First off, apologies to all of the Syracuse Crunch fans out there. The coverage we’ve provided in the past hasn’t quite been there this year. It’s a shame too, because this Crunch has team has been very good for most of the season. We’ll strive to be better as Joel Bouchard and his staff are doing pretty well with some intriguing prospects and seasoned veterans.
The Crunch kicked off their December with two wins against the Toronto Marlies and have run their winning streak to four games, all coming against division rivals. That has allowed them to creep up to second in the North Division with 26 points, three behind the Cleveland Monsters with one game in hand. It’s a fairly tight race to begin the season as only 7 points separate first place and fourth place so it’s a good thing that the Crunch have been able to pick up so many points early.
They’ve done it by spreading the offense out. They don’t have a single player in the top 10 of any of the main scoring columns, but they are 9th in goals scored in the league with 68 and tied for 5th in power play goals with 17.
It’s been a true team effort as three players (Mitchell Chaffee, Max Groshev, and Daniel Walcott) lead the team with 8 goals a piece. Another 12 have at least 2 goals on the season while the only regular players not to tickle the twine yet are Sean Day (12 games), Philippe Myers (16 games), and Tristan Allard (11 games). And those three have multiple assists on the year. Seven players on the team are in double digits when it comes to points.
Chaffee has been one of the biggest surprises on the team. Signed to a contract by the Lightning in the offseason, there was some question as to his health as he was coming off of major knee surgery. He’s buried that doubt under a barrage of goals and is tied with for the team lead in points with Gage Goncalves. Chaffee’s talent was never in doubt as he scored 28 goals in 87 games over three seasons with the Iowa Wild, just his ability to stay on the ice.
While he’s not put in quite the same amount of goals as Chaffee, Joe Carroll has also been impressive. Probably slated for Orlando at the start of the season, Carroll has not only played his way onto the roster on a nightly basis, but also earned a two-year deal with the Crunch.
In net, it’s truly been a team effort as five different players have played in a game for the Crunch so far this season. While it’s not ideal four of those guys have picked up multiple wins. The good news is that things should have stabilized in that area as Hugo Alnefet and Matt Tomkins should split the duties down the road as has been the plan all along.
Alnefelt has carried the bulk of the load on the season, appearing in 9 games and posting a 3-3-2 record with a 2.49 GAA and .903 SV%. It’s been a bit rocky at times (he went five game stretch where he gave up four goals in four of them) but he’s been solid in his last two outings, stopping 41-of-42 shots.
It’ll be a tough weekend for Syracuse as they kick things off a three-in-three stretch with a home game against the Hershey Bears and then follow it up with a home-and-home against Utica. Tonight they will be rocking a throwback jersey with the insane Yeti on the front:
Saturday will be their annual Teddy Bear Toss game as well.
Last Week’s goals:
Mitchell Chaffee (Jack Thompson, Gabriel Dumont) Power Play
Shawn Element (Jack Thompson, Walterri Merelä)
Gage Goncalves (Philippe Myers, Mitchell Chaffee)
Daniel Walcott (Gabriel Dumont, Sean Day) Empty Net
The Crunch pulled off the sweep as Mitchell Chaffee scored twice to run his goal-scoring streak to three games while Hugo Alnefelt stopped 35-of-36 in the win. Joe Carroll continued his strong play as he connected on a first-period power play goal. Gage Goncalves added two more assists to run his season point total to 17 (4 goals, 13 assists).
Joe Carroll (Gage Goncalves, Declan Carlile) Power Play
Mitchell Chaffee (Gage Goncalves, Devante Stephens)
Mitchell Chaffee (Max Groshev) Short Handed
