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Posts tagged 'Abbotsford Heat' (Page 2)

Posts Tagged ‘Abbotsford Heat’

Amerks Feel the Heat and are Forced to a Game 7

April 26, 2010 - By

Before everyone starts writing a eulogy for this Amerks team just remember that it’s not over yet.  When a playoff series is on the line every team wants home ice advantage, something the Amerks earned.  It’s up to them to use it to their advantage.  It’s their building.  This team has done a lot this season, the last they they want is this season to be considered one big choke.

The only other time in Amerks history that they had a 3-1 series lead that eventually went to a game seven they won the series on their way to a Calder Cup in 1983.

That’s what we have to hope at least.  On to the game….

The Abbotsford Heat scored three goals in a span of two minutes and nine seconds that turned out to be too big of a hole for the Amerks to climb out of.  The Heat won the game thanks to speed, passing, bad giveaways and poor defensive coverage by the Amerks.

Evgeny Dadonov gave up the puck after being chased down by Mikael Backlund in the Amerks zone which led to a goal by Jason Jaffray.  It only took 41 seconds for the Heat to [...]Read More

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Gameday: Amerks in Control to End the Series

April 25, 2010 - By

The Rochester Americans have a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series with the Abbotsford Heat and should be in control of ending the series with a home game today at 5:05pm in downtown Rochester.  The Amerks won two out of three on the left coast of North America against the Heat and have home ice advantage for the end of the series.

If the Amerks can play their game like they did in games 2, 3 and 4 they’ll have no problems winning.  They should not be overconfident about wrapping up the series but also confident that they will have no problems.

Goalies Tyler Plante and David Shantz will be the keys to winning.  Plante needs to continue playing a strong game and the Amerks need to find a way to keep David Shantz guessing to score goals.  Graham Mink needs to create movement in front of the net and players like Mike York and Shawn Matthias need to find ways to keep the puck moving.

The D&C had a much better writeup about todays game and the series up until this point, check out the article here.

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Video: Amerks at Heat Game Five Scoring

April 24, 2010 - By

Thanks to the Abbotsford Heat for supplying scoring highlights pretty quickly to the media after games.  Here’s the four goals scored during the game and the Jason Jaffray penalty shot.

1. ABB Rheault, (2) (Spurgeon, Sutter), 7:45
1. ABB Murray, (1) (Lammers, Cunning), 10:27
1. RCH York, (2) (Matthias), 13:04
3. ABB Van der Gulik, (1) , 9:48

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

Here’s hoping for some better highlights on Sunday!

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Heat Defeat the Amerks to Force Game Six Sunday in Rochester

April 24, 2010 - By

The Abbotsford Heat were down 3-1 in the series heading into Friday nights game and scored two first period goals on their way to a 3-1 win over the Amerks to force a game six on Sunday in Rochester.  Don Stevens said on the broadcast that the team has to be up at 4am to begin their travel back home, based on how tired the teams looked tonight let’s hope they drink some red bulls for the game on Sunday.

The game was more like game one in Rochester than the previous four.  The Heat took an early lead and were able to limit the quality scoring chances for the Amerks.  There was not a lot of scoring and definitely not a lot of hitting.  That can easily be contributed to the third game in five nights after traveling across the country.

It did appear the Jeff Taffe had scored a goal late in the third period that would have made it a 3-2 game but it was called no goal by referee Frederic L’Ecuyer.  Every Amerk player on the ice at the time celebrated and even David Shantz looked for the puck but it was waved off.  Benoit Groulx [...]Read More

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Gameday: Amerks Can Move on With Win; Games 3 and 4 Highlights

April 23, 2010 - By

The Rochester Americans can move on to the second round for the first time since the 2004/2005 season with a win tonight against the Abbotsford Heat.  Considering the way the Amerks have played the last two games I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably, but overconfidence can be dangerous.

To borrow from the comment left by Dubblenikle yesterday, “They need to step on the throat of the Heat Friday.  They need to not let off the gas at all.  With the power play clicking they need to keep pressing with it.”

Couldn’t have said it better.  From the first second the puck hits the ice the Amerks need to go hard and not stop for 60 minutes so they can relax on the long flight home.

Tyler Plante needs to continue making big saves.  Mike York needs to continue setting up goals.  The defense needs to continue giving the offense confidence that they can help out.  Steve MacIntyre needs to continue to show his presence to the Heat.  Shawn Matthias needs to continue his AHL farewell tour (if he keeps this up he’ll be with the Panthers out of training camp).

The Amerks have shown confidence and consistency [...]Read More

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Gameday: Amerks Defense is Winning, Game 4 at Abbotsford

April 21, 2010 - By

A pivotal game #4 is tonight at 10pm on the road against the Abbotsford Heat for the Rochester Americans.  Take a 3-1 series lead and everything is in favor of the Amerks, allow the Heat to tie the series 2-2 and there could be something to be concerned about.

The game is at 10pm Eastern Time and you can listen at 1280AM in Rochester or buy the game for $9.99 through AHLLive.com.  The feed for the last game was pretty good, a decent enough quality that I had it playing through my big screen TV.  I’ll have the Live Chat up and running again starting at around 9:45 EST at http://www.letsgoamerks.com/livechat

If the Amerks keep playing they have the last two games they should do alright.  Besides the first eight minutes or so of game 3 the Amerks have been in control and leading the play on the ice making the Heat play catch up.  Tyler Plante has made key saves when needed, the defense has scored, Mike York has assisted on seven goals, Shawn Matthias has played very well and of course Graham Mink is playing his best hockey in a while.

One key area for the [...]Read More

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Huge 8 to 4 Win for the Amerks in Game 3

April 20, 2010 - By

The Amerks got out to a slow start on Monday night on the road against the Abbotsford Heat but came back in a big way ending the game with an 8-4 win.  Abbotsford had a 2-1 lead up until 8:03 of the second period when Shawn Matthias tied the game and that opened up the scoring.  By the end of the game  Shawn Matthias, Graham Mink and Clay Wilson each had two goals and Mike York and Jason Garrison each had three assists.

The win gives the Amerks a 2-1 lead in the series heading into the next game on Wednesday night.  The win also guarantee’s at least one more Amerks home game whether it’s the end of this series or the next round.  Keep the ice cold and the locker room doors unlocked, the Amerks will be coming back home!

I wrote prior to game one that Shawn Matthias has the big game experiences this time of year and it doesn’t come down to just the veterans and he’s proving that.  Mike York and Graham Mink are also playing huge but Matthias has been the one to step up in these past two games.

David Shantz was pulled [...]Read More

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Hard Nosed Hockey Leads Amerks to Tie Series

April 18, 2010 - By

Saturday night in Rochester was the definition of playoff hockey.  The Rochester Americans defeated the Abbotsford Heat in game 2 on Saturday night, an excellent rebound of a game from the way they played on Thursday night.

“It’s playoff hockey and both teams were trying to set the tone and trying to get the teams going,” Shawn Matthias said.  “It’s going to be a long series so we wanted to show them we’re not scared of them.  If you watch they’re always starting things after every whistle so we’re responding well and trying to play a hard nosed style.”

That’s not a style of hockey the Amerks have had to play every other night but it’s what they’re going to have to do in this seven game series against the Abbotsford Heat.

“We knew we needed to win this game,” Tyler Plante said talking about the game.  “Tonight it really felt like playoff hockey, we worked hard for 60 minutes and I really give the team credit for that.”

Plante was excellent in net and proved he should have been the starter to begin with in this playoff series.  The only goal scored on him in this series was not [...]Read More

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Saturday Night Fight Videos with Roy and Matthias

April 18, 2010 - By

The game on Saturday night between the Amerks and Heat was hard hitting and filled with a lot of punches, pushing and shoving.  Tyler Plante set the tone early keeping his crease safe and clearing it out when the Heat got too close.

Mathieu Roy got into the first fight of the night against Matt Pelech at 4:14 of the first period.  Just prior to the fight, as you’ll see in the video, Pelech gave Shawn Matthias a big hit at the blue line.  Right after the hit Roy challenged Pelech and this is the outcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2YGsDvjK-k

There were a lot of other scraps in the game but the only other complete fight was between Shawn Matthias and Carter Bancks.  We’ve seen Matthias score goals and throw some decent hits but a fight was completely unexpected.

I asked Matthias about the fight after the game and Matthias said, “He really wanted to fight. I’ve never been asked to fight before so I kind of jumped on the opportunity and had fun with it.”

I then asked him about having a fight card at HockeyFights.com and he laughed and said, “I don’t know if my mom will like [...]Read More

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Game 2: Stay Out of the Box and Play Physical Near the Net

April 17, 2010 - By

It’s only game two of a seven game series tonight between the Amerks and Heat but it’s possibly one of the most important games.  If the Heat win and return home for three games everything is in their favor.  If the Amerks win the series starts over as a best of five with three straight in Abbotsford and the Heat are not as good on home ice.  I’m heading down to the arena shortly for the morning skate and hopefully it’s not the last.

The game plan should be pretty simple, stay out of the penalty box, create some battles in front of David Shantz and do not let Keith Seabrook shoot the puck from the blue line.  Seabrook had two goals on Thursday night, the first and the game winner.

Attendance should be better tonight for game two at 7:05pm at Blue Cross Arena.  The Red Wings are scheduled to open their season today at home but the weather does not look to be very baseball like.  Pass the word, get some fans in the building to cheer on the hometown team.  The Sabres play at 1pm so keep the day going with more WNY playoff hockey!

A few [...]Read More

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Gameday: Rory Out, Observartions, Matthias has the Experience

April 15, 2010 - By

The Rochester Americans and Abbotsford Heat face off tonight for Game 1 of their Calder Cup playoff series.  The Amerks missed the playoffs the last two seasons after having two of the worst teams in franchise history.  A pretty remarkable turnaround, big thanks to the wallet of Amerks Owner Curt Styres.

A few quick things before the part about Matthias:

** Rory Fitzpatrick is a healthy scratch, that’s the biggest news.  Mathieu Roy is in.  Roy has only played in one game for the Amerks and is coming off of an ankle injury. Sucks for Fitzpatrick, but a healthy Roy is probably better.  Is game #1 of the playoffs the time to really take a gamble and expect 20 minutes out of the guy?  Groulx is taking a gamble, hopefully it pays off.

Has the Captain of a team ever been forced to sit in game 1 like this? Rory didn’t sound too happy in his comments to Kevin O at Hockey O-Zone.  It’s part of the game, but… why make him the captain if you don’t think you can count on him?

** Rob Tallas, the Panthers goalie coach has already left town.  At least Salak and Plante got [...]Read More

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Round 1 Preview of the Amerks vs Heat

April 14, 2010 - By

The Amerks begin their run for the Calder Cup on Thursday night against the Abbotsford Heat in I’m guaranteeing will be a great round of hockey.  The two teams met four times during the regular season with the Heat winning three of those games but the teams that played each other during the regular season are not the same teams playing now in the playoffs.

Only one of the four games was a “blowout” where the Heat were the clear winners and that was on December 5th when the Amerks had Chris Beckford-Tseu in net.  Chris Taylor had also been kicked out of that game half way through the first period.  The defense was also without Rory Fitzpatrick at the time.

In other words, the four previous games do not really mean anything heading into the first round.

“They play hard, a lot of fast little forwards that finish their checks,” Jeff Taffe said talking about the Heat this past Friday.  “It’s something we have to battle through and expect.”

Speed has not been a redeeming quality of the Amerks this season so slowing down the Heat will be one of many keys to the Amerks winning some games.

Every [...]Read More

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