Although the Syracuse Crunch were the first to secure their playoff spot in the North Division, they had to wait until the final day of the regular season to find out who they would play. With a chance to win the North Division outright with one point, the Crunch fell to the Utica Comets, 5-2, in the regular season finale on Saturday (April 20). They completed the 2023-24 regular season with a 39-24-4-5 record and 87 points.
Due to the unusual configurations of the American Hockey League’s (AHL) divisions, the 23 teams that qualify for the playoffs will consist of the top six teams from the Atlantic Division, the top five from the North Division and the Central Division, and the top seven finishers in the Pacific Division. The first round will be a best-of-three series, the Division semifinals and finals will be best-of-five, while the Conference Final and Calder Cup Final will be best-of-seven.
The Rochester Americans and Cleveland Monsters won their games on the final day of the regular season (April 21). This gives the Monsters first place in the North Division, while the Americans finish second and will host the Crunch when the division semifinals begin. The first game of the series will be Friday, April 25, at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.
Here is a look at how the Crunch and Americans match up heading into the playoffs.
Key Crunch Players Missing Time
Down the stretch of the regular season, the Crunch were missing key players, and it is unknown if any of them will be available for their first playoff game. Cole Koepke, who led the Crunch in goals this season with 20, has not played since April 6. Felix Robert has not played in the last three games, and the team lost captain Gabriel Dumont in March for the remainder of the season after undergoing successful surgery to repair a torn ACL. As the status for Koepke and Robert is unknown, the team may have to rely on Gage Goncalves, who led the team in points this season, and Alex Barre-Boulet, who led the team in points in 2022-23 and spent the bulk of the season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Crunch also made some roster changes, one of which resulted from a trade the Lightning made at the trade deadline. All-Star Jack Thompson was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks in a trade their parent club, the Lightning, made for forward Anthony Duclair and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. On March 15, the Crunch made two trades, acquiring forward Jordy Bellerive from the San Jose Barracuda in exchange for forward Joe Carroll, which was followed by the acquisition of defenseman Quinn Schmiemann from the Abbotsford Canucks in exchange for future considerations.
Syracuse Goaltending
Head coach Joel Bouchard will have a decision to make on who gets the start in net for the Crunch in the first playoff game. In Friday’s (April 19) 4-3 victory over the Comets, goaltender Hugo Alnefelt stopped 10 of 13 shots before being relieved by Brandon Halverson early in the second period. Although Halverson stopped all 19 shots he faced on Friday, he only stopped 13 of 17 shots in Saturday’s loss.
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The team will be without Matt Tomkins, who had been the starter for a large part of the season. The 29-year-old was 15-12-2 with a 2.53 goals-against average (GAA) before being called up by the Lightning on April 2 to fill in for the injured Jonas Johansson. Tomkins is the backup goaltender for the Lightning in their first-round series against the Florida Panthers.
Americans Finish Strong
The Americans finished the regular season 8-1-1, which helped them get to a tie-breaker in finishing second in the division. Mason Jobst and Isak Rosen lead the team in scoring, and just behind them was one of the top prospects in the Buffalo Sabres organization, Jiri Kulich. The Sabres’ first-round pick in 2022 had 45 points for the Amerks this season after missing part of the AHL schedule to help Czechia win a bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. He finished tied for the tournament lead with 12 points (six goals, six assists) in seven games, including two game-winning goals, to earn a selection to the tournament All-Star Team.
Devon Levi and Dustin Tokarski form one of the better goaltending duos in the AHL. The Sabres demoted Levi in December after he struggled to begin the season but finished strong in an Americans sweater. He compiled a 16-6-4 record in 26 games with a 2.42 GAA and a .927 save percentage (SV%). Tokarski rejoined the organization after a year in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization and went 11-9-3 in 24 games, with a 3.32 GAA and a .890 SV%.
Syracuse has a 7-2-2-1 record against the Amerks this season, but the rivals, who are only separated by 88 miles, are headed for another epic showdown in the AHL Playoffs.