Thomas Vanek scored twice and Ryan Miller turned aside all 33 Syracuse shots to lead the Rochester Americans to a 2-0 whitewashing of the Syracuse Crunch Saturday night.
Despite the fact that neither team was able to find the back of the net, Saturday's first period was one of the most exciting twenty minutes of hockey the old barn as seen all year. There were numerous scoring opportunities, three spirited bouts that included another dominating display from the soft-spoken Francois Beauchemin and enough hits to fill more than a few games.
After another scoreless twenty minutes the Amerks finally opened the scoring early in the third period. Rookie Thomas Vanek's cross ice pass was inadvertently deflected by the stick of a Crunch player and into the net for a 1-0 Rochester lead.
Vanek struck again a little over nine minutes later off a pretty feed from Derek Roy to put the Amerks up two. The former Minnesota Golden Gopher now has 13 goals on the season which places him first among rookies in the AHL.
Ryan Miller improves to 13-9-1 in recording his second shutout of the season. Karl Goehring stopped 34 shots in a losing effort for the Crunch.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:December 18, 2004
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Rochester Americans
Attendance:5, 475
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-No scoring. Penalties-Jorde, Roc (interference), :37; Johnson, Syr (high-stick), 4:42; Peters, Roc (fighting), 7:00; Beauchemin, Roc (fighting), 7:00; McMorrow, Roc (fighting), 9:18; Sugden, Syr (fighting), 9:18; Pushor, Syr (tripping), 12:06; Thorburn, Roc (fighting), 15:23; Jackman, Syr (fighting), 15:23.
Second Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Dufresne, Roc (holding), 2:40; Bartovic, Roc (major-high stick), 3:50; Bench Minor, Roc (disputing official, served by Peters), 7:13; Svitov, Syr (double minor, roughing), 11:32; Moran, Syr (roughing), 14:16; Pushor, Syr (interference), 17:17; Smith, Roc (delay of game), 18:02; Hartigan, Syr (interference), 19:28.
Third Period-Scoring-1. Rochester, Vanek 12 (Jillson, Paetsch), 1:32, (pp). 2. Rochester, Vanek 13 (Roy, Paille), 10:59. Penalties-Motzko, Syr (holding), 1:13; Jorde, Roc (holding), 5:29; Bench Minor, Syr (too many men, served by Sannitz), 6:44; Vanek, Syr (slashing), 9:45; Roy, Roc (roughing), 14:48; Ferraro, C, Syr (roughing), 14:48; Thorburn, Roc (delay of game), 15:37; Johnson, Syr (delay of game), 15:37; Gaustad, Roc (roughing), 16:46; Moran, Syr (roughing), 16:46; Ferraro, P, Syr (boarding), 17:34; Vanek, Roc (cross-checking), 19:17.
Shots on Goal:Rochester, 6-19-11--36; Syracuse, 15-9-9--33.
Power Play Opportunities:Rochester, 1-10; Syracuse, 0-8.
Goalies-Rochester, Miller (13-9-1), 33 shots- 33 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (5-8-0), 36 shots-34 saves.
Referee-Dan O'Rourke (42); Linesman- Dan Murphy (21), Andy Petrus (26).
Three Stars:
1. Ryan Miller: Turned aside 33 shots for his second shutout of the season.
2. Thomas Vanek: Scored both goals for Rochester on the evening.
3. Karl Goehring: Rebounded from a sub par effort on Friday with strong game on Saturday.
Lineups:
Rochester:Goal:Ryan Miller, Tom Askey. Defense: Doug Janik, Nathan Dufresne, Ryan Jorde, Nathan Paetsch, Steve Lingren, Brandon Smith, Jeff Jillson, David Cullen. Forwards: Milan Bartovic, Geoff Peters, Chris Taylor, Paul Gaustad, Jason Pominville, Chris Thorburn, Michael Ryan, Jason Botterill, Norm Milley, Derek Roy, Sean McMorrow, Jiri Novotny, Thomas Vanek, Daniel Paille.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Francois Beauchemin, Ole-Kristian Tollefson.Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Brad Moran, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were goaltender Pascal Leclaire (groin), defensemen Prestin Ryan and Evgueni Nourislamov, center Jeff Panzer and left wing Jeremy Reich. The Amerks sat left wing Jason Botterill and defensemen Steve Lingren and David Cullen.
Fight Night:
Three bouts total on the night, all in the opening twenty minutes. Geoff Peters and Francois Beauchemin got things started at the seven minute mark of the first. Beauchemin connected early and often in this one, recording the KO on Peters, who immediately went to the dressing room after regaining his bearings.
Just over two minutes later Brandon Sugden and Sean McMorrow squared off in what was supposed to be the main event. Early on it appeared that McMorrow might actually go toe to toe with Sugden, but after being the recipient of a couple of Sugden bombs, McMorrow quickly reverted back to his old tactics and turned things into a hug fest. Slight edge to Sugden, mostly on principle.
Sugden suffered a neck injury in the bout and didn't see a shift the rest of the game. The injury will also force Sugden to miss Sunday's game versus the Hershey Bears. McMorrow also failed to see a shift the rest of the night, but that was a coach's decision.
The third fight was a less noteworthy bout between Tim Jackman and Chris Thorburn. Not many punches thrown and nothing really materialized.
Short Shifts:
Prior to the game the Crunch announced that they recalled defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefson from Dayton of the ECHL. Tollefson appeared in two games with the Bombers and failed to record a point………Brandon Sugden appeared in his 100th AHL game on Saturday……The veteran rule reared its ugly head on Saturday night as Jeremy Reich found himself in street clothes for the first time in a long time……..With their 0-8 night on Saturday, the Crunch snapped a streak of four straight games with at least one power play goal.
On Deck:
The Crunch hit the road right after Saturday's game and head to Hershey for a late Sunday afternoon tilt versus the Bears. Hershey recorded a huge 3-2 overtime win over Manchester Saturday night at the Giant Center. Marek Svatos, former Crunch member Mathieu Darche and Eric Perrin all scored for the Bears. The puck drops at 5:00 P.M.