Belleville tops Syracuse 6-4 in lively home finale win

Belleville left its home crowd with something to remember, using a spread-out scoring night and a late push to beat Syracuse 6-4 in the regular-season finale at CAA Arena. The Senators finished with six goals from five different players, a sharp reminder that even after being eliminated from Calder Cup Playoff contention, the roster still had enough young talent to make the building matter in April.

Xavier Bourgault led the way with two goals, giving him another statement game after his first career AHL hat trick in the April 10 overtime win at Laval. Belleville also got goals from Hoyt Stanley, Blake Montgomery, Keean Washkurak and Arthur Kaliyev, while Graeme Clarke drove much of the offense with three assists and Carter Yakemchuk added two more from the blue line. That mix was the real story: production came from multiple lines and pairings, not just one hot stretch or one power-play burst.

The Senators did not need special teams to carry them. Belleville went 0-for-5 on the power play, yet still outshot Syracuse 32-28 and controlled enough of the game at five-on-five to survive a wild third period. Kevin Reidler made 24 saves on 28 shots, and the Crunch rotated through Brandon Halverson and Harrison Meneghin after Halverson allowed three goals on 27 shots and Meneghin gave up two on four. Syracuse made the final frame uncomfortable by scoring four times in the third, but Belleville had already banked enough offense to hold on and add an empty-net goal to close it out.

That mattered because this was not just another late-season result. It was Fan Appreciation Night, Belleville’s last home game of the season, and the club leaned into the occasion with a red-carpet entrance, pregame awards and the kind of atmosphere that can make a meaningless standings number feel smaller than the moment in front of it. For a team that entered the night seventh in the North Division and eight points back of Rochester, the payoff was less about the race and more about the look of the roster itself.

There was also plenty of individual context around the lineup. Arthur Kaliyev had just been named to the AHL’s 2025-26 First All-Star Team, and Jorian Donovan was Belleville’s nominee for the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award. Put together with Bourgault’s recent surge, Clarke’s playmaking and Yakemchuk’s growing role, the finale suggested something important for the offseason: Belleville is not short on pieces, and several of them look ready for bigger minutes next year.