 1a) in Friday's 2-0 win @ Hamilton. Wilson was named the first star of that game.

Wilson was rewarded for his play on January 10 when he was selected to play for the PlanetUSA team at the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok.

BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS: The Syracuse Crunch have garnered a reputation for being a tough team this year. Three Crunch rookies and two veterans have contributed to this image.

Two Crunch rookies, Derek Dorsett and Tom Sestito currently pace the team with 169 and 133 penalty minutes each, respectively. Both of them are in the top 10 in the entire AHL in that category. Dorsett and Sestito are also first and second among AHL rookies for minutes in the sin bin.

Defenseman Aaron Rome (105 PIM), center Zenon Konopka (99 PIM) and left wing Jon Mirasty (71 PIM) have also been penalized quite a bit this season.

All five of these Crunch players are in the top 65 in the AHL in penalty minutes. Overall as a team, Syracuse leads the AHL in penalty minutes with 1,217.

AHL ALL-STAR CLASSIC PRESENTED BY REEBOK TONIGHT: Crunch left wing Joakim Lindstrom and defenseman Clay Wilson will take part in the AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok tonight at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in downtown Binghamton, New York

The 2008 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok will feature the top young talent in the American Hockey League. The event will be televised nationally in the United States and Canada. Locally, the game will be televised on Time Warner Sports.

Of the 427 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 93 percent have competed in the National Hockey League, including Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Daniel Briere, Zdeno Chara, Jonathan Cheechoo, Pavol Demitra, Rick DiPietro, Patrik Elias, Ray Emery, Jiri Hudler, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Steve Sullivan.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:

ALBANY RIVER RATS (CAROLINA HURRICANES): Syracuse travels to Albany to take on the River Rats on Friday for the sixth of eight meetings between these two clubs. The Crunch are 4-1-0-0 against Albany this season. The Cruch took the last contest, 2-1 on January 13. After dropping the first game of the season series to the River Rats back on October 24, the Crunch have won four straight against them. Zenon Konopka (2g, 3a), Aaron Rome (2g, 3a) and Clay Wilson (0g, 5a), are tied for the season series lead in scoring among players on both teams. In three games against Albany, Syracuse goaltender Adam Munro is 2-0-0-0 with a 0.72 goals-against average and .973 save percentage.

SAN ANTONIO RAMPAGE (PHOENIX COYOTES): The Crunch finally return home from a five-game road trip on Saturday to take on San Antonio at the War Memorial at Oncenter. This will be the second of two meetings against the Rampage this season. These two teams last met back on October 31 at the AT&T Center, with San Antonio pulling out a 5-3 victory on the strength of 3 points (2g, 1a) from Bill Thomas.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

Crunch Announce winners of U.S. Army High School 'Recruits of the Week': The Syracuse Crunch announced today the winners of the U.S. Army High School 'Recruits of the Week' for the week ending January 27, 2008.

Throughout the 2007-08 season, the Crunch, along with the U.S. Army will present the U.S. Army 'Recruits of the Week' in Section III hockey. The 'Recruits of the Week' are high school hockey players in Section III who have been chosen for their outstanding play in that week's games.

Each week, winners will be chosen to represent each of the Section III hockey divisions (Division I, Division II - East and Division II - West).

The U.S. Army 'Recruits of the Week' for the week ending January 27 are:

Division I - Zach Wilder (Ithaca - Junior): Wilder gave Ithaca a chance to beat the top ranked West Genesee Wildcats by providing 34 saves and finishing with a .919 save percentage in the game, despite being on the losing end of a 3-2 final.

Division II - West - Keith Buehler (Skaneateles- Junior): Buelher ended the week with eight points (5g, 3a) in three games as the Lakers sailed to three straight victories.

Division II - East - Blaine Holcomb (Hamilton- Sophomore): Holcomb helped lead Hamilton to a 4-4 tie against F-M and a 6-0 shutout over Utica Proctor by scoring a combined five points (2g, 3a) in two games.

Winners will receive four (4) tickets to an upcoming Crunch home game and a special U.S. Army/Syracuse Crunch jersey, courtesy of the U.S. Army.

Past winners include:

Division I - Tim Beiso (West Genesee), Matt Esposito (FM)

Division II - West - Anthony Bird (Central Square), Griffin Ferrigan (CBA)

Division II - East - TJ Reilley (RFA), Chris Snyder (Clinton)

The Crunch's next game is Friday, February 1 as they travel to Albany to take on the Albany River Rats. The Crunch's next home game is Saturday, February 2 vs. San Antonio at the War Memorial at Oncenter at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Crunch office at (315) 473- 4444, stopping by the Oncenter Box Office, located on the State Street side of the War Memorial or by calling TicketMaster at (315) 472-0700.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The Crunch's weekly schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, January 29 All-Star Break

Wednesday, January 30 Time TBD @ Tsha'Hon'nonyen'dakhwa

Thursday, January 31 10:30 Practice @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Friday, February 1 10:00 a.m. skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Game @ Albany 7:00 p.m

Saturday, February 2 10:00 a.m. skate @ War Memorial at Oncenter

Game vs. San Antonio 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 3 TBD

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch have scored the first goal of the game in each of their last six games... Three of Tom Sestito's six goals this year have been the first goal of the game, including his goal on Friday night in Manitoba...Adam Munro notched his first shutout of the season in Friday's 2-0 win @ Hamilton...The Crunch now have three shutouts on the year by three different goaltenders...Tomas Popperle and Craig Kowalski have the others.

2007-08 RECORD: 22-24-2-1, 47 points, (10-8-1-0 home, 12-16-1-1 road), third place, North Division

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Friday, February 1 @ Albany (26-20-0-2, 54 points), fourth place, East Division

Saturday, February 2 vs. San Antonio (25-13-3-4, 57 points), fourth place, West Division

LAST WEEK'S RESULT

Tuesday, January 22 Crunch 2 LAKE ERIE 1

Thursday, January 24 MANITOBA 3 Crunch 1

Friday, January 25 MANITOBA 3 Crunch 1

Saturday, January 26 Crunch 2 HAMILTON 0

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 28, 2008


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