Posts Tagged ‘Postgame’

Leggio Earns the Amerks 3 out of 4 Points Against the Heat

February 4, 2012 - By
Leggio Earns the Amerks 3 out of 4 Points Against the Heat

We’re now in the month of February and this is the time of the season that teams make a push for the playoffs and determine how they’ll be able to play once in the playoffs.  The NHL trade deadline is Monday February 27, 2012, just over three weeks away.  There’s one position that the Amerks have started to gain some consistency and that’s in goaltender David Leggio.  In two games he earned a shutout, overtime loss and combined 62 saves.  Leggio had an outstanding 33 save shutout on Thursday night and then two of the three goals scored against him on Friday night were the result of the puck being redirected, can’t really blame the goalie on those.  Now if only the Amerks could get healthy and possibly add a real scorer this team could start to make a better run.

The Amerks gained three out of four possible points in the standings so far this week which is acceptable looking at it that way.  The Amerks started the night three points behind the Marlies but the Marlies beat the Crunch and increased the lead to four.  Both teams have played 46 games.

In Thursdays game the Amerks looked like [...]Read More

Amerks Shutout in Syracuse; Toronto at 3pm Today

January 28, 2012 - By
Amerks Shutout in Syracuse; Toronto at 3pm Today

The Amerks were shutout on Friday night by the Syracuse Crunch with most of the credit given to Crunch goalie Iiro Tarkki.  He was perfect in the game with 31 saves.  On the other end of the rink Drew MacIntyre was scored on four times.  The Amerks have only won three out of their past 10 games.

Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier was in Syracuse to watch the game and so was Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray.  Were they talking trades in person?  Just watching some hockey?  With the NHL All-Star break they were likely there just to watch the prospects but everyone can insert their own assumptions.

Lindsay Kramer of the Post Standard had this in his writeup:

The first two markers were chunks of raw meat for a sellout crowd of 6,353 fans, which then in turn pushed the team into a higher gear game. The bounceback came after Syracuse dropped both ends of a home-and-home series to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last weekend.

“It pushes them (the Amerks) on their heels. And the crowd was great,’’ Schofield said. “We focused on coming out (hard) early all week. Losing two in a row, that was the main emphasis (in practice). [...]Read More

Griffins 3 Goals in Under 3 Minutes Defeats Amerks; Gongalsky vs Piche

January 26, 2012 - By
Griffins 3 Goals in Under 3 Minutes Defeats Amerks; Gongalsky vs Piche

The Amerks lost on Wednesday night and there’s two ways you could look at the standings after this game.  The glass half empty way is that the Amerks are following the Buffalo Sabres lead and slowly sinking in the standings.  There’s only four points that separates the Amerks from the Rockford IceHogs who are in last place in the conference.  They’re also only six points from last place in the league.  The glass half full way is that the Amerks are only two points from eighth place in the conference and four points from sixth place.  The good news is that the Amerks play nine out of 12 games in February on home ice so if there was ever a time to really turn things around it’d be in February.  The ship hasn’t sunk but there’s reason for concern.

The real downfall has been the inconsistencies.  Everything from goal scoring to goaltending to wins and losses.  This is a hard working group of hockey players with a lot of potential how much they can really accomplish is the question.  The hope for any sports team is to get into the playoffs and then anything can happen.  It’s going to take [...]Read More

Amerks Using a Mulligan after 5-2 Loss to the Barons, Try Again Friday

January 20, 2012 - By
Amerks Using a Mulligan after 5-2 Loss to the Barons, Try Again Friday

The Rochester Americans weren’t very good on Thursday night and it showed on the scoreboard with the Oklahoma City Barons easily skating away with a 5-2 win.  The team will use a mulligan and forget the game ever happened and move on to the rematch on Friday night on the same ice surface.  I’ll continue going through a game recap but it can be summed up pretty easily, the Amerks were without three of their top defensemen and it showed.  The team was missing Shaone Morrisonn, Joe Finley and TJ Brennan and the Barons took advantage of it.

The news leading up to the game was that Michael Ryan would finally be back in the lineup after missing 35 games.  Well, he wasn’t.  He looked fine at the morning skate and Rolston even talked about him playing after practice.  Because of those two things I was expecting to see him but when the team came out for warmups one of the players missing was Ryan.  Jacob Legace wasn’t expected to play either but did given the opening in the roster.  Ryan in the lineup probably wouldn’t have been a game changer but he would’ve helped.

Alex Biega made one of the better [...]Read More

Leggio Leads the Amerks to the Second Half of the Season with a Win

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January 15, 2012 - By
Leggio Leads the Amerks to the Second Half of the Season with a Win

Another weekend has come and gone and another pair of solid performances by the Rochester Americans.  The team finished the set of games with three out of a possible four points with an overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies on Friday and regulation win against the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday night.  David Leggio has stepped up to becoming the star of the team right now with his fourth straight standout performance.  Leggio had 35 saves in a win against the Bulldogs on Saturday and over the course of the past four starts he has made 165 saves in net.  That’s a lot of pucks to be stopping.  Oh defense where are you?

This team has needed the goalie to steal wins and the win against Hamilton could be considered one of those games.  Right now that goal is David Leggio and he’ll have more starts on the horizon.

Back to the win over Hamilton.. the Amerks are now 9-0-1-0 when leading after two periods of play.  When this team can find a way to build a lead they’ve done an outstanding job of holding on to it.

Mark Voakes put the Amerks on the board first with his fifth goal [...]Read More

Amerks Comeback Takes the Bears to the Shootout; Successful Weekend

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January 9, 2012 - By
Amerks Comeback Takes the Bears to the Shootout; Successful Weekend

The Amerks loss to the Hershey Bears can be looked at a few ways but the best way to look at it is that this team has a lot of heart, character and a never say die attitude that’s awesome to watch.  After two periods the Bears were winning the game and had a 36-9 advantage in shots, they had a 15-3 advantage after the first period.  The game appeared to be a game of kids amongst men but it was still only 2-0 after 40 minutes with plenty of time for the Amerks to make it a game.  They did just that 15 seconds into the third period and then tied it up with 61 seconds left on the scoreboard to send the game into overtime and the eventual shootout.

(photo courtesy of Sweetest Hockey on Earth, a Hershey Bears site similar to this one)

It was a successful weekend for the Amerks picking up four out of a possible six points in the standings.  They lost in the shootout on Friday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and defeated the Binghamton Senators on Saturday.  I’ve often said not so nice things about the quality of video that you get [...]Read More

Varone and Leggio Lead Amerks to 3-2 Win Over B-Sens

January 8, 2012 - By
Varone and Leggio Lead Amerks to 3-2 Win Over B-Sens

Sounds like the game came down to the final moments on Saturday night when the Amerks defeated the defending Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators.  I was not able to see or listen to the game so here’s the press release below…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2011

VARONE, LEGGIO POWER AMERKS TO 3-2 WIN OVER B-SENS

(Rochester, NY)… Rochester Americans rookie forward Phil Varone scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, and David Leggio made a season-high 44 saves to power the Amerks to a 3-2 win over the defending Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators tonight at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The win improves Rochester (15-13-4-2) to 3-1-0-0 this season against the B-Sens as it has now collected points in six of its last seven games.

The two-goal effort was the first multi-goal game for Varone, who also extended his point streak to six games. The game also featured the return of forward Zack Kassian and defenseman T.J. Brennan, who were reassigned to Rochester earlier this morning. Kassian made an immediate impact in his first game back in the lineup, assisting on Varone’s first goal of the game and finishing with a +1 rating.

Andre Petersson (1+1) [...]Read More

Another One Goal Loss, Pens Defeat Amerks in the Shootout

January 6, 2012 - By
Another One Goal Loss, Pens Defeat Amerks in the Shootout

The Amerks picked up a point again on the road against a tough Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team which is better than nothing.  It came down to the skills competition where Eric Tangradi scored in the eighth round scoring top corner glove side on Drew MacIntyre for the win.  These one goal losses and one point games could come back to haunt the Amerks in April.  A week ago they were only one point back of the first place Marlies and after tonight their seven back from first in the division but tied for eighth in the conference.

The game started with both teams skating back and forth for the first 10:48 before the first whistle of the game and then they finished the first period in under a half hour.  At 17:11 of the first period Marcus Foligno put the puck on goaltender Brad Thiessen who tried to go for the glove side but it went off the edge of his glove.  The puck landed to the side of the net where Phil Varone was skating in and scored for his third of the season.

Jason Williams tied the game at 11:07 of the second period with a shot from the [...]Read More

A Few Random Postgame Thoughts, Another One Goal Loss for the Amerks

December 31, 2011 - By
A Few Random Postgame Thoughts, Another One Goal Loss for the Amerks

The story of the night once the game started was the enormous crowd that showed up to see the Rochester Americans tonight.  The line to get tickets at the box office and will call nearly filled the lobby well past the start of the game.  The attendance announced was 9,7771 which is the largest crowd I’ve ever seen in that building since I started going to games in 2006.  A crowd of 10,136 was announced on January 12, 2007 but no one I’ve talked to ever remembers that large of a crowd that season.  That was the end of an era of padded numbers with tickets printed, not actual attendance which is reported now.  Anyways… hopefully everyone was entertained and comes back again!

I don’t have the time to do a typical post game report so here’s a few random thoughts:

** This was the Amerks 11th loss by one goal.  Include a game where an empty netter was scored and it’s really their 12th.  There’s probably a few ways you can look at a stat like that.  Is it due to goaltending letting in one too many soft goals?  Typically the case.  Is it due to the lack of [...]Read More

Amerks Shootout Win Extends Streak to Four Games; Adversity is No Problem

December 29, 2011 - By
Amerks Shootout Win Extends Streak to Four Games; Adversity is No Problem

(Update: Added shootout video and Travis Turnbull incident) This Rochester Americans team is supposed to lack goal scoring.  It’s supposed to be missing a couple of players as veteran leadership.  It’s supposed to lack depth.  It’s also supposed to be torn apart by all of the injuries and call ups but the players put everything out on the ice and won in a shootout against the top team in the league.  They were down 2-1 and 3-2 during the game but came back each time and didn’t slow down at all.  With the four game winning streak in hand the Amerks have climbed back to within one point of the North Division leading Toronto Marlies.  The players are certainly giving reasons to believe that the glass is half full and filling up.

(Picture by Steven Christy from http://okcbarons.com/)

Paul Szczechura, Shaone Morrisonn and Evan Rankin were all out of the lineup with injuries but watching the game it was hard to tell.  Sure, the team failed to score on five power play chances which is where a Szczechura or Rankin could have helped but when you can score at even strength it’s not as bad.

We’ve shared concerns about this [...]Read More

Amerks Extend Win Streak to Three; Rankin Down; Back at it Tonight

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December 28, 2011 - By
Amerks Extend Win Streak to Three; Rankin Down; Back at it Tonight

The Amerks travelled to to play a two game set against the Oklahoma City Barons and they came out on top of the first game with a 4-3 win in overtime.  The team was up 2-1 before the Barons scored two goals in 56 seconds and then Paul Szczechura scored halfway through the third to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.  Watching the game online they had some struggles but didn’t back down from the top team in the league and came out victorious with an overtime goal scored by Drew Schiestel.

This was the third straight win for the Amerks and just like that they’re within three points of the North Division leading Toronto Marlies.  They’re still eighth in the Western Conference but can quickly jump to third by taking over the top spot in the division.  Assuming the team keeps playing hard every night, players can stay healthy and there’s few call ups anything is possible.. as everyone says, it’s a long season and it’s still only December.

Back to the game….. Paul Szczechura (aka Chewy.. aka Sahara if you listen to Rick Jeanneret) fresh off a recall to the Buffalo Sabres scored the first goal [...]Read More

Grit, Guts and Goaltending Leads to Amerks 4-1 Win

December 22, 2011 - By
Grit, Guts and Goaltending Leads to Amerks 4-1 Win

The story leading up to the Rochester Americans vs Lake Erie Monsters game on Wednesday night was that the Amerks were short on players with what seems like half the team up with the Buffalo Sabres.  On paper there wasn’t much hope for the game considering they’re a squad that at times has had problems scoring goals and they were about to face the American Hockey League’s best goaltender in Cedrick Desjardins.  No one should deny that the current Amerks roster has it’s challenges against other top teams in the league but one thing is certain, this team works hard and puts everything they have out on the ice and they proved that again with a 4-1 win over the Lake Erie Monsters.

“I give a lot of credit to our guys coming back from Texas and being able to bounce back at home and put the effort there,” said Head Coach Ron Rolston.  ”I think they did that tonight so we were very happy with that.” (from the Amerks press release)

Drew MacIntyre had a solid night in net for the Amerks and besides the one goal allowed he made a number of big time saves, including a glove [...]Read More