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Posts tagged 'Injuries'

Posts Tagged ‘Injuries’

Playing the What If Game with the Amerks Standings and Roster

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February 4, 2012 - By
Playing the What If Game with the Amerks Standings and Roster

One of the biggest challenges for the Rochester Americans is an inconsistent effort in games they have the chance to win (like Friday night against the Abbotsford Heat) which can be attributed to young players and the expectations of players to put in a lot of ice time.  The result?  The Amerks have lost 15 combined games due to a one goal margin.  That breaks down to six in regulation, six in overtime and three in the shootout.  Considering the fact that the Amerks are only four points behind the division leading Toronto Marlies we can see how even a few more wins would put the season in a different light right now.

Assuming the Amerks had found a way to win at least half of those 15 losses they’d be the division leaders and be considered one of the top teams in the league in the standings.  Add seven wins to the 20 that the Amerks currently have and they’d be tied with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and one win behind the league leading St Johns IceCaps who’re at 28 wins.

That’s a great way to look at things with the glass is half full attitude considering the injuries and [...]Read More

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Update and Info about Matt MacKenzie Injury

February 3, 2012 - By
Update and Info about Matt MacKenzie Injury

Matt MacKenzie is a defenseman on the Rochester Americans roster that only played 15 games up until his nasty injury on December 3rd against the Hamilton Bulldogs in which he had his leg cut wide open.  Lisa McRitchie who writes for the Oil Patch on Kukla’s Korner recently caught up with MacKenzie and wrote the following below.  He’s expecting to be back on the ice in a couple of weeks and will slowly work towards getting back into game shape.

Sadly, this was not a simple nostalgic trip to Calgary. Instead, Mackenzie has been recovering from a laceration to his quad suffered in a game in Hamilton on December 3rd.

“It was just a weird play,” Mackenzie said of the injury. “We both fell and I didn’t know that I had fallen on his skate at first. We fell and my whole leg went numb so I knew that something was wrong.

“I went to the bench and I saw the blood on my socks and I got rushed to the trainer’s room.  I went right to hospital. They looked at me and did a surgery. They did another surgery when I got back to Rochester.

“Five weeks of [...]Read More

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Amerks Gameday Notes, Lineup and Injury Updates

January 19, 2012 - By
Amerks Gameday Notes, Lineup and Injury Updates

The biggest news in Rochester other than Kodak filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is that Michael Ryan is back in the lineup for the Rochester Americans.  The last appearance of Michael Ryan on a gameday was October 16th when he was on the ice for warmups but didn’t come out for the game.  It was reported as “headaches” and he’s missed 35 games since then.  It’ll probably take a few games for Ryan to get his timing back but they’re looking for some instant offense out of him.

Zack Kassian had a solid two games against Binghamton and Hershey when he first came back and then was “ok” last weekend against Toronto and Hershey.  Rolston attributed that to Kassian just getting back to town, settling in and getting reacquainted with the team.  hmm.. I think that would’ve been the case with the first two games back, not the second two.  Kassian should be playing on a line with Michael Ryan and Paul Szczechura so a big game will be expected from him.

One thing the Amerks don’t want to do is get into a shootout type of situation against the Barons.  They don’t want the game to get into a shootout to [...]Read More

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Michael Ryan Returns, Evan Rankin ECHL Trade and One Hundred Thousand Amerks Fans

January 19, 2012 - By
Michael Ryan Returns, Evan Rankin ECHL Trade and One Hundred Thousand Amerks Fans

The last time Michael Ryan played a game was October 14th against the Lake Erie Monsters and has since missed 35 games due to a mystery injury/illness/something or another.  If everything goes according to plan he’ll skate to the ice tonight against the Oklahoma City Barons.  The last time he was expected to return was Thanksgiving week before another he had another set back.  So, what’s been wrong?  Who knows but a healthy Michael Ryan in the Amerks lineup immediately contributes some speed up front and even more potential scoring up front.  The team and fans will take that any day.

In his past three full seasons in the AHL, he was a big-time goal-scorer. In 2006-07 he scored 28 in 50 games for the Amerks. He scored 25 in 40 games with the Albany River Rats in 2008-09. He had 25 in 52 games for the Adirondack Phantoms last season.

And considering about half the forwards in Buffalo have been injured this season, and that six different Amerk forwards have been called up as injury replacements, there’s little doubt that Ryan would have been adding to his NHL games-played total.

(Read more from Kevin O on Hockey O-Zone)

[...]Read More

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Injury Updates but No Timeframe for Ryan, MacKenzie or Rankin

January 11, 2012 - By
Injury Updates but No Timeframe for Ryan, MacKenzie or Rankin

As of writing this there are three Rochester Americans players still out with injuries, Michael Ryan, Matt MacKenzie and Evan Rankin.  I guess we could also include Colin Stuart on this list even though he’s still on the Sabres roster and has not been sent back down yet.  So here’s a quick update on these guys:

Michael Ryan has only played in three games this season and there’s still no timeframe for his return.  He has been back on the ice trying to get back into shape but when I recently asked Ron Rolston if that meant he’ll be ready to play when he is in shape he said no.  The team would love to have him playing.  Ryan would love to be playing but it’s just not close to happening.  Exactly what’s wrong?  Still no idea.  Rolston hasn’t shared any information and I get the idea talking to him that they don’t know either.  Unless anything changes with Ryan, like we see him on the ice in full contact practice, this will be the last update saying there’s no update.

Matt MacKenzie was injured on December 3 on the road in a game against the Hamilton Bulldogs and is [...]Read More

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Gameday: Maturing Amerks Hit the Road Again; Morrisonn and Tropp Return

January 6, 2012 - By
Gameday: Maturing Amerks Hit the Road Again; Morrisonn and Tropp Return

The Amerks hit the road again for the start of a busy almost second half of the season.  They’ll be playing three games in three nights starting tonight against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and then Binghamton Senators and then closing out the weekend against the Hershey Bears on Sunday.  The team will play every Friday and Saturday night until April 6th which is the second to last weekend of the season.  This will also be one of five sets of three games in three nights to finish the season.

Last weekend the Amerks ended the year one point behind the Toronto Marlies for first place in the division and here we are a week later and the Amerks are now six points behind them and ninth place in the conference.  It’s not October or November anymore, this is the time of season when points start to have a lot more meaning when it comes to the playoffs.  There are 43 games remaining and there’s only four points separating the Amerks from where they are in ninth place to the Hamilton Bulldogs in 13th.

The Rochester Americans have been maturing as the season goes on which is great instead of a quick [...]Read More

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Gameday Notes: Amerks vs Bulldogs; Big Crowd Expected

December 30, 2011 - By
Gameday Notes: Amerks vs Bulldogs; Big Crowd Expected

The Amerks have a chance to take first back first place in the North Division with a win tonight over the Hamilton Bulldogs, a team they’ve had difficulty beating so far in six games this season.  The Bulldogs have 12 wins this season and five of those have been against the Rochester Americans.  Both teams are playing improved hockey lately so it should be a competitive game starting at 7:35 at the War Memorial.

Rochester is on a four game winning streak having just defeated the Oklahoma City Barons in a shootout and overtime.  They handed the Lake Erie Monsters a 4-1 loss last Wednesday and almost two weeks ago defeated the Houston Aeros on the road.  The winning streak has the Amerks within one point of first place in the North Division and thanks to a Toronto Marlies loss on Thursday they have a chance to move up.  They’re a young team finding ways to win through injuries, call ups and overall simply working as a team.

Hamilton on the other hand has won six of their last 10 games and picked up points in eight of those games.  On Monday the Toronto Marlies were winning 3-0 at the [...]Read More

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Taylor Chorney Hit on Amerks Evan Rankin

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December 29, 2011 - By
Taylor Chorney Hit on Amerks Evan Rankin

During the December 27th game between the Rochester Americans and Oklahoma City Barons the hit in the video below took Evan Rankin out of the game and he did not return.  He had to be helped to the ice by the trainer and missed the game the next night on December 28th.  I may be biased but it sure looks like Chomey skates at him and raises his shoulder as he goes in for the hit.  There was no penalty called on the play.

Rankin has been the a key player on the ice for the Amerks since joining them on November 25th when he was signed to a professional tryout.  In 13 games with the team he has seven goals and five assists which includes two games with two goals.  The 25 game PTO will run out at the end of January and assuming he’s not out for long it should be a guarantee he’ll land an AHL contract to stay here the rest of the season.  The only other player with seven goals in that same time frame is Derek Whitmore.

Here’s the video:

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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

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Amerks Need Some Players with 163 Man Games Lost Already

December 21, 2011 - By
Amerks Need Some Players with 163 Man Games Lost Already

Here we are in late December and the offensive side of the Rochester Americans lineup has just about dried up and as of this morning the team is short on players heading into tonights game against the Lake Erie Monsters.  Based on the Amerks roster that played on Sunday minus Whitmore and Foligno they have six defensemen, two goalies and ten forwards.  The simple math indicates that leaves them two forwards short.  As of Tuesday night there was not any news of additions to the roster.

Don Stevens had mentioned on Sunday that Shaone Morrisonn and Joe Finley were out with injuries from that game.  Morrisonn was also handed a one game suspension from the American Hockey League for an elbow this past Friday against the San Antonio Rampage.  It’s possible that Morrisonn was just sitting the game out ahead of the pending suspension.  We should find out sometime today what the status is of Finley and Morrisonn.

There’s often talk about “man games lost” due to injuries on a team and I can’t imagine another team having a number as high as the Rochester Americans right now.  The number combined between injuries and call ups (based on my late [...]Read More

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Six Goal Scorers Saved the Weekend for the Amerks; Finley and Morrisonn Injured

December 19, 2011 - By
Six Goal Scorers Saved the Weekend for the Amerks; Finley and Morrisonn Injured

What was shaping up to be a disaster of a road trip was saved on Sunday when six different players scored six goals to lead the Rochester Americans to a 6-2 win over the Houston Aeros.  The Amerks lost in overtime on Friday night to the Rampage, were blown out 6-2 on Saturday night against the Stars and then came back for the big win on Sunday.  Three out of a possible six points on a long road trip with a lineup missing a lot of key players isn’t too bad of an achievement.  (picture featured courtesy of The 3rd Intermission)

Derek Whitmore, TJ Brennan, Alex Biega, Jacob Legace, Travis Turnbull and Maxime Legault all scored goals on Sunday.  Goal scoring has been an issue all season so hopefully the six of those guys lighting up the board will give them all confidence that it can continue to be done.

Read a game recap from The 3rd Intermission: Aeros Do The Patriotic Things And Lose To The Americans

The bad news:  the Aeros lost 6-3 to the Rochester Americans, the team with the worst road record in the AHL.  And if not for a burst of scoring in the first [...]Read More

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Losing Texas Trip Ends Today Against Houston; Stuart Injured and Out a Month

December 18, 2011 - By
Losing Texas Trip Ends Today Against Houston; Stuart Injured and Out a Month

When fans begin to panic there’s often another voice that will say ‘it’s only December’ or ‘there’s still 48 more games to be played’ but things are starting to look very bleak for this Rochester Americans team.  The Amerks were shot down big time by the Texas Stars on Saturday night by the final score of 6-2.  This is the day after they lost in overtime by the score of 3-2.  The game on Sunday evening is against the Houston Aeros, one of the top teams in the league and a team that they lose to earlier this month on home ice.

Things had sounded like they were going in the right direction when the Amerks took an early 2-0 lead with two goals only 30 seconds apart early in the first period against the Stars on Saturday but it was all downhill from there.  The Stars erupted with four goals in the second period and also had a 13-4 advantage in shots in the second period.  This Amerks team had no chance.  Part of that blame can likely be placed on the Sabres who have called up the key parts of this team.  To be a successful team you need to win [...]Read More

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