CRUNCH GET BACK ON TRACK
The Crunch rebounded from a five-game winless streak by posting three straight wins over a four-day span in Week 14.
Syracuse earned its first win of 2023 by racing past the Laval Rocket, 7-3, at Upstate Medical University Arena Friday night. After traveling to the PPL Center in Allentown, the Crunch defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 5-2, the next day. Then the Crunch improved to 3-0-0-0 against the Comets this season with a 5-1 win yesterday in the Crunch’s annual Martin Luther King Day matinee.
The Crunch have sandwiched the five-game winless streak with a four-game win streak on the front end and this active three-game winning streak now. At 16-13-2-3, the Crunch are in fourth place with 37 points.
TOP PERFORMERS
Gage Goncalves tied for the team lead in scoring with five points (4g, 1a) over the three games to extend his scoring streak to five games. It’s his second such streak of the season (Nov. 5-16). Goncalves scored a goal in all three games, scoring the game-winning goal in Friday’s win and the insurance goal Saturday before netting his first career two-goal game while celebrating his 22nd birthday yesterday.
The second-year-pro also scored his first career shorthanded goal yesterday. He ranks fifth on the Crunch with 27 points (8g, 19a) in 34 games. As a rookie last season, Goncalves finished with 32 points (17g, 15a).
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Simon Ryfors also picked up five points in the three games last week to tie for the most on the team. He snapped out of a personal scoring funk (two points in seven games) with his first career four-point outing (1g, 3a) to power the Crunch to a win against the Rocket on Friday. He followed that up by scoring the game-winning goal Saturday versus the Phantoms.
Ryfors has reclaimed the team lead with 14 goals and he is tied with Gemel Smith for third on the team with 31 points in 34 games.
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Alex Barré-Boulet is re-writing the Crunch record books. He picked up five points, including four assists, to establish the Crunch’s new franchise record for assists in a career.
Brad Moran held the previous record for assists at 143 and Barré-Boulet also has Moran in his sights for the all-time points record. Moran scored 241 points for the Crunch in 334 games while Barré-Boulet has 240 Crunch points in 234 games.
Barré-Boulet has also moved back into a tie for the scoring lead on the team this season with 41 points (9g, 32a) in 32 games.
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Hugo Alnefelt returned from injury and secured back-to-back wins in the Crunch crease to extend his personal win streak to five games. He stopped 58 of 61 shots (.951 save percentage) over the two games and he has played to a 1.80 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage during his five-game win streak. He is 9-4-1/2.47/.917 this season.
UPCOMING: W-B/SCRANTON|UTICA
The Crunch head back to Pennsylvania for the third straight week as they visit the W-B/Scranton Penguins tomorrow night. It’s the first of four head-to-head meetings in 2022-23 after the Crunch went 3-0-1-0 last year. Two of the Crunch’s three wins against the Penguins last year were 1-0 shutouts by Max Lagace, who went 3-0-0 with a 0.33 goals-against average and a .989 save percentage against his former team.
The Crunch and Comets play the second and third games of their four meetings in 12 days in a home-and-home series starting Friday in Utica. The Crunch have won the first three games of their overall 14-game season series, outscoring the Comets 18-5 after securing a 5-1 win yesterday.
WEEK 14 RESULTS
Friday, January 13 | Game 32 vs. Laval | W, 7-3
Laval 2 0 1 – 3 Shots: 16-10-5-31 PP: 1/5
Syracuse 2 3 2 – 7 Shots: 11-13-12-36 PP: 3/4
1st Period-Koepke 3 (Edmonds, Ryfors), 4:48. Element 8 (Raddysh), 15:46. 2nd Period-Dumont 7 (Ryfors, Element), 1:39 (PP). Goncalves 5 (Myers, Fortier), 5:11. Carrick 5 (Myers, Finley), 9:32. 3rd Period-Barré-Boulet 9 (Myers, Ryfors), 4:11 (PP). Ryfors 13 (Barré-Boulet, Edmonds), 5:09 (PP). . . . Lagace 6-7-4 (31 shots-28 saves) A-5,769
Saturday, January 14 | Game 33 at Lehigh Valley | W, 5-2
Syracuse 3 1 1 – 5 Shots: 9-8-8-25 PP: 0/3
Lehigh Valley 1 1 0 – 2 Shots: 12-6-9-27 PP: 0/2
1st Period-Raddysh 10 (Barré-Boulet, Goncalves), 2:23. Finley 6 (Walcott, Element), 5:59. Ryfors 14 (Koepke), 12:46. 2nd Period-Goncalves 6 (Usau, Raddysh), 1:55. 3rd Period-Koepke 4 (Dumont, Barré-Boulet), 19:44 (EN). . . . Alnefelt 8-4-1 (27 shots-25 saves) A-7,853
Monday, January 16 | Game 34 vs. Utica | W, 5-1
Utica 1 0 0 – 1 Shots: 12-10-12-34 PP: 0/6
Syracuse 2 1 2 – 5 Shots: 10-14-7-31 PP: 1/4
1st Period-Goncalves 7 (Unassisted), 3:18 (SH). Fortier 7 (Walcott, Day), 11:16. 2nd Period-Dumont 8 (Barré-Boulet, Myers), 13:54 (PP). 3rd Period-Goncalves 8 (Balcers), 17:07 (EN). Fortier 8 (Day, Walcott), 17:23. . . . Alnefelt 9-4-1 (34 shots-33 saves) A-5,233
Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev) Power Play 19.5% (23-for-118) 16th (25th) Penalty Kill 79.4% (112-for-141) 20th (22nd) Goals For 3.76 GFA (128) 4th (T-4th) Goals Against 3.47 GAA (118) 23rd (26th) Shots For 32.26 SF/G (1097) 6th (5th) Shots Against 30.59 SA/G (1040) 17th (17th) Penalty Minutes 18.00 PIM/G (612) 3rd (3rd) Category Leader Points 41 Barré-Boulet|Raddysh Goals 14 Ryfors Assists 32 Barré-Boulet PIM 67 Element Plus/Minus +19 Raddysh Wins 9 Alnefelt GAA 2.47 Alnefelt Save % .917 Alnefelt North Division GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O 1. Toronto 35 24 9 1 1 50 0.714 129 110 456 11-6-0-1 13-3-1-0 9-1-0-0 5-0-0-0 1-1 2. Utica 36 19 11 5 1 44 0.611 117 110 433 10-4-2-1 9-7-3-0 7-2-1-0 0-1-0-0 1-1 3. Rochester 33 19 12 1 1 40 0.606 110 111 326 10-6-1-0 9-6-0-1 7-3-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-1 4. Syracuse 34 16 13 2 3 37 0.544 128 118 612 10-5-2-1 6-8-0-2 5-4-0-1 3-0-0-0 1-3 5. Belleville 36 15 18 3 0 33 0.458 119 131 587 9-9-0-0 6-9-3-0 4-5-1-0 0-2-0-0 4-0 6. Laval 37 14 18 4 1 33 0.446 130 140 457 9-5-4-1 5-13-0-0 5-4-1-0 1-0-0-0 1-1 7. Cleveland 34 14 16 2 2 32 0.471 117 134 408 6-7-1-0 8-9-1-2 2-7-1-0 0-1-0-0 3-2 Players Mentioned Players Mentioned
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