Welcome to Syracuse Speaks, a podcast for The Sin Bin!

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 aims to share her passion for the team and the league with her listeners.

In this episode, recorded on January 12 and 13, 2021, Alex starts by celebrating the return of the podcast from the holiday break. She then breaks down the latest Crunch news, starting with the biggest and most obvious: Crunch hockey is back, and, boy, is it weird! 

Throughout the podcast, Alex dives into the following:

• Syracuse’s new AHL division and the three teams the Crunch will reportedly be playing during their 36-game season: the Rochester Americans, the Utica Comets, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
• What the Crunch is doing for their season ticket holders and fans in lieu of being able to have fans attend games in person
• Player moves from the Tampa Bay Lightning, including presumed Syracuse captain Luke Witkowski, familiar faces like Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh, and AHL scoring powerhouse Alex Barre-Boulet
• The Crunch’s dual affiliation with the Florida Panthers and the players that Florida has assigned to the team, including 2018 first-round pick Grigori Denisenko and veteran forward Scott Wilson

Alex ends the podcast by answering a question from Twitter (thanks, Deana!): Which team does she see being the Crunch’s biggest competition this season? Spoiler alert: Considering the three teams Syracuse is going to be playing, the answer is not exactly a surprise…though the lack of live fans may take a bite out of the usual rancor between the two teams.

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 The Sin Bin on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest AHL, ECHL, and SPHL minor league hockey news and analysis!