Welcome to Syracuse Speaks, a podcast for Field Pass Hockey!

Now in its third season, Syracuse Speaks aims to cover the Syracuse Crunch, its organization, and the AHL from the stands. Host Alexandra Ackerman has been covering Syracuse on the internet since 2008, and desires to share her passion for the team and the league with her listeners.

In this episode, recorded July 19th, 2021, Alex welcomes back AHL writer Patrick Williams. The two of them cap off the final episode of season three of the podcast with a chat about where the league has been, where it might be going, and a range of other topics. Throughout the episode, the two touch on the following:

• How much the AHL accomplished by just surviving 2020-21
• The biggest obstacles facing the league and its teams for 2021-22 and the desire for a return to normalcy around the league
• The potential for the 2021 AHL preseason to be bigger and more exciting than usual
• How both of them are looking forward to the return of a league-wide Calder Cup playoff series, and how important the AHL playoffs are to player development
• How success at the AHL level can be built on by NHL parent clubs, specifically how a decade-long cycle of Calder Cup champions, Calder Cup finalists, and various other AHL playoff appearances nudged the Tampa Bay Lightning to two successive Stanley Cups in the NHL
• The value of a positive working relationship between AHL and NHL partners: “If you’re the Tampa Bay Lightning and you hand your players off to Syracuse, you know they’re in good hands…I think the Crunch has found their partner. Both sides understand each other.”
• The advantages of having Syracuse as an AHL partner
• Patrick’s predictions about the upcoming free agency period, both from a player perspective and a league perspective: “I think any player would look at the Lightning and Syracuse and definitely think that’d be an attractive spot…there’s a lot to like if you’re a free agent.”

Give it a listen today! 

Syracuse Speaks is hosted on Anchor, but is distributed to many of the major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, and Stitcher. The royalty-free music featured in this episode was by Purple Planet Music and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

Thanks for listening!

Follow Alex on Twitter for all the latest news and notes regarding the Syracuse Crunch! Don’t forget to also follow Field Pass Hockey on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest AHL, ECHL, and SPHL minor league hockey news and analysis!