CRUNCH FINISH WEEKEND AGAINST ROCKET 
 
The Crunch play their second straight home game tonight as they host the Laval Rocket at Upstate Medical University Arena.
 
Syracuse picked up a 5-0 win over Laval last month in the opening game of this season's eight-game series.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
Brandon Halverson made 26 saves to earn his first career AHL shutout in a 3-0 Crunch win over the Utica Comets last night.
 
Syracuse tallied once per period starting with Jack Thompson's power-play goal at 13:58 of the opening frame. Thompson fired home a shot off a feed from Gabriel Dumont for his second goal of the season.
 
Declan Carlile doubled the lead 24 seconds into the second period. He collected a pass from Max Groshev and flicked home a backhand shot for his second goal of the campaign. 
 
The Crunch capped the scoring in the third when Waltteri Merelä banged home his first North American pro goal at 11:14 to make it 3-0. 
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch enter tonight's contest at 9-5-0-2 with 20 points, good for third place in the North Division.
 
Forward Waltteri Merelä scored his first career AHL goal last night against Utica. Merelä skated in his third AHL game after signing with the Lightning organization during the summer. The Ylöjärvi, Finland native made Tampa Bay's NHL roster out of training camp and skated in 14 games prior to being assigned to the Crunch. The goal was also his first point recorded in North America. 
 
The 25-year-old was an offensive weapon in Liiga – Finland's top professional league – helping Tappara to back-to-back postseason championships in 2022 and 2023. Merelä notched 14 points (8g, 6a) in 14 appearances during the 2023 Liiga playoffs, ranking second on his team and the entire league in production.
 
HOME COOKING
 
Tonight continues a three-game homestand for the Crunch, and also concludes the second of nine home back-to-backs this season. The Crunch split the first instance Oct. 27-28, which also featured home matches against Utica (loss) and Laval (win).
 
The Crunch are 4-2-0-1 at home this season and they've won consecutive home games for the first time this season.  
 
SCOUTING THE ROCKET
 
The Rocket have lost four straight games, including two in a row in overtime against Rochester to begin the week. Laval started the season 1-6-1-0, then picked up four wins in five games before this current losing streak. The Rocket have 13 points and are tied for sixth in the North Division.
 
Laval has scored 60 goals in 17 games this season. The team is potent in wins – scoring 30 goals in five games (6.00 goals per game) – but they have only tallied 30 in their 12 losses (2.50 goals per game). Despite being held scoreless in the last three games, rookie Joshua Roy tops Laval with 18 points (7g, 11a) in 17 games.
 
THE 700 CLUB
 
Last night, Crunch captain Gabriel Dumont became the 86th player in AHL history to skate in 700 league games. He has appeared in 243 Crunch games, which ranks seventh in team history.
 
The 33-year-old is in his 14th pro season, which began full-time in 2010-11. He spent six campaigns in the Montreal organization with their AHL affiliate (Hamilton and St. John's). This is his sixth season - and fourth as captain - in Syracuse (2016-19 and 2021-24). He also spent two AHL seasons in Iowa (2019-21).
 
TOMKINS ARRIVES
 
Goaltender Matt Tomkins has been loaned to the Crunch from Tampa Bay. The veteran appeared in his first three career NHL games for the Lightning, and earned his first NHL win Nov. 7 at Montreal. He went 1-2-0 in his three starts after making his NHL debut Oct. 15 at Ottawa.
 
Tomkins spent the previous two seasons in Sweden in the SHL, where he went 39-25-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. 
 
He also represented Canada at the 2022 Olympics, the 2022 IIHF World Championships and the 2019 Spengler Cup.
 
Originally a seventh round draft pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012, Tomkins spent time with Rockford and ECHL-Indy before heading to Sweden in 2021.
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD
 
The Crunch took the opening game of this season's eight-game series against Laval with a 5-0 win Oct. 27. The first three matches are all slated in Syracuse before the Crunch make a two-game trip to Laval Dec. 29-30.
 
Thirteen different Crunch players logged a point in the win against the Rocket last month. Mitchell Chaffee and Felix Robert were the only two with multiple points.
 
Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves to earn the shutout win while Strauss Mann took the loss in net for the Rocket.
 
CLEAN SHEETS
 
The Crunch picked up their third shutout of the season last night against the Comets. Syracuse has blanked Cleveland (Oct. 20), Laval (Oct. 28) and Utica (Nov. 24) so far in 2023-24.
 
The team has had three different goaltenders post shutouts. Hugo Alnefelt earned the first one against Cleveland. That was followed by Pyotr Kochetkov versus Laval and Brandon Halverson last night.
 
The last time the Crunch had three different goalies record shutouts in the same season was 2018-19; the Crunch had 12 shutouts that season with contributions from Connor Ingram, Eddie Pasquale and Atte Tolvanen.
 
Halverson's was the first of his AHL career, and it came in his 58th AHL appearance.