by
Jeff Parzych
Thanks to some stellar goaltending from Andrew Penner late in the game and a clutch goal from J.F. Boutin, the Syracuse Crunch downed the home town Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-3 Saturday night.
The Crunch opened the scoring 6:57 into the opening period with a power play marker from Trent Cull. The veteran blueliner did an excellent job of jumping into the play and was rewarded with an excellent cross-ice feed from rookie Janne Jokila. Cull one-timed the feed past Martin Brochu for an early 1-0 Syracuse lead.
That lead would be short lived as Tomas Surovy answered with a power play goal of his own less than three minutes later. The veteran winger walked out of the corner untouched and beat Penner high to the glove side to even the score at one a piece.
Syracuse would gain momentum in the second thanks to some undisciplined play from the Penguins. Jeremy Reich gave the Crunch the lead again as he would corral a loose puck off a goal-mouth scramble and flip a backhander over a prone Martin Brochu for the second power play goal of the evening for Syracuse and a 2-1 lead.
Just over a minute later Ben Knopp put the Crunch up two off a pretty play from Janne Jokila and J.F. Boutin. Jokila kept the play alive with a nice blind pass off the boards to an open Boutin who in turn hit Knopp wide open in the slot. The former Kamloops Blazer did the rest by beating Brochu with a nice deke move as he slid the puck into the open side for a 3-1 Syracuse advantage.
Two goals off odd man breaks for the Penguins, one late in the second, the other at the 8:27 mark of the third, tied the game at three and set the stage for J.F. Boutin's late game heroics.
Jim Vickers ignited the play with a nifty pass thru the neutral zone to Jeremy Reich along the blue line. With defenders converging on the Crunch captain, Reich redirected the puck to an open Boutin streaking into the Penguin zone. From there the free-agent winger did the rest and easily beat Brochu one on one for a 4-3 Syracuse lead late in the contest.
That is when Andrew Penner would take over the game. He kicked things off with a nice glove save on Tomas Surovy with 4:27 remaining. He followed that up by robbing Phillipe Audet with a pad save with 2:40 left.
Penner then flashed some speed by winning a foot race with Surovy with just over a minute and a half left. The Ontario native left his crease and just got to a loose puck at his own blue line, beating Surovy by inches to preserve the Syracuse lead.
He would thwart Surovy once more, this time from in the slot, before saving his best for last and saving the game. With only five seconds left in the contest, Penner made a gorgeous sliding save on Toby Petersen, who was left alone on the doorstep.
Crunch Ice Pack Date: Saturday, September 27, 2003 Where: Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza Opponent: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Attendance: 7,458
First Period:
Goals-1. Syracuse, Cull 1 (Jokila, McKay), 6:57. 2. WBS, Surovy 1 (Hussey, Endicott), 8:08. Penalties-Mathieu, WBS (holding), 1:43; Johnstone, Syr (holding), 2:19; Johnstone, Syr (fighting), 4:29; Reynolds WBS (fighting), 4:29; Endicott WBS (holding), 6:07; Johnson Syr (obs. hooking), 7:19; Both, Syr (fighting), 8:44; Lariviere, WBS (fighting), 8:44; Reich, Syr (interference), 11:58; McKay, WBS (hooking), 15:47; Mathieu WBS (interference), 15:30; Rouleau WBS (hooking), 16:46.
Second Period:
Goals-3. Syracuse, Reich 1 (Moran, Motzko), 10:32. 4. Syracuse, Knopp 1 (Johnson, Boutin), 11:43. 5. WBS, Paddock 1 (Petersen, Lefebrve). Penalties-Kiser, Syr (holding), 4:13; Robinson WBS (slashing, unsportsmanlike), 7:26; Lefebvre WBS (elbowing), 9:21; Johnstone Syr (interference), 16:12; Jokila Syr (hooking), 19:58.
Third Period:
Goals-6. WBS, Reynolds 1 (Ouellet), 8:27. 7. Syracuse, Boutin 1 (Reich), 11:28. Penalties-Zinick, Syr (holding),3:27; Christiansen, Syr (tripping), 6:27; Buckley, WBS (cross-check), 11:28; Boutin, Syr (high-stick),11:28.
Shots on Goal: Crunch 5-11-2---18 Penguins 7-6-15---28 Power Plays: Crunch 2-7 Penguins 1-9 Goalies: Crunch-Penner 28 shots-25 saves Penguins-Brochu 18 shots-14 saves Referee: Ryan Fraser Linesman: Scott Adams, Bob Fyrer
Three Stars:
1. Andrew Penner: After fighting the puck early, Penner finished the evening with 25 saves and was huge in the third period.
2. Jeremy Reich: The veteran was his usual physical self and chipped in with a goal and an assist.
3. Ben Knopp: He may have been the best player throughout for the Crunch. Tallied once and was strong all game.
Quotes:
"We are auditioning guys more for call-up duty than anything else during the season. Last year we went through a lot of injuries and call-ups and it is just nice to know what you are going to get when you call a guy up."
-Head Coach Gary Agnew on what goals he has for the many new faces that dot the Syracuse roster this time of the season.
"I liked the way we played. The power play was good obviously and I thought in the third period we were hanging on for dear life."
-Agnew on the game overall.
"I think at this time of year you want to give everyone a chance to play and when you do have to send somebody down they have had every opportunity to show whether they can succeed or fail at this level."
-Agnew on not shortening his bench late in the game and going with a line of Conrad McKay, Brad Both, and Doug Christiansen for a critical defensive face-off late in the third.
"Ben Knopp was really down last year and didn't have a great year in the coast. He came to camp this year and was a tyrant. He played really well in Columbus, he played really well against the Rangers and it is nice to see a guy sort of understand what he needs to do
to get up the ladder or minor pro hockey and get a chance at the national league level."
-Agnew on the strong play of Ben Knopp.
"Sloan we actually made a decision through the organization to play him at forward this year because of the depth on the blue line that is happening and he had a pretty good camp on left wing."
-Agnew on the Sloan move to forward.
"I played forward growing up. I didn't start playing defense until AAA midget when I was 17. It is a little bit of transition up here. A lot more skating and a lot faster, but so far it has been a good transition."
-Tyler Sloan on the move to forward.
"I felt confident out there. I think the experience with Columbus helped out a lot."
-Defenseman Aaron Johnson on his first AHL action.
Lineups:
Crunch: Goal: Karl Goehring, Andrew Penner, Shane Bendera Defense: Sean Connolly, Alex Johnstone, Darrel Scoville, Jim Vickers, Gary Zinick, Tyler Sloan, Trent Cull, Nate Kiser, Pauli Levokari, Paul Traynor Forwards: Jeremy Reich, Joe Motzko, Doug Christiansen, Brad Moran, Janne Jokila, Brandon Sugden, Brad Both, Konrad McKay, Marty Johnson, J.F. Boutin, Ben Knopp, Mike Pandolfo
Penguins: Goal: Nick Boucher, Martin Brochu Defense: Ben Blais, Drew Fata, Alexandre Rouleau, Darcy Robinson, T.J. Reynolds, Brendan Buckley Forwards: Michel Ouellet, Philippe Audet, Matt Hussey, Erik Christensen, Cam Paddock, Toby Petersen, Shane Endicott, Jim Abbott, Marquis Mathieu, Tomas Surovy, Steve Crampton, Guillaume Lefebvre, Jacques Lariviere
Pre-Game Skate: Scratches for the Crunch were Darrel Scoville, Brandon Sugden, Pauli Levokari, Paul Traynor, Mike Pandolfo, and Karl Goehring. The lone scratch for the Penguins was center Erik Christensen.
The Fight Card: After reading about the Crunch's goon squad all week in the Wilkes-Barre press, fans were only treated to two tilts on the evening. Alex Johnstone, top five in penalty minutes last season in the UHL and T.J. Reynolds, the pims leader last season in the ECHL, squared off at the 4:29 mark of the first. Neither player landed many blows, Johnstone did get in a few quick lefts, most likely a draw. The second bout between Brad Both and Jacques Lariviere was equally un-impressive. Neither player generated much with Lariviere possibly holding a slight advantage.
Crunch One-Timers: Jeremy Reich wore the "C" for tonight's contest with Trent Cull and Brad Moran donning the "A"…..Brandon Sugden made the trip down to Wilkes-Barre for the game. Spoke with him prior to the dropping of the puck and he mentioned that he was hopeful things would be resolved this Monday or Tuesday. ….Both Tyler Sloan and Alex Johnstone, natural defenseman, played forward for the Crunch. For Sloan, it is an organizational decision to switch him to forward. Johnstone was just out of necessity …..B-Sens coaches John Paddock and Tom Reynolds watched the game from the press box.
On Deck: These same two clubs meet again in Syracuse on Wednesday. It is a special matinee game scheduled for school children in the Syracuse area. The puck drops at 11:00 AM and there are no sales of tickets to the general public.