by
Jeff Parzych
All night long they were looking for some sort of break. A lucky bounce, anything to sway things in their favor. There was a break late in the third period, but unfortunately for the Crunch it went Hershey's way. Yes, it was one of those nights.
Despite out shooting the Bears nearly two-to-one, holding a 7-2 advantage in power play chances, the Crunch could not get it done as they fall to Hershey 2-1 Friday night at the War Memorial at Oncenter.
The Bears opened the scoring in this one at the 5:24 mark of the opening period. Eric Perrin, Hershey's only All-Star representative this season, one-timed the rebound of a Steve Brule shot over the left shoulder of Karl Goehring for his 14th of the season and a 1-0 Hershey lead.
That score remained until almost midway thru the third period. That is when the Syracuse power play finally cashed in. Donald MacLean followed up a nice effort from Jeremy Reich and flipped the puck into the open side to tie the game at one. Reich's play in front forced Hershey netminder Peter Budaj out of position and left MacLean with a wide open side to shoot at.
With Momentum clearly in Syracuse's favor, Hershey received the break that the Crunch were so desperately looking for. After a few failed attempts by Syracuse to clear the zone, Steve Brule corralled the loose puck and fired a bad angle shot that caromed of Goehring into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead with just under five minutes left in the third.
The Crunch had many opportunities to tie it late as they out shot the Bears 16-5 in the third, but they could not get the equalizer. Peter Budaj finished the night with 39 saves to improve to 11-9-6 on the season. Karl Goehring recorded 21 saves in the loss for Syracuse.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:January 9, 2004
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Hershey Bears
Attendance:5,621
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Hershey, Perrin 14 (Brule), 5:24. Penalties-Keefe, Her (tripping), :35; Saviels, Her (interference), 9:11; Traynor, Syr (interference), 12:30; Saviels, Her (interference), 15:36; Kuleshov, her (tripping), 19:27.
Second Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Voltera, Her (holding), 10:36; Cloutier, Syr (roughing), 18:22.
Third Period:Scoring-2. Syracuse, MacLean 12 (Reich, McDonell), 9:17, (pp). 3. Hershey, Brule 14 (Keefe, Perrin), 15:08. Penalties-Trepanier, Her (tripping), 4:13; Smith, Her (boarding), 8:24.
Shots on Goal:Hershey, 10-8-5--23; Syracuse, 15-9-16--40.
Power Play Opportunities:Hershey, 0-2; Syracuse, 1-7.
Goalies:-Hershey, Budaj, (11-9-6), 40 shots-39 saves. Syracuse, Goehring (7-7-4), 23 shots-21 saves.
Referee-Dave Hansen (47); Linesmen- Dave Brisebois (96), Jim Harper (59).
Three Stars:
1. Peter Budaj: Stoned the Crunch all night long as he finishes with 39 saves on the evening.
2. Steve Brule: The cagey veteran Brule notches the game-winner with less than five minutes left in regulation.
3. Don MacLean: MacLean tallied the lone Syracuse goal to stretch his point streak to eight games.
Lineups:
Bears: Goal:Peter Budaj, Tom Lawson.Defense:Jeff Finger, D.J. Smith, Brett Clark, Tomas Slovak, Pascal Trepanier, Agris Saviels, Marc Busenburg, Mark Jerant.Forwards: Jordan Krestanovich, Gavin Morgan, Eric Perrin, Ryan Craig, Brad Larsen, Mikhail Kuleshov, Rob Voltera, Cody McCormick, Steve Brule, Bruce Richardson, Sheldon Keefe, Charlie Stephens, Evgeni Artukhin.
Crunch:Goal: Pascal Leclaire, Karl Goehring. Defense:Darrel Scoville, Jamie Pushor, Paul Traynor, Pauli Levokari, Aaron Johnson, Zenith Komarniski, Trent Cull, Derrick Walser Forwards: Ben Knopp, Don MacLean, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Joe Motzko, Brad Moran, Kent McDonell, Tyler Sloan, Brandon Sugden, Mike Pandolfo, Shawn Limpright, Sylvain Cloutier.
Pre-Game Skate:
Scratched for Syracuse were Zenith Komarniski (ribs), Pauli Levokari (healthy), and Brandon Sugden (shoulder). The Bears sat Brad Larsen, Bruce Richardson, Marc Busenberg and Mark Jerant.
Crunch One-Timers:
Crunch defenseman Darrel Scoville left Friday's game minutes into the first period when he received word that his wife was going into labor with the couple's second child. Scoville received a congratulatory pat from fellow blueliner Aaron Johnson and headed off to the dressing room …..Syracuse's 40 shots on goal was their most this season and they have now out shot their opponent in three straight games……..Prior to the game the Crunch announced that they have signed center Sylvain Cloutier to a professional try-out contract. Cloutier, the brother of Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier, has appeared in 31 games with Adirondack of the UHL, recording 31 points (13g, 18a) and 69 penalty minutes. He was a member of last seasons Calder Cup winning Houston Aeros where he appeared in 23 postseason games with the Aeros, registering 3 goals and 3 assists…….Former Crunch left wing Larry Courville, who had been playing semi-pro in the North Eastern Hockey League, signed with the ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs on Tuesday. Courville was playing with the York Ice Cats and he ranked second in the league in scoring with 22 goals and 21 assists.
Parent Pulse:
Mark Hartigan scored his first goal as a member of the Blue Jackets Thursday night versus the San Jose Sharks. Hartigan skated a good portion of the night on Columbus' first line and received 18:32 of ice time on 23 shifts. In comparison Rick Nash, Columbus' lone superstar, saw 18:46 of ice time on 26 shifts. Also in that game Duvie Westcott returned to the Jacket lineup after missing an extended period of time and was thrown right into the fire. Westcott skated 35 shifts and saw over 24 minutes of ice time.
The Jackets lost Todd Rohloff on Friday when the Washington Capitals claimed the defenseman off waivers. Columbus was attempting to send Rohloff back to Syracuse where he had appeared in 14 games this season, recording one goal, five assists and 16 penalty minutes.
On Deck:
Syracuse plays host tomorrow to the Rochester Americans. The Amerks lost 3-2 to the Manitoba Moose on Friday at Blue Cross Arena and currently they are tied with the St. John's Maple Leafs for second place in the North Division with 42 points.