Syracuse Speaks

In this episode, recorded December 5th, 2021, Alex begins by recounting the changes in Syracuse's schedule that occurred this past week. Due to COVID-19 concerns that are mostly centered around the AHL's Atlantic Division, the Crunch saw their games on December 1st, 3rd, and 4th postponed. The games were against Rochester and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The postponements also saw the rescheduling of Syracuse's Teddy Bear Toss to this Wednesday against Cleveland.

Alex then discusses former Syracuse forward Taylor Raddysh's first NHL goal, a shorthanded tally that really showed off the talent he honed in the AHL. She also mentions the good reviews Gabriel Fortier has been receiving from his NHL debut, and briefly discusses the return of Sean Day to the Crunch's blue line.

Alex ends the episode with a new "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) segment. She covers some Harry Potter questions, a few personal inquiries, and also discusses her favorite AHL logos from Syracuse's history and from the league itself (Hint: Her favorite involves a Moose, and not of the Rochester variety).. Alex appreciates everyone who sent in questions!

In this episode, recorded November 28th, 2021, Alex welcomes back TheAHL.com contributor Patrick Williams. Patrick has been covering the AHL for many years, and took an in-depth look into Syracuse's slow start last week. Since that article was written, Syracuse went 1-2-0-0, bringing their record for the 2021-22 season to a frustrating 6-8-2-1. Patrick and Alex begin their discussion with Syracuse head coach Ben Groulx and how he is currently feeling about the team's start. They then discuss the North Division and how much it seems to have changed from previous seasons, especially when it comes to the Rochester Americans and the newly-revamped Utica Comets, two teams Syracuse plays the most out of the entire league. 

The two then discuss Syracuse's veterans and how much the team is currently leaning on them for production, especially the captain, Gabriel Dumont. Of course, even those strong performances don't seem to be helping, and Patrick expresses how much of a puzzle this season has been. Patrick and Alex then discuss the unfortunate injury to goalie Max Lagace, and how that has affected the team's game plan for the season. They also discuss the recent successes of Gabriel Fortier and Jimmy Huntington, and how the talent they were drafted for is starting to shine through. In a way-too-early prediction (blame Alex completely for this), Patrick selects Huntington as his All-Star for the Crunch for this January's AHL All-Star weekend.

As far as some perspective goes, Patrick has some good news for Crunch fans who are worried about the season. "I'd say the bright side for the Crunch is having Ben behind the bench. He's always got something cooking, always got something up his sleeve...there are some real bright spots beyond the vets that are figuring it out, too"

In this episode, recorded November 7th, 2021, Alex discusses what makes the current iteration of the Syracuse Crunch so tenacious. She discusses their two-week record of 4-1-0-0, a record that contains one shutout, two overtime wins, and one shootout win. She breaks apart the current roster configuration and highlights the top seven scorers for the team, beginning with veterans Gabriel Dumont and Charles Hudon, and ending with prospect Gage Goncalves. She speculates about the goalie situation - not only is Max Lagace still hurt, but Hugo Alnefelt joined him on the sidelines Saturday night - and highlights the youngster Amir Miftakhov. Miftakov was originally expected to spend the season with ECHL Orlando, but is now 3-0-0-0 with the Crunch, and earned his first professional shutout Saturday.

Alex ends the episode previewing Syracuse's upcoming games against Bridgeport, Utica, Hershey, and Cleveland, with a special focus on Utica and their new affiliation with the New Jersey Devils.

Give it a listen today!

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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In this episode, recorded October 24, 2021, Alex begins the episode by recognizing the Syracuse community and the Crunch Faithful who came out in droves on Saturday, October 23rd to support their hometown team. Syracuse had passed 603 days without fans in the Upstate Medical University Arena at The Oncenter War Memorial, and the team was welcomed back in style by a sold-out crowd of about 5,000 people. Alex describes the atmosphere and the touching opening ceremony, one which honored front-line workers and first responders.

Moving on, she then takes a look at some of the storylines dominating Syracuse's 1-2-1 record so far this season. She discusses the games the team has played against  Cleveland, Rochester, and Utica, and recognizes how a slow start has become a hallmark of the Ben Groulx era. The season is still very early.

She also touches on the call ups of Andrej Sustr and Fredrik Claesson to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and speculates about the return of forward Alex Barre-Boulet to the organization. She also mentions the injuries to Max Lagace, Otto Somppi and Daniel Walcott, and how those injuries are affecting the team.

Alex ends with a rundown of who has stood out to her so far this season, including AHL Player of the Week Jimmy Huntington, Goncalves, Gabriel Dumont, and Darren Raddysh. She previews the upcoming games at Hershey on Wednesday, October 27th, vs. Cleveland on Friday, October 29th, and at Lehigh Valley on Saturday, October 30th.

Give it a listen today!

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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In this episode, recorded October 8th and October 10, 2021, Alex begins the episode by recapping Syracuse's preseason so far. She briefly discusses the Crunch's game against the Utica Comets, a 2-1 victory that saw goals from Shawn Element and Gabriel Dumont. She also offers discourse on the joys of being back to (mostly) normal as a fan who hadn't been inside of the Upstate Medical Arena at the Onondaga County War Memorial in 588 days. She also discusses some of the drama around the placement of forward Alex Barre-Boulet on waivers. The perhaps surprising move may send ripples through the organization as Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk stay with Tampa.

Alex then welcomes colleague Deana Weinheimer onto the podcast. Deana covers the Cleveland Monsters for Field Pass Hockey. Syracuse will be facing Cleveland this upcoming weekend as they begin their regular season schedule. In her first appearance on the podcast - but certainly not her last - Deana delves into Cleveland's return to the AHL's North Division. Deana discusses the differences between the Central and the North Divisions, with a focus on their schedules and styles of play. She also breaks down previous seasons between Cleveland and Syracuse before mentioning a few players to keep an eye on that may be potentially joining Cleveland. Alex and Deana also have a good time discussing their experiences covering teams affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and how Columbus' developmental philosophy has changed since they were affiliated with the Crunch in the mid-2000's.

Give it a listen today!

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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In this episode, recorded September 24th, 2021, Alex welcomes Patrick Williams back onto the show. With a little under a month left before the AHL season gets underway, the two of them discuss everything from COVID-19 pandemic fatigue to the question of Syracuse's captain. Specifically, Patrick and Alex cover the following topics: How the league itself has changed over the past 19 months, and the creativity teams are going to have to show as they try to get fans - especially families, their bread-and-butter - back into their arenas. They also tackle questions of vaccination mandates around the league for fans, front offices, and players, and the turnover many AHL front offices have faced (including Syracuse). They discuss the increased importance of pre-season this October, both in terms of roster formation and front office preparation, and answer the following question: Has the Tampa Bay Lightning potentially given Syracuse one of their most competitive and impressive rosters yet? Finally, Patrick gives his best guess for the Crunch's captaincy: Daniel Walcott or Gabriel Dumont? (Not to get too click-batey, but the answer might surprise you!)

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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In this episode, recorded Sunday, September 12th, 2021, Alex serves up all the news that has happened since the previous podcast. She briefly addresses the team's decision to only allow vaccinated individuals into games this season (something she covered more fully in her last article for Field Pass Hockey). She then moves onto some important dates coming up in the life of Crunch fans, including the team's new preseason schedule.

The next few weeks are going to jam-packed with news as the season draws closer! Syracuse Speaks will be there every step of the way.

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

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In this episode, recorded August 23rd, 2021, Alex keeps it lowkey. It's the end of August, so hockey is in its usual doldrums before training camp and preseason madness start. Alex welcomes these quiet days after the uncertainty of last summer, and uses this episode to get Crunch fans caught up on all the news relevant to the start of the approaching season.

First she discuses the Tampa Bay Lightning's upcoming Prospect Showcase, an event that will take place in September and feature prospect teams from the Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers. The contest against the Panthers will be particularly of interest as Florida's development camp will feature Henry Bowlby, Grigori Denisenko, Serron Noel, Cole Schwindt, and John Ludvig, a group of prospects who all suited up alongside Lightning organizational players this past season in Syracuse. On the Tampa side of things, Crunch fans will be playing particularly close attention to the performance of goalie Hugo Alnefelt, as he is projected to be the Crunch's second goalie behind Maxime Lagace. Other familiar faces on the Lightning's prospect roster include Gage Goncalves, Gabriel Fortier, Jimmy Huntington, Declan McDonnell, and Alex Green.

Alex then allows herself just a small amount of time to gush about the return of Gabriel Dumont to the organization before turning her attention to the other summer signings, including defenseman Ryan Jones, just signed to an AHL contract this month. Before ending the episode she briefly highlights Syracuse's 2021-22 regular season AHL schedule and the team's continued partnership with local stations to keep their games on television.

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This episode, the first of season four, is a little different than Alex's usual episode format. It comes to you in two parts: The first, recorded August 11th, 20201, features a chat with Matthew Esteves of Raw Charge. Matt and Alex discuss the Tampa Bay Lightning's recent string of success and how Syracuse has contributed to that success.  They discuss the importance of the coherence between Tampa and Syracuse and how important the last decade has been for development within the organization. They examine the achievements of homegrown organizational players like Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. They commiserate about the loss of Yanni Gourde to Seattle and reminisce a little about Gourde's path in the Lightning organization. Matt also makes some predictions about the future of the Lightning and which Crunch players are poised to be the next homegrown success story (Hint: It involves a couple of forwards recently labeled the Talented Trio).

The second part of the podcast is a recording of the most recent episode of Locked On Lightning with host Adam Denker. Adam had Alex on his podcast on Friday, August 6th and was nice enough to provide Syracuse Speaks with a copy of their discussion. Adam and Alex discuss Syracuse and Tampa, including a deeper look at Joseph and his specific path in the organization. They do the same with Colton, chewing over how the forward elevated his game throughout his developmental path. They breakdown the importance of strong AHL depth and how essential it is for long NHL playoff runs to have a well-stocked cupboard of players ready to jump in and contribute. Of note is that Adam also covers the Orlando Solar Bears at Field Pass Hockey, so make sure to give him a follow!

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In this episode, recorded July 19th, 2021, Alex welcomes back AHL writer Patrick Williams. The two of them cap off the final episode of season three of the podcast with a chat about where the league has been, where it might be going, and a range of other topics. Throughout the episode, the two touch on how much the AHL accomplished by just surviving 2020-21 and the biggest obstacles facing the league and its teams for 2021-22. They also discuss how both of them are looking forward to the return of a league-wide Calder Cup playoff series, and how important the AHL playoffs are to player development. They specifically touch on how a decade-long cycle of Calder Cup champions, Calder Cup finalists, and various other playoff appearances nudged the Tampa Bay Lightning to two successive Stanley Cups in the NHL. They also have an in-depth discussion about the importance of a positive AHL/NHL partnership, and how Syracuse and Tampa are a perfect example of what organizations should aim for. 

Thanks for listening!