by
Jeff Parzych
Tenth Anniversaries are made to be celebrated. On Saturday evening the Crunch made that very difficult when they failed to hold onto a three-goal second period lead and were forced to settle for a 4-4 tie against the visiting Hershey Bears.
In what may have come as a surprise, Karl Goehring started between the pipes for the Crunch on Saturday, and his play at around the twelve minute mark of the first period appeared to have been a critical one for Syracuse at the time.
Goehring flashed his incredible lateral quickness to stone Hershey forward Steve Brule alone on the doorstep to preserve a scoreless tie. On the ensuing rush Bear defenseman D.J. Smith was whistled for holding, setting the stage for the first Crunch tally of the season.
With Syracuse holding the man-advantage, Brad Moran threaded a perfect cross-crease pass to Anders Eriksson jumping into the play from the backside. The former first round selection of the Detroit Red Wings easily buried the puck into the open side for an early Syracuse lead.
With the first period winding down the Crunch added to that lead when Syracuse's St. Cloud connection hooked up for the first time this season. Joe Motzko found Mark Hartigan camped just outside the Hershey crease and Hartigan re-directed the pass by Bear netminder Peter Budaj for a two-goal Crunch advantage heading into period number two.
A goal by Hershey forward Shane Willis at the 6:29 mark of the second seemed to get the Bears back in the game; that was until the Bears self-destructed with some un-disciplined play.
It all started when Bruce Richardson took exception to a Mark Hartigan retaliatory check on Brad Larsen at center ice. Richardson was hit with a roughing call followed by two more penalties from Gavin Morgan and Pascal Trepanier, to give the Crunch an extended 5 on 3 power play.
Syracuse took advantage of the two-man advantage when Brad Moran re-directed a Don MacLean pass by Budaj for a 3-1 Crunch lead.
A little over three minutes later the Crunch made it 4-1 when Aaron Johnson notched the professional goal of his career. The rookie blueliner unleashed a slap shot that trickled through the pads of Budaj and into the back of the net.
From there it was all Hershey. Steve Brule brought the Bears to within two with a wrap around tally at the 15:51 mark of the second and then Charlie Stephens made it a one goal game with his marker just 40 seconds into period number three. Gavin Morgan completed the comeback with a power play goal with just over seven minutes left in regulation.
The Crunch carried the play in the extra session, but could not beat Budaj and were forced to settle for the 4-4 tie. Karl Goehring went the distance in this one, recording 26 saves on 30 shots. Peter Budaj registered 32 saves for the Bears.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date: October 11, 2003
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Hershey Bears
Attendance:
5,992
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Syracuse Eriksson 1 (Moran, MacLean), 12:55, (pp). 2. Syracuse Hartigan 1 (Motzko, McDonell), 17:01. Penalties-McDonell, Syr (roughing), 5:39; Smith, Her (obs. holding), 11:40.
Second Period-Scoring-3. Hershey, Willis 1 (Stephens, Krestanovich), 6:29. 4. Syracuse Moran 1 (MacLean, McDonell), 11:33, (pp). 5. Syracuse Johnson 1 (Moran, Jackman), 14:49. 6. Hershey Brule 1 (Slovak), 15:51. Penalties-Morgan, Her (roughing), 3:55; Cull, Syr (holding), 7:15; Richardson, Her (roughing), 9:52; Morgan, Her (slashing), 10:27; Trepanier, Her (interference), 11:05.
Third Period:Scoring-7. Hershey Stephens 1 (Willis, Smith), :40. 8. Hershey Morgan 1 (Brule, Trepanier), 12:51, (pp). Penalties-Traynor, Syr (holding), 4:19; Motzko, Syr (obs. holding), 8:50; Knopp, Syr (obs-hooking), 12:25.
Overtime:Scoring-none. Penalties-none.
Shots on Goal-Hershey, 9-7-9-5--30 ; Syracuse, 15-11-9-1--36 . Power Play Opportunities-Hershey, 1 of 5; Syracuse, 2 of 5. Goalies-Hershey, Budaj, 36 shots-32 saves. Syracuse, Goehring 30 shots-26 saves. Referee-Jeff Smith; Linesmen-Tim Kotyra, Jeff Walker
Three Stars:
1. Kent McDonell: MacDaddy finished the night with two assists and was a force at times.
2. Brad Moran: The veteran Moran had himself a three-point night with one goal and two assists.
3. Steve Brule: Brule's goal started the comeback and he finished the night with a goal and an assist.
Plus/Minus:
On the plus side, Syracuse came out of the gates just as you would expect a team at their home opener. They were skating strong and they looked sharp in all facets in building a three-goal lead.
On the minus side has to be the play of last year's surprise player Karl Goehring. Butchie just didn't have it on Saturday and it showed in the two, possibly three soft goals he let in.
Quotes:
"There are going to be games where Goehring and Leclaire win for us and there are going to be games with they have off nights and I think that Butch self-admittedly had an off night." -Head Coach Gary Agnew on not protecting a three-goal second period lead.
"I think he played well enough last year to warrant a start. I think he played well enough in the exhibition season to warrant a start and I think he played well enough in Columbus to warrant a start." -Agnew on the decision to start Goehring.
"You get deflated and I think you need a momentum swing and it takes time to happen." -Agnew on the team possibly playing not to lose after Stephen's tally in the third to make it a one-goal game.
"Not really. I thought I proved last year that I can play and I still believe I can play at this level and have hopes of going on even further." -Karl Goehring on whether he was surprised to be starting on Saturday.
"Just another goal that shouldn't go in at this level, especially from me. It is a save I have to make." -Goehring on Steve Brule's wrap-around goal in the second period.
"Again it is my mistake. It is frustrating when your team plays as well as they do tonight and our guys definitely deserve two points and unfortunately I make a mistake and we only got one." -Goehring on Charlie Stephens goal in the third period.
"Great play. I mean anybody would have put that in. Hit my stick and it is basically not lose the puck, just a great play." -Defenseman Anders Eriksson on his first period goal.
"We were up 4-1 and we can't lose that. I know it is the first game of the season, but something like that you have to protect your lead, especially in your own barn." -Eriksson on blowing a 4-1 lead.
Lineups:
Bears: Goal: Peter Budaj, Tom Lawson.Defense:D.J. Smith, Brett Clark, Tomas Slovak, Pascal Trepanier, Agris Saviels, Marc Busenburg, Mikko Viitanen. Forwards: Jordan Krestanovich, Gavin Morgan, Eric Perrin, Steve Moore, Brad Larsen, Mikhail Kuleshov, Shane Willis, Steve Brule, Bruce Richardson, Nikita Alexeev, Travis Brigley, Charlie Stephens, Evgeni Artukhin.
Crunch: Goal: Pascal Leclaire, Karl Goehring. Defense:Darrel Scoville, Todd Rohloff, Paul Traynor, Pauli Levokari, Aaron Johnson, Anders Eriksson, Trent Cull. Forwards:Mark Hartigan, Ben Knopp, Don MacLean, Janne Jokila, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Joe Motzko, Brad Moran, Kent McDonell, Tyler Sloan, Mike Pandolfo.
Pre-Game Skate:
Scratches for the Crunch were Pauli Levokari and Sean Connolly. The Bears sat out Eric Perrin, Marc Busenburg and Evgeni Artukhin.
Crunch One-Timers:
Prior to the game the Crunch announced that Columbus has assigned center Sean Pronger to Syracuse. Pronger was a healthy scratch for the Jackets in their opener on Thursday and supposedly has 48 hours to report, but on the shoot-out show with Bobby Mac, Darrel Scoville mentioned that it is not certain Pronger will show. He didn't elaborate, but stated that it is a possibility that something going on in C-bus will keep Pronger from wearing a Crunch sweater at this time. …..Speaking of Crunch sweaters, Syracuse unveiled their third jersey on Saturday evening. The jerseys are of the tie down variety and are red, trimmed in blue and white. They also have the Blue Jacket logo on one shoulder and the tenth anniversary logo on the other…..Darrel Scoville, Todd Rohloff and Don MacLean each wore the "A" for tonight's game….Did anyone else notice that the Crunch's Tenth Anniversary logo has eleven candles on the cake?
View From Above:
Prior to the game the Crunch held some very enjoyable pre-game festivities to commemorate their 10th Anniversary. Kevin Maher of Channel Five was the master of ceremonies and they kicked things off with a video tribute to the late Trevor Ettinger. They also announced that all players will wear a "36" sticker on their helmets for the season in honor of Ettinger.
They then took a look back at the nine different jerseys wore by the Crunch in their nine-year history with a little parade of colors. That was followed by an anniversary cake and some video highlights. Player intro's concluded the night's festivities.
The regulars all came out for opening night. The Hanson's were in the house, in full garb and all sporting official Chiefs sweaters now. The Viking was also in attendance and last but not least, Crunchman was pulled out of mothballs to make his first appearance in years.
Around the League:
A number of former Crunch players fared very well on opening night for their new clubs. Mathieu Darche (Milwaukee), Matt Davidson (Lowell), and Blake Bellefeuille (Providence) all tallied in their debuts. For Bellefeuille, he seems to have carried over his strong play from the preseason and if he can add a consistent scoring touch to his already strong overall game he could be quite a hit with the baby Bruins.
Rochester opened the season with a 2-1 win at home against Hamilton on Friday despite the unsettled goal situation up in Buffalo. As we reported earlier there was a strong possibility that the Amerks would be without one of the three very talented netminders in the Buffalo system. Well that came to fruition. Heading into the 2003-04 campaign Rochester will go with a tandem of Tom Askey and former Crunch player Greg Gardner. Askey recorded the win in his debut as number one and is a solid veteran, but having to spend a season with a tandem of Askey and Gardner could seriously hamper the Amerks return to prominence in the AHL.
The latest issue of The Hockey News contained their minor league preview for the 2003-04 season and they didn't show the Crunch that much love. THN has Syracuse finishing 11th in the Western Conference ahead of only Toronto, Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Kudos to the AHL for implementing their new official scoring system from Pointsteak.com. Getting game information on www.theahl.com is now a pleasure and this has been a long-time coming for the league.
Parent Pulse:
Columbus kicked off their 2003-04 campaign with a 2-1 loss to Atlanta. Andrej Nedorost scored the lone goal for the Jackets and was the game's third star despite his defensive lapse late in the third that lead to Atlanta's winning goal. Defenseman Duvie Westcott logged 24 minutes, 55 seconds of ice time to lead the Jackets in game one. Derrick Walser has been scratched in both games for the Jackets this season.
On Deck:
Syracuse plays next Friday at home against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Game time is set for 7:30