Syracuse Crunch posts highest attendance in 17 years

SYRACUSE — Even though the Syracuse Crunch didn’t duplicate its conference-championship effort of a season ago, the hockey team still had plenty of fan support during its recently concluded 20th anniversary season.

An average of 5,574 fans attended Crunch home games at the War Memorial at Oncenter in the 2013-14 season, up 3.2 percent from 5,399 a year ago. This season’s attendance was the fourth highest average in team history and the highest average since the organization’s first three seasons.

The Crunch released the attendance data as part of its “Weekly Release” on Thursday.

The Syracuse Crunch averaged 5,888 fans per hockey game in the 1994-95 season; 5,948 in 1995-96; and 5,809 in 1996-97, according to the release.

Since then, the Crunch broke the 5,500 average attendance mark just once, drawing 5,504 fans per contest in 2004-05.

Compared to the rest of the American Hockey League (AHL), Syracuse ranked 14th in total attendance out of 30 teams in the 2013-14 season, attracting 211,815 fans for its 38 home games. The Crunch drew more total fans, and fans per game, than any of the other AHL teams in upstate New York, including Rochester, Adirondack, Binghamton, Utica, and Albany.

For attendance as a percentage of arena capacity, Syracuse ranked 5th in the 30-team league, at 86.7 percent, behind San Antonio, St. John’s, Hershey, and Utica, the Crunch said.

The 20th season in Crunch history ended April 19 with a 3-1 victory at Hamilton. Syracuse posted a record of 31-32-4-9 in its 76-game schedule. It left the Crunch 15 points short of a playoff spot.

Syracuse finished fifth in the East Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference, and 24th in the American Hockey League.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com