Palmieri Player Of The Week To Open Season

Syracuse, NY (October 17, 2011) The Syracuse Crunch announced today that the American Hockey League has named right wing Kyle Palmieri has been named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending October. 16, 2011. Palmieri recorded four goals, two assists and a plus-5 rating in two games for the Crunch last week. Palmieri, who won this award twice as a rookie in 2010-11, began his second professional season with consecutive three-point nights. On Friday, he recorded a pair of assists in regulation before scoring the winning goal at 3:09 of overtime to give Syracuse a season-opening 5-4 victory at Binghamton. Then in Saturday's home opener at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter, Palmieri recorded his third career hat trick, scoring once in each period to propel the Crunch to a 6-2 win over Adirondack.

Anaheim's first-round pick (26th overall) in the 2009 NHL draft, Palmieri tied for the AHL lead among rookies with 29 goals and placed fifth in rookie scoring with 51 points in 62 games for Syracuse in 2010-11, finishing as one of the hottest players in the AHL with 15-5-20 in his final 14 contests. The 20-year-old native of Smithtown, N.Y., represented the Crunch at the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic and also made his NHL debut with the Ducks, tallying one goal in 10 regular-season games and also skating in one Stanley Cup Playoff match.