by
Jeff Parzych
Goaltender's Peter Budaj and Pascal Leclaire combined for 56 saves in regulation and overtime and Eric Perrin was credited with the winning goal as the Hershey Bears downed the Syracuse Crunch 1-0 in a shootout Friday night.
The story of the evening for the Crunch was missed opportunities. After being out shot 9-5 in the opening period, the Crunch carried the play for the remainder of the contest, out shooting the Bears 30-12 over the last 45 minutes of game time.
Unfortunately for Syracuse their advantage in scoring opportunities did not translate into goals. Time and time again Peter Budaj was up to the task, keeping the Bears in the game and forcing the shootout.
Joe Motzko, Syracuse's first participant in the shootout, finally solved Budaj to keep hope alive for the Crunch, but consecutive misses from Mark Hartigan, Matthais Trattnig, Aaron Johnson and Brad Moran sealed Syracuse's fate. Marek Svatos and Eric Perrin were successful for Hershey, giving the Bears the 1-0 victory.
One highlight for the Crunch was enforcer Brandon Sugden's decisive victory of longtime pugilist and AHL penalty minutes leader Dennis Bonvie. After a brief tussle in pre-game warm-ups, Sugden settled things in the second period with a vicious overhand right that visibly hurt Bonvie and made finding the penalty box an adventure for the 10 year veteran.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:October 29, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Hershey Bears
Attendance:4,712
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Clark, Her (cross-check), 1:04; Svitov, Syr (slashing), 1:29; Arsene, Her (slashing), 2:54; Lakos, Syr (major-high stick), 5:13; MacLean, Her (holding), 11:58; Bench minor, Syr (too many men, served by Trattnig), 13:00; McCormick, Her (roughing), 15:57; Hartigan, Syr (roughing), 15:57.
Second Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Bonvie, Her (hooking), 5:04; Bonvie, Her (fighting), 10:45; Sugden, Syr (fighting), 10:45; Clark, Her (kneeing), 17:18; Moran, Syr (hooking), 19:31.
Third Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Ulmer, Her (roughing), 19:33; Finger, Her (roughing), 19:33; Reich, Syr (roughing), 19:33; Johnson, Syr (roughing), 19:33. Overtime-Scoring-Penalties-McCormick, Her (roughing), 1:55; Jackman, Syr (roughing), 1:55; Bonvie, Her (double minor, roughing), 5:00; Reich, Syr (double minor, roughing), 5:00.
Shootout-Hershey: Darche (N), Svatos (Y), Perrin (Y), Savage (N), Ulmer (N); Syracuse: Motzko (Y), Hartigan (N), Trattnig (N), Johnson (N), Moran (N).
Shots on Goal:Hershey, 9-4-7-1-1---22; Syracuse, 5-11-15-4-0---35.
Power Play Opportunities: Hershey, 0-3; Syracuse, 0-6.
Goalies-Hershey, Budaj (1-2-0), 35 shots- 35 saves; Syracuse, Leclaire (3-1-1), 21 shots- 21 saves.
Referee-Wes McCauley (41); Linesman- Jim Harper (59), Jeff Walker (17)
Three Stars:
1. Peter Budaj: Turned aside 35 shots on the night to record his first shutout of the season.
2. Pascal Leclaire: Another impressive outing for Leclaire. Stops 21 of 21 for his second shutout of the season in only his fifth start.
3. Eric Perrin: Awarded the game-winning goal by virtue of his successful penalty shot.
I Hear Voices:
"I just went down there and I didn't really look at the puck and by the time I went to shoot the puck had slipped off." --Brad Moran on his failed attempt to extend the shootout.
"We had our opportunities earlier and probably should have scored earlier. If we keep battling away, keep driving the net, its going to go in eventually." --Moran on Friday nights missed opportunities.
"I just hit him with a shot. It was open and I got him." ---Brandon Sugden on his fight with Dennis Bonvie in the second period.
"He skimmed me. I kind of reached on him and I hit him and I went to re-grip and I was kind of off balance a little bit and the side of the head he got me, but nothing stunned me." --Dennis Bonvie on his fight with Brandon Sugden.
"You always want to win all the games, but that won't happen. So far it has been a good start but I still want to get better and it is my job to be good every night." --Pascal Leclaire on his fast start in 2004.
Lineups:
Hershey:Goal:Tom Lawson, Peter Budaj. Defense: Tomas Slovak, Darrel Scoville, Brett Clark, Jeff Finger, Agris Saviels, Johnny Boychuk, Dean Arsene, Mikko Viitanen.Forwards: Chris Bala, Eric Perrin, Ryan Stevens, Frantisek Skladany, Mathieu Darche, Andre Savage, Cody McCormick, Jeff Ulmer, Cail MacLean, Martin Hlinka, Sergei Klyazmin, Dennis Bonvie, Marek Svatos.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Ole-Kristian Tollefson, Francois Beauchemin. Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Steve Goertzen, Brad Moran.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were defenseman Zenith Komarniski (neck) and center Raffaele Sannitz. Hershey sat defensemen Tomas Slovak and Agris Saviels along with center Martin Hlinka.
Short Shifts:
After their 0-6 night on Friday, the Crunch are now 2-40 on the season with the man advantage……Crunch forward Greg Maudlin left the game with 6:34 remaining after being hit with a puck in the face. He did not return. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin also left the ice early in the third period after being cut, but returned minutes later after visiting the dressing room.
On Deck:
On Saturday the Crunch play host for the second straight evening when the Hamilton Bulldogs come to town. Last night the Bulldogs lost 4-1 to Philadelphia at Copps Coliseum. Game time is set for 7:30 P.M.