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 May 15th, 2022, Alex and Syracuse Crunch Chief Operating Officer Jim Sarosy chat about all things Crunch.  The two start with a look back at how far the team has come since the AHL shut down in March of 2020, and the team had a season without fans in 2020-21. Although there are still challenges in the league – the two specifically highlight how strange it’s been to have a lack of interaction between the organization, fans, players, and sponsors – they also celebrate the return of fans to the arena, and the necessary escapism hockey allows. Jim runs through all of the logistics, changes, and challenges the team has faced over the past year but never allows the amazing reality of the present day to fade too much: “We’re here on May 15th. We made it to this date so far…the fact that we came from there to here…is what I’m most proud of. We’re still doing what we set out to do.”

Later on in the episode, Alex and Jim spend some time conversing about one of the big splashes the organization was able to achieve in 2021-22: Their many theme jerseys worn throughout the season. Alex specifically makes sure to highlight her favorite, the team’s Al the Ice Gorilla throwback jerseys. The design was based on the team’s former mascot, and Jim gives fans of that design some really good news for the 2022-23 season. The two then discuss the Laval series, fan attendance, and how two former Crunch players on the Rocket – Danick Martel and Cedric Paquette – have done such a great job against Syracuse. Jim acknowledges the challenges of selling tickets for Tuesday’s game 5 with such a short turnaround but expresses confidence that the Syracuse faithful will show up, be loud, and support their team.

Alex ends the episode with a short look at Game 5, and some of the big headlines going into the contest, including the injury Syracuse goalie Max Lagace suffered during Game 4 and how the Tampa Bay Lightning could end up shorting the Crunch a player or two sooner rather than later.

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!