The Belleville Senators did something in Syracuse on Saturday night that no other American Hockey League team has done to date in 2025.

Then, they did it another six times.

The visiting Senators rolled to a 7-4 win over the Crunch on November 1 to move their record 4-4-1 this season. It was the first time in the 2025-26 campaign Syracuse has surrendered a goal at Upstate University Medical Arena.

“Scoring goals,” starry defender Wyatt Bongiovanni said afterwards when asked about the key to Belleville’s fourth win of the campaign.

“We knew the record they had here going into the game and the impressive string of home shutouts and we came in here wanting to squash it.”

Grabbing Goals

Syracuse blanked Utica twice and Rochester once to stymie their fellow New York state rivals in the month of October. But the turning of the calendar and a visit by Belleville quickly quelled any thoughts of determined defensive dominance by the hosts.

After Crunch forward Cooper Flinton opened the scoring in the fifth minute, Belleville went to work on the power play.

Stephen Halliday would freeze the Syracuse defence with a delay in the high slot and then feather a pass to Arthur Kaliyev who deposited a one time pass past Crunch starter Brandon Halverson at 8:24.

Later in the frame, Mr. Bongiovanni took a pass from below the goal line and beat Mr. Halverson to the high blocker side at 12:29 to give Belleville–or any team playing in Syracuse thus far–a lead in the first period.

To-and-Fro

After the Crunch tied it up early in the second stanza, the Sens bounced back quickly to retake the lead.

Jorian Donovan found Mr. Bongiovanni at the 2:11 mark cruising inside the blue line. ‘Bonjo’ once again went to the short side for his second of the night to push Belleville ahead 3-2.

The Sens extended the lead just over two minutes later on a power play. Xavier Bourgault danced along the goal line and slipped the puck through Mr. Halverson at the lip of the Syracuse crease.

The Crunch closed the gap with a goal later in the second off the stick of Nick Abruzzese and then a game tying effort by Boris Katchouk early in the third to make it 4-4. The Waterloo, ON native slipped the puck underneath Belleville starter Leevi Meriläinen at the 2:36 mark to reset the game.

The tie didn’t last long, however, as five year Senator Lassi Thomson’s one timer from distance befuddled Mr. Halverson at 5:07. The odorous goal put Belleville ahead to stay 5-4.

Mr. Meriläinen needed to come up big time and again in the third, making nine stops to preserve a clutch road win.

Mr. Donovan and Hayden Hodgson tacked on empty netters in the late going to make the final 7-4.

Known Names

On Wednesday, Belleville surrendered a pair of tallies in the opening 15 minutes and that’s all the visiting Rochester Americans needed to skate away with a 4-1 victory.

Interestingly, the Amerks scoring was bookended by skaters sired by former NHLers.

Redmond Savage, the son of former Montreal Canadien Brian Savage, broke the ice partway through the first with his first AHL marker. The Scottsdale, AZ native beat Sens starter Hunter Shepard from the high slot through a screen at 9:12 of the opening frame.

With Rochester up 3-1 late in the second, Jake Leschyshyn, son of former Quebec Nordiques defender Curtis Leschyshyn, banged home a rebound from the side of the net to salt the game away for the visitors.

Belleville makes visits to Hartford and Utica on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively. They return home to host the Laval Rocket on Sunday afternoon.