CRUNCH COLLECT BACK-TO-BACK WINS
The Crunch maintained their grasp on fifth place in the North Division and won two straight games to close out Week 17. Syracuse went 2-1-0-0 during the week to improve to 17-16-3-1 on the season, good for a 0.514 points percentage.
The month opened with a two-game set in Belleville against the Senators. The Sens rallied from a 2-0 deficit and scored a late game-winning goal to knock off the Crunch, 4-3, on Wednesday. In the rematch on Friday, the Crunch scored three first period goals en route to a 4-2 win. Back home at Upstate Medical University Arena on Saturday, the Crunch earned a season series split with the Charlotte Checkers following a 3-1 victory in the fourth head-to-head meeting this season.
TOP PERFORMERS
Veteran forward Charles Hudon led the Crunch with three goals over three games in Week 17. He netted a goal in Wednesday’s loss to Belleville then scored the first two goals of the game Friday to power the Crunch to a 4-2 win. That put him briefly into a tie for the team’s goal-scoring lead at 15 markers before Gabriel Dumont scored his 16th Saturday.
In his first season in the organization, Hudon has 27 points (15g, 12a) in 32 games, ranking second on the team. He has nine goals in his past 11 games since Jan. 8, leading the team in that span; the next closest player is Dumont with five goals over 14 games.
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Goaltender Corbin Kaczperski stole the show in his first AHL start Saturday against the Charlotte Checkers. The rookie turned aside 32 shots and led the Crunch to a 3-1 win to close the week. Charlotte scored with 16.6 seconds remaining to snap his shutout bid; in two appearances for the Crunch, Kaczperski has stopped 35 of 36 shots for a .972 save percentage.
The 25-year-old started the season in the SPHL with Vermilion County. He earned himself a contract with the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders before landing a PTO with the Crunch earlier this month.
NEARLY HALFWAY HOME
The Crunch will cross the halfway point of their season tomorrow night. No matter the result, the Crunch are assured to be at least 0.500 after 38 games; Syracuse has had at least a 0.500 record midway through the season every year since 2011-12. In 2019-20, at what was expected to be the midpoint of the season, the Crunch were 18-16-2-2.
The Crunch will have played their first 38 games over 125 days. Their final 38 games are scheduled to take place over 79 days.
“AHL ALL-STAR BREAK”
This past weekend was scheduled to be the AHL All-Star Classic in Laval. Because the event was postponed, the league did not name All-Stars for any teams, but there would have been several strong Crunch candidates to represent the North Division.
Captain Gabriel Dumont leads the Crunch in goals (16) and points (31) and is on pace to smash his previous career high for goals in a season (20).
Cole Koepke leads Crunch rookies with 22 points and Sean Day paces the blueline with 21.
UPCOMING: LAVAL
The Crunch hit the road for a three-game series in Laval in Week 18. The Crunch are actually scheduled to play Laval four straight times, with the Rocket on the docket in Syracuse Feb. 18.
The teams have split the first two games of the eight-game regular season series with the home team winning both contests. The Crunch earned a 4-0 shutout win Nov. 6 and the Rocket responded with a 3-2 victory Jan. 12. This week’s slate of three games are the final three between the clubs at Place Bell in 2021-22.
The Rocket’s three-game homestand against the Crunch comes on the heels of five straight road games. They went 2-2-1-0 overall, but finished with back-to-back losses at Utica (in overtime) and at Belleville. Laval is in fourth place in the North Division with a 17-13-3-0 record. Along with the Crunch, the Rocket have the most remaining games this season with 39.
WEEK 17 RESULTS
Wednesday, Feb. 2 | Game 35 at Belleville | L, 4-3
Syracuse 2 1 0 – 3 Shots: 10-6-6-22 PP: 0/2
Belleville 2 1 1 – 4 Shots: 13-9-9-31 PP: 2/9
1st Period-Labrie 4 (Ryfors, Raddysh), 2:21. Goncalves 6 (Jones, Sustr), 14:38. 2nd Period-Hudon 13 (Barré-Boulet, Labrie), 5:36. . . . Miftakhov 4-7-2 (31 shots-27 saves) A-0
Friday, Feb. 4 | Game 36 at Belleville | W, 4-2
Syracuse 3 0 1 – 4 Shots: 16-7-1-24 PP: 0/3
Belleville 0 1 1 – 2 Shots: 3-13-6-22 PP: 1/4
1st Period-Hudon 14 (Barré-Boulet), 2:31. Hudon 15 (Fortier, Claesson), 15:23. Walcott 3 (Ryfors, Claesson), 15:51. 3rd Period-Day 5 (Koepke, Barré-Boulet), 11:02. . . . Miftakhov 5-7-2 (22 shots-20 saves) A-470
Saturday, Feb. 5 | Game 37 vs. Charlotte | W, 3-1
Charlotte 0 0 1 – 1 Shots: 13-7-13-33 PP: 0/4
Syracuse 1 2 0 – 3 Shots: 9-12-9-30 PP: 1/4
1st Period-Dumont 16 (Richard, Sustr), 9:49. 2nd Period-Fortier 7 (Somppi, Elie), 4:55 (PP). Koepke 10 (Walcott), 5:21. . . . Kaczperski 1-0-0 (33 shots-32 saves) A-4,233
| Category | Average/Total | AHL Rank (Prev) |
|---|---|---|
| Power Play | 20.6% (27-for-131) | 9th (7th) |
| Penalty Kill | 76.2% (99-for-130) | T-27th (T-29th) |
| Goals For | 2.81 GFA (104) | 23rd (T-24th) |
| Goals Against | 3.14 GAA (116) | 21st (T-22nd) |
| Shots For | 30.08 SF/G (1113) | 13th (13th) |
| Shots Against | 26.51 SA/G (981) | 3rd (3rd) |
| Penalty Minutes | 12.35 PIM/G (457) | 20th (21st) |
| Category | Leader | |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 31 | Dumont |
| Goals | 16 | Dumont |
| Assists | 18 | Barré-Boulet |
| PIM | 53 | Dumont |
| Plus/Minus | +10 | Claesson |
| Wins | 6 | Alnefelt |
| GAA | 2.82 | Miftakhov |
| Save % | .898 | Miftakhov |
| North Division | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | PCT | GF | GA | PIM | HOME | ROAD | LAST 10 | STREAK | S/O |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Utica | 38 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 59 | 0.776 | 141 | 96 | 472 | 16-3-2-0 | 11-3-3-0 | 7-2-1-0 | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0 |
| 2. Toronto | 36 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 0.625 | 120 | 119 | 498 | 10-5-1-1 | 11-7-1-0 | 7-2-1-0 | 4-0-1-0 | 1-1 |
| 3. Rochester | 40 | 22 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 47 | 0.588 | 145 | 146 | 467 | 12-6-2-1 | 10-9-0-0 | 3-4-2-1 | 0-2-0-0 | 2-1 |
| 4. Laval | 33 | 17 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 0.561 | 106 | 115 | 498 | 10-3-2-0 | 7-10-1-0 | 6-3-1-0 | 0-1-1-0 | 1-0 |
| 5. Syracuse | 37 | 17 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 38 | 0.514 | 104 | 116 | 457 | 9-8-0-1 | 8-8-3-0 | 5-5-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 | 1-1 |
| 6. Belleville | 35 | 17 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0.486 | 106 | 109 | 434 | 8-10-0-0 | 9-8-0-0 | 5-5-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 | 2-0 |
| 7. Cleveland | 39 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 0.423 | 106 | 134 | 541 | 5-12-1-1 | 8-7-3-2 | 1-9-0-0 | 0-7-0-0 | 1-3 |
