Game Notes: 3/16/08 v. Binghamton Senators
Irish Eyes Smile on the Crunch
Syracuse, NY (March 16, 2008) - Syracuse captain Zenon Konopka found his pot-o-gold in overtime scoring his hat-trick goal on the power play that gave the Crunch a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Senators Sunday at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
All Crunch fans Irish or not are a little giddy over the current streak the the team is on, going 12-1-0-5 in its last 18 games and winning seven of the last eight.
The end result, 76 points and a solid hold on third place in the North Division with 12 games remaining.
Konopka tapped home the rebound of a Derick Brassard shot to send the 5,632 fans looking for their own piece of the Blarney Stone to rub to keep the Syracuse momentum rolling.
Konopka tied the game at 1-1 near the seven-minute mark of the first. Syracuse had not allowed a power-play goal in its last 46 man-down situations but that streak came to an end three minutes earlier when Binghamton opened the scoring off a faceoff in the Syracuse zone.
Adam Pineault found a sliver of daylight between Binghamton goalie Jeff Glass and the post that gave the Crunch a 2-1 lead at the end of two periods.
Binghamton tied the game early in the third but Konopka zipped a shot under the arm of Glass that gave the home team back the lead.
Josh Hennessy tied the game for Binghamton late in the third on the power play but then was sent off for tripping Nate DiCasmirro in overtime that pointed the way to the other side of the rainbow for the Crunch.
3-Stars, No. 1, Konopka, No. 2, Clay Wilson, No. 3, Hennessy.
They Said It--
"I went to the net with the defenseman and to be honset (the puck) hit one of us in front of the net. It really doesn't matter who it hit, bottom line is that we won." Konopka on game-winner
"We needed to make sure we got two points tonight. It would have been a big blow for us if we only got one point out of this game. We looked at this game knowing we needed two points, we got two points and that's the bottom line. It sets up possibly our biggest game of the year against Hamilton on Wednesday." Crunch captain Zenon Konopka's post-game thoughts.
"Everyone is playing great. There is a great bunch of guys in the room. Everyone is very close. It's easy to play when everyone is so close. Everyone made me feel welcome when I came here and I've been having a blast since I got here. You don't want to let the guy down next to you. Everyone is on the same page and we know what we have to accomplish." Nate DiCasmirro on the current 10-game point streak.