Syracuse Speaks

This week, Alex is her usual permanently exhausted self who is spillin’ the tea on fan opinions regarding the Syracuse Crunch.  (Spoiler alert: They aren’t the most positive in the world.)  She also takes a look at the month ahead, including a peak at Syracuse’s Miracle on Ice night and their Pride Night.

This week, Alex celebrates Cameron Gaunce’s AHL All-Star selection. The defenseman was nominated this past Wednesday to the All-Star weekend for the first time in his career, and Alex expounds on why it was so wonderful. She then ponders whether the Crunch has actually turned a corner or not (and earns a beer from a friend in the process).

This week, Alex takes a look at the Syracuse Crunch's North Division-heavy January slate of games. She also discusses some team events coming up, and recaps some of the bigger headlines since she last recorded. She briefly touches on forward Daniel Walcott ’s suspension before turning her focus to the sold naming rights for the War Memorial Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War M...

This week, Alex briefly recaps the Syracuse Crunch’s December before naming her player of the month. (Hello, Gemel Smith Spencer Martin?!) She then spends the bulk of the epsiode mining her memories for her top five Crunch organizational moments of the decade. Although the actual events probably won’t surprise you, the order just might! Crunch fans old and new will enjoy looking back with her, and...

This week, Alex starts with a cold open due to a recent transaction involving Tampa Bay Lightning organizational forward Cory Conacher. She then goes on to discuss other transactions that have changed the look of Syracuse’s roster, most notably those recalls and signings due to the injuries to defensemen Ben Thomas and Dominik Masin. She also expresses her hopes that the Crunch will take advantage...

In this episode, Alex discusses the odd case of the Syracuse Crunch, a team that can seem incredibly discombobulated and, dare we say it, almost mad at each other one game and then much more coherent and confident the next. Inconsistencies abound, but a few players are managing to make extreamly positive impressions despite that, including defenseman Cameron Gaunce. Alex names Gaunce her Player of...

In this episode, Alex says she feels it’s put-up-or-shut-up time when it comes to naming a captain for the Crunch. She expresses her frustration with the process that seems to have been halted by the arrival of former Crunch captain Luke Witkowski. She then gathers herself back together in time to discuss some former Crunch players that could be paying their old team a visit this month (including...

In this episode, Alex takes a look back at Syracuse’s October. She selects Cory Conacher as her player of the month and discusses why she picked him. She also ponders the two “yardstick” games the Crunch played - and lost - this month, and expounds on why it truly isn’t yet time to panic. Finally, she highlights some of the positive changes around the Onondaga County War Memorial, including the ad...

In this episode, Alex begins to warm up to the 2019-20 Syracuse Crunch season. She discusses some changes that have occured with the team since the last time she talked about them, and some roster moves and potential additions/subtractions. She then takes a look at Syracuse’s schedule and highlights some upcoming matches and promotional nights, including the Crunch’s Home Opener on October 19th ag...

In this episode, host Alex Ackerman gets you back into the spirit of Crunch hockey with an opinion-packed discussion of the team’s preseason roster. She dishes on who is in town, why the goalie situation is so impressive - and so puzzling - and how exciting it is to have a roster so talented this early in the season. She also has one final discussion on the vacat captaincy position in Syracuse, an...

 In this episode, host Alex Ackerman welcomes guest Lauren Kelly to the pod! Lauren writes for both Raw Charge and Mile High Hockey, covering juniors. She is a wealth of information and passion! The two discuss Peter Abbandonato, an over-ager from the Q, and what Lauren expects out of his upcoming season with an AHL contract with Syracuse. They also parce out the expectations for forwards Tay...

In this episode, host Alex Ackerman celebrates 10 episodes by attempting to convince the Crunch that they need to do a Harry Potter theme night this upcoming season. She outlines her reasons, describes the flexibility and the potential ease of theme, and mentions some predecessors in hockey that have already successfully done wizarding-themed events. She also mentions the easy charitable connectio...

In this episode, host Alex Ackerman discusses the release of the Syracuse Crunch’s regular season schedule. She talks about some highlights, discusses why the schedule is so North Division-heavy, and ponders what fans can do if they’d like to see a bigger variety of teams. She then finishes out her recap of the 2018-19 AHL season for Syracuse by covering March and April, including the Connor Ingra...

 In this episode, host Alex Ackerman discusses the additions of forward Gemel Smith and goalie Zachary Fucale to the Syracuse Crunch/Tampa Bay Lightning organization. She also ponders the re-signings of Cedric Paquette, Carter Verhaeghe, and Danick Martel, and which ones could potentially end up with the Crunch. Lastly, she jumps back into her recap of the 2018-19 AHL season for Syracuse and...

In this episode, host Alex Ackerman discusses the organization’s first foray into free agency this summer. She briefly covers what the Lightning did for the Lightning, including the signing of Luke Schenn and Curtis McElhinney, and then she discusses what Tampa did for Syracuse. The Lightning signed four free agents and hired a coach for the Crunch: goalies Scott Wedgewood and Spencer Martin, forw...

 This week, host Alex Ackerman has a very special guest on: Raw Charge contributor and Syracuse Crunch writer Justin Godfrey! The two of them cover a myriad of topics including what the Crunch might look like this fall, how Justin really feels about Ben Thomas, which players Justin is looking for a big year from (hint: Mitchell Stephens and Boris Katchouk are among them), when Alex is of...

This week, host Alex Ackerman does her best to make sense out the flurry of transactions and news the Syracuse Crunch saw this past Friday. First, she discusses Eddie Pasquale’s decision to leave the Tampa Bay Lightning organization for the KHL, then she discusses the heartbreaking retirement of forward Michael Bournival. Next, she gets so caught up in her thoughts over the whole Connor Ingram sit...

In this episode, Alex answers some questions her listeners had about the game itself and about the Crunch’s restricted free agent defensemen. She then continues her look back at the 2018-19 season for Syracuse, following up last week’s discussion of October/November with December/January. Alex picks out the Crunch’s continued identity struggles and surprise scoring problems as lows (among others)....

This week is all about Mike Angelidis tangents and identity problems.

This week is all about heartfelt goodbyes and potential hellos for both Syracuse and Tampa.

The who and what of the Crunch's past and potential future.