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 March 27th, 2022, Alex and guest Patrick Williams settle in to break down the Crunch’s most recent successes on and off the ice. They start by addressing the nostalgic return of Syracuse’s famed old mascot, Al the Ice Gorilla (“You can’t spell ‘Goal!’ without ‘Al!'”), and theorize why hockey fans grow so attached to certain eras or characters. They also talk through AHL identities and why the fan bases in certain cities – like Syracuse – really need their team to have their own identity, while the fans of other AHL teams – like Toronto – seem to need their NHL club’s identity to thrive.

They then move into the present day, discussing the moves made by the Tampa Bay Lightning at the trade deadline to boost Syracuse’s playoff hopes. Those moves included Tampa trading the infamous “future considerations” for Riley Nash, a player who has already brought more offense to the Crunch. With a month left in the AHL’s regular season, they look at the remaining opponents on Syracuse’s schedule and pinpoint the most needed victories to keep the team in playoff contention. Although the Crunch will most likely need help from other teams to ensure a spot in the postseason, Alex and Patrick also discuss what Syracuse can do to help keep its fate in its own hands as much as possible, with a focus on the play of team captain Gabriel Dumont, forward Alex Barre-Boulet, and defenseman Sean Day.  

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!