Crunch Wrap: Punch and Counterpunch

This has been a tough year for the Syracuse Crunch’s special teams. They’ve struggled with discipline, their power play hasn’t clicked, and at times their penalty kill hasn’t been able to bail them out of games where they were dominating 5-on-5 play. They’re also a feisty team, they are small up front, but they play up to their competition, and they do not back down from a fight. The aggressive style of play is beneficial when teams try to take liberties on Crunch players that can’t protect themselves or shouldn’t have to protect themselves.

How much of that style of play combined with their reputation as a heavily penalized team contributes to the penalties they receive? Are the Crunch…