Crunch Update

In preparation for next season (because there are only two seasons in hockey – regular season and getting ready for regular season), the Ducks AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch have entered into a long-term partnership with radio station The Score 1260 (WSKO, Citadel Broadcasting) for the 2010-2011 season.  You can read the official press release here.

For those of us out of radio range of The Score, fear not!  They provide a live Internet feed that sounds like you’re in the studio with the DJs.

In other Crunch news, WHL ’09-’10 Coach of the Year Mark Holick has been named head coach.  With 16 years of experience under his belt, Ducks EVP/GM Bob Murray says he’s got the proven track record to lead the team.

The official release is here. 

Holick said that the offer was one he hadn’t even been pursuing, it just found him.  “Someone’s looking out for me,” said Holick. “This just came up. I was a little taken aback by it.”

Said Bob Murray of the new coach, “His teams play hard. He gets a lot out of teams without an abundance of talent. He can coach teams with or without talent. I liked his attitude. I liked the presence he carried himself with. It kept coming back to him.”

Murray was disinclined to divulge the names of any other candidates.

This will be Holick’s first foray in to professional hockey. “I’m pretty humbled by the whole thing,” Holick said. “This (coaching) is how I feed my family. You can’t have any shortcuts. You have to have success. You have to put your best foot forward. It has to work. That’s the way I approach it.”

Holick played from 1989-’94 in the AHL, ECHL and CHL.  He recorded 30 goals, 43 assists and 635 penalty minutes in a total of  142  games.

The Ducks switched AHL affiliations from the Iowa Chops to the Crunch when it came to light that the Chops owner had used the team as loan collateral.  More on that story here.

Finally, I think the latest Crunch logo is a heckuvalot nicer than their original one.  Don’t you?