When: Saturday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: War Memorial Arena
Radio: The Score 1260
Watch: Time Warner Cable Sports, AHL Live
 
Season Series: This is the fifth of ten meetings between the Adirondack Phantoms and the Syracuse Crunch this season. The season series is tied, with each team carrying a 2-2-0-0 record. After winning the first two games of the series, Syracuse has lost the last two. The Phantoms defeated the Crunch, 4-3, November 30 at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The two clubs traded goals through the first two periods, heading to the final period tied, 3-3. Jason Akeson scored the game-winning goal, scoring at 14:48 of the third period. Peter Holland and Bryan Rodney led the Crunch, both recording two points (1g, 1a) in the loss. Akeson assisted on an earlier goal and finished with two points (1g, 1a).
 
Patrick Maroon leads all active Crunch skaters with five points (3g, 2a) against the Phantoms. Rodney has three assists against Adirondack, leading all defensemen on both teams. Both Iiro Tarkki and Jeff Deslauriers have two starts against the Phantoms. Both have a 1-1-0 record.
 
Denis Hamel leads all Phantoms skaters with five points (2g, 3a) against Syracuse. Holmstrom is the leading goal scorer, with three goals in the four games. Former Crunch member Tom Sestito, recently recalled by Philadelphia, had collected 20 penalty minutes against his former club.
 
The Crunch are 25-26-9 all-time against Adirondack.
 
Crunch At A Glance: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated Syracuse, 3-2, last night at the War Memorial Arena. Trailing 2-0 entering the third period, Patrick Maroon scored his 11th goal of the year to cut the deficit to one. But the Crunch couldn't score the equalizer, and Brandon DeFazio would score the game-winner late in the period. J.F. Jacques would pull Syracuse within one, scoring his fifth goal with thirty seconds left. Maroon recorded an assist on that goal and finished with two points (1g, 1a). Kyle Cumiskey recorded an assist in his second straight game.
 
Maroon overtook Kyle Palmieri last night, and now leads the Crunch in points (27). He's tied for tenth in the league with Peoria's Brett Sterling. Maroon also entered a three-way tie for the team lead in assists, joining Dan Sexton and the recently recalled Nick Bonino with 16 helpers. Jacques has three points since re-joining the team this week, and has 15 points (8g, 7a) this season
 
Crunch Leaders
Goals: Kyle Palmieri - 17
Assists: Three tied - 16
Points: Patrick Maroon - 27
Plus/Minus: Kyle Palmieri - +15
PIM: Troy Bodie - 60
Wins: Iiro Tarkki - 8
GAA: Iiro Tarkki - 2.65
Save %: Iiro Tarkki - .921
Shutouts: Iiro Tarkki - 1
 
Recent Crunch Transactions
12/16/2011 Brandon McMillan (C) Syracuse ADD Returned on loan from Anaheim (NHL)
12/16/2011 Nick Bonino (C) Syracuse DEL Recalled from loan by Anaheim (NHL)
12/11/2011 John Kurtz (LW) Syracuse DEL Loaned to Elmira (ECHL)
12/11/2011 Kevin King (LW) Syracuse Suspended by team
12/11/2011 Timo Pielmeier (G) Syracuse DEL Reassigned by Anaheim (NHL) to Elmira (ECHL)
 
Who's Hot
J.F. Jacques - 3 points (2g, 1a) in his past two games
Kyle Cumiskey - Recorded one assist in two straight games
Brandon McMillan - Three goals in his last four games
 
Phantoms At a Glance: The Binghamton Senators defeated Adirondack, 3-1, last night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The Phantoms struck first, with Ben Holmstrom scoring his seventh goal of the season. But it was all Binghamton after that, as the Senators scored the next three goals. Michael Leighton finished with 27 saves in the loss.
 
Hamel leads all Phantoms in points (22) and goals (10). He's in a three way tie for the team lead in assists, joining Akeson and Garrett Roe. Michael Leighton enters the game with 11 wins, which puts him tied-fourth in the league. His 585 saves are second to Providence's Anton Khudobin
 
Phantoms Leaders:
Goals: Denis Hamel - 10
Assists: Three tied - 12
Points: Denis Hamel - 22
Plus/Minus: Garret Roe and Tom Sestito - +5
PIM: Tom Sestito - 95
Wins: Michael Leighton - 11
GAA: Michael Leighton - 2.33
Save %: Michael Leighton - .924
Shutouts: Michael Leighton - 1
 
Recent Phantoms Transactions
12/16/2011 Andreas Lilja (D) Adirondack ADD Conditioning loan from Philadelphia (NHL)
12/14/2011 Tom Sestito (LW) Adirondack DEL Recalled from loan by Philadelphia (NHL)
12/06/2011 Andrew Rowe (LW) Adirondack ADD Loaned from Philadelphia (NHL)
12/05/2011 Johan Backlund (G) Adirondack ADD Reassigned by Philadelphia (NHL) from Trenton (ECHL)
12/04/2011 Johan Backlund (G) Adirondack DEL Reassigned by Philadelphia (NHL) to Trenton (ECHL)
 
Who's Hot
Ben Holmstrom - Recorded a goal in two straight games
Denis Hamel - Six points (1g, 5a) in his last seven games
Shane Harper - Two points (1g, 1a) in his last three games