Syracuse Speaks

A bit of a disclaimer: Monday, July 5th was when this episode was recorded. It was also the date of the fourth game of the Stanley Cup Finals, a series that the Tampa Bay Lightning was leading 3-0 at the time of recording. Obviously Alex would have preferred to wait until after the game before publishing this episode, but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Please just know that the result of that game was unknown at the time.

In this episode, Alex takes a look at how the American Hockey League and the Syracuse Crunch have shaped the Lightning. There's a reason 24 players currently on the Lightning's roster have at least some AHL experience in their pasts. The league offers players a bridge between juniors/college and professional hockey, unique challenges that create growth as both a player and a professional, and, when needed, the opportunity to get a career back on track. All 24 players Alex looks at experienced the AHL through at least one of those situations.

She starts off by discussing the few players who had AHL time under their belts before this season but were not with Syracuse, including Blake Coleman and Curtis McElhinney. She also discusses the curious case of forward Patrick Maroon. She then discusses players who played for Syracuse for a small amount of time since the start of the affiliation in 2012, including superstars Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov.  Next, she spends some time looking at the players currently on the Lightning's roster who had an impact on Syracuse's own bids for championships, like Tyler Johnson, Mitchell Stephens, Ben Thomas, Yanni Gourde, and Daniel Walcott. She finishes off with the newer crop of players who are making an impact (or appear poised to in the near future): Erik Cernak, Ross Colton, Cal Foote, Alex Barre-Boulet, and more.

In this episode, recorded June 22nd, 2021, Alex covers what is known about the upcoming 2021-22 season for Syracuse and the American Hockey League. She discusses this from a few different angles. She starts with players who, barring an off season trade, are still under contact with the Tampa Bay Lightning, including potential captain Daniel Walcott, forwards Simon Ryfors, Gabriel Fortier, and Gage Goncalves, defenseman Alex Green, and goalies Hugo Alnefelt and Amir Miftakhov. She also covers where those players under contract probably will end up. She then takes a look at what the team’s schedule is looking like, including the five guaranteed home game dates the AHL has granted the Crunch, and what Syracuse’s newly reunited North Division is projected to look like (Dear Canada: Please open the border). She then finishes with a peak at the AHL’s scheduling accomplishments for 2022-23. (Hint: The league will finally have an even schedule across all of its teams and divisions!)

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In this episode, recorded June 8th, 2021, Alex begins to break down Syracuse's potential roster for the 2021-22 season. With NHL Free Agency scheduled for July 28th, she looks at the big questions for the Crunch through the lens of the unrestricted free agents (UFAs) and restricted free agents (RFAS) of the Lightning organization. Of those questions, Alex figures the biggest are those concerning current captain and upcoming UFA Luke Witkowski, and RFA forwards Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Ross Colton. For Witkowski, the question is multi-faceted, and concerns both his playing career, style, fit, and the potential captaincy vacancy that would open up with his departure. For the four forwards, the question is not whether they'll be qualified - that's pretty much guaranteed - but rather where they'll slate into the organizational depth chart and what kind of holes those decisions could leave in Syracuse. Alex ponders all of this and more, along with other questions concerning the goalies and the upcoming expansion draft.

For her second segment, Alex brings back her Jersey Series. This time, she reaches for a very timely pick: Gabriel Dumont's jersey from the 2017 Calder Cup finals. The jersey was worn in game one of the Crunch's series against Grand Rapids, played on June 2nd, 2017. She reminisces about how Dumont grabbed her attention - something she also discussed recently with team photographer Scott Thomas - and also how that entire Crunch team really encapsulated the best of what the AHL has to offer its fans.

In this episode, recorded May 25th and 26th, 2021, Alex starts off by taking a look back at the 2020-21 regular AHL season. She recaps the major storylines that impacted the team - storylines that didn't actually involve COVID-19 that much, surprisingly - and marvels at how similar to a normal-sized season it all turned out to be. She covers the emergence of the Taylor Raddysh - Otto Somppi - Boris Katchouk line, and the the successes of defensemen Devante Stephens and Sean Day. She discusses the team's success against their divisional rivals, and looks back at it all with her ol' Rose Colored Glasses on, something that's easy to do with it all in the (figurative) review mirror. 

Alex then goes on to give a recap of the May 26th, 2021 Facebook Live talk with Crunch owner Howard Dolgon. She picks out some highlights including Dolgon's best guesses for getting fans back into the Onondaga County War Memorial and the team's plans for 2021-22, including a tidbit about a potential Opening Night date.

In this episode, recorded May 6th and May 12th, 2021, Alex welcomes photographer Scott Thomas to the podcast. Scott has been shooting the Crunch since 2012, but has a long history of taking photos at various sporting events. Since starting with the organization, Scott has been all around the AHL, shooting Crunch games at multiple arenas. He's also been to several big events with the team, including games in Washington D.C. and Ottawa, and has also made a few trips to Tampa to shoot the Lightning. Scott clearly brings his fandom, passion, and expertise to every shot he takes.

Throughout this episode, Alex and Scott cover the photographer's decade-long experience taking pictures of Crunch games. They discuss how things have changed over the years for sports photographers, and how the advent of Ephesus Sports Lighting has changed the game when it comes to taking and editing photos. Alex enthuses over her favorite series of photos Scott has taken, a set of pictures during and after former Crunch forward Gabriel Dumont's overtime goal during game four of the first round of the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs. In a conversation not to be missed, Scott takes the listeners through the process of getting shots during such an adrenaline-filled situation.

Other topics covered include stories about Crunch captain Luke Witkowski, and talk of organizational players Ross Colton, Yanni Gourde, and Daniel Walcott. Alex and Scott discuss the importance of the AHL when it comes to developing talent, both on the ice and in the broadcasting booth/front office, and how the current circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how it all works

In this episode, recorded April 27th and 28th, 2021, Alex ends up having to preempt her own episode when news breaks right before she had the chance to put the episode together. In a flurry a moves, the Florida Panthers rather dramatically changed the look of Syracuse's roster by recalling defenseman Brady Keeper and goaltender Sam Montembeault to their taxi squad. In a corresponding move, Florida also sent goalie Ryan Bednard from ECHL Greenville to Syracuse. With Spencer Martin still with the Crunch, Alex isn't really worried, but there's no doubt the sudden recall right before gametime came as a bit of a surprise.  

Getting back into the flow of things, Alex discusses the Crunch's newest social event, a hybrid happening with both virtual and in-person elements scheduled for May 4th. She also mentions the recalls of Grigori Denisenko and Aleksi Heponiemi to Florida, and the call-up of forward Nikita Pavlychev to Syracuse, before celebrating the reigning AHL Players of the Week: Taylor Raddysh (for the period ending April 18, 2021) and Boris Katchouk (for the period ending April 25, 2021). The excitement around those players - and linemate Otto Somppi - is palpable amongst the fan base and the coaching staff, and she makes the case that their achievements during this rather unique season can't be understated. Alex also discusses Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon's most recent optimistic statement about next season.

In the final part of this week's episode, Alex previews Syracuse's April 28th game against Utica. She takes a look at the standings, glances back at their past few games, and then looks forward at the rest of Syracuse's season (Hint: So. Many. Comets). She also weighs the Crunch's scorers against the rest of the AHL in terms of points, and finds out something kind of surprising: Syracuse is really making the Eastern Conference proud.  

In this episode, recorded April 13th and 14th, 2021, Alex begins the podcast by discussing the most recent Crunch news and notes, including Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon's affirmation that the Crunch will not be participating in the AHL's 2021 postseason. She takes a look at how COVID has - and is - affecting the team and its schedule. 

She then dissects Syracuse's most recent game vs. divisional rival Utica on April 13th. She discusses the Crunch's rough roster situation, including missing captain Luke Witkowski and forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Daniel Walcott. She mentions players who could arrive to help Syracuse out as the team enters their final half of the season, like defenseman Ben Thomas, who is on the taxi squad; newly-signed college forward Cole Koepke; and recently-assigned defenseman Andreas Borgman. The team's upcoming schedule is also covered, and Alex insists that although the playoffs are no longer a consideration, Syracuse is still playing for one big thing: Pride. 

In this episode, recorded March 18th and 23rd, 2021, Alex welcomes writer Hardev Lad onto the podcast. Hardev is the current Crunch contributor for Raw Charge, a SB Nation blog that covers the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Raw Charge has reported on the Crunch since 2012-13, when Alex herself was their main Syracuse contributor, and has featured continuous coverage of the team since that season.

Hardev is very experienced in covering the AHL, and his insights into the team are invaluable for anyone looking for a fuller picture of how Syracuse is doing this season. In this episode, Alex and Hardev cover the following: Hardev's background in AHL coverage and his high comfort level in covering the Crunch for Raw Charge; Hardev's overall impression of Syracuse so far this season, including his positives, negatives, and his MVP up to this point; the differences in play being seen with Syracuse now that the roster is starting to look a bit more full; Hardev's assessment of players like Otto Somppi, Daniel Walcott, Spencer Martin, and Sam Montembeault; which player Harvev and Alex would steal from the Florida Panthers organization if they could.

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 March 9th, 2021, Alex spends the time conversing with Patrick Williams. Patrick has been covering the American Hockey League for many years, and is just about one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to the league. Alex and Patrick cover a lot of ground throughout the course of their 45-minute conversation, including a spin around the AHL as a whole, COVID protocols and team frustrations, zeroing in on the Crunch's inconsistencies specifically, and, lastly, the announcement from the Tampa Bay Lightning that they have re-signed Crunch forward Daniel Walcott to a new two-year contract. 

Thanks for listening! 

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.

In this episode, recorded Monday, February 22nd and Tuesday, February 23rd, Alex starts off with a little housekeeping. She covers the complications that are contributing to the team's current 1-3-1 record: the recalls of Ross Colton, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Riley Stillman; the injuries to Daniel Walcott, Henry Bowlby, and Aleksi Heponiemi; the complications of joining the players from two NHL organizations (the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers). She then briefly discusses Syracuse's game versus Rochester, originally scheduled for February 24th, that was rescheduled for March 1st because of an "abundance of caution due to COVID-19 protocols." She stresses that there has been no positive test result, and talks about her lack of desire to speculate over what is going on.

She then welcomes Crunch Chief Operating Officer Jim Sarosy to the podcast. Throughout the personal, in-depth conversation, Alex and Jim cover a wide variety of topics, including:

Although the past 11 months have been incredibly challenging for Jim and the Crunch, there's much to celebrate as Jim made sure to emphasize: "I'm beaming with pride on what we were able to do with a smaller group to be able to have this return to play come true."