As noted in the gameday today, Syracuse leads the league in team offense, is tops in the AHL on the power play and is second in team defense. This is where I’d normally drop in one of those “other than that, they’re relatively unaccomplished” bits.
We’ll keep up through Alan (Mixlr audio / AHLTV pay-per-view). We’ll follow Alan, the team, the Crunch and Lindsay Kramer among others.
The box should be here (R: Mayer, Dietrich; L: Frederickson, Petrus). First Bridgeport game for referee Mike Dietrich.
Last night on the Island, the Sound Tigers’ all-time leading overtime scorer beat the Sound Tigers’ all-time leading scorer in overtime: Goal 1 up top for Devon Toews.
The Rangers and Vince Pedrie are reportedly cutting ties. Mike McKenna’s well-traveled career got even more traveled. Hasn’t lost the sense of humor, at least.
More in a bit.
–Huge win for the United States at the World Juniors, beating Russia in the semifinals 2-1. The U.S. will medal for the fourth year in a row (bronze-gold-bronze), which will be one more medal than it earned in the first 27 official years of the tournament. It’s seeking its fifth gold since 2004.
–Looked like Christopher Gibson for Bridgeport.
–Warmup video on AHLTV has all seven defensemen out there for Bridgeport, and Steve Bernier is on, too. Looks like Bernier for Sislo and Connor Jones for a defenseman. See if we can make out line rushes… Looks like Rathgeb is out.
–Looks like (Brian Rogers voice)Eddie Pasquale(/Brian Rogers voice) for the Crunch.
–Uh-oh, Alan’s sick.
–Bernier straight in for Sislo, Jones back to his usual spot, Hitchcock joins Eansor and Gionta:
BRIDGEPORT
F: St. Denis-Koivula-C.Bourque
Gaudreau-Fritz-Bernier (A)
Bellows-Jones-R.Bourque
Eansor-Hitchcock-Gionta
D: Wotherspoon-Burroughs (C)
Vande Sompel-Aho
Helgeson (A)-Casto
G: Gibson
Smith
–Brent Thompson calls Wednesday’s shootout loss in Rochester sloppy. Says they let the Amerks back in it in the third, too undisciplined. (Says all that to Alan, I should clarify.)
–Either it’s Star Wars night in Syracuse or some weird stuff is going on up there.
–Sislo is upper-body, says Alan.
–First penalty is Bellows’, a slash, at 3:50.
–Fritz and Jones take turns setting each other up at the front short-handed. Not sure either got a shot on goal. Kills time, at least. Penalty killed.
–Labrie called for holding Jones. Bernier, Koivula, Gaudreau, CBourque and AHo to start it.
–Bellows, Fritz, Eansor, St. Denis and Vande Sompel on the other unit, but not much doing there. Back even.
–Syracuse had Slater Koekkoek and Boris Katchouk on the ice together, a duo memorably celebrated on Twitter a couple of years ago. But that shift ends with Katchouk going head-first into the boards on a Burroughs hit. Second Crunch power play. Andreoff hits the crossbar early on it…. or maybe just over, Alan says. … But Alex Barre-Boulet gets Syracuse on the board with 7:34 left in the first, a bad-angle one-timer that sneaks under Gibson. Assists to both ex-Sound Tigers, Conacher and Verhaeghe.
–1:11 five-on-three for Bridgeport on a Gaunce stick-hold and a Katchouk trip late in the first. Bernier, Koivula, Fritz, CBourque and Aho.
–Bernier sprayed Pasquale earlier in the period and drew the Crunch’s ire. Now he digs for a rebound and gets all three Crunch going after him after the whistle. He and Dumont both go off.
–Must be an extra minor on Bernier, as the draw comes all the way down.
–Bernier does get a slashing minor on top of coincidental roughs. At any rate, it’s 1-0 Crunch after one.
–Not-intermission reading: Brian Lockhart reports that the City Council plans to invest $15 million into Webster Bank Arena’s roof and HVAC system. Second period on.
–Crunch get their fourth power play 2:14 into the second period, Koivula trip. A penaltyfest probably won’t benefit the Sound Tigers.
–Bridgeport kills that, but a little later, Aho falls, letting Alexander Volkov out on a breakaway. Koivula does everything but mug him from behind trying to slow him down; the closest referee didn’t have his arm up somehow when Volkov slipped the puck around Gibson’s right pad and in. 2-0 Crunch at 4:40.
–Too many Crunchmen. Bridgeport’s fourth power play, 0-for-3, at 7:03 of the second.
–Nothing doing. Hitchcock on that second unit instead of Eansor.
–Aho gets drilled by Brassart; called boarding elbowing at 11:31. Penaltyfest.
–Gaudreau put one wide late. Glove save on Chris Bourque on a rush after that power play.
–Bridgeport will take about a minute and a half of its sixth power play to the third period, trailing Syracuse 2-0. Shots are 22-15 Crunch.
–My internet conked out as the third started, but got back just in time to watch Bellows shoot high at the end of the PP. Back even, down to 17 minutes to go now.
–Bridgeport turns it over, Verhaeghe takes it off the boards to the middle, to the net, backhands it blocker side, and it’s 3-0 Crunch about seven minutes into the third.
–Raddysh hooking. The penaltyfest has become one-sided. Bridgeport could use one. The lines are lightly juggled, and now the power-play unit appears to be, too. St. Denis, Koivula, Fritz, Bourque, Vande Sompel… but a Bridgeport penalty will even it out.
–So all they needed was four-on-four. Koivula takes it end-to-end, pulls it back in the slot and snaps it high blocker to cut it to 3-1 with 10:42 to go.
–Bernier for tripping with 3:01 left. As noted, the lines are a little jumbled and the pairs are, too; think I’ve seen everybody recently except for Aho, but I’ll have to go back and check that I haven’t just missed him.
–Bridgeport calls time out with 42 seconds left, and a rewind to a shot of the bench only shows 12 white helmets there. Think Aho’s missing.
—Syracuse 3, Bridgeport 1, final. Only the third time since the Nov. 2 loss in Springfield that the Sound Tigers have gone so much as two games in a row without a win.
–Re: Aho, he did play after taking that Brady Brassart hit that was called an elbow in the second period, but it doesn’t look as if he came back for the third.
–Upper-body on Aho.