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Archive for March, 2010

Gameday: Amerks Make Playoffs with Win, Taffe Called Up, Hartlieb In, What about Johnson

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March 31, 2010 - By

The Amerks are on the road tonight to play the Grand Rapids Griffins and a win would clinch a playoff spot for the Amerks. Ever since last season ended the coaches and returning players have said their goal was to make the playoffs and that will happen. Even if it’s not clinched tonight, it will happen.

Grand Rapids has been in or near last place for most of the season but they always play hard and will not be an easy task for the Amerks. Just like every other game, if they play for 60 minutes and can stay out of the penalty box they should win. The mystery is not ever knowing which nights that will happen

The Florida Panthers called up Jeff Taffe for their game tonight against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo. Booth, Campbell, Bitz and Olesz are all out with injuries. The Panthers season is done, they are not making the playoffs, why couldn’t they have just called up Andrew Sweetland? Let’s hope that next season they can remain a healthier bunch.

Ernie Hartlieb has been called up from the Florida Everblades to play in his place. Hartlieb has played very well with the Blades [...]Read More

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Steve MacIntyre Takes on Wade Belak

March 30, 2010 - By

Steve MacIntyre was called up this past Friday to the Florida Panthers when David Booth was injured the night before.  During the Panthers vs Predators game on Monday night he took on Wade Belak for an NHL heavyweight fight.  Not a bad fight at all.  Here’s hoping he’s back in time for the final game of the regular season against the Syracuse Crunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VLGlQzr8QM

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Oreskovich Called up to Fill in for Bitz

March 29, 2010 - By

The Florida Panthers host the Nashville Predators and have called up Victor Oreskovich from the Rochester Americans to play.  Byron Bitz is out with an elbow injury which is why Oreskovich got the call.

In 34 games with the Amerks this season Oreskovich has six goals and nine assists.  He spent most of the first half of the season with the Panthers and has played in 43 games for them this season at which time he scored two goals and had four assists.

The Panthers next game is on the road in Buffalo on Thursday, the same night the Amerks are in Grand Rapids.

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Hudson and Henry Fight Videos vs Marlies

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March 29, 2010 - By

In his first professional game Carl Hudson dropped the gloves with Andre Deveaux of the Toronto Marlies.  Hudson had just skated by Jesse Blacker of the Marlies and looked like he had just barely hit him but it also looked at the time like there was an elbow involved.  Immediately after Deveaux went after Hudson which gave him an extra instigator penalty and a 10 minute misconduct.

If you have to call a winner it clearly goes to Deveaux but Hudson deserves credit for the big hit.  The extra penalty given to Deveaux resulted in an Amerks power play and a goal by Jeff Taffe to give the Amerks a 3-1 lead at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsOxJMt0INk

Towards the end of the second period Jordan Henry and Phil Oreskovic must have decided they had enough chirping when they agreed to fight after a face off.  You can watch what leads up to the fight or skip to about the :55 second mark to see the fight itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCk2y1WRBxk

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Marlies Capitalize on Amerks Bad Defensive Game to Win

March 29, 2010 - By

The Rochester Americans had a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon if they defeated the Toronto Marlies and the Lake Erie Monsters lost in regulation to the San Antonio Rampage.  Former Rochester American forward Stefan Meyer and the Rampage did their part defeating the Monsters in the final 90 seconds but unfortunately the Amerks lost in a shootout, their first shootout loss of the season.

“Last night (7-3 win over the Marlies) I thought we played a pretty solid game and today i thought we played one period,” Benoit Groulx said about the game which also summarizes this team.  Inconsistent.

Tyler Plante played another great game for the Amerks making 40 saves and is certainly making the case for himself to be the goalie in the final six games and possibly into the post season.  Two of the Marlies three goals were tipped in and the third he had no help from the defense as Andre Deveraux walked right in front of the net.  Almost 15 minutes after the game ended he was still sitting in his stall with his pads on, a sure sign he was not happy with the outcome of the [...]Read More

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Amerks Defeat Marlies with Seven Goals and Inch Closer to Playoffs

March 28, 2010 - By

The Amerks came closer to clinching a playoff spot with a seven goal performance on Saturday evening on the road against the Toronto Marlies.  The Amerks have only scored seven goals one other time this season, a 7-4 win back on November 29th against the Syracuse Crunch.  This Rochester team seems to have a switch that allows them to show up one game but not another.  After a lousy performance during a 4-3 loss on Friday night the team rebounded with great play on Saturday.

Well, I should be careful how I use the term great play.  It’s not really great that the penalty kill unit allowed three goals against.  It could be time to take Chris Taylor and Jordan Henry off of the penalty killing unit.  I don’t have an answer as to who should replace them, but when something is not working it can’t hurt to make a change.

“Our power play was pretty good and we matched specialty teams,” Benoit Groulx said after Saturdays game.  “At this time of year you can’t lose on specialty teams.”

The specialty teams is something that the coaches and players are aware have been an issue and are an issue [...]Read More

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Amerks Call Up Expected, Booth Taken Down Again by Hit

March 26, 2010 - By

David Booth appears to have a target on his head this season.  On Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens the Panthers forward David Booth was hit by Jaroslav Spacek and knocked to the ice.  Booth layed on the ice for a bit and was then helped off by the trainer and a teammate.  As a precaution he was taken to a local hospital in Montreal.

Booth had missed 45 games after a hit by Mike Richards on October 24th early in the season.  The absence of Booth from the lineup for over half the season was probably one of the primary reasons for the poor season by the Cats.

The fact that he was so slow getting up and taken to the hospital, even if just for precautions, it likely means that the Amerks will lose a forward this weekend.  That call up will likely go to Michal Repik or Jeff Taffe.  With only nine games left and three big games this weekend this was the last thing the Amerks needed.  Repik and Taffe are key to the teams offense.

Florida plays on Saturday in Ottawa.  I suppose we’ll learn more tomorrow morning to see who the call goes to, [...]Read More

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Amerks Win with an Early Goal and Penalty Killing

March 25, 2010 - By

When the Lake Erie Monsters scored only 1:40 into the third period to make it a one goal game I became a little worried.  The Amerks held on to a 2-0 lead for the previous 39 minutes and with this team you never know what could happen, so a third period meltdown was on my mind.  That did not happen and Mike York scored a power play goal at 17:34 of the third to solidify the win.

A big issue this past weekend was the penalty killing.  The Amerks gave the Monsters eight power play opportunities and were able to kill off every one of them.  A great improvement over last weekends six power play goals against.

Evgeny Dadonov scored his 15th goal of the season only 34 seconds into the game, assisted by Clay Wilson.  Only two minutes and four seconds later Jordan Henry found the back of the net for his 12th of the season to give the Amerks that 2-0 lead they would hold onto until the third period.  Dadonov and Beaverson assisted on his goal.

Based off the sound of the game from Don Stevens the 24 save performance by Tyler Plante was an impressive one.

[...]Read More

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Gameday: Amerks at Cleveland, Thoughts from Groulx and Johnson

March 24, 2010 - By

There’s only 10 games left in the regular season and that sense of excitement and urgency around this Amerks team heading into the final push for the playoffs still seems to be missing.  They have a challenge on their hands tonight as they take on the Lake Erie Monsters on the road, a place they’ve already lost three times this season.

The Moose got within two points of the Amerks with a win over the Bulldogs on Tuesday and they play again tonight.  The Hamilton Bulldogs have first place in the North Division locked up.  The real battle now is for the second spot and home ice advantage in the first round.  That is still up for grabs to the Amerks, Moose, and Heat.

With the Monsters and Marlies both playing decent hockey recently they are two teams that could find a way to sneak in as well.  Three out of the final 10 games for the Amerks is against the Marlies.  With other games against Hershey, Hamilton, and Binghamton it could be time to really hit the panic button.

After practice on Tuesday when Benoit Groulx was asked about getting into playoff mode here’s his response:

I think [...]Read More

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Roy and Fitzpatrick Injured, Hotham Back In for Amerks

March 24, 2010 - By

Newly acquired Mathieu Roy hurt his left ankle on Tuesday morning during practice and did not make the trip to Cleveland.  Roy hurt himself as I was taking a walk from the seats to the back hallway so I didn’t catch what happened but he appeared to be in some pain when I saw him in the hallway.  He’s supposed to be the physical veteran player on defense for the rest of the season, but the move could turn out to be a bust if as he was injured when traded for and is injured again.

Rory Fitzpatrick also stayed behind with his groin bothering him, he’s day to day.

Down two defensemen the Amerks called Scott Hotham back up from the Florida Everblades.  Hotham has been acceptable at this point in the season on defense.

Technically the Amerks are down what should be four regular defensemen right now.  Garrison and Ellerby are called up through the end of the season and now Roy and Fitzpatrick injured.

What would have been an interesting experiment to try is have Steve MacIntyre play on the blue line.  MacIntyre was a seventh player on defense at practice on Tuesday and to be [...]Read More

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Comparing Last Season to this Season, the Opposite Happened

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March 23, 2010 - By

As a season goes on you typically expect a team to get better.  The players get to know each other better, they build chemistry, more practice time, and find their groove.  What you don’t expect is for a team to go in the opposite direction.

The addition of Mike Brodeur to the 08-09 Amerks was a much needed boost of confidence that salvaged part of the season.  The 09-10 Amerks seemed to lose all confidence after the month of November once they were taken apart by injuries, call ups and what they say was the lack of practice time.

Let’s do a quick comparison to last years team versus this years:

The 09-10 Amerks got out to an early 18 win start.

The 08-09 Amerks got off to a horrible start losing an early 19 games.

The 08-09 Amerks were 22-27 from December 1st through March 23rd.

The 09-10 Amerks are 21-28 from December 1st through March 23rd.

A number of people have looked at the standings and said the Amerks have been in either first or second place for most of the season and there was no reason to worry.  I think the wins and losses paint a different [...]Read More

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Weekend Recap: Two Losses, A Goalie Scored and Steiner Sent to Reading

March 22, 2010 - By

The Amerks lost two games on the road this weekend and sent Daniel Steiner back to Reading.  That’s the weekend in one sentence.  I took the weekend off from watching Amerks hockey and apparently I did not miss all that much but felt the need to write a recap of the weekend.

** Daniel Steiner has been sent back (technically loaned) to the Reading Royals of the ECHL.  Steiner had spent the first part of the season with the Royals after he was not able to land a job in the NHL or AHL.  He is signed to a contract with the Amerks which is why he was technically loaned.  Steiner is considered a veteran and with the other veterans healthy he was the odd man out.  It’s better for him to get playing time than sitting out every game here.  (Prev article: Steiner is Living the Dream)

** The Amerks lost 4-2 on Friday against the Binghamton Senators.  If you look at the final stat sheet you’ll see that B-Sens goalie Chris Holt scored an empty net power play goal.  Yes, a goalie scored against the Amerks.  The Senators had a three goal lead until Graham Mink [...]Read More

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