When the Anaheim Ducks signed veteran American Hockey League right wing Brian McGrattan on Feb. 28, they sent him to Syracuse where he was expected to become the Crunch’s new enforcer.
After all, McGrattan’s stands 6-foot-4, and that’s without skates. Plus the 29-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario has a long record of piling up penalty minutes in the AHL. In 2004-05, he led the league with 551 minutes in the sin bin. In 236 career AHL games, McGrattan had scored just 29 goals while logging 1,150 penalty minutes.
So it’s something of a surprise that, after six games with the Crunch, McGrattan has scored five goals. How surprising? Well, McGrattan’s far better known for his hard fists than his soft hands. His five goals for Syracuse over a half dozen games is one more goal than he scored over three dozen games for the Providence Bruins earlier this year.
The tough guy’s shooting spree sparked the Crunch like nothing else this sad season. Since he joined the club, the Crunch went on its most remarkable roll, notching a four-game winning streak, its longest of the 2010-11 campaign.
McGrattan’s hot streak started March 5 and 7 in San Antonio and Austin. On Saturday, March 12, at the War Memorial, McGrattan flirted with a hat trick after putting two first-period goals past Rochester Amerks goalie Marc Cheverie in the Crunch’s 3-2 win. He also broke a Crunch franchise record with 13 shots on goal.
McGrattan’s first netter of the night was a thing of beauty. He took a pinpoint pass from Nick Bonino for a breakaway on the Amerks goal, and he deked with a forehand but then held on to flip a backhand over a helpless Cheverie.
The team’s winning ways went south on Sunday, March 13, when the Albany Devils dispatched the Crunch by a score of 4-1 in the capital, but guess who scored Syracuse’s lone tally. That’s right, the Crunch’s great one, No. 20, Brian McGrattan!
A few minutes into the second period, Syracuse left wing Nicolas Deschamps poked the puck up the right wing boards to McGrattan, who skated in and snapped a sharp-angle shot through the pads of Mike McKenna.
The Albany game was a decidedly physical confrontation as Crunch forward Patrick Maroon pummeled Olivier Magnan just 28 seconds in. About three minutes later, Syracuse defenseman Mat Clark and Chris Murray went at it in front of the Albany bench. Tempers also flared between Syracuse’s Sean Zimmerman and David McIntyre after a whistle at the 10:44 mark.
In the third period, Crunch winger John Kurtz battled Louis Robitaille before McGrattan finally dropped his gloves to take on Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond in a lengthy bout to a draw.
Syracuse and Albany go at it again back at the War Memorial at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 16. The home games continue here at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, when the Crunch face off against the Toronto Marlies and the Charlotte Checkers, respectively. Ticket prices range between $13 and $22; 473-4444; syracusecrunch.com .
