Wednesday, November 15, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Geoff Platt scored two goals and Jarislov Balastik added two assists to boost the Syracuse Crunch over the Philadelphia Phantoms by a 5-2 count on Wednesday afternoon. It was the annual School Day Game at the Wachovia Spectrum, with over 6,000 students among the 7,433 in attendance.

Syracuase raced out to a 3-0 lead in the game's first five minutes on goals by Mark Hartigan, Ryan Caldwell and Platt. The onslaught ended Martin Houle's day early and brought Scott Munroe into the game in relief.

Philadelphia made a dent in the deficit with 4:25 left in the first period. Syracuse goaltender Ty Conklin went behind his net to clear a puck, but couldn't get it through the Phantoms forecheckers. The puck ended up in the low slot, and Niko Dimitrakos was able to track it down and backhand it past Conklin, who hadn't quite regained his full positioning in the net. It made the score 3-1.

That count stood until late in the second period, when the teams traded a pair of goals. First, it was Joe Motzko tallying for the Crunch at 17:45 to push his team's lead to 4-1, but Eric Meloche answered with a slapshot from the top of the right circle with 53 seconds left to make the score 4-2 at the second intermission. Platt finished out the scoring on a shorthanded breakaway at 10:51 of the third.

The teams each put 24 shots on goal. Houle absorbed the loss, while Munroe took third star honors with 19 saves on 21 Syracuse shots in relief. Conlkin earned the win with 22 saves on the 24 Phantoms shots.