Syracuse Crunch WeeklY 2016-17 CRUNCH SCHEDULE War Memorial Arena • 800 S. State St. • Syracuse, NY 13202 • 315-473-4444 • www.SyracuseCrunch.com • @SyracuseCrunch OCTOBER (4-3-0-0 – 2-1-0-0 home, 2-2-0-0 road) 15 Sat. ROCHESTER W, 4-1 WEEKLY RELEASE — FEBRUARY 22, 2017 — VOL. 23, NO. 19 16 Sun. at Rochester W, 6-3 21 Fri. UTICA L, 5-4 . AS IS EVER SO ON THE ROAD 22 Sat. at W-B/Scranton L, 3-1 WEEK 19 RESULTS Syracuse salvaged a victory Sunday to close Week 19 Wednesday, Feb. 15 | Game 50 at Albany | L, 6-1 28 Fri. at Binghamton W, 4-3 1-2-0-0. The 5-3 win at St. John's secured Syracuse the 29 Sat. PROVIDENCE W, 3-2 SYR 0 0 1 - 1 Shots: 10-6-11-27 PP: 0/7 division lead for the 14th consecutive week. With 24 ALB 2 4 0 - 6 Shots: 11-18-6-35 PP: 3/8 30 Sun. at W-B/Scranton L, 6-1 regular season games left, the Crunch are 26-17-4-5 with NOVEMBER (7-2-0-2 | 4-0-0-1 home | 3-2-0-1 road) 3rd Per. - Comrie 7 (Morin), 4:34. Wilcox 16-9-3 (29 shots-23 the sixth best points percentage in the conference (.587). saves); Gudlevskis 9-7-6 (6 shots-6 saves). 4 Fri. at Rochester W, 3-2 The Crunch play two more road games—Wednesday at 5 Sat. UTICA W, 2-1 Toronto and Friday at Rochester—before coming home Saturday, Feb. 18 | Game 51 at St. John's | L, 6-1 11 Fri. BRIDGEPORT SOL, 3-2 SYR 1 0 0 - 1 Shots: 8-12-10-30 PP: 1/2 Saturday, ending a stretch of 12 road games out of 14 STJ 2 3 1 - 6 Shots: 9-16-12-37 PP: 1/5 12 Sat. ROCHESTER W, 7-2 overall. Syracuse is 6-5-1 in the last 12 games. 18 Fri. at Hershey L, 5-1 1st Per. - Taormina 13 (Peca, Erne), 11:00 (PP). Gudlevskis 9-8-6 Syracuse has won six straight when scoring first. The (20 shots-16 saves); Wilcox 16-9-3 (17 shots-15 saves). 19 Sat. ALBANY W, 3-2 team is winless in the last 13 games it has allowed the 23 Wed. at Utica L, 2-1 first goal (0-8-5). For the season, Syracuse is 20-3-1-2 Sunday, Feb. 19 | Game 52 at St. John's | W, 5-3 25 Fri. TORONTO W, 5-4 (OT) when scoring first (.827), and 6-14-3-3 when not (.346). SYR 3 0 2 - 5 Shots: 10-8-6-24 PP: 2/8 26 Sat. at Binghamton W, 4-2 When allowing the first goal in road games, Syracuse is STJ 0 1 2 - 3 Shots: 8-6-16-30 PP: 3/7 29 Tue. at St. John’s W, 6-2 2-10-2-1 (.233) and winless in the last 11. 1st Per. - Thomas 2 (Vermin, Koekkoek), 5:33. Erne 12 (Comrie, 30 Wed. at St. John’s SOL, 3-2 Taormina), 8:51 (PP). Darcy 3 (Brodeur), 11:42. 3rd Per. - Erne DECEMBER (7-4-0-2 | 6-1-0-1 home | 1-3-0-1 road) TOP PERFORMERS 13 (Condra, Taormina), 0:54 (PP). Halmo 14 (Gourde, Vermin), 3 Sat. ROCHESTER W, 6-2 Adam Erne totaled three points in Week 19, including 11:28. Wilcox 17-9-3 (30 shots-27 saves). 4 Sun. at Hershey L, 4-2 a two-goal effort Sunday in St. John's. Both scores were Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev) 7 Wed. LEHIGH VALLEY W, 4-2 power-play goals, the second of which was the game- 9 Fri. ALBANY W, 4-2 Power Play 15.6% (38-for-243) 21st (21st) winner. Four of his six multi-point games for the season Penalty Kill 82.8% (192-for-232) 10th (5th) 10 Sat. UTICA W, 4-3 (SO) are multi-goal performances. 16 Fri. at Hartford SOL, 2-1 Erne has five goals and seven points in five games since Goals For 3.00 GFA (156) 12th (12th) 17 Sat. at Bridgeport W, 5-3 returning from injury including two game-winning Goals Against 3.02 GAA (157) 20th (16th) 18 Sun. at Providence L, 3-1 strikes. For the season, Erne has 13 goals, tied for third on Shots For 29.42 SF/G (1530) 16th (14th) 21 Wed. HARTFORD L, 5-4 the Crunch, and 25 points, sixth on the team. Erne is tied Shots Against 26.85 SA/G (1396) 1st (1st) 26 Mon. at Rochester L, 5-1 with Matt Taormina for the team lead in first goals (4). Penalty Minutes 17.60 PIM/G (915) 1st (2nd) 28 Wed. HERSHEY W, 3-2 (OT) ✳✳✳ Category Leader 30 Fri. BINGHAMTON SOL, 3-2 Matt Taormina had a goal and three points in two games 31 Sat. ST. JOHN’S W, 7-5 at St. John's to recapture the Crunch scoring lead at 43 Points 43 Taormina JANUARY (4-3-4-1 | 2-3-1-0 home | 2-0-3-1 road) points, one better than Cory Conacher who was recalled Goals 18 Gourde 6 Fri. at Rochester SOL, 4-3 by Tampa Bay prior to Saturday's game. Taormina is tied Assists 32 Conacher 7 Sat. ST. JOHN’S OTL, 2-1 with Lehigh Valley's T.J. Brennan for most points by a PIM 102 Letourneau-Leblond 11 Wed. at Utica OTL, 2-1 defenseman in the league, and ninth overall. Plus/Minus +12 Brodeur 13 Fri. TORONTO W, 5-4 Taormina scored a power-play goal Saturday, his 13th Wins 17 Wilcox 14 Sat. W-B/SCRANTON L, 3-1 marker of the season, third most on the Crunch. He leads 16 Mon. W-B/SCRANTON W, 4-1 GAA 2.74 Gudlevskis Syracuse at seven power-play goals. Taormina added Save % .896 Wilcox 18 Wed. at Albany OTL, 3-2 a pair of power-play assists in Sunday's win, his team- 20 Fri. BINGHAMTON L, 4-2 leading 11th multi-point game. He has 23 power-play played eight games for St. John's last year and made his 21 Sat. UTICA L, 4-0 points, a Crunch best and most by an AHL defenseman. pro debut in Syracuse March 20. He's played 50 of 52 25 Wed. at W-B/Scranton OTL, 3-2 27 Fri. at Springfield W, 4-3 Taormina has equaled his goal total (13) and surpassed games for Manchester this year, with 29 points (13g, 16a). 28 Sat. at Utica W, 4-3 (SO) his point total (41) from last season. He's seven points Forwards Cam Darcy and Brian Hart were reassigned to shy of his career best (50) from 2009-10 with Lowell. One the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings. FEBRUARY (12 games – 3 home, 9 road) more goal would be a new career high. 2 Thu. at Albany L, 3-2 ✳✳✳ UPCOMING: TORONTO, ROCHESTER 4 Sat. at Toronto W, 5-3 Other notable performers from Week 19 include Joel The Crunch visit the Marlies 11 a.m. Wednesday. 5 Sun. at Toronto L, 3-2 Vermin (two assists Sunday in St. John's), Adam Comrie Syracuse is 3-1 vs. Toronto through four of eight meetings. 10 Fri. BINGHAMTON L, 3-2 (a goal Wednesday and a power-play assist Sunday) and Wednesday would be the first matchup of the Conacher 11 Sat. ROCHESTER W, 5-2 Adam Wilcox (27 saves in Sunday's victory). Mike Halmo, brothers. Cory, 27, was reassigned to the Crunch Sunday. 12 Sun. at Utica W, 3-2 after missing Saturday's game with injury, recorded a key Shane, 22, was recalled by the Marlies from the ECHL's 15 Wed. at Albany L, 6-1 18 Sat. at St. John’s L, 6-1 insurance goal in Sunday's 5-3 win. Halmo's 14 goals are Orlando Solar Bears Tuesday. The Burlington, Ontario 19 Sun. at St. John’s W, 5-3 second on the Crunch. natives played at Canisius College in Buffalo. Toronto is 11-2-1-0 in its last 14 games, including a 5-3 22 Wed. at Toronto 11 a.m. TRANSACTIONS 24 Fri. at Rochester 7:05 p.m. loss to Syracuse Feb. 4. The Marlies, third in the North 25 Sat. ROCHESTER 7 p.m. Syracuse signed two players to professional tryout Division at 27-22-3-1 (.547), are led by Byron Froese (24g, contracts Tuesday, 6-foot-4 left wing Kevin Morris, 24, 15a), Brendan Leipsic (11g, 27a) and Kerby Rychel (11g, MARCH (14 games – 9 home, 5 road) and 5-foot-11 center Cory Ward, 23. Both rookies had 23a). Garret Sparks (15-7-0, 2.20) is 1-1-0 vs. Syracuse. 3 Fri. HERSHEY 7 p.m. spent all of this season with the Manchester Monarchs, Antoine Bibeau (9-10-4, 2.85) is 0-1-1 with a 4.98 G.A.A. 4 Sat. BINGHAMTON 7 p.m. leaders of the ECHL's North Division. against the Crunch. 5 Sun. at Binghamton 5:05 p.m. Morris, a native of Massena, New York, played the last The Amerks host Utica Wednesday before playing 8 Wed. ST. JOHN’S 7 p.m. 10 Fri. SPRINGFIELD 7 p.m. four seasons at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He set a a home-and-home vs.