Archive for the ‘Rumors’ Category
…It’s been pretty much confirmed by everyone but Tampa/Syracuse that Cooper will be the new head coach of the Lightning. Rob Zettler will take over head coaching duties for Syracuse in his absence. Jeremy Houghtaling did that whole research thing that I’m not too fond of, and tweeted the following:
If Zettler is taking over the #SyrCrunch, it would be his 1st head coaching position. This was his 9th year as an assistant in the NHL/AHL.
Our old bud Mike Folsom then tweeted this:
Rob Zettler is a class act and #SyrCrunch remain in good hands.
As I said on Twitter, I will trust, but I am not happy.
Been a busy week, Crunch fans. Here’s what’s doing:
- The Crunch are currently sitting pretty at number one in the league, despite being ravaged by call ups from a injury-fill Tampa. Syracuse has 84 points, good for first in the East Division and the Eastern Conference, as well as first in the league as Western Conference leader, Texas, trails with 83 points.
- Cedrick Desjardins has logged some frequent flier miles, as has Everblades goalie Pat Nagle. With an ankle injury to Anders Lindback up in Tampa, looks like we’ll have a Riku/Nagle tandem for the foreseeable future.
- Richard Panik also got called up again today, which means that the Crunch is back at a league-minimum 20 player roster. The Crunch played that strapped this past Saturday, winning 6-2 against Albany. We had one healthy scratch last night vs. WBS (1-o win for the Crunch). That scratch, Alex Hutchings, will probably be playing tomorrow vs. Hamilton.
- A few of my friends over at Raw Charge recalled that when the trade happened that saw Desjardins brought here in exchange for Dustin Tokarski, Riku and Tick joked about fighting each other the next time Syracuse played Hamilton. As Riku will probably be playing tomorrow night against the Bulldogs…well, keep an eye out.
- Expect a lot of fanfare at tomorrow night’s game. The game is the Crunch’s 1,500, there’s three anthems being sung, and special guests and stuff.
- It was announced yesterday that the Crunch will be playing the Hershey Bears in Washington, D.C. next year.
- Twitter just broke the news through several sources that Tampa has agreed to terms with college defenseman Andrej Sustr. Sustr is 6’8 and shoots right-handed. It’s being predicted that he’ll see time with the Lightning before the end of the NHL’s regular season in May. One or two writers are also figuring that maybe he could see some AHL time, depending on how things go here. It’s predicted by Bolt Prospects that even if he starts in the NHL this year, he’ll probably be in Syracuse next year. Once the contract is figured out and if he does start at the NHL, it COULD mean that a certain defenseman might make it back to Syracuse before the playoffs. And speaking of…
- I want to take a second to congratulate Radko Gudas on his first NHL goal last night! Fear. The. Beard.
Breaking news: it was just released on Twitter that Tampa Bay center Vinny Lecavalier has been put on IR. IR is a minimum of seven days. Combine that with the injury to Tom Pyatt and my bet is on another Crunch call up. I think Tyler Johnson is a pretty good bet. Johnson is currently second in the league in scoring with 58 points (32-26). He also got a look during training camp, much like recent defenseman call up Radko Gudas, while the other center possibility, Brett Connolly, did not. Tampa has made it clear that they’re looking for Connolly to develop, so I’d say Johnson is the next player to get a plane ticket.
Edit: Soon as I hit “publish” Tweets poured in that Johnson has been recalled. Good luck, Tyler. Rumor has it that Lecavalier will be out longer than 7 days, so I’d assume a mirror call up from Florida will happen for us in time for tomorrow night.
Second edit: Ha. Again, hit “update” and got more news. Somebody That I Used to Know is back! Gauthier has been reassigned to Syracuse from the Everblades, where he had been working on getting more minutes. The forward had three goals and three assists in five games with the Everblades, and 5 goals and two assists in 29 games with the Crunch.
Mathieu Garon left the ice tonight as Tampa played Pittsburgh. Twitter informs me that he suffered a groin injury last season. Twitter also informs me that many are predicting Cédrick “Hufflepuff” Desjardins will be called up as soon as the Tampa front office can get to a phone. So, we may be seeing Everblades goalie Nagle in a Crunch uniform come Wednesday night at Toronto. In Riku we trust?
IN RIKU WE TRUST, DAMN IT!
(Why Hufflepuff? It’s a hell of a lot easier to yell out during a game. If you know Harry Potter, you’ll figure it out.)
Edit: This was confirmed last night. Desjardins up, Nagle to Syracuse.
