2
0
Crunch secondary scoring overwhelms rivals from Utica.
UTI-1
SYR-7
Spencer Martin allowed one goal on 30 shots for the victory.
First Period
4:53 UTI Bartschi (4), (Jasek, Stevens)
6:32 SYR Carlsson (2), (Somppi, Kolyachonok)
7:46 SYR Carlsson (3), (Borgman, Katchouk)
Second Period
4:15 SYR Bowlby (4), (Abbandonato, Lohin)
10:51 SYR Borgman (2), (D. Stephens, Morand)
14:44 Lohin (4), (Huntington, Day)(PP)
14:51 SYR Koepke (1), (Priskie, Morand)
Third Period
9:30 SYR Lohin (5), (Bowlby, D. Stephens)
Ryan Lohin and Antoine Morand were the game’s first and third stars.
Utica managed to keep Syracuse’s top line of Katchouk/Somppi/Raddysh pretty well grounded with just an assist a piece for Katchouk and Somppi, but the Crunch lower lines ran roughshod over their rivals en route to putting up seven unanswered goals. Ex-UMASS centerman Ryan Lohin led the way with 2-1-3 and fellow NCAA’er Cole Koepke chipped in his first pro on a nice one-timer from the right wing circle. Antoine Morand’s pair of helpers moved him to a very respectable 4-4-8 in 11 games since coming over in the Volkov deal.
Katchouk now sits tied for fourth in the AHL in scoring with 11-18-29 in 23 games. It’s important to note that all of the players ahead of him in the scoring title race have played at least five games more than Katchouk has because the western teams have been able to get in more games. Leading scorer Andrew Poturalksi of San Diego (34 points) has actually played in 12 more games than Katchouk. Katchouk is also currently fourth in the AHL in +/- at +20 on the campaign. With his helper today, Otto Somppi pulled back into the top-20 in the league in scoring, now tied with Taylor Raddysh and two others at 23 points.
The Crunch have improved to seven games over .500 on the season, now one point back of Lehigh Valley for second place in the North Division.
Box score from TheAHL.com.
