CRUNCH PUSH WIN STREAK UP TO THREE
The Crunch won their two games in Week 10 to extend their winning streak to three.
They opened the week Friday against the Springfield Thunderbirds, and emerged with a 4-2 win to sweep the two-game regular season series. The next night, the Crunch fended off the Bridgeport Islanders, 4-3, to improve to 4-2-1-0 against Atlantic Division teams.
Syracuse is up to third place in the North Division with three straight wins, all on home ice. They are 12-9-2-2 and have 28 points; their seven home wins are tied for the most in the division.
TOP PERFORMERS
Phil Myers collected his first three points with the Crunch in Week 10. The defenseman picked up an assist on the game-winning goal Friday against the Thunderbirds. He then scored his first Crunch goal and added another assist for a multi-point performance Saturday.
The veteran has played five games for the Crunch this season. He has also skated in 11 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning, logging three points (1g, 2a).
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Gemel Smith extended his scoring streak to a career-high 12 games by earning at least one point in both games in Week 10. He scored an empty-net goal in Friday’s win over Springfield before tacking on an assist and the game-winning goal Saturday versus Bridgeport. Smith has picked up 17 points (7g, 10a) during his 12-game scoring streak, which is the longest active streak in the AHL. He is two games shy of the longest streak by a Crunch player during the Lightning affiliation (Boris Katchouk, 14 games).
The Toronto native is third on the Crunch in goals (10), assists (17) and points (27). He has registered at least one point in 19 of his 21 games played.
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Goaltender Hugo Alnefelt earned two more wins in Week 10 to improve to 7-4-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Alnefelt stopped 17-of-19 shots in Friday’s victory over the Thunderbirds. He then denied 36-of-39 the following night as the Crunch topped the Bridgeport Islanders. The Swede has won three straight games and has wins in four of his last five appearances.
WALCOTT SETS CRUNCH RECORD
Forward Daniel Walcott appeared in his 335th Crunch game last week to set the new franchise record for games played.
Walcott, 28, is playing in his eighth different season with the Crunch after debuting with the team in the 2015-16 season. Walcott, who started his career as a defenseman, has amassed 92 points (32g, 60a). He has 13 points (7g, 6a) in 25 games this season.
DUMONT DELIVERS
Crunch captain Gabriel Dumont notched his first multi-goal game of the season to lead the Crunch to their win over the Bridgeport Islanders.
After missing 13 games due to a lower body injury, Dumont has picked up seven points (4g, 3a) in the last 10 games. He has played to a plus-10 rating in the last seven games.
HOME SUCCESS
Tomorrow marks the Crunch’s final home game of the calendar year. 2022 has been a bountiful year on home ice for the Crunch. Syracuse is 7-4-2-0 at Upstate Medical University Arena this season and the Crunch are 28-9-3-1 at home in the regular season since the start of 2022.
With 60 points earned out of a possible 82, they have played to a 0.732 points percentage this year.
UPCOMING: LAVAL|ROCHESTER
The Crunch host the Laval Rocket in a playoff rematch tomorrow night. The teams are slated to go head-to-head three times in the next four games, with the clubs playing a two-game set in Laval following the holiday break. The Rocket (10-14-3-1) are trying to dig out of an early hole and they have earned points in six of the last 10 games (5-4-0-1).
The Crunch travel to Rochester for the final game before the holiday break Friday night. The game marks the mid-point of the season series; Syracuse won the last match, but Rochester has won three of the first five. The teams are separated by two points in the standings.
WEEK 10 RESULTS
Friday, December 16 | Game 24 vs. Springfield | W, 4-2
Springfield 0 2 0 – 2 Shots: 6-5-8-19 PP: 1/5
Syracuse 0 2 2 – 4 Shots: 8-16-16-36 PP: 0/3
2nd Period-Element 4 (Carlile), 7:10. Robert 12 (Raddysh, Barré-Boulet), 18:00. 3rd Period-Ryfors 12 (Barré-Boulet, Myers), 10:59. Smith 9 (Unassisted), 18:15 (EN). . . . Alnefelt 6-4-1 (19 shots-17 saves) A-5,073
Saturday, December 17 | Game 25 vs. Bridgeport | W, 4-3
Bridgeport 0 3 0 – 3 Shots: 10-16-13-39 PP: 1/3
Syracuse 1 3 0 – 4 Shots: 12-14-5-31 PP: 1/2
1st Period-Dumont 4 (Myers, Raddysh), 8:56. 2nd Period-Dumont 5 (Smith, Goncalves), 5:19. Myers 1 (Goncalves, Robert), 11:51 (PP). Smith 10 (Goncalves, Thompson), 14:56. . . . Alnefelt 7-4-1 (39 shots-36 saves) A-5,111
Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev) Power Play 19.3% (16-for-83) 18th (19th) Penalty Kill 77.2% (88-for-101) 22nd (22nd) Goals For 3.88 GFA (97) 3rd (2nd) Goals Against 3.56 GAA (89) 26th (27th) Shots For 33.00 SF/G (825) 3rd (6th) Shots Against 30.84 SA/G (771) 17th (17th) Penalty Minutes 16.48 PIM/G (412) 6th (5th) Category Leader Points 34 Raddysh Goals 12 Robert|Ryfors Assists 25 Barré-Boulet|Raddysh PIM 63 Element Plus/Minus +16 Raddysh Wins 7 Alnefelt GAA 2.63 Alnefelt Save % .911 Alnefelt North Division GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O 1. Toronto 26 16 8 1 1 34 0.654 90 83 353 5-5-0-1 11-3-1-0 6-3-0-1 3-0-0-1 0-1 2. Rochester 25 14 9 1 1 30 0.600 82 83 220 7-3-1-0 7-6-0-1 6-4-0-0 3-0-0-0 1-1 3. Syracuse 25 12 9 2 2 28 0.560 97 89 412 7-4-2-0 5-5-0-2 6-3-1-0 3-0-0-0 1-2 4. Cleveland 24 12 9 1 2 27 0.563 92 98 268 6-3-1-0 6-6-0-2 4-4-1-1 0-1-0-0 3-2 5. Utica 23 10 9 3 1 24 0.522 73 73 321 6-4-2-1 4-5-1-0 5-3-2-0 2-0-0-0 0-1 6. Belleville 26 11 13 2 0 24 0.462 89 104 461 7-6-0-0 4-7-2-0 4-5-1-0 0-2-1-0 3-0 7. Laval 28 10 14 3 1 24 0.429 96 110 356 5-5-3-1 5-9-0-0 5-4-0-1 1-0-0-0 1-1 Players Mentioned Players Mentioned
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