by
Jeff Parzych
On this night it was the Senators turn to rally. After allowing three third period goals Thursday evening, Binghamton turned the tables on the Crunch with two goals of their own in the third and one more in the extra session to down Syracuse 5-4 in overtime. Syracuse concludes the preseason with a record of 2-2 heading into Saturday's opener against Hershey.
The biggest news however on the evening may be the pending re-instatement of Syracuse's would-be enforcer Brandon Sugden. I caught up with Sugden as he was leaving the arena and asked if he was getting antsy. As he walked away he mentioned something along the lines that he is happy and can't wait until Monday. Couldn't catch him to confirm, but upon further investigation the word is, although nothing is official at this time, things do look very positive. The rumors that have been flying very well may be correct.
As for Saturday's game the Crunch jumped out early in this one holding a 3-1 lead after one period of play. Marty Johnston got things rolling with a goal at the 6:06 mark of the first and Ben Knopp along with Paul Traynor also tallied for Syracuse in the opening twenty minutes.
The Senators tallied the lone goal in period number two, cutting Syracuse's lead in half until Jeremy Reich and Todd Rohloff teamed up on one of the prettiest goals seen in the old barn in a long time. With the Crunch on the power play, Reich feathered a pass to Rohloff cutting down the slot who in turn re-directed the pass top shelf just inside the right post past Adam Munro.
From that point on it was all Senators. A Greg Zanon goal, one that Pascal Leclaire would have liked to have back, cut the lead to one. Next it would be Arpad Mihaly, who beat Leclaire with a slap shot from the right wing face-off circle to force overtime.
Mark Concannon notched the game-winner 2:59 into the extra session for a 5-4 Senator victory. He unleashed a vicious slapper that beat Leclaire from just inside the two circles.
Leclaire went the distance in his preseason debut allowing 5 goals on an astounding 52 shots.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date: Saturday, October 4, 2003
Where: War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent: Binghamton Senators
Attendance: N/A
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Syracuse Johnston (Reich), 6:06. 2. Binghamton Concannon (Smrek, Leinweber), 7:41, (sh). 3. Syracuse Knopp (Johnson), 13:21. 4. Syracuse Traynor (unassisted), 18:27, (pp). Penalties-McGrattan, Bin (roughing), 7:32; Laich, Bin (obs. hooking), 11:15; Busniuk, Bin (tripping), 14:44; Bolibruck, Bin (elbowing), 17:45.
Second Period-Scoring-5. Binghamton Watson (Hedlund, Smrek), 11:51, (pp). Penalties-Platil, Bin (fighting), :26; Knopp, Syr (fighting), :26; Boutin, Syr (holding), 1:35; Traynor, Syr (slashing), 7:05; Clayton, Bin (roughing), 10:32; Reich, Syr (roughing), 10:32; Jokila, Syr (interference), 11:28; Platil, Bin (roughing), 12:50; Hymovitz, Bin (hooking), 16:18; Smrek, Bin (boarding), 17:26; McGrattan, Bin (fighting), 19:40; Both, Syr (fighting), 19:40.
Third Period-Scoring-6. Syracuse Rohloff (Reich), 7:42, (pp). 7. Binghamton Zanon (Concannon), 10:52. 8. Binghamton Mihaly (Leinweber, Hymovitz), 11:53. Penalties-Jokila, Syr (holding), 1:23; Hedlund, Bin (delay of game), 4:15; Smrek, Bin (cross-checking), 5:24; Allen, Bin (delay of game), 5:42; Reich, Syr (high-stick), 12:13; Sloan, Syr (cross-check), 14:27; Connolly, Syr (high-stick), 16:24; Bench Minor, Syr (too many men)(served by Johnston), 19:01. Overtime-Scoring-9.Binghamton Concannon (unassisted), 2:59. Penalties-none.
Shots on Goal-Binghamton 10-16-21-5-52. ; Syracuse 8-7-14-1--30. Power Plays-Binghamton, 1 of 8; Syracuse, 2 of 10. Goalies-Binghamton, Allen 15 shots-12 saves, Munro (in to start third), 14 shots-13 saves. Syracuse, Leclaire 52 shots-47 saves. A-N/A Referee-Brian Pochmara (43). Linesmen-Mike Baker (11), Dan Murphy (21).
Three Stars: 1. Jeremy Reich 2. Pascal Leclaire 3. Mark Concannon
Quotes:
"I would have liked to have a better look at that third goal. I kind of lost my balance and that should have never went in." -Pascal Leclaire commenting on Greg Zanon's third period tally
"I think for everybody. We didn't make the playoffs so obviously everybody was disappointed and for everyone coming back we don't want to go thru that again." -Pascal Leclaire on the importance of getting off to a good start this season for him and the team
"I'm not sure we deserved to be up by two anyways. I thought we were outworked and out muscled by a team that was hungrier than we were." Head Coach Gary Agnew on the fact that even with it being a preseason game he still would have liked to hold a two-goal third period lead.
"It is funny because the two games that we played on the road we didn't have many guys in the lineup that are going to be here and we won both. The game's that you want to win, the home games you sort of quote, unquote load up and we lost both of those." -Agnew on the fact that against what could be considered inferior lineups the Crunch have struggled.
You can't blame it all on the defense obviously, but that defensive core with Scoville, Rohloff, Cull, Johnson and Traynor are all going to be in the lineup and we have to do a better job." -Agnew commenting on the 52 shots allowed
Lineups: Senators: Goal: Adam Munro, Andrew Allen, Billy Thompson. Defense: Greg Zanon, Andy Hedlund, Chris Leinweber, Reagan Rome, Christoph Schubert, Jan Platil, Petr Smrek, Kevin Bolibruck. Forwards: Greg Watson, Thomas Clayton, Garrett Prosofsky, Brian McGrattan, Dennis Bonvie, Shaun Sutter, Arpad Mihaly, Bryson Busniuk, David Hymovitz, Brooks Laich, Mark Concannon, Trevor Segstro, Scooter Smith.
Crunch: Goal: Pascal Leclaire, Karl Goehring. Defense: Sean Connolly, Darrel Scoville, Todd Rohloff, Aaron Johnson, Paul Traynor, Trent Cull, Nate Kiser, Pauli Levorkari. Forwards: Jeremy Reich, Joe Motzko, Don MacLean, Mike Pandolfo, Tyler Sloan, Brad Moran, Janne Jokila, Brandon Sugden, Brad Both, Marty Johnston, Ben Knopp, Mark Hartigan, J.F. Boutin.
Pre-Game Skate:
Scratches for the Crunch were Brandon Sugden, Nate Kiser, and Pauli Levokari. Binghamton scratched Billy Thompson, Reagen Rome, Christoph Schubert and Dennis Bonvie.
The Fight Card:
Ben Knopp kicked things off last night with a scrap (if you want to call it that) with Czech rookie Jan Platil. Not much of a fight, surprised Knopp even went, but showed another aspect of his game that has changed.
Just as the second period was coming to an end both club's heavyweights lined up as Brad Both and Brian McGrattan squared off the second time in three nights. As it was on Thursday, McGrattan got the better of Both, but the Emo, Ontario native has proven to be a willing combatant and has looked better in his last two scraps.
Crunch One-Timers:
Trent Cull, Brad Moran and Paul Traynor each wore the "A" for tonight's contest…… Nice article in this week's edition of The Hockey News on Crunch goaltender Karl Goehring. Title states that Crunch makes Goehring No. 1 goalie. As much as many Crunch fans would like that to be true, don't read too much into it. Basically just states how Goehring claimed job last season by outperforming Leclaire.
Around the League:
While many, including myself, were under the assumption that long-time rival Rochester would be extremely strong again in goal. That may not be the case. The assumption was that because Ryan Miller was the only one of the three goaltenders in Sabre camp that still had options left to be dispatched to the AHL, he would be the odd man out. That isn't what The Buffalo News reported this week.
Miller may very well make the big club and be the starting netminder for Buffalo. If that happens in order for say Mika Noronen to be sent to the Amerks he would have to pass through waivers, something that may be difficult to do. What actually occurs remains to be seen, but one possible scenario could have Rochester starting the season with a tandem of Tom Askey and former Crunch player Greg Gardner. Both are solid players, but definitely a step down from the extremely talented Miller.
Former Crunch fan favorite Blake Bellefeuille is making the most of his opportunities with his new club, the Providence Bruins. On Wednesday, Bellefeuille tallied twice against the Springfield Falcons, including one with 30 seconds left in regulation to lead the Bruins to a 2-2 tie with the Falcons.
Another blurb in this week's edition of The Hockey News may come of interest to fans in Syracuse. Two painfully familiar faces to Crunch fans received some good news lately. Referees Jay Sharrers and Ian Walsh have both been promoted to full-time NHL duty. Enough said.
On Deck: Syracuse opens the season one week from tonight at home versus the Hershey Bears. Game time is set for 7:30 PM.