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Posts tagged 'Karl Stewart' (Page 2)

Posts Tagged ‘Karl Stewart’

Janis Sprukts Returns and Amerks Defeat Wolves

February 12, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans have started out a five game road trip with their second straight win, tonight coming against the Chicago Wolves with a 4-3 victory.

Janis Sprukts didn’t fly in to Chicago until around 2:30pm and from there he still had to get to the arena for the game.  One would think flying half away around the world would cause some serious jet lag, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

Sprukts made his presence known early in the game with a great penalty kill along with David Brine working hard to clear the puck.

The first period saw the Amerks and Wolves trade goals with the period ending tied at two.

Drew Larman scored the the first goal of the game for the Amerks after he received an excellent pass from Repik from the right wing side.  Once the puck hit his stick he easily put it into the net.

Karl Stewart was called for a roughing penalty at 9:04 of the first that eventually led to the Wolves power play goal by Riley Holzapfel to gain the 2-1 lead.

As a play was about to be called for icing Stewart continued into a Wolves player and plowed him [...]Read More

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Tyler Plante Leads Amerks Out of Last Place

February 11, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans have finally gotten themselves out of last place in the American Hockey League led by Tyler Plante with a 4-1 win on Tuesday night on the road against the Iowa Chops.  The game was further evidence of a Jekyll and Hyde type of team that the Amerks have become.  The Amerks played smart hockey with very few mistakes, tallying a power play goal, successfully killing four power play chances for the chops, and even scoring a short handed goal.

Heading into tonights game the Amerks trailed the Springfield Falcons by only one point in the standings, so the two points gained by the Amerks tonight puts them ahead by one.  Both teams play again on Wednesday night, but hopefully now that the Amerks have gotten out of the cellar they’ll continue with the good and finally stop with the poor performances.

The performance by Tyler Plante was outstanding as he made 33 saves in the game for his second win of the season.  Mike Brodeur was expected to start the game tonight but isn’t quite ready to return from his groin injury.  What seemed like a tough scenario having Brodeur out injured has turned into an excellent [...]Read More

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Amerks Sabotage an Excellent Game For Brodeur

December 13, 2008 - By

Considering how badly the season has gone, it wasn’t until the 27th game of the season that the Amerks were shut out for the first time.  They lost to the Peoria Rivermen (currently in 2nd place in the Western Conference) on Friday night by the final score of 2-0.  The Amerks sabotaged an excellent game from goaltender Mike Brodeur.

This was the Amerks fifth game in seven nights for both teams, the key difference appears to have been the Amerks not being able to overcome a full day of travel on Thursday.

Talking about the schedule coach Benoit Groulx stated, “Its not an excuse but a fact we’ve been traveling a lot lately.  We should have been able to overcome this.  I expected them to have a bad first and then pick it up, but its not the case which is too bad because we sabotaged a great game from Brodeur.  We got a little better but had nothing in the system.  Looking at the schedule we knew tonight was going to be a tough night and its part of a schedule, we’re all facing this and you’ve got to find a way to overcome this [...]Read More

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Amerks Pickup First Road Win in Houston

December 10, 2008 - By

The Amerks were able to mess with Texas and pickup their first road win of the season tonight in a 2-1 shootout against the Houston Aeros.  Jacob Micflikier scored the winning goal in the shootout and Mike Brodeur had another stellar game in goal.

Brodeur saved 26 of 27 shots through the end of overtime and then three of four Houston shots in the shootout.  Could he be the answer we’ve been looking for to try and salvage the season?  After playing in three games it sure does seem that way.  Having a goalie the team can count on may give the defense some more confidence, now if only the offense can put the pack past opposing goalies.. we may start, dare I say it, a winning streak!

Dan Collins scored the Amerks only goal of the game and his fifth of the season at 17:30 of the first period, assists to Mike Duco and David Brine.

The power play goal by Maxim Noreau was the only goal of the game for the Houston Aeros.  The Aeros were one for six on the power play.  On the flip side, the Amerks had seven power play opportunities, including a five on [...]Read More

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Practice 11-20-2008: The Red Army Leaves

November 20, 2008 - By

“What’d you think of the game last night?”  The first thing Benoit says to the team when he gets on the ice.  “Now it’s over, behind us…tomorrow, it’s different.  Forget about last night, work hard.  Do not think about last night, it’s over.  Now we practice hard and work for tomorrow.”

Karl Stewart, Janis Sprukts and Andrew Sweetland came out before practice in red “no contact” jerseys.  But, now they are on the ice with the rest of the team, full contact.  Stewart expects to be in next Wednesday’s game against in Toronto.  Sprukts may be back tomorrow night against the Manchester Monarchs.

I have been awaiting the return of Karl Stewart ever since he was injured.  He is a great forward to have on this team (or any team for that matter).

My good friend Jack Birch just walked in.  I’m sure he is very excited to see Keith and I after last night.

I hope they replace Jordan Henry with Peter Aston for tomorrow’s game.  Henry has become pretty embarrassing to watch in the past few games.  He is constantly in the box, and when he isn’t, he is scoring goals for the opposing team.

[...]Read More

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Game Day 11-19-2008: Brighter Ice Surface!

November 19, 2008 - By

Tonight, the Rochester Americans and Toronto Marlies face off at 7:05pm EST at Blue Cross Arena.  This will be the second of eight games between the two North Division teams.  The Amerks look for their first win of the season against the Marlies.  Rochester dropped a 5-2 decision in the previous meeting with Toronto back on Halloween night to fall to 0-1-0-0 on the season and 10-17-0 all-time against the Toronto Maple Leafs’ affiliate.

The biggest difference at this point between the two teams seems to be goals against. The Marlies have only allowed 42 goals, the Amerks a whopping 72.  Looking at goals for, the Amerks have 33 goals this season, the Marlies have 32.

The only thing to really report from practice this morning is that they appeared to replace the lights in the arena over the ice surface, it seems much brighter!  From talking with some fans of the team, they would probably wish they just shut them off for the season.

No word on whether David Shantz or Chris Beckford-Tseu will be starting in net.  It’s a coaches decision, as of this morning that decision hadn’t been made yet.

Luke Beaverson appears to be moving up [...]Read More

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Practice 11-18-2008: We Have A Veteran That Needs To Get On The Ice

November 18, 2008 - By

Why in the world isn’t Jason Cipolla on the ice for the Amerks?  I watch him practice at least twice a week with the boys and I always wonder why he doesn’t still play.

He is barely older then Rory Fitzpatrick and it’s time to suit up.  When he is doing skating drills with players, he is always faster than almost all of them.  I want to see him signed to a PTO and get in a game or two.  Would it hurt anything?  No.

It hasn’t been that long since he was laced up and on the ice.  He was with the Hannover Scorpions until the 2005-06 season.

Jason could be a player that the fans here in Rochester can really get on board with.  He has always been a favorite of mine.  I wanted him to play last year when the going was tough (the whole year), and now I only want to see him back in the Red, White and Blue even more.

OK, enough about my obsession with Jason coming back to play.  I’m sure it’s never going to happen no matter how many times I ask him to suit up.

edit: There [...]Read More

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Amerks Defeated by the Moose Yet Again

November 11, 2008 - By

The Amerks have already played the Manitoba Moose four times this season, which has resulted in four of eleven losses, and being outscored 17-4.  The Rochester Americans just can’t seem to get the puck in the net to keep themselves in games, or try and make a comeback to win some games.  The loss drops the Amerks record down to 2-11.  On the bright side, we haven’t been shut out yet!

“We had a good start, we were matching them, and obviously a good team finds a way to win,” Benoit Groulx said after the game.

The Amerks did start the game well.  The first Moose goal was scored by Jason Jaffrey as he seemed to skate untouched right on towards the net where he put the puck away.  Janis Sprukts seemed to be slowing into the play and just let Jaffrey squeeze right by.

Mike Duco responded about seven minutes later to tie the game at one a piece.  Michal Repik followed the puck behind the net and was able to pass it out to a rushing Mike Duco who managed the Amerks lone goal of the night against Karl Goehring.

The next two goals were ones that a [...]Read More

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If You Can't Beat 'Em, Beat 'Em…Amerks Lose 6-1 To The Crunch

October 25, 2008 - By

The Rochester Americans lost tonight to the Syracuse Crunch in a sad 6-1 final score.  This, of course, is better than last year on the Crunch’s “Pink Out” night when the Amerks were creamed 9-2.

Emmerson made his AHL debut tonight and did a good job.  But, more on that later.

The first period started out with a quick epic fail when Starkov scored for the Crunch only 17 seconds into the game.  That was only the tip of the iceburg that was to come.

The Amerks were on the powerplay when Vigalante went to the box for tripping at 3:18.  That chance was short lived when Ellerby decided to get a penalty of his own at 4:02.  To add insult to injury, Drew Larman took yet another penalty, giving the Crunch a 4 on 3 powerplay.  The outcome of that situation is easy to imagine.  The Crunch (Wilson) scored their second goal of the night easily.

For the next ten minutes we fought off a few more penalty killing problems.  But, it wouldn’t last forever.  Wilson tallied his second goal of the night at 14:15 to put another nail in the coffin before the end of the [...]Read More

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Amerks Win Their First Game of the Year…The Hard Work Pays Off

October 25, 2008 - By

The Rochester Americans won their first game of the season tonight against the Quad City Flames in a 5-4 victory.  Although the game really came down to the bitter end, the players put in 110% effort all night and their hard work finally payed off.

I have been at a lot of practices already this year and as you have read in my articles, I think the coaching staff is doing a far superior job than the last few years.  And I think Benoit’s “no screwing around” attitude has really given this team the need to work exceptionally hard for him.  But, I digress…

The first period of the game, the players came out to play on both sides of the ice.  Back and forth the puck went all period.  No quality shots were taken by either team and the period ended 0-0.  The Amerks were showing that they weren’t going to be taking the game lightly though.  They were immediately giving out hard hits on the boards to anyone, no matter what the size of the player.

The Flames got on the board first in the second period.  The Amerks wouldn’t stand for that for long though.  [...]Read More

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Thursday Morning Amerks' Practice 10-23-2008

October 23, 2008 - By

Here we are again at the arena (my son’s favorite thing to do on a Thursday morning).  Practice isn’t under way yet, but there is someone on the ice…

Jordan Henry is skating by himself right now.  Doing some good ol’ fashion skating drills on his own.  He looks pretty good.  Hopefully, that knee sprain is getting healed up nicely.  He left the ice before Bob Janosz came out so, I am assuming at this point that he isn’t going to be skating with the team still.

Some new additions to the ice today.  Rory Fitzpatrick is practicing with the team today.  Let’s hope we see him on the ice tomorrow.  He may not be the best defenseman in the world, but he is our captain and our team’s elder and that is needed on the ice for this winless team.

Also on the ice today is Karl Stewart.  His immigration problems must have gotten resolved like Tyler Plante said they would.  Lastly, the newest member of the Amerks’ squad, Jacob Micflikier is here and ready to play.  Doning the number 41, let’s hope he has more heart than the 41 before him.  It’s funny to [...]Read More

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Amerks Monday Practice; Short Chat with Curt Styres

October 20, 2008 - By

The Amerks returned to practice this morning after a trip to Winnepeg over the weekend where they lost two games against the Manitoba Moose.

Tanner Glass and Jason Garrison have been the two best players this season, it’s noticeable in practice as well.  Any time you see a great play it’s one of them.

Amerks Owner Curt Styres was watching practice as well and I spoke with him for a few minutes regarding the team.  One of the things he asked was what I thought it would take to fill Blue Cross Arena.  My reply was simple, a winning team that is also tough.

Styres seems to like players that aren’t necessarily on the ice just to drop the gloves, but can play and hit and will also give others a sense of security.  He wants players to be able to take that extra stride into the corner where the opposing player following may think twice about what they do knowing who is on the bench watching.

One thing that Styres suggested to Gage was to have the team practice without shooting the puck.  You do have to wonder what good it really does when shots are always [...]Read More

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