Todd Bertuzzi Makes His Binghamton Senators Debut Vs Syracuse Crunch
By Jeff Ulmer
The newest member of the Binghamton Senators will be wearing #84 as Todd Bertuzzi takes the ice in his first professional game of the season tonight against the Syracuse Crunch. The Senators, losers of their last five games, will rely on the grizzled NHL veteran to turn things around as he makes his debut.
(15-17-3-1, 34 pts) 4th in East Division
VS
(23-9-5-0, 51 pts) 2nd in NorthEast Division
7:05 PM
Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena
RADIO: 96.9 FM, 680 AM. AHL Live
MATCH-UP HISTORY
The Crunch held off a late Senators comeback and survived their own, rallying in an overtime win by a score of 5-4 back on Jan 3rd. Season series has it in Syracuse winning three out of four thus far.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Joey Mormina, SYR – Oh Joey, how much hatred can one player bring in Binghamton? Ever since Mormina’s playing days for our southern I81 friends down in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, his presence on the ice is still adored now with the Senators’ other rival up north on I81 in Syracuse. For the love of God Joey, just go away. You’re annoying to say the least.
Todd Bertuzzi, BNG – After crashing the Senator’s system in a week-long full of practices as well as getting acquainted to the City and his surroundings, it’s time to drop the puck and make it official as all eyes will be focused on Bert and his play on the ice in his comeback to the sport he loves the most at a ripe old age of 39. He’ll be slotted on the first line with Carter Camper and Shane Prince.
THREE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Bertuzzi’s Influence – It’s finally game time and let’s see what he has left in the tank in his first game of his 25 PTO contract with Binghamton. It’s not the first time an NHL’er has played here, but it still gets the juices going for the fans in raising hopes for the 18 year NHL veteran as well as the team.
2. Injuries Now Playing a Factor – As so it goes with injuries mounting up as Alex Grant, Cole Schneider, Brad Mills and now Mike Sdao are all out. Derek Grant will be a game time decision as David Marshall and Shawn Szydlowski are both still with the club and participated in practices this week. Senators only have five D-men deep.
3. Chris Wideman Needs a Goal – Wideman was on a roll and still leads the league with 12 goals amongst defensemen, however the Senators aren’t fairing any better during this slump they are in. Wideman leads the club with 122 shots connecting on 9.8% in the points column as he needs to start producing again and begin scoring some goals if the Senators are going to have a shot of making the playoffs.
B-SENS TWEET OF THE GAME
UPDATE: Defenseman Guillaume Lepine was signed to a PTO from Evansville in time for tonight’s contest.