Crunch kick off 25th season in Hershey

The Crunch begin their 25th season with a road match in Hershey against the Bears. It's the second straight season the Crunch have opened on the road, but the first time since 2015-16 that they don't start the year with a home-and-home series against the Rochester Americans.

Last season, the Crunch and Bears played just twice; Hershey skated away with two regulation wins over Syracuse. The Bears were the only team on the Crunch schedule in 2017-18 that did not lose at least once to the Crunch.  

Head-to-head

For the second straight season, the Crunch and Bears will play just twice in 2018-19. The teams finish their brief season series in Syracuse Nov. 11 in just the 11th game for the Crunch.

Hershey was the only team to go unbeaten against the Crunch last season. The Bears defeated the Crunch 4-2 in Hershey Nov. 15 and 2-1 in Syracuse March 9.

Alex Volkov is the only player on this year's Crunch team who scored a goal against the Bears last season. No returning Bear posted more than one point against the Crunch over their two meetings.

Last season

The Crunch are coming off their best regular season in franchise history, finishing 2017-18 with a 0.658 points percentage at 46-22-3-5. It was only the third time in franchise history that Syracuse reached 100 points. The team advanced to the North Division Finals where they were eliminated by the eventual Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies.  

Despite a rookie-laden team, the Crunch set team records for fewest losses in one season (25), fewest goals allowed in one season (189) and fewest penalty minutes in one season (1,225). They posted winning streaks of 10, nine, seven and six games and logged the best record in the AHL (42-13-2-3) after beginning the season 4-9-1-2.

New kids on the block

Syracuse's opening night roster features 24 players, including 15 who played at least one regular season or playoff game for the Crunch in 2016-17. Like last season, the Crunch will be one of the youngest teams in the AHL. Seven of their 24 are rookies this season, down from nine to begin last year, but 13 players are 21 years old or younger, up from nine on the 2016-17 opening roster.

Players new to the Crunch include rookies Alex Barre-Boulet, Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, Ross Colton and Oleg Sosunov, along with the additions of Hubert Labrie, Andy Andreoff, Brady Brassart and Cameron Gaunce. Labrie and Gaunce will bring a veteran presence to a Crunch blueline that features five players no older than 22 years old. Andreoff adds a wealth of NHL and AHL experience—316 total games between the two leagues—to the Crunch after he was acquired by the Lightning in an off-season trade for goaltender Peter Budaj.

Forward Carter Verhaeghe had the most points last season among this year's returners. He posted 48 points (17g, 31a) in 58 games with the Crunch after missing the first month of the season with an injury. Center Gabriel Dumont brings his veteran presence back to the Crunch in 2018-19. He had 21 points (5g, 16a) in 18 regular season games for Syracuse last year and netted a Game 1 hat trick against Rochester in the North Division Semifinals. 

Scouting the Bears

The Hershey Bears are coming off their worst season in nearly three decades. At 30-37-4-5, the Bears posted their fewest number of wins and lowest points percentage (0.454) since they had 27 wins and a 0.413 points percentage in the 1992-93 season. They failed to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs for only the second time (2013-14) in the last 13 season.

The Bears made sweeping changes over the summers, replacing four-year head coach Troy Mann with Spencer Carbery, who spent last season as an assistant coach with the Providence Bruins. Hershey also hired Patrick Wellar—who played parts of six seasons in Hershey—and Mike Eastwood as an assistant coaches under Carbery.

Hershey's opening roster features 12 players who saw action for the Bears last season. Their top three scorers from last season either left the organization or began the season with the Washington Capitals. That leaves Riley Barber as the leading scorer among returners. He posted 38 points (20g, 18a) in 60 games last season.

Steady Eddie gets the nod

The Crunch return both of their goaltenders to the crease in 2018-19, but veteran Eddie Pasquale will get the opening night start against the Bears. Pasquale will team with second-year pro Connor Ingram to split starts throughout the season.

Pasquale was acquired in a trade by the Lightning at the end of January. He went on to post a 10-1-3 record with a 1.72 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in 15 games with the Crunch. That, along with his work ethic, earned his a one-year contract with the Lightning over the summer.

Ingram went 20-11-2 as a rookie, tying for second in Crunch franchise history for wins among rookie goaltenders. His 2.33 goals-against average was the lowest among all rookie netminders in the AHL. He also had four shutouts and a.914 save percentage.