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Game Notes: 11/17/07 v. Rockford IceHogs
Syracuse, N.Y.--Work hard and good things will come.
Syracuse worked extremely hard but the good things, they’ll have to wait.
The Crunch dropped a 2-1 decision to the Rockford IceHogs at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.
Rockford (9-4-2-1) scored the only goal of the first period on the power play as Syracuse (6-12-0-0) played shorthanded for four of the game’s first seven minutes.
Syracuse was relentless in its effort to knot the score. Adam Munro, in goal for the Crunch, did his part to keep Rockford from increasing the lead with a huge series of saves on Bryan Bickell while standing on the edge of the Crunch crease nearly four minutes into the second period.
Munro continued to play a enormous roll in keeping the IceHogs off the board stopping Jake Dowell on a breakaway just three minutes later.
Munro’s efforts gave Syracuse the momentum it needed heading into the third. Jeff Szwez and Steven Goertzen teamed up with Goertzen tipping home a Szwez pass to knot the game at 1-1 seven minutes into the third.
Then came the penalties.
Rome was in the box when Marc Methot was called for tripping, creating a 5-on-3 for 70 seconds. Rockford needed only half of that to pull out the win on a goal by Martin St. Pierre.
3-Stars--No. 1, Wade Flaherty No. 2, Martin St. Pierre No. 3, Adam Munro
Big hit-Just 55-seconds into the start second period Trevor Frischmon delivered a thundering shoulder into Troy Brouwer that sent the Rockford winger flying.
Turning Point--Back-to-back penalties on Aaron Rome and Marc Methot midway through the third period that gave the IceHogs a 70-second 5-on-3 with Martin St. Pierre scoring the game winner 37 seconds later.
No Soup For You--Syracuse goalie Adam Munro made several key saves in the second period including back-to-back-to-back saves on Jake Dowell seven minutes into the period as Dowell was lurking on the edge of the Crunch crease. Munro and the Crunch also benefited by the IceHogs poor aim as several including Troy Brouwer missed open nets as Munro was forced to flop from post to post.
Do You Want To Dance--Joakim Lindstrom, Adam Pineault and Mark Methot along with Rockford’s Colin Fraser, Danny Richmond and Bryan Bickell all went off for roughing with 45 seconds left in the second period after they paired up and started to push and shove trying to decide who was going to lead.
They Said It--
"The guys couldn’t have worked any harder. With our hard work we’ll turn it around." Syracuse head coach Ross Yates
"It’s too bad the game had to decided on a 5-on-3. The replay shows the guy dove right through his shot. Either you don’t call that penalty or you call Methot for tripping and the other guy for diving. That’s the way our luck has been going lately." Yates on the call against Methot that put Syracuse two men short midway through the third.
"It’s tough on the team when you’re going well and you tie the game, have all the momentum and take two penalties. We played hard. We played hard but need to find the way to win." Aaron Rome on his third period penalties.
"It’s frustrating. I feel bad for the team. To lose it on the other end and get outplayed by the other goalie. It’s frustrating." Syracuse goalie Adam Munro of not coming away with at least a point with the effort the team made.
"We work hard and don’t get the bounces. We can’t work any harder then we did these past two games. Things just aren’t going our way but we have to keep working hard and if we do we’ll get results. We can’t get down on ourselves." Syracuse defenseman Dan Smith.
"The effort was there but the bottom line is we still lost. When you’re six games below .500 you have to find ways to win. We have the work ethic, now we have to tweak a few things to start earning points." Syracuse forward Derek MacKenzie