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

Now in its fourth 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 October 8 and 10, 2021, Alex begins the episode by recapping Syracuse’s preseason so far. She briefly discusses the Crunch’s game against the Utica Comets, a 2-1 victory that saw goals from Shawn Element and Gabriel Dumont. She also offers a discourse on the joys of being back to (mostly) normal as a fan who hadn’t been inside of the Upstate Medical Arena at the Onondaga County War Memorial in 588 days. She also discusses some of the drama around the placement of forward Alex Barre-Boulet on waivers. The perhaps surprising move may send ripples through the organization as Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk stay with Tampa. 

Alex then welcomes colleague Deana Weinheimer onto the podcast. Deana covers the Cleveland Monsters for Field Pass Hockey. Syracuse will be facing Cleveland this upcoming weekend as they begin their regular season schedule.

In her first appearance on the podcast – but certainly not her last – Deana delves into Cleveland’s return to the AHL’s North Division. Deana discusses the differences between the Central and the North Divisions, with a focus on their schedules and styles of play. She also breaks down previous seasons between Cleveland and Syracuse before mentioning a few players to keep an eye on that may be potentially joining Cleveland. Alex and Deana also have a good time discussing their experiences covering teams affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and how Columbus’ developmental philosophy has changed since they were affiliated with the Crunch in the mid-2000’s.

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!