Syracuse Crunch

By Jeremy Houghtaling

No longer a rookie, JT Brown’s role with the Syracuse Crunch has changed.

Last year, the Minnesota native learned how to grind it out and shut down the opposition’s top lines. At Thursday’s practice at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Brown was paired with first-rounder Vlad Namestnikov and top prospect Nikita Kucherov on a scoring line.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Philippe Paradis describes it as one of his best memories.

Surrounded by friends and family at the Bell Centre in Montreal, not far from his hometown of Normandin, Paradis was selected 27th overall by Carolina Hurricanes in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

As Paradis made his way to the stage, one TV analyst mentioned his height, 6-1, and his ability to shoot the puck – 95.7 mph in the hardest shot competition during the CHL Top Prospects Game.

Crunch waste a chance to get 2 points.

SYR-3
BNG-4 (OT)

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 4 goals on 39 shots for the OT loss. I confess to being a Riku Helenius man, if you're asking me who'd I'd like to see win the goaltending competition in Syracuse.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
SYR Tyrell, (1) (Korobov, Rankin), 1:24
BNG Grant, (1) , 3:35 (SH)
SYR Tyrell, (2) , 15:41 (SH)
SYR Rankin, (1) (Angelidis), 18:58

Third Period
BNG Cowick, (1) (Ceci), 6:42
BNG Zibanejad, (1) (Wideman), 9:13 (PP)

Overtime
BNG Ceci, (1) (Petersson), 2:13

Dana Tyrell was the game's second star, leading an excellent effort by some of the veteran guys. The team also got excellent physical contributions from guys like Philippe Paradis, as well. It won't take long for the younger guys to adjust and start chipping in, too. As it is, though, it still hurts to squander a 2 goal lead in the final frame. Syracuse gets a week to stew on it until their home opener against Rochester.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Nikita Kucherov understands he still has room for improvement.

The Syracuse Crunch forward, set to officially begin his rookie season Saturday night in Binghamton, is used to netting at least a point per game, if not more. But at just 20 years old, he knows he has to keep progressing to reach his goal of playing in the National Hockey League.

"It's hockey, it's my life," Kucherov said. "I'm going to do everything I can do to be in the NHL."

By Jeremy Houghtaling

A little more than 24 hours before the puck drops on a new season, Syracuse Crunch Head Coach Rob Zettler still didn't know who was going to start between the pipes.

With no clear-cut No. 1 starter heading into Saturday's contest at Binghamton, Zettler is going to start the season by platooning netminders Cedrick Desjardins and Riku Helenius.

"They'll likely get equal time early on, and then we'll see where it goes," Zettler said.

The two candidates have more than 280 games and a dozen professional seasons between them, so Zettler has time to let it pan out.