The Syracuse Crunch closed out their regular season in second place in the North Division with a 35-26-11 record and will face off against the Rochester Americans (BUF) in a best-of-five first-round series of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The battle between the two for second place in the division, and home ice advantage, came down to the final weekend. Each finished the season with 81 points, but the Crunch came out on top with the tiebreaker in pocket.
Further amplifying how evenly matched these two teams were this year was their season series, which saw each win six games apiece against the other.
Without a tiebreaker in playoff games, the Crunch will need to win on the ice against the Amerks if they are to improve upon their first-round exit from last year’s playoffs, against the Laval Rocket (MTL), in five games. The Crunch have not advanced to the second-round since 2018.
The series begins tonight, in Syracuse, and will conclude on May 6ath, should it go the distance.
Injuries strike
Injuries are never good for a team, but a string of them in the closing weeks of the season is as bad as it gets, and that’s the situation the Crunch found themselves in.
Sean Day missed the final six games of the season, Lucas Edmonds missed the final five (illness), Jack Finley and Gabe Fortier missed the final two, and Daniel Walker and Ilya Usau were helped off the ice in the regular season finale.
However, there was some positive news in the final weekend as veteran forward P.C. Labrie returned to the lineup after missing time since January due to injury. Known for his physical, tone-setting, brand of hockey, Labrie is built for scrappy postseason play.
The team will also be keeping an eye on the injury situation in Tampa as left defenseman Victor Hedman and right defenseman Erik Cernak missed Game two of the first-round of the NHL Playoffs. Should the Lightning need reinforcements, LD Trevor Carrick and RD Phil Myers figure to be the first names called upon at their respective positions.
At forward, the Lightning were without Michael Eyssimont for Game two, and while Tanner Jeannot returned from an injury for the game, the team could still look for extra depth. Rudolfs Balcers would make the most sense to be recalled, but Gemel Smith, despite his assignment to AHL Henderson (who failed to make the playoffs), is theoretically an option for the Bolts that would not deplete the Crunch’s ranks. However, the circumstances leading to that assignment are still unclear.
Barre-Boulet concludes historic season with two more Crunch records
If there was a team record for Alex Barre-Boulet to break this season, he did. Fresh off breaking the Crunch’s all-time goal-scoring record in March, April saw him claim the team’s all-time single season assists record and surpass Carter Verhaeghe’s record of 82 points in a single season, ultimately ending with 84.
To recap all of the Crunch franchise records Barre-Boulet broke this season:
- All-time points
- All-time goals
- All-time assists
- Single season assists
- Single season points
Leaguewide, Barre-Boulet finished second in scoring this season, second only to Michael Carcone of the Tucson Roadrunners (ARI).
Alnefelt or Lagace in net?
Over the course of the season, Hugo Alnefelt held the performance edge over Max Lagace, but over the closing stretch he struggled and perhaps opened the door to Lagace becoming the workhorse in net for the playoffs.
Although they played a similar number of games since the beginning of March — 13 for Lagace and 10 for Alnefelt — Lagace’s save percentage over that time was .904 compared to Alnefelt’s 0.857. Additionally, Alnefelt averaged more than an extra goal against per game with a GAA of 4.30 compared to Lagace’s 3.12.
Regardless of who the team chooses to start Game 1, there should not be any hesitation to switch to the other if goaltending leads to the series heading the wrong direction early on. Alnefelt proved himself as a capable high-end starting AHL goalie this season and should be ready if the team calls on him.
Season Awards
Before the regular season finale, the team announced their annual team award winners.
- Eastern Shore Associates “Most Improved” Player of the Year
Lucas Edmonds - Ephesus “Brightest Prospect”/Rookie of the Year Award
Jack Finley - NBT Bank “Plus/Minus Player of Year” Award
Declan Carlile - Lamacchia Power Forward of the Year Award
Gabriel Dumont - Discount Shoe Repair “Sole” of the Syracuse Crunch
Gabe Fortier - IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year
Daniel Walcott - U.S. Army Defender of the Year
Trevor Carrick - MVP Award
Alex Barre-Boulet
