Syracuse Crunch Weekly Prospect Report: O’Reilly, Pietroniro & Mercuri

The Syracuse Crunch bounced back from a rough 1-3 start to the season with a win against the Rochester Americans on Oct. 17. They got their first win on home ice in front of their fans, and evened out the rivalry at one game apiece. The Crunch were down 2-0 going into the second period, but scored four unanswered and didn’t look back. On Oct. 18, they played their first-ever game against the Hamilton Hammers, and they came away with a 4-3 victory. 

A lot of players had great efforts in the two wins, but here are three players who stood out the most.

Matteo Pietroniro

Matteo Pietroniro played his first game of the 2026-27 season on Oct. 17 against the Americans, and his presence was felt immediately with the “A” on his sweater. He had a plus-minus rating of plus-1 by the end of the game. Pietroniro did have a penalty, though, as he was called for holding and served two minutes. 

Pietroniro made his mark in the game against the Hammers. He tallied his first points of the season, one goal and one assist, making it two points in two games at a point-per-game basis. 

Having Pietroniro back on the blue line is a big boost for the Crunch, and he was a huge benefit as the defense was more sound with him in the lineup. Pietroniro last season had 31 points in 65 games for Syracuse, and they hope he can continue that throughout the rest of the 25-26 campaign. 

Lucas Mercuri 

Lucas Mercuri is one of those players every team loves to have. He’s up and down the ice, not afraid to go and get into puck battles in the corners, and will lay you out if he has the chance. 

Mercuri had his best weekend of the season so far, as he tallied four points (two goals and two assists) across the two games, including the game-winning goal against the Hammers. He got all of his four points on the season so far in those two contests. 

The 24-year-old is in his second year with the Crunch, and he’s only improving with every rep he gets. Mercuri is coming off of a solid year one, and looks like he’ll keep on playing well this season. 

Sam O’Reilly 

Sam O’Reilly was drafted 32nd overall in the 2024 NHL Draft and was acquired by the Lightning via trade. O’Reilly is kicking off his first professional season playing with the Crunch. At first, he had some trouble settling in, which is normal, but now he’s keeping up with the play and is hanging in there better. 

O’Reilly had his first pro goal in the game against the Americans on the power play, and it was off of a centering feed from Dylan Duke when he had to get down on one knee to shoot it into the back of the net. 

O’Reilly carries a lot of hats with the Crunch. One of them being a penalty killer, which is where he thrived. He’s constantly up the ice creating pressure, alongside Brendan Furry, Jakob Pelletier, and Jensen Harkins, who had a short-handed goal in the game against Rochester. 

O’Reilly said he felt good about the penalty kill and the win, “It’s good. I think, obviously, it’s [the penalty kill] not how we wanted it to be, but it’s a big one for us. To come out on top, [it’s a] big win for our squad, and we just have to keep building off of it.” 

The Crunch penalty kill went 13/14 over the last two contests. Head coach and general manager Joel Bouchard had high praise for the penalty kill, as well, saying it had a huge impact: “We’ve been struggling on the penalty kill. We made some adjustments the day before, throughout the week, [they] did a great job. I thought we were more comfortable, and it really gave us a boost of confidence.” 

The Crunch look to bring the momentum off of the weekend sweep into next week, as their next game is against the Americans.