CRUNCH IN GOOD SPOT AT ALL-STAR BREAK
 
The AHL All-Star Break has come and gone with the Crunch in third place in the North Division following a 1-1-1-0 Week 17. 
 
The Crunch kicked off the week in Utica to face the Comets last Wednesday. Syracuse scored three third period goals and eventually prevailed in a seven-round shootout to defeat the Comets, 4-3, for a third straight win. The Crunch came home for a weekend set against the Charlotte Checkers. The Crunch scored twice late in the third period to force overtime before falling in overtime in the opener, 5-4. They then saw the Checkers pull away in the third period the next night in a 5-3 loss. 
 
The Crunch have just two regulation losses in the last 12 games (8-2-2-0) and they are 21-15-4-3 this season, good for 49 points.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
 
Crunch leading scorer Alex Barré-Boulet once again powered the team in Week 17. The two-time AHL All-Star netted six points, including a goal in all three games last week. He also factored on all four goals of the Crunch's 5-4 overtime loss against the Checkers on Friday.
 
Barré-Boulet has matched his career high with a goal in five straight games (also March 26-April 10, 2021). The longest streak by an AHL player this season is six  games by Calgary's Jakob Pelletier in November.
 
His goal Saturday was the 100th in his AHL/Crunch career, becoming the third player with 100 goals in a Crunch sweater; the record is Mark Hartigan's 107. Barré-Boulet is third overall in scoring this season with 54 points (15g, 39a) in 41 games. 
 
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Gabriel Dumont picked up three points over three games last week to finish second on the Crunch in Week 17. Dumont earned one assist in Wednesday's win over the Comets before grabbing another two in Friday's overtime loss versus the Checkers. That was just the second multi-point game of the season for the Crunch captain, who has nabbed at least one point in 11 of the last 14 games heading into the All-Star Break.
 
Dumont has 21 points (12g, 9a) in 30 games this season.
 
ALL-STARS SHINE IN LAVAL
 
The Crunch's three AHL All-Star representatives—Alex Barré-Boulet, Gabriel Dumont and Darren Raddysh—performed admirably at the AHL All-Star Classic in Laval Sunday and Monday.
 
The trio helped the Eastern Conference win the 2023 Rona AHL All-Star Skills Competition Sunday night. Alex Barré-Boulet won a 1-on-1 battle with T.J. Tynan in the Puck Control Relay. Darren Raddysh took home the hardest shot with a 102.0 miles per hour blast. 
 
The moment of the night, however, was when Dumont's son, Mateo, took his dad's place in the Breakaway Relay and scored on San Diego's Lukas Dostal to earn a point.
 
In the All-Star Challenge last night, which featured a round robin tournament of 3-on-3 competition, Darren Raddysh tied for the North Division lead with two goals. 

UPCOMING: LAVAL|ROCHESTER
 
The Crunch come out of the All-Star Break with a visit to where it was held—Laval—to square off against the Rocket. The Crunch, who lost a pair of games at Place Bell at the end of December, are 0-6-2-0 in their last eight regular season games at Laval. With a 5-2-2-1 record in the last 10 games, the Rocket occupy the final North Division playoff spot at the All-Star Break.
 
Syracuse returns home to complete the back-to-back when Rochester visits Saturday night. The Amerks snapped a three-game losing streak with a win in the last game before the break, but that has dropped Rochester to fourth place with 45 points. The Amerks have won four of six meetings with the Crunch this season, including two of the three in Syracuse.
 
WEEK 17 RESULTS
 
Wednesday, February 1 | Game 41 at Utica | W, 4-3 (SO)
Syracuse      0 0 3 0 1 - 4     Shots: 6-8-8-2-1-25      PP: 1/3
Utica           1 0 2 0 0 - 3     Shots: 6-12-10-2-0-30  PP: 1/6
3rd Period-Raddysh 12 (Unassisted), 2:20. Barré-Boulet 13 (Dumont, Smith), 5:11 (PP). Carrick 6 (Myers, Usau), 6:20. Shootout-Syracuse 2 (Goncalves NG, Dureau G, Smith NG, Ryfors NG, Barré-Boulet NG, Koepke NG, Edmonds G), Utica 1 (Clarke NG, Dugan NG, Stevens G, Thompson NG, Walsh NG, Senyshyn NG, Schmelzer NG). Alnefelt 12-5-1 (30 shots-27 saves) A-3,917
 
Friday, February 3 | Game 42 vs. Charlotte | OTL, 5-4
Charlotte     3 0 1 1 - 5     Shots: 13-13-15-1-42      PP: 0/3
Syracuse      1 0 3 0 - 4     Shots: 14-11-12-1-38      PP: 1/5
1st Period-Myers 5 (Barré-Boulet, Balcers), 12:27. 3rd Period-Barré-Boulet 14 (Dumont, Goncalves), 3:07. Ryfors 17 (Dumont, Barré-Boulet), 17:08 (PP). Goncalves 9 (Barré-Boulet, Smith), 19:21. . . . Lagace 8-7-5 (42 shots-37 saves) A-4,355
 
Saturday, February 4 | Game 43 vs. Charlotte | L, 5-3
Charlotte     2 0 3 - 5     Shots: 12-3-10-25       PP: 0/2
Syracuse      1 1 1 - 3     Shots: 10-8-15-33      PP: 0/3
1st Period-Barré-Boulet 15 (Ryfors), 2:05. 2nd Period-Ryfors 17 (Balcers, Koepke), 2:51. 3rd Period-Thompson 5 (Koepke, Usau), 16:04. . . . Alnefelt 12-6-1 (24 shots-20 saves) A-6,143
 

Category	Average/Total	AHL Rank (Prev)
Power Play	18.4% (26-for-141)	21st (22nd)
Penalty Kill	81.0% (141-for-174)	14th (16th)
Goals For	3.65 GFA (157)	4th (4th)
Goals Against	3.26 GAA (140)	21st (20th)
Shots For	31.44 SF/G (1352)	7th (8th)
Shots Against	30.65 SA/G (1318)	19th (18th)
Penalty Minutes	16.72 PIM/G (719)	3rd (3rd)

 

Category		Leader
Points	54	Barré-Boulet
Goals	17	Ryfors
Assists	39	Barré-Boulet
PIM	89	Smith
Plus/Minus	+25	Carlile
Wins	12	Alnefelt
GAA	2.34	Alnefelt
Save %	.923	Alnefelt

 

North Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STREAK	S/O
1. Toronto	44	30	12	1	1	62	0.705	157	139	551	12-7-0-1	18-5-1-0	7-3-0-0	0-1-0-0	3-1
2. Utica	45	22	16	5	2	51	0.567	132	135	518	11-8-2-2	11-8-3-0	3-6-0-1	0-3-0-1	1-2
3. Syracuse	43	21	15	4	3	49	0.570	157	140	719	10-7-4-1	11-8-0-2	6-2-2-0	0-1-1-0	2-3
4. Rochester	41	21	17	2	1	45	0.549	129	141	414	11-9-1-0	10-8-1-1	3-6-1-0	1-0-0-0	1-1
5. Laval	45	18	19	6	2	44	0.489	159	164	543	10-5-5-2	8-14-1-0	5-2-2-1	1-0-0-0	1-2
6. Cleveland	42	17	20	3	2	39	0.464	135	163	523	8-10-2-0	9-10-1-2	4-5-1-0	0-1-0-0	3-2
7. Belleville	44	17	22	4	1	39	0.443	142	165	726	10-11-1-1	7-11-3-0	2-6-1-1	1-0-1-0	4-1