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Posts tagged 'Practice'

Posts Tagged ‘Practice’

Benoit Groulxs Morning Speech; Two Player Moves

February 9, 2010 - By

Shortly after the start of practice this morning Benoit Groulx stepped up to the board and started talking to the team. It wasn’t a speech filled with yelling and anger but more of one from I would almost say the heart.  He talked to the team about playing with heart and as a team to win, not just on stats.

Obviously stats are what wins games and it has been how the Amerks have stayed near the top.  How well will those stats translate into playoff wins? We will find out in April.  The one thing that seems to have been missing from the play of the team recently is the passion and heart that seemed to be around at the start of the season.

He didn’t call out any players.  He didn’t start banging sticks against the glass.  He just appeared to tell the team to start playing from the heart and winning as a team again, it’s what they need to do to get somewhere.

We’ll see what team rides out the last stretch of the season and gets to the playoffs.

Not much else to report from during practice.

Jason Garrison is back [...]Read More

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Christmas Is Over…Amerks Ready To Take On The Bulldogs 12-26-2008

December 26, 2008 - By

Janis Sprukts

Tonight, the Rochester Americans take on the Hamilton Bulldogs at the Blue Cross Arena.  The game starts at 7:35PM and should have a pretty good size crowd as the post Christmas game usually does.  Mike Broduer should be starting in goal tonight even after he slipped up during Sunday night’s game.

Stefan Meyer should be will likely be back on the ice (as he should have been in Sunday night).  Drew Larman and Randel Gelech should be scratched if you are scratching players based on who is producing the worst on the team.

Rory Fitzpatrick still isn’t practicing, but he is here working out.  He is currently out here on the bench with the team watching them work.  Remember that Rory should be returning on the team’s trip out to Manitoba.

Don’t miss tonight’s game.  It may be the loudest one of the year with a crowd expected of close to 8,000.

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Back To The Grind: Practice 12-17-2008

December 17, 2008 - By

 

After a well-deserved two day break, the Amerks are back on the ice today with a few additions.  Shawn Matthias and Michal Repik are back from their call-ups to the Florida Panthers.  They had great chemistry when playing together in Florida, I would like to see that transfer to the AHL.

One major piece missing from the puzzle today is Noah Welch who went back to Florida after the game on Sunday night.  His conditioning stint in Rochester is over and we will miss him.  Rory Fitzpatrick is also not skating.  As earlier reported, he is out after having a surgery to repair his meniscus.  He is, however, up and walking around.  And it was said that he should return for Christmas.

It’s interesting to watch the players shoot on both Mike Brodeur and Chris Beckford-Tseu.  Brodeur doesn’t let anything in, even during practice.  He looks like he has belonged here in Rochester his whole life.  Beckford-Tseu is looking…well, like Beckford Tseu.  He stops some good ones, he lets some in.  Hopefully, having a real number one goaltender will help Chris get better.

Mike said that he is actively seeking a contract here in Rochester.  He wants to [...]Read More

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Amerks' Monday Morning Workout

November 24, 2008 - By

The team was schedule to have practice this morning at 11am, a better term would be that the team had a workout.  They spent 58 minutes on the ice without a single puck.

Benoit Groulx wasn’t kidding after Fridays game when he said that the team whole lot worse on Monday.

The only time Groulx addressed the players directly was to tell them to do push ups.

The last drill involved the players doing sprints from side to side followed by push ups.  One player stood out that appeared to have no issues leaving the ice, and that was Mike Duco.

Was going to take close pictures, but a courteous head shake from a player gave me the hint that it was not the time or place.

As practice ended the team was told to hit the gym this afternoon and be back on the ice at 4pm.  Whether they’ll practice with pucks, or get worked even harder is not known.

Whether it was that or something else, Rory Fitzpatrick was not happy leaving the ice as he slammed his stick against the boards and tossed it into section 123.

Before they all left the ice [...]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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Practice 11-13-2008: Happy Birthday Jason Garrison

November 13, 2008 - By

It’s Jason Garrison’s 24th birthday today…so, happy birthday to him.  He was also named the Morgan Stanley Player of the Month for October yesterday.  So, congratulations and happy birthday.

Stefan Meyer, Tanner Glass and Mike Caruso are all on the ice practicing today.  Whatever was ailing Meyer yesterday seems to have healed itself fairly quickly.  Glass and Caruso were both suffering from shoulder injuries but, are back today and will be playing this weekend.

Kenndal McArdle is not practicing today.  He was sick today…so, no injury and that’s good.

Luke Beaverson is back in black.  He is practicing as a defenseman again.  So, the experiment is over, unless they just needed another forward yesterday with Glass out.  And that was exactly it.  He was just filling in while there were injuries.

Caruso seems to be feeling just fine.  His shots are hitting their mark and he doesn’t look like he is in any pain while taking them.  I’m glad to see him back.  He is a good defenseman who should definitely be on this roster.

They are really hitting each other today.  I don’t think there is any way Benoit can give them the business for [...]Read More

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Practice 11-06-08: Have we hit rock bottom yet?

November 6, 2008 - By

It’s another day and another practice here at the ever so clean Blue Cross Arena.  It really is a clean arena, the cleaning crews either do a great job, or when you only have 1,000 people at a 10,000 seat venue it’s going to be an easy cleaning job.  Oh yea, the players are on the ice..

Janis Sprukts is finally back on the ice and was with the team the entire practice.

Jordan Henry has been cleared to play.  Towards the end of last season he was throwing bodies all over the ice playing a physical style of defense.  Let’s hope he can get on the ice this weekend and stop some pucks.

We have only won one out of ten games and are in last place in the league.  We’ve been outscored 48-21 in those ten games.  Our goalies are ranked #51 and #52 out of 52 goalies in the league.  The team points leader, Tanner Glass (3G, 3A), is ranked 119th in the league.  I’m not even going to bother looking up where the power play and penalty kill are ranked, what’s the point.

Last season around this time the Amerks had a four game [...]Read More

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Amerks' Practice 11-03-2008: Back To The Grind

November 3, 2008 - By

Jody Gage was just on the bench talking first to Jacob Micflikier and then to Andrew Sweetland.  I don’t know what that was about, but if they are going to send Micflikier away it would be a crying shame.  He is a bright spot on this team.  Andrew Sweetland I often forget exists, so if he is going to the ECHL or something, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Jordan Henry is out with the team for a full practice today.  He is expected to return to the ice for Friday’s game if he makes the lineup.  Personally, I would like to see more of Luke Beaverson on the ice.

Janis Sprukts is also on the ice today.  He is wearing a red jersey though, so he is probably not playing full contact just yet.  It will be good to have him back on the ice for games though.  Although some fans don’t think he has been living up to his signing yet, he is a player who can calm things down when they are getting a bit out of hand.  And he was gelling well with Matthias and Repik before his injury.  Well, that was a quick practice for [...]Read More

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Game-day Skate 11-01-2008: No Rest For The Weary

November 1, 2008 - By

After a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies last night, the Amerks are back on the ice preparing for their second game of the weekend tonight against the Hamilton Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs are hot right now, and if the Amerks think they are going to get a win out of them they need to play better than they did last night.

An improvement for the Amerks is that the Marlies didn’t score any 5-on-5 goals.  All their goals were while they were on the powerplay (the last goal was an empty netter).  But, the Amerks only had 1 shot on goal in the second period.

I am hoping Tyler Plante starts again tonight.  He looked good last night.  He made some amazing saves including one where he had no stick and ninja kicked the puck out of the air.

Jordan Henry is one of the first out on the ice today.  Maybe this means he will actually be doing a full practice with the team today.  It would be nice to see him back if he can add something we don’t have right now.  Which wouldn’t be hard.  But, if he sucks just send him and [...]Read More

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Practice 10-30-2008

October 30, 2008 - By

The team is working in smaller groups today.  Right now half the team is sitting on the bench while the other half practices puck movement.  It is very informative.  They are really getting some good passing and scoring going on.  Kenndal McArdle, once again, can stick the puck anywhere he wants to in the net.  In the smallest hole between the shoulder and crossbar.

But, Kenndal was just told “Don’t go below the dot to take your shot, if you do that, you won’t be on the power play.” 

This drill looks fun to me.  But, they are learning some great plays for the powerplay.  I hope Toronto takes some stupid penalties tomorrow, I would like to see how this translates to the gameday situations.  Repik looks great out there.  It looks like the first line of the PP will be:

Repik – Meyer – McArdle        Fitzpatrick-Garrison

Repik was being switched in and out with Karl Stewart.  Both looked pretty solid, but Repik looked better by a small margin.  Either way this top power play squad seems like a good choice to me.  Obviously, I am far less knowledgeable than Benoit…so, his choices will most likely make sense [...]Read More

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Practice 10-29-2008: The Return Of Rory

October 29, 2008 - By

The day you have all been waiting for is here.  Rory Fitzpatrick has returned from his head injury and is practicing with the team.  Peter Aston is also back on the ice today after a day off with a sore hip.  We have eight defensemen on the ice now.  A nice sight to see.

The atmosphere is much different today.  There is no yelling and screaming, everyone is back on track.  The team has clearly taken what Benoit said yesterday to heart.  Everyone is working their hardest while still having fun (not too much fun, but celebrating when they score a fancy goal or something).

Like a few people who read yesterday’s article said, Benoit can’t yell at them everyday or the players will just start to tune him out.  It clearly seems like he knows how to run a team.  I still can’t believe the difference between this year’s practices and last year’s.  It’s like night and day.  You won’t see any strip shootout games happening this year.

The players appreciate a coach who treats them like men and not like children.  Like Drew Larman said last night at the library, they deserved the treatment they got [...]Read More

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Amerks' Practice 10-28-2008

October 28, 2008 - By

I was hoping to see a really tough practice today after Saturday and Sunday’s games (and even Friday’s, it wasn’t a beautiful win).  And that is exactly what I am seeing.  Coach Benoit is not messing around today…not that he ever messes around.

During the first drill we are here for there are people still not hitting in the corners.  Benoit did not like that.  He called the whole team over to talk about how poorly he felt about that.  It sounded a little something like this. “We are so f***ing soft, so f***ing soft.  I don’t want to see you skating up and just putting your stick in there!  You hit your man and take the puck and get it out of there.”

They are now beating the bejesus out of each other in the corners.  And that is what I like to see.  Hit, hit, hit.  More hitting.  I want this team to start killing the other teams…literally.  I am sick of watching the other teams dig in the corner like professionals and we go in like pansies.  We will never win a corner battle that way.

There is an awful lot of bad words coming [...]Read More

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