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Game Notes: 12/01/07 v. Albany River Rats
Crunch Exterminate Rats
Syracuse, NY (December 1, 2007) –The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Albany River Rats tonight, 3-1 at the War Memorial at Oncenter in front of 5,208 fans.
Although it was a scoreless first period, it certainly was not lacking in the action department. 55 seconds into the game Albany’s Jamie Johnson was called for a hi-sticking infraction but the Crunch could not convert. At the 9:48 mark, Syracuse’s Joakim Lindstrom was called for interference. On the ensuing power play, Albany started a 3-on-2 rush up the ice that ended with a clang of the crossbar on a wrister from Johnson. Crunch starter Adam Munro was solid, stopping all eleven shots he saw in the period including a flurry of left pad saves on three consecutive shots with 12:45 remaining, denying the River Rats the first tally of the contest. A scrum developed when Aaron Rome got the gate for tripping at the buzzer. From the pile-up, Albany’s Tim Conboy and the Crunch’s Derek Dorsett were called for coincidental roughing minors.
Albany started the second looking to capitalize on a carry-over power play advantage, but could not convert. Just after the power play expired, Rats defenseman Joey Mormina let go a laser from the left point that caromed off the post through a screened Munro. The Crunch penalty killers had to come up big and they did. They killed two minors in a five minute span when David Cullen was called for hooking at 9:33 and Darcy Campbell went off for holding at 12:26. The penalty killing unit blocked several shots and passes to thwart the Albany attack. Syracuse’s good defensive work lead to some offensive opportunities late in the period. The Crunch would get on the board first with a late goal when captain Zenon Konopka, playing with an injured hand, won an offensive zone face-off back to the point and then drove to the net. Rome let go a shot from the point and a sprawling Konopka back-handed the biscuit past Albany goalkeeper Michael Leighton. The goal came at 19:28 to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead.
The third period started with a bang when just one minute in, Crunch enforcer Jon Mirasty finally found a willing combatant when he dropped the gloves with Albany’s Trevor Gillies. The two heavyweights traded blows and went toe to toe. The fight ended with Mirasty landing a right and falling on top of Gillies. On the ensuing face-off, the rough stuff continued when Dorsett was called for boarding and Mike Angelidis intervened. Angelidis was given two roughing penalties and Jeffrey Szwez and Tim Conboy were both given fighting majors. The play was fast and furious after that with both teams trading chances and both goaltenders coming up huge. Albany would then pull their goalie with about two minutes remaining and would gain a 6-on-4 advantage when Steven Goertzen was called for hooking at 18:30. However, the two man advantage did not last long as Jerome Samson was called for a hooking penalty of his own just 18 seconds later. Syracuse put the game away when center Trevor Frischmon potted his first AHL goal in 40 contests by putting home an empty-netter at 19:12. The Crunch came out on top of a 3-1 final.
CRUNCHABLES: Left wing Alexandre Picard was scratched from the lineup tonight (flu)…Newly acquired defenseman David Cullen made his Crunch debut tonight and was hit in the face with a shot in the third period; he had to be helped off the ice…Crunch captain Zenon Konopka returned to the lineup tonight after missing the previous 10 games with a hand injury…Derek Dorsett got into another scrap tonight, his third in two games…Aaron Rome was named first star with a goal and an assist; the goal proved to be the game-winner…Trevor Frischmon’s empty-net goal was the first of his AHL career; he had registered four assists in his previous six games…Jon Mirasty’s fight with Trevor Gillies in the third period was his first of the season.
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