Syracuse Crunch forwards Matt Beleskey, bottom, and Trevor Smith had a new running mate in practice on Monday. They worked with wing Nicolas Deschamps, as head coach Mark Holick shook things up in an effort to find some offense.Syracuse coach Mark Holick didn't wait long after his team's 3-0 loss to Hershey on Saturday before trying something new.
Most notably: Wingers Matt Beleskey and Dan Sexton were tried on separate lines in practice Monday.
The pairings were Sexton, Macenauer, MacMillan; Deschamps, Smith, Beleskey; Bordson, Sharp, Kurtz; Mitchell, Gauthier, Salters; Mirasty and Brittain.
- Will Anaheim forward Troy Bodie soon be joining the Crunch lineup? Could be. The Ducks placed him on waivers Monday. If he's not taken, he could be assigned here.
- Gauthier still skated with a yellow (non-contact) jersey on Monday, but he said he's feeling good and might be cleared to play against Binghamton on Wednesday.
- Forward Brian Lebler also skated on Monday, but his still at least a couple weeks off with a cut wrist/forearm.
- Goalie Timo Pielmeier told me he didn't think there was a great chance he'd get called up when Jonas Hiller was hurt Saturday. Pielmeier said he talked to Hiller after the Crunch game and knew it was just a cut. So Pielmeier said he didn't lose any sleep because of excitement or nerves in the interim.
- As I mentioned on Saturday, veteran defensemen Joe DiPenta, Danny Syvret and Brett Festerling sat in their stalls for several minutes after the Hershey game, locked in an intense chat.
Monday, I asked DiPenta about the topic of conversation.
"We were just talking about how we're feeling on the ice. We were talking positioning and going over a couple of things. Things that we noticed about one another. We were just trying to help each other out. I think it was just more overall, the approach to games.''
- The Crunch split into two teams for a series of 3-on-3 drills. The losing team had to untie the skates of the winners in the locker room afterwards.
Josh Brittain did the honors for Jon Kurtz and Mat Clark did the same for Trevor Smith. Winner Dan Sexton sat in his stall shaking his skates in an obvious call to cash in his winnings, but no one came over to help.
Sexton beckoned for losing team member Stu Bickel, but Bickel just waved him off.
"Ah, he won't do it. He doesn't pay his debts,'' Sexton said.
- Wednesday's Binghamton game is a rematch of one from Nov. 7, when the Sens crushed Syracuse 5-0.
At the end of that game, Bingo coach Kurt Kleinendorst put out top-six forward Bobby Butler on a power play, and Butler scored to get a hat trick. The coach did the same for forward Jim O'Brien, who had two goals, and O'Brien almost scored. Kleinendorst told a Binghamton reporter that he was just trying to get his players a hat trick.
After the game, Crunch coach Mark Holick told me that he didn't like those moves by Kleinendorst and that he'd have a long memory about it.
A few days later, I talked to Holick about his philosophy. To stress, he was talking about his own personal views and wasn't making any threats, veiled or otherwise.
He said it's his opinion that you don't risk injury to a skill guy in that situation. Flukey things can happen, an errant puck here or a cross-check there. He said his guys will get their personal stuff within the flow of a game, or not at all.
I asked him, then, if Syracuse had a 5-0 lead would he ever put a Nick Bonino or Kyle Palmieri type out for a late-game power play. He said under normal circumstances, no. And if those players ever did take the ice under those situations, Holick said it'd be with third-and fourth-liners, not as part of a top unit.
So that's his official position. If Syracuse ever has a big lead late, that's something to clip and save. And if the Crunch gets a chance to run it up on the Sens, that's also something to watch.
- I asked DiPenta what the players thought of Kleinendorst's move. DiPenta said their opinion was the same as Holick's, and that Holick made his feelings known to the Crunch after that Bingo game.
"When Mark came in after the game, that's the message he thought,'' DiPenta said. "If it ever happened again, I think when you put your star players out there at the end of the game, there's always a chance they can get hurt. Sometimes, frustration can take its toll on a team that's losing. It is a risk.''
Crunch enforcer Jon Mirasty was more to the point.
"You play them, what, 10 times a year?'' he said. "You remember things like that.''
- A tidbit I forgot to mention at that time - I knew Holick was the right coach for this team and this city when he sent Mirasty, Salters, Mitchell, Bickel and Paetsch out for the last shift of that game. Talk about the good hands people - now that's what I call insurance.
- Former Cruncher Dylan Reese was recalled from Bridgeport to the Islanders on Monday,
- Tickets for children ages 5-18 for the Binghamton game will be just 5 bucks. That game will also be televised by Time Warner. Remember, it's a 7 p.m. start, switched from 11 a.m.
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Contact Lindsay Kramer at LKramer@Syracuse.com
