Game 1: Syracuse Crunch at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
7:05 p.m., PPL Center, Allentown, Pa.
The 22nd season of Crunch hockey begins Saturday in Allentown, Pa. Syracuse, in its fourth year as Tampa Bay's top affiliate, visits the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers AHL club.
Rob Zettler, the eighth head coach in Crunch history, begins his third full season at the helm, squaring off with Scott Gordon, the new Phantoms coach and former Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as AHL coach of the year in 2008.
Broadcast Coverage | Countdown to Crunch Time at 6:50 p.m.
Radio: ESPN Radio | 97.7 FM Syracuse | 100.1 FM Oswego |
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The Matchup
The Crunch and Phantoms face off four times in 2015-16, including the first game of the season (today) and last game of the season (April 17) in Allentown. Lehigh Valley comes to Syracuse November 7 and March 2. The Crunch won both meetings with the Phantoms last season: a 4-2 victory Jan. 23 at the War Memorial and a 6-1 drubbing March 25 in Syracuse's first-ever visit to PPL Center. That game is Syracuse's most recent road victory.
New Faces
Despite a substantial corps of players returning from the 2014-15 Crunch, veteran pickups and rookie additions give this year's Crunch a different complexion. Tye McGinn, a 25-year-old left wing, and Jeff Tambellini, a 31-year-old center, have spent significant time in the NHL. Tambellini, a first-round pick of the Kings in 2003, starred in Bridgeport before regular NHL duty with the Islanders in 2008. He was part of his hometown Vancouver Canucks team that lost to Boston in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. He's played the last four years in Europe. McGinn, who spent his first three professional seasons with the Flyers organization, spent all of last year in the NHL between San Jose and Arizona.
Rookie additions to the Crunch include Anthony DeAngelo, a defenseman from South Philadelphia who the Lightning chose with their first pick in 2014, and Adam Erne, a New Haven, Conn. native who got a taste of Crunch hockey in the spring of 2014 on an amateur tryout deal when he was 18 years old. After starring in the OHL and QMJHL, respectively, DeAngelo and Erne are among the Bolts prospects in Syracuse with greatest potential. Other newcomers include defenseman Daniel Walcott who made his pro debut last year with Hartford, winger Brian Hart who played the last three years at Harvard and center Cam Darcy who practice with the Crunch in the spring but did not see game action.
