Syracuse Crunch

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Brian Hart began the season on the bubble.

After participating in training camp with the Syracuse Crunch, the rookie forward began the season in the ECHL with Greenville. Hart was reassigned back to Syracuse and returned to Greenville three more times in the first three months of the season.

Called back up to the Crunch on Jan. 9 when the team was dealing with rash of injuries, Hart has taken advantage of the opportunity and earned a regular spot in the lineup.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries in the last couple months, and other guys have had to step up,” Hart said. “That’s given me an opportunity. You hate to see guys go down, but it gives other guys a chance. I’m just trying to make the most of the situation.”

Hard luck loss for Vasiy.

SYR-0
BNG-2

Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed 1 goal on 27 shots for the loss. Given the number of goals Syracuse has been allowing lately, that might be considered a Herculean effort.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
BNG Flanagan, (5) (Bailey, Stortini), 16:35 (PP)
BNG Robinson, (10) (Schneider, Fraser), 19:37 (EN/SH)

Vasilevskiy was the game's third star.

Note that Anthony DeAngelo was a scratch for a third straight game. Evidently, someone's been naughty.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Fucale robs Syracuse again.

SYR-3
STJ-4 (OT)

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 4 goals on 19 shots for the OT loss. His save percentage has now slipped to .901 on the season.

First Period
STJ Bartley, (1) (Johnston), 3:26 (PP)
STJ MacMillan, (6) (Bozon, Johnston), 7:01 (PP)
SYR Koekkoek, (4) (Walcott), 7:57
SYR Blujus, (4) (Koekkoek, McGinn), 14:26 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Yogan, (3) (Walcott), 16:30

Third Period
STJ Scherbak, (5) (Ellis, Hudon), 5:00 (PP)

Overtime
STJ Hudon, (15) , 1:45

Slater Koekkoek was the game's third star. His 1 goal and 1 assist today marked his first multi-point effort of the season.

St. John's goaltender Zachary Fucale again allowed his team to overcome a significant shot disparity to get the 2 points. In this second game of the set, Syracuse outshot the IceCaps 39-19 and again failed to secure the victory.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Crunch continue to circle the drain.

SYR-0
STJ-4

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 3 goals on 18 shots for the loss. His save percentage has now dipped to .904 for the season, which is trending toward the .900-.901 range of his first two AHL seasons.

First Period
STJ Scherbak, (4) (Dumont, Holloway), 9:45 (PP)

Second Period
STJ McCarron, (14) (Ellis, Holloway), 14:55 (PP)

Third Period
STJ Ellis, (11) (Dumont), 16:54
STJ Dumont, (14) (Holloway), 18:58 (EN)

Syracuse did outshoot St. John's 39-19 in the game, but got no payoff for their efforts.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Crunch skid hits 5 games.

SPR-6
SYR-3

Adam Wilcox allowed 5 goals on 33 shots for the loss.

First Period
SYR Blunden, (12) (Gourde, Richard), 4:41
SPR Fournier, (6) (Selleck, P. Samuelsson), 6:35
SPR Potter, (4) (Plachta, Szwarz), 8:13

Second Period
SPR Carey, (19) (Jeffrey, P. Samuelsson), 10:46 (PP)

Third Period
SPR Lane, (4) (Gaudet), 7:10
SPR Selleck, (7) (Mauermann, Grant), 9:20
SYR Blunden, (13) (Richard), 11:40
SPR Jeffrey, (12) (P. Samuelsson), 17:07 (EN)
SYR Angelidis, (5) (DeAngelo), 17:43 (PP)

Mike Blunden was the game's second star.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Syracuse opened the scoring before the five-minute mark, but the lead lasted less than two minutes.

The Falcons took advantage of multiple odd-man rushes against the Crunch to rattle off five-straight goals, as Syracuse fell to Springfield, 6-3, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

The Crunch has lost five straight, and given up five or more goals in each of those contests.

“We’ve got to be better, that’s what it comes down to,” said Crunch captain Mike Angelidis. “We play good for 20 minutes, and then we give up an odd-man rush here and there. You can’t be doing that all night.”

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Despite controlling the play for long stretches, Syracuse kept digging out of holes created by defensive lapses.

The Crunch battled back from a pair of two-goal deficits but the Americans’ fifth goal proved to be the difference, as Syracuse fell to Rochester, 5-4, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday. The Crunch has dropped four straight, and earned one point in that stretch.

“I thought in the last three out of four games we should have had points,” said Crunch head coach Rob Zettler. “We got one point from Rochester last Wednesday, but Friday night we should have had points and tonight we should have had points. We scored nine goals against this team in the last two games and we came out with one point. It’s not good enough.

“The second half of the season you have to keep the puck out of your net. It comes down to good defense, and that’s all six guys on the ice.”

Crunch fail to get First Period payoff and eventually fall in a track meet.

RCH-5
SYR-4

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 4 goals on 22 shots before giving way to Adam Wilcox, who allowed 1 goal on 10 shots the rest of the way for the dreaded back door loss.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
RCH Carrier, (5) (Bailey, Schaller), 1:04
RCH Donovan, (7) (Varone), 7:57 (PP)
SYR Taormina, (10) (McGinn, DeAngelo), 14:31
SYR Richard, (7) (Koekkoek, Gourde), 15:58

Third Period
RCH Bailey, (8) (Carrier, Leduc), 1:03 (PP)
RCH Schaller, (8) (Carrier), 4:17
SYR Erne, (9) (Blunden), 5:25 (SH)
SYR Erne, (10) (Blunden, Gourde), 11:09 (PP)
RCH Rodrigues, (6) , 14:09

Adam Erne and Mike Blunden were the game's second and third stars.

Syracuse outshot Rochester 18-6 in the First Period, but could not get the payoff against Linus Ullmark. They ended up chasing the game for most of the rest of the night, successfully erasing a pair of 2-goal deficits before seeing the game slip away in the Third Period.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

With a chance to advance to the championship game, the North Division All-Stars came up just short.

The Atlantic topped the North in the final game of the round robin portion, but ultimately lost to the Central, 4-0, in the championship game of the AHL All-Star Challenge at the Onondaga County War Memorial Monday.

In the half 4-on-4 and half 3-on-3 format nine-minute format, the North — which features three Syracuse Crunch players — beat the Pacific 1-0 in the first game, lost to the Central in the second game 4-2, and finished with a 4-1 loss to the Atlantic.

Crunch defenseman Matt Taormina also participated in last year’s all-star game, but enjoyed the new format.

“It was a bunch of fun,” Taormina said. “The skills competition was the same as last year, which was great. It was good to see some of the different guys out there. This time it was definitely a different game.”

By Jeremy Houghtaling

As he rounded the final turn of the fastest skater competition, Matt Taormina’s grin nearly went ear-to-ear.

For Taormina and Syracuse Crunch teammates Kristers Gudlevskis and Mike Angelidis, the AHL All-Star Skills Competition was all about having a good time with the best players in the league. The Western Conference used the final breakaway relay to pull out a 19-14 win over the East at the Onondaga County War Memorial Sunday, but the score didn’t matter after the final horn.

“Overall, it was nice to see some of the guys outside of a competition and being upset with each other and battling back and forth,” Taormina said. “It was good to see everybody laugh and have a good time with a smile on their face.”