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However, the belief in the locker room is that this isn’t without reason and the situation isn’t without hope. Ben Street, captain of the Binghamton Devils and the teams current point leader, attributed the losing streak to constant change.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” said Street, “there’s been lots of things sort of changing, we’re trying new things, trying new systems, and hopefully something will give us a spark.”
The changesinclude new faces brought in and out of the program just within the last few weeks. This season 4 different netminders have gotten between the crossbars for Binghamton.
The season started with Gilles Senn and Evan Cormier being the returning goalies from last season. On Nov.11, the New Jersey Devils traded a 7th-round draft pick for goaltender Louis Domingue,who had been playing for the Syracuse Crunch, the AHL-affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Cormier was then sent down a league to the ECHL. Domingue played a few games with Binghamton very successfully, and then was sent up to play with the parent club in New Jersey. New Jersey then sent down their veteran goaltender Corey Schneider.
Schneider had been New Jersey’s starting goaltender from 2014 until this year, and was considered one of the elite “tendys” in the league, putting up save percentages of .925 and .924 his first two years. However, in January of 2018, Schneider suffered a groin injury and has struggled to regain his form ever since.
Schneider has been sent down to Binghamton before, but according to Addie Sejan, Media Manager for the Binghamton Devils, those were just “conditioning stints” with the intention of eventually recalling him to New Jersey, this is a more permanent placement.
In addition, top AHL players such as Michael McLeod, Colton White, and Brett Seney have been rotated in and out of the locker room this season to compensate for injuries and the lackluster performance of the parent club in New Jersey.McLeod and White are both still currently with New Jersey.
With the parent club facing challenges, the AHL club is feeling the impact.
Despite this, coach Mark Dennehy is not under the impression that all hope is lost for his team in Binghamton.
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“We’ve gotten off to good starts at beginning of each game but the just had major breakdowns.”, Dennehy said,leading into the team’s most recent road trip.“One of the things we can do, that’s an indicator of a good road team, is to score first, take the crowd out of the game.”
The Binghamton Devils face the Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday, Dec.12.
