Syracuse Crunch Weekly - Vol. 31, No. 28
April 22, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release
CRUNCH EARN SPOT IN NORTH DIVISION SEMIFINALS
The Crunch finished off their 31st regular season and earned two wins in three games in Week 28. That clinched the Crunch third place in the North Division, giving them a first round bye and a spot in the North Division Semifinals.
Syracuse officially clinched its playoff berth on Wednesday with a 3-2 overtime win on the road against the Hershey Bears. It locked up the Crunch's 19th playoff berth in franchise history; they have qualified for the last seven Calder Cup Playoffs since 2016-17. They split their final two games of the season against the Utica Comets.
The Crunch ended the regular season with wins in 14 of their last 18 games to finish with a 37-23-8-4 record.
The Crunch rematch with the Rochester Americans in this season's North Division Semifinals. It's the third straight playoff matchup between the clubs; Rochester won in 2023 and Syracuse won in 2024.
TEAM NOTES
The Crunch averaged 5,542 fans during the regular season for their highest average attendance since the 2018-19 season (5,595). The team had eight sellouts for the second consecutive season. The 16 combined sellouts between last season and this season is the most by the team in a two-year span since 1995-97.
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The Crunch won their final nine road games of 2024-25 to match their longest road win streak in team history. They previously won nine straight road games at the start of the 2012-13 season; the Crunch went to the Calder Cup Finals that season. They went 21-11-4-0 on the road this season.
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Brandon Halverson and Matt Tomkins were recognized with the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, presented to the goaltenders (appearing in a minimum of one-third of his team's games) on the team with the fewest goals against per game at the end of the season. Syracuse tied with Laval for the fewest goals allowed in the AHL this season (178).
It's the second time a Crunch goaltender has won the award (Eddie Pasquale, 2018-19).
CRUNCH FACE AMERKS IN PLAYOFFS
Game 1: Friday, April 25 at Rochester | 7:05 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, April 27 at Rochester | 3:05 p.m.
Game 3: Thursday, May 1 vs. Rochester | 7 p.m.
*Game 4: Saturday, May 3 vs. Rochester | 7 p.m.
*Game 5: Friday, May 9 at Rochester | 7:05 p.m.
For the third straight season the Crunch and Rochester Americans square off in the North Division Semifinals. It's their fourth playoff series since 2017-18, and its the seventh all-time between the clubs, the most against one opponent for the Crunch. Rochester has won four of the previous six playoff series.
The teams have gone the distance in the previous two years, and the road team has won Game 5 to advance to the North Division Finals. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, the clubs have met 46 total times (regular season and playoffs) with both teams earning 23 wins.
The Amerks won this season's series with a 7-3-1-1 record. They split their final four meetings in March.
The road team won seven of the 12 contests, while four games required overtime.
UPCOMING WEEK
Friday, April 25 at Rochester | 7:05 p.m.
Game 1 of the North Division Semifinals takes place at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. It marks the start of the Crunch's 19th postseason, and it's their 31st playoff series. Syracuse is 15-15 all-time in Game 1, but they lost both last year. They lost Game 1 to the Amerks last season before winning the series in five games. Syracuse is trying to win a playoff series in consecutive years for the first time since 2017 and 2018.
Sunday, April 27 at Rochester | 3:05 p.m.
The Crunch and Amerks meet in Game 2 of the North Division Semifinals Sunday afternoon at Blue Cross Arena. The Crunch won two of their three playoff games in Rochester last spring, including a Game 2 win in overtime that tied the series at one win apiece. Syracuse went 3-3-0-0 in Rochester during the regular season.
WEEK 28 RESULTS
Wednesday, April 16 | Game 70 at Hershey | W, 3-2 (OT)
Syracuse 0 2 0 1 - 3 Shots: 6-8-3-1-18 PP: 1/2
Hershey 1 0 1 0 - 2 Shots: 8-9-6-0-23 PP: 0/1
2nd Period-Szturc 7 (Crozier, Duke), 11:31. Dumont 3 (Duke, Pouliot), 16:30.. .. Halverson 22-11-8 (23 shots-21 saves) A-9,170
Friday, April 18 | Game 71 at Utica | W, 3-2
Syracuse 0 2 1 - 3 Shots: 7-9-10-26 PP: 2/5
Utica 0 2 0 - 2 Shots: 11-8-9-28 PP: 0/2
2nd Period-Sheary 20 (Dumont), 6:24. Duke 19 (Sheary, Crozier), 7:45 (PP). 3rd Period-Duke 20 (Crozier, Sheary), 0:53 (PP).. .. Fanti 3-1-0 (28 shots-26 saves) A-3,059
Saturday, April 19 | Game 72 vs. Utica | L, 3-2
Utica 0 1 2 - 3 Shots: 10-14-12-36 PP: 1/2
Syracuse 0 2 0 - 2 Shots: 8-10-10-28 PP: 1/3
2nd Period-Groshev 7 (Brown, Teasdale), 5:55. Flinton 1 (Brown, Bisson), 8:55.. .. Halverson ND (10 shots-10 saves) Langenegger 0-1-0 (26 shots-23 saves) A-5,933
Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)
Power Play 17.5% (45-for-257) 21st (25th)
Penalty Kill 83.6% (199-for-238) T-8th (9th)
Goals For 2.86 GFA (206) T-21st (23rd)
Goals Against 2.47 GAA (178) T-1st (T-1st)
Shots For 27.33 SF/G (1968) T-27th (25th)
Shots Against 27.00 SA/G (1944) 4th (4th)
Penalty Minutes 11.49 PIM/G (827) T-26th (26th)
Category Leader
Points 61 Sheary
Goals 20 Duke|Sheary
Assists 46 Pouliot
PIM 79 Schmidt
Plus/Minus +16 Crozier
Wins 22 Halverson
GAA 2.22 Halverson
Save % .915 Halverson
North Division GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O
1. y Laval 72 48 19 3 2 101 0.701 229 178 1101 24-9-2-1 24-10-1-1 6-3-0-1 2-0-0-0 3-2
2. x Rochester 72 42 22 5 3 92 0.639 238 191 788 19-13-3-1 23-9-2-2 4-4-2-0 0-1-1-0 5-3
3. x Syracuse 72 37 23 8 4 86 0.597 206 178 827 16-12-4-4 21-11-4-0 8-2-0-0 0-1-0-0 4-4
4. x Toronto 72 37 23 4 8 86 0.597 209 197 841 19-10-2-5 18-13-2-3 5-2-1-2 4-0-0-2 4-8
5. x Cleveland 72 35 26 5 6 81 0.563 206 225 952 16-12-3-5 19-14-2-1 4-5-0-1 0-3-0-0 4-6
6. Belleville 72 34 27 6 5 79 0.549 206 223 1043 18-12-3-3 16-15-3-2 4-3-2-1 0-1-1-0 4-5
7. Utica 72 31 33 6 2 70 0.486 196 223 892 16-14-4-2 15-19-2-0 6-3-1-0 1-0-0-0 2-2
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