This is becoming a disturbing trend this season for the Crunch. They played two games this weekend with the first in Rochester against the AHL leading Americans. Going by the radio coverage it was a drawn out battle that saw Rochester take a 3-0 lead into the 3rd period. With the Crunch not only being down three goals but also arguably their two best players in Picard and MacKenzie they stormed back. Kevin Harvey got things started with controversy as he hit the Amerks’ Luke Beaverson with an elbow that was not called and the puck ended up on his stick for an easy put back. Trevor Frischmon got his first of the season to make it a one goal game. With about 1:45 left in the game Mathieu Roy took an iffy penalty for hooking and that should have sealed the game but great penalty killing by Dan Fritsche and Tom Sestito led to a short handed goal. Nick Holden got a great feed from Sestito as Fritsche won the battle along the boards to set it all up. In overtime the refs made another call this time against Holden and on the ensuing power play the Amerks ended the game sending the Crunch home with only one point. All in all a great third period and great effort and should set up great momentum for Saturday’s game against the Norfolk Admirals.
I had to miss the home game against the Admirals but as it turned out I didn’t miss much. Syracuse came out and had nothing against the team they were trying to keep under them in the standings. The Crunch seemed to give up early and then it just turned into a brawl and from what I have heard did not win that battle either. There was some good news though as Kevin Lalande has looked very good as has Dan LaCosta but these two are being left out to dry by the rest of the team. I don’t really have much more to say about this game.
The lines for Friday as far as I could tell were as follows:
Mayorov Fritsche Pelletier
Sestito Frischmon Smotherman
Miller Higgins Ferguson
Harvey McBride Mirasty
Sigalet Regner
Roy Holden
Clitsome Reese
Lalande
The boys need to find themselves fast or they will find it impossible to stay in the playoff race. A couple quick observations: Picard, MacKenzie, Lalande, LaCosta, and Aulin look very good. Aulin is still hurt but says he should be back for Wednesday’s game. Fritsche has been average and I thought he would dominate this league but he just has not shown anything to me yet. Maybe my expectations were way too high. I know a lot of Blue Jacket fans are very interested in Tom Sestito and he has had some brilliant games but also has been terrible at times. He is not an enforcer but tries and since he has been with the Crunch he might have won 3 or 4 fights out of at least 30. Mayorov has been a huge disappointment and I have no idea what is wrong with him. He has regressed since last season as he falls down when trying to make moves and also just gives up on the puck and makes horrible turnovers.
Well that is it for this week and will update on the outdoor game if any news comes available as we should know this week if it will happen or not. From rumblings everything is looking very good but until it is in ink it means nothing.