Syracuse Crunch January Recap: Signs of Optimism Approaching Season’s Midpoint

The Syracuse Crunch showed signs of life in January as they captured more than half the points available, for the first time since October, with a 7-5-1-0 record. As of the end of January they had an overall record of 15-15-3-1 and improved to 5th in the North Division after ending November and December in 7th place (last).

Record and standings aside, it was clear from watching the games that the Crunch are beginning to settle in and learn the line combinations that will allow them to maximize their performance in any given game. One example of this has been Charles Hudon’s transition to center that has given the Crunch three offensive capable centers they can roll out after previously having to rely heavily upon Gabriel Dumont and to a lesser extent Otto Somppi.

There were a couple of notable storylines from the month, including two trades to begin February that meant two players played their last games as members of the Lightning’s farm system in January, and in return brought into two new players.