After Saturday’s practice sessions at Fan Fest, the Lightning endured their largest round of cuts so far. Those who were assigned to the Bolts’ AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch did at least get a European vacation out of it. The Crunch opened their 2014 training camp in Lyon, France on Tuesday. Twenty-five players made the trip in hopes of being part of the roster when the regular season opens on October 11th.
The Crunch typically hold their camp in St. John’s, Newfoundland. GM Julien Brisebois tapped his experience with AHL Hamilton’s training camp in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2009. He worked for quite a while to secure a similar experience for the Crunch. That work came to fruition when Syracuse and the Lightning entered a season-long partnership with the Lyon Hockey Club Lions of the Magnus League.
Brisebois shared his thoughts on the trip with the Tampa Bay Times:
“I want players to remember their time in our organization,” BriseBois said. “Some players will be here for a long time, some may be here for a year, but we want to leave a mark.
A lot of our players probably have never been to Europe. I remember coming back from Scotland on the plane with the players, they were so happy they went. I’m hoping it’ll be the same type of experience this time.”
Syracuse will play three exhibition games in Lyon at the Patnoire Charlemagne arena. Two games will see them face off against the Bignhamton Senators and one will be against their host team the Lions. The contests against Binghamton will take place on Thursday October 2nd and Sunday October 5th. They will meet the Lions on Saturday October 4th. The final day of camp will see the squad take a bullet train to Paris for a day of sightseeing on October 16th before returning to Syracuse the following day.
A complete roster for the Crunch’s training camp is below:
| NO. | LAST NAME | FIRST NAME | POS | DOB | HGT | WGT | BIRTHPLACE |
| 3 | Mormina | Joey | D | 6/29/82 | 6’6 | 229 | Montreal, QC |
| 4 | Dotchin | Jake | D | 3/24/1994 | 6’3″ | 211 | Cambridge, ON |
| 5 | Milan | Dan | D | 4/14/92 | 6’2 | 209 | Detroit, MI |
| 6 | Blujus | Dylan | D | 1/22/1994 | 6’3″ | 205 | Buffalo, NY |
| 7 | Sergeev | Artem | D | 4/20/93 | 6’2″ | 203 | Moscow, Russia |
| 10 | Angelidis | Mike | C | 6/27/85 | 6’1 | 212 | Woodbridge, ON |
| 11 | Samson | Jérôme | RW | 9/4/1987 | 6’0″ | 192 | Greenfield Park, QC |
| 13 | Corrente | Matt | D | 3/17/1988 | 6’0″ | 200 | Mississauga, ON |
| 16 | Costello | Jeff | LW | 11/20/1990 | 6’0″ | 206 | Milwaukee, WI |
| 19 | Darcy | Cameron | C | 3/2/1994 | 6’0″ | 183 | South Boston, MA |
| 20 | Kunyk | Cody | C | 8/10/1990 | 5’11” | 200 | Sherwood Park, AB |
| 21 | Blunden | Mike | RW | 12/15/1986 | 6’4″ | 214 | Toronto, ON |
| 24 | Cote | Jean-Philippe | D | 4/22/82 | 6’2 | 214 | Quebec City, QC |
| 29 | Neilson | Eric | RW | 8/18/84 | 6’0 | 209 | Fredericton, NB |
| 33 | Smith | Dalton | LW | 6/30/92 | 6’2″ | 215 | Markham, ON |
| 37 | Gourde | Yanni | LW | 12/15/91 | 5’9″ | 168 | St-Narcisse, QC |
| 50 | Gudlevskis | Kristers | G | 7/31/92 | 6’3″ | 211 | Aizkraukle, Latvia |
| 57 | Ikonen | Henri | LW | 4/17/94 | 6’0″ | 191 | Savonlinna, Finland |
| 63 | Paradis | Philippe | LW | 1/2/91 | 6’2 | 213 | Dolbeau, QC |
| 65 | Koekkoek | Slater | D | 2/18/1994 | 6’2″ | 197 | Winchester, ON |
| 71 | Richard | Tanner | C | 4/6/93 | 6’0 | 189 | Jona, Switerzland |
| 78 | Gauthier | Danick | LW | 10/24/91 | 6’2 | 198 | Repentigny, QC |
| 88 | Vasilevskiy | Andrei | G | 7/25/1994 | 6’3″ | 207 | Tyumen, Russia |
| 89 | Nesterov | Nikita | D | 3/28/93 | 5’11 | 199 | Chelyabinsk, Russia |
| 92 | Vermin | Joel | RW | 2/5/1992 | 5’11” | 187 | Bern, Switzerland |
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