by Jeff Parzych
What a difference a weekend makes. Just days prior talk surrounding the Crunch revolved around the fact that the club was struggling. Three nights and six points later all that has changed. Three straight wins will do that.
The Crunch completed their weekend trifecta with a 6-4 come from behind victory over the Cleveland Barons Sunday at the War Memorial. It was the third straight win for the Crunch, their first three game streak since way back in early October, who now finds themselves unbeaten in their last four.
The Barons opened the scoring in this one courtesy of a power play goal from rookie defenseman Garrett Stafford. The former University of New Hampshire defender unleashed a slap shot that deflected off the stick of Crunch forward Jeremy Reich and over the shoulder of Karl Goehring for an early 1-0 Baron lead.
Just over seven minutes later Syracuse would tie things up with a goal from an unlikely source. Brandon Sugden collected a loose puck just out side the Cleveland blue line took a few strides and unleashed a blistering slapper that beat Baron netminder Dmitri Patzold high to the stick side.
On the play Sugden had two wingers breaking into the zone with him, but he chose to forgo the pass, instead opting for the long slap shot. It was the second big play of the night for Sugden, who earlier dropped the gloves with Baron tough guy Yuri Moscevsky.
With the Barons holding a 2-1 lead in the second thanks to a Tavis Hansen tally, a rather harmless play in front of the Baron net would wind up playing a large role later in the contest.
Jesse Fibiger, while attempting to clear Brandon Sugden from the crease, wound up pushing Sugden into Patzold and both player's toppled on the Cleveland goaltender. Patzold remained in the game, but left with just under two minutes remaining in the period due to a sore ankle. Enter recently signed backup Bujar Amidovski, which set the stage for Syracuse's third period explosion.
The Crunch blitzed the cold netminder for three goals in the first 5:27 of the third, five in all in the period, to blow the game wide open. Last night's hero Mark Hartigan tallied twice along with Donald MacLean and Brad Moran notched the eventual game-winner to close out the scoring for Syracuse.
Karl Goehring recorded 24 saves for the win as he climbs to one game over .500 on the season at 7-6-4. Bujar Amidovski, who just days ago was playing with Columbus' ECHL affiliate in Dayton, recorded 17 saves in taking the loss for Cleveland.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date: Sunday, January 04, 2004
Where:Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Cleveland Barons
Attendance: 3,981
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Cleveland, Stafford 6 (Goc, Rissmiller), 7:17, (pp). 2. Syracuse, Sugden 1 (unassisted), 13:53. Penalties-Moscevsky, Cle (fighting), 2:51; Sugden, Syr (fighting), 2:51; Hartigan, Syr (holding), 6:02; Zalesak, Cle (slashing), 11:38; Valette, Cle (elbowing), 17:36.
Second Period-Scoring-3. Cleveland, Hansen 7 (Valette), 7:37. Penalties-Labenski, Cle (cross-check), 2:14; Hansen, Cle (fighting), 8:12; Clowe, Cle (unsportsmanlike), 8:12; Pushor, Syr (fighting), 8:12; Cloutier, Cle (fighting), 10:54; Reich, Syr (fighting), 10:54; Loyns, Cle (hooking), 12:18; Motzko, Syr (tripping), 16:06.
Third Period-Scoring-4. Syracuse, Hartigan 13 (Johnson, Motzko), :33. 5. Syracuse, MacLean 10 (Reich, Sugden), 1:43. 6. Syracuse, Hartigan 14 (Motzko, Moran), 5:27. 7. Cleveland Loyns 5 (Stafford), 6:05, (sh). 8. Syracuse, Moran (Walser, Scoville), 9:05, (pp). 9. Syracuse, MacLean (Reich, McDonell), 9:41, (pp). 10. Cleveland, Zalesak 20 (Boyes, Stafford), 10:32. Penalties-Murray, Cle (major high-stick), 5:46; Motzko, Syr (holding), 10:14; Pushor, Syr (interference), 18:13.
Shots on Goal-Cleveland, 6-11-11--28; Syracuse, 13-7-19--39.
Power Play Opps.-Cleveland, 1-4; Syracuse, 2-6.
Goalies-Cleveland, Patzold (8-12-0), out at 18:12 of second, 17 shots- 16 saves, Amidovski (0-1-0), 22 shots-17 saves. Syracuse, Goehring (7-6-4), 28 shots- 24 saves.
Referee-Dave Hansen (47); Linesman-Mike Emanatian (69), Tim Kotyra (53).
Three Stars:
1. Brandon Sugden: Sugar's best game as a member of the Crunch hands down as he records the "Gordie Howe Hat Trick." Culmination of improved play over last two weeks for Sugden.
2. Mark Hartigan: He continues to light it up as he adds two more for six in his last two contests.
3. Donald MacLean: With two goals on Sunday MacLean extends his point streak to seven games. That is the longest for Syracuse this season.
Lineups:
Barons:Goalies:Dimitri Patzold, Bujar Amidovski. Defense:Matt Carkner, Dan Watson, Garrett Stafford, Doug Murray, Robert Mulick, Greg Labenski, David Cloutier, Jesse Fibiger. Forwards: Lynn Loyns, John DiSalvatore, Craig Valette, Brad Boyes, Patrick Rissmiller, Miroslav Zalesak, Tomas Pihal, Ryane Clowe, Yuri Moscevsky, Grant Stevenson, Marcel Goc.
Crunch:Goalies: Pascal Leclaire, Karl Goehring. Defense: Darrel Scoville, Jamie Pushor, Paul Traynor, Derrick Walser, Pauli Levorkari, Aaron Johnson, Trent Cull. Forwards: Mark Hartigan, Ben Knopp, Donald MacLean, Jeremy Reich, Joe Motzko, Brad Moran, Tyler Sloan, Kent McDonell, Brandon Sugden, Shawn Limpright, Mike Pandolfo.
Pre-Game Skate:
For the third straight night Pauli Levokari was the lone scratch for the Crunch. The Barons sat out defenseman Matt Carkner, left wing Tomas Plihal, and defenseman Robert Mulick.
Crunch One-Timers:
Talk about your coincidences. Mark Hartigan's record tying four goal night came against the same team that Steve Kariya tallied his four goals against back in 1999-00, the Albany River Rats. Also, the final score in both contests was 7-4 in favor of the Crunch. …..Heading into Sunday Syracuse has still not lost a game in regulation when one or more players records a multiple point night….. Philadelphia Flyer great Ron Hextall was in town this weekend taking in both Saturday's and Sunday's game. Hextall currently works as a scout in the Philadelphia organization….The Barons back-up on Sunday was Bujar Amidovski. The long-time minor leaguer was playing in Dayton prior to his recall where he shares the goaltending duties with Blue Jacket prospect Andrew Penner.
On Deck:
After Sunday the Crunch are off until the weekend when they will host the Hershey Bears on Friday and the Rochester Americans on Saturday. Game time for both is 7:30 P.M.