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Denis Hamel scored his 324th career goal and the
Phantoms mounted a late comeback attempt, but the
Crunch held on for a 3-2 win. An enthusiastic and
wild crowd of 4,036 rocked the Glens Falls Civic
Center on Veterans Appreciation Night in which all
the veterans in attendance received free admission.
Hamel's goal, scored with just over 10 minutes remaining
in the third period, narrowed the Syracuse lead
to 3-1 and came on the deflection of a slap shot
taken by Jason Akeson. The goal extended his team
lead to nine goals this season and moved him to
within one tally of Adirondack Red Wing legend Glenn
Merkosky for 12th place on the AHL's all-time goal
scoring list.
Hamel's goal was part of a 2-of-6 night on the power
play for the Phantoms, who got another man-advantage
goal, from Ben Holmstrom, who backhanded the rebound
of a Tom Sestito shot with 12 seconds remaining
in the third period. Adirondack now has power-play
strikes in 10 of its 12 games. Overall, the Phantoms
are 16-of-73 (22.0%) on the power play.
Despite the Phantoms' spirited comeback effort;
J.F. Jacques, Patrick Maroon and Kyle Palmieri scored
to give the Crunch a three-goal advantage which
Adirondack was never able to erase.
"It sounds simple, but we started (in the third
period) getting more traffic and more pucks to the
net," said Joe Paterson. "We started getting
traffic in front of the goal and got a deflection.
That goal (Hamel's goal) gave us some life and made
us believe we could make the comeback."
The Phantoms got to within one goal and had a glorious
scoring chance to dramatically pull even in the
game's final seconds, but Tarkki made a key save
at point-blank range to preserve the Crunch's 3-2
win.
Despite the loss, the Phantoms remain one of the
league's best home teams since the midway point
of last season. Adirondack is 14-3-5 in its last
22 home games.
The Phantoms remain in second place in the Northeast
Division standings with a 7-4-1 (15 pts) record.
The Connecticut Whale, who had Friday night off
and have 17 points, lead the division.
Michael Leighton made 25 saves on 28 shots and saw
his record fall to 6-3-0.
Iiro Tarkki backstopped the Crunch's win by making
26 saves on 28 shots. Tarkki is 3-2-1 this season
after spending the last six seasons in his native
Finland's top professional league, SM-liiga.
The Crunch improved to 6-3-3 (15 pts) and are now
tied with the Phantoms in the Eastern Conference
Standings.
J.F. Jacques put the Crunch in front, 1-0, by opening
the night's scoring 17:32 into the first period.
Jacques' goal was scored on a deflection, with the
6-foot-3, 230-pound former Edmonton Oiler getting
a piece of a point shot taken by former Philadelphia
Phantom Nate Guenin.
Another former Phantom, Patrick Maroon, scored a
power-play goal at 15:03 of the second period to
give the Crunch a 2-0 lead. Maroon, who had 39 goals
and 67 assist for the Phantoms from 2007-2010, now
leads Syracuse with 15 points (6g, 9a) this season.
Kyle Palmieri, the Crunch's leading goal scorer,
upped Syracuse's lead to 3-0 by squeezing a side-angle
shot between Leighton's leg and the left goalpost
2:49 into the third period. Palmieri has four goals
in two games in the season series.
Although Hamel and Holmstrom shrunk Syracuse's three-goal
lead and gave the Phantoms a chance for a late tie;
Adirondack never was able to come all the way back.
The Phantoms look to get back in the win columnn
when they host the North Division-leading Toronto
Marlies on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
The shots in Friday's game were tied at 28-28.
The Phantoms were 2-of-6 on the power play. The
Crunch were 1-of-3.
Adirondack dominated the season series over Syracuse
last year by winning seven out of eight games, but
the beginning of the inner-state rivalry this year
has been a different story.Having dropped the first
two meetings with Syracuse this year, the Phantoms
will look for revenge in their next encounter next
Saturday night in Syracuse. Adirondack and Syracuse
meet a total of eight more times this season. The
all-time series is now tied at eight wins apiece.
Adirondack's scratches were Blake Kessel and Shane
Harper. After missing the last two games to injury,
Mike Testwuide returned to the lineup and engaged
J.F. Jacques in a second-period fight. The game
featured thee total fights, with Tye McGinn also
dropping the gloves with Troy Bodie and Tom Sestito
squaring off with Patrick Maroon.
The extremely popular SuperFan Cameron Hughes fired
up the crowd and kept them revved up all evening
long with his dances and t-shirt giveaways. The
SuperFan will be back for the homestand finale Saturday
night at 7:00 against the Toronto Marlies.
Saturday's festivities begin at 3:00 with the third
annual Guns and Hoses game with the area police
and fire representatives taking on the NYPD team
with proceeds to benefit the South Glens Falls Marathon
Dance.
The game with Toronto is Adirondack's last at home
for two weeks. The team embarks on a four-game road
trip beginning Tuesday night in Portland.
Upcoming Events
Saturday, November 12, 3:00 - Third Annual Guns
and Hoses game pitting area police and fire representatives
against the NYPD hockey team. Proceeds from this
charity game will go to benefit the South Glens
Falls Marathon Dance.
Saturday, November 12, 7:00 - Toronto Marlies at
Phantoms. Youth Jersey Giveaway night for first
1,000 kids (age 14 and younger) courtesy of Glens
Falls Hospital.
Monday, November 14 - No Phantoms Power Hour show
this week. The team will be traveling.
Tuesday, November 15, 6:30 - Phantoms at Portland
Pirates.
Get great savings and have fun with your friends,
family or co-workers by bringing your group of 15
or more fans to enjoy fast-paced, hard-hitting Phantoms
hockey. Call the Phantoms to find out more at 518-480-3355
and check the team's website at phantomshockey.com.
Catch all the action of Phantoms hockey all season
long on the team's flagship station, Classic Hits
Q101.7 and on phantomshockey.com. Bob Rotruck has
the broadcast coverage 30 minutes prior to game-time
with Countdown to Faceoff.
Recently reaching 4,000 Twitter followers , the
Adirondack Phantoms are now over 10,000 members
strong on their social media networks. Be sure to
follow us on twitter @phantomshockey and on facebook.com/adkhockey
Syracuse Crunch 3 at Adirondack Phantoms 2 - Status:(Final)
Friday, November 11, 2011 - Glens Falls Civic Center
Syracuse 1 1 1 - 3
Adirondack 0 0 2 - 2
1st Period-1, Syracuse, Jacques 4 (Guenin, Smith),
17:32. Penalties-Bodie Syr (fighting), 2:31; Jacques
Syr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:31; McGinn Adk
(boarding, fighting), 2:31; Maroon Syr (fighting),
9:08; Sestito Adk (fighting), 9:08; Bodie Syr (unsportsmanlike
conduct, roughing), 18:14; Pither Adk (holding),
18:14; Sestito Adk (unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing),
18:14.
2nd Period-2, Syracuse, Maroon 6 (Sexton, Palmieri),
15:03 (PP). Penalties-Cumiskey Syr (cross-checking),
5:59; Sexton Syr (hooking), 9:53; served by Brown
Adk (bench minor - too many men), 14:07; Jacques
Syr (fighting), 17:16; Testwuide Adk (fighting),
17:16; Mitchell Syr (holding), 18:53.
3rd Period-3, Syracuse, Palmieri 9 (Guenin, Maroon),
2:49. 4, Adirondack, Hamel 9 (Akeson, Wellwood),
9:44 (PP). 5, Adirondack, Holmstrom 1 (Sestito),
19:07 (PP). Penalties-Clark Syr (boarding), 10:55;
Bourdon Adk (holding), 15:20; Sexton Syr (slashing),
19:21.
Shots on Goal-Syracuse 11-8-9-28. Adirondack 5-11-12-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Syracuse 1 / 3; Adirondack
2 / 5.
Goalies-Syracuse, Tarkki 2-2-1 (28 shots-26 saves).
Adirondack, Leighton 6-2-0 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-4,036
Referees-Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Frank Murphy (29), Luke Galvin (2).
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