Game Notes: 12/07/07 v. Grand Rapids Griffins
Crunch Blanked by Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, MI (December 7, 2007) – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins tonight, 2-0 at Van Andel Arena in front of 6,376 fans.
The fast-paced first period was full of action from start to finish. Grand Rapids would get on the board first though, courtesy of a Carl Corazzini goal at 6:47. With Crunch right wing Adam Pineault in the box for hooking, Mark Hartigan and Corazzini broke in 2-on-1. Hartigan fed Corazzini who snapped a shot top shelf past Syracuse starter Adam Munro to give the Griffins a 1-0 lead. From that point on, Grand Rapids dominated the action. The Crunch’s best scoring opportunity came on a short-handed 2-on-0 break. Steven Goertzen and Trevor Frischmon broke in alone, Goertzen deked to his backhand but was stymied by Grand Rapids net-minder Jimmy Howard.
Tomas Popperle replaced Munro to start the second period in goal, but Grand Rapids still managed to control the action. Both teams traded power play opportunities but could not convert. Popperle stopped all 10 shots he faced and Howard made 4 saves.
The Crunch picked up their play in the third period, but Grand Rapids jumped up 2-0 at the 10:38 mark of the stanza. A centering feed from the right corner deflected off the shin pads of Hartigan in front of the net and found its way past Popperle to put the Griffins out in front. Syracuse pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker with about one and a half minutes to go, but Aaron Rome’s holding penalty with 38 seconds left sealed the win for Grand Rapids. Howard was very good down the stretch and had 28 saves in the game.
CRUNCHABLES: Adam Munro made his sixth straight start in goal tonight, but was pulled in favor of Tomas Popperle after the first period …The Crunch played their sixth game in eight nights tonight…Jeffrey Szwez’s three-game point streak came to an end tonight; he had 3 points (2g, 1a), in his last three games...In his first game against the Crunch since being traded last season, Mark Hartigan had 2 points (1g, 1a) against his former team and was name the game’s third star…The Crunch failed to earn a point for the first time in four games…These two teams meet up again tomorrow night for the second of back-to-back tilts.