Syracuse Speaks: Makin' It Work

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.