Posts Tagged ‘Syracuse Crunch’

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

Season High 44 Shots and Standup Defense Leads Amerks to Win

November 17, 2011 - By
Season High 44 Shots and Standup Defense Leads Amerks to Win

The way the game started out on Wednesday night against the Syracuse Crunch the game could have gone completely in favor of the Crunch or it could’ve been one of the fastest games of all time.  Once the puck dropped around 7:05pm the first whistle wasn’t until five minutes and 13 seconds into the game.  During that period the Crunch put most of the pressure on the Amerks but by the time the game was over the Amerks had won the game by the final score of 3-2 for their fourth win in a row.

There were a lot of great plays and players on the ice but three that stuck out were all defensemen.  The three defensemen were Joe Finley, Shaone Morrisonn and TJ Brennan.  That’s not meant to take away from anyone else but those three made big differences in the game.  Finley and Morrisonn have become the top two defensemen for the Amerks and play the position very well.  They aren’t allowing quality shots on the net by forcing the plays along the outside and they’re also showing they can jump into a rush when needed.

Shortly after the game started Patrick Maroon of the Crunch was [...]Read More

Amerks End Lousy Road Trip Losing 5-2; Special Teams Needs Work

November 6, 2011 - By
Amerks End Lousy Road Trip Losing 5-2; Special Teams Needs Work

The Amerks ended a four game road with a 5-2 loss against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night and as mentioned elsewhere, it’s a game they shouldn’t forget and likely a low point in this early season.  The two teams play against each other Sunday evening at 6:05 in Rochester.  The Amerks also play eight of their next nine games on home ice if there was ever a time to turn things around it’d be now.

The Crunch were playing to redeem themselves after losing their previous game 6-2 against the Norfolk Admirals and they did just that.  Sunday night it’ll be the Amerks chance to do that themselves and come out with a strong performance.

The biggest issue the team needs to work on is their special teams, the Amerks have failed on 25 straight power play opportunities over the past six games.  Over the course of those six games the opposing team has scored eight times out of 27 opportunities.  There’s also been a number of 5 on 3 chances for the Amerks that they’ve failed on, including one Saturday night.  Those numbers point to two big holes in this team, an offense with the ability to score [...]Read More

Amerks Injury Updates and the Parker Suspension

October 20, 2011 - By
Amerks Injury Updates and the Parker Suspension

The Amerks finished up their morning skate today after a day off yesterday and Ron Rolston gave us some updates on injuries to the team.  The only “new injury” was Derek Whitmore who sat out today with a muscle strain but is expected back tomorrow.

Jonathan Parker was suspended for one game for the high stick that broke the nose of Grand Rapids Griffins forward Brent Raedeke in the first period.  There was no penalty called on the play, the referee had called the play accidental.  The American Hockey League on the other hand says that players need to be in control of their own sticks and handed down the one game suspension.

The Amerks will be down a forward for tomorrow’s game due to the suspension of Parker and Marcus Foligno.  Rolston said that a defenseman will likely move up to fill in the role of the 12th forward.

Paul Szczechura has no real time frame to return.  Ron Rolston had said early November but it really comes down to when the doctors clear Szczechura to play.  He had been injured last April in game three of the playoff series between the Norfolk Admirals and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and had to [...]Read More

Team Effort by Amerks Leads to Shootout Win (Video included)

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October 19, 2011 - By
Team Effort by Amerks Leads to Shootout Win (Video included)

What we have here folks is a nice three game winning streak!  The Amerks played 60 minutes of hockey where we saw them come back from a two goal deficit to defeat the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday night.  Jacob Legace scored the first goals for the Amerks followed by the tying goal at 15:02 of the third period on the power play by Nick Crawford.  Derek Whitmore and Jonathan Parker scored in the shootout to secure the win with David Leggio playing a key role in net for the team.

The Amerks have tomorrow off before geting back to practice on Thursday ahead of three games in three nights this weekend.

The game started out rough with the Syracuse Crunch going up 2-0 within the first six minutes of the game after costly turnovers by Corey Tropp and Travis Turnbull on the first goal and TJ Brennan on the second.

Kyle Palmieri scored the first goal of the game after the turnover by sniping the puck into the top corner after he faked out Leggio making it look like he was about to pass the puck.

“First one was a terrible goal.  Bad goal, short side, [...]Read More

Gameday: Crunch visit Amerks, Leggio Changing Positions?

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October 18, 2011 - By
Gameday: Crunch visit Amerks, Leggio Changing Positions?

The Rochester Americans finish up their stretch of four games in six nights when they host the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05pm at Blue Cross Arena.  The Amerks are .500 right now at 2-2 and the Crunch are undefeated 2-0.  After losing their first two games of the season being outscored 10-3 the Amerks have won their last two outscoring the opposition 10-3 with seven of those goals this past Sunday.

After the first two losses there was talk that the lack of a quality preseason scheduled played into those losses and depending on how the next few games go that could prove to be true.  The offense looks night and day different in the last two games than the first two games.  The players are connecting passes, they’re finding each other on the ice to make plays and overall seem to know each other a lot better.

One of many players to keep an eye on tonight is Kyle Palmieri of the Syracuse Crunch, a player developed by Amerks Coach Ron Rolston.  Palmieri was the AHL player of the week after scoring four goals and two assists in two games for the Crunch.

Amerks rookie Jonathan Parker had [...]Read More

Other Blogs Covering AHL Teams

October 15, 2011 - By
Other Blogs Covering AHL Teams

Without anything Rochester Americans related to write about this morning I thought I’d take a minute to share some links to other blogs out in cyberspace covering AHL teams, much like I cover the Amerks here.

We’re all unique in how we cover our teams but all hold one thing in common, being passionate about the teams that we cheer on.  There are independent sites, not associated with any major news papers / media outlets.  I’ll work on a separate list of blogs written by those places.

Here’s what I have in my reading list, if there’s others out there please share!

(in no particular order – if anyone feels like copying and pasting this list for their site go right ahead, just don’t forget to add mine!)

Power Play Post Show (Podcast discussing all AHL teams)
http://www.pppshow.net/

Wrap Around (Binghamton Senators)
http://bobppps.wordpress.com/

Admirals Roundtable (Milwaukee Admirals)
http://admiralsroundtable.com/

Chairman How’s Glorious Army (Syracuse Crunch)
http://chairmanhowsgloriousarmy.com/

Chasing Checkers (Charlotte Checkers)
http://chasingcheckers.com/

Chirps From Center Ice (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
http://nafsnep.wordpress.com/

Hershey Bears Hockey (Hershey Bears)
http://hersheybearshockey.blogspot.com/

Sweetest Hockey on Earth (Hershey Bears)
http://www.sweetesthockeyonearth.com/

Hundred Degree Hockey (Texas Stars)
[...]Read More

The Hockey News Ranks Amerks to be 4th in the West

October 6, 2011 - By
The Hockey News Ranks Amerks to be 4th in the West

The Hockey News has published it’s preview of the American Hockey League’s 2011/2012 season and the Rochester Americans are ranked 4th in the West and based on those predictions would win the North Division.  The rankings were put together by the D&C’s Kevin Oklobzija.

Thanks to Admirals Roundtable for the rankings.  Looking back at the 2010/2011 rankings Ryan from Admirals Roundtable wrote this:

- The Calder Cup finalists were ranked 16th and 27th overall.
- The division winners were ranked 19th, 3rd, 14th, and 18th.
- Four of their top 10 didn’t make the playoffs (Chicago, Worcester, San Antonio, Grand Rapids)

It’s that time of year where everyone makes predictions just because it’s the thing to do.  Everyone knows (or should know) that a season can change in a matter of weeks due to injuries, call ups, trades and even a group of players not living up to their expectations.

Here’s the rankings:

East (first to last): Hershey Bears, W-B/Scranton Penguins, Portland Pirates, Springfield Falcons, Manchester Monarchs, Syracuse Crunch, Worcester Sharks, Connecticut Whale, Binghamton Senators, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, St John’s Icecaps, Albany Devils, Norfolk Admirals, Providence Bruins, Adirondack Phantoms

West (first to last): Charlotte Checkers, Peoria Rivermen, Chicago Wolves, [...]Read More

Amerks vs Crunch Game at the Carrier Dome Called Off

September 11, 2011 - By
Amerks vs Crunch Game at the Carrier Dome Called Off

The March 24, 2012 away game for the Rochester Americans in Syracuse had high hopes of being played inside of the Carrier Dome but that has been cancelled for this season, they’ll now begin work on it happening for the 2012/2013 season.  The Crunch lost the date to a softball game as they still had not finalized all of the costs and details of the event.

If you had planned on going to the game you should still plan on doing just that except the game will be at the OnCenter in Syracuse.  It’s a great old building to see a hockey game in and there’s always some great trash talking between Amerks and Crunch fans.

From Lindsay Kramer on Syracuse.com:

Dolgon said the Dome was available the following weekend, but that is NCAA men’s basketball Final Four weekend and he didn’t want his event to go against that.

Dolgon said he understood SU’s decision. The sides had been close to finalizing the deal for several weeks, but the Crunch had some final sponsorship and rink costs details to iron out. When SU director of athletics Daryl Gross asked him about a final decision for March 24, Dolgon wasn’t [...]Read More

Crunch vs Amerks Game Possible at the Carrier Dome

August 17, 2011 - By
Crunch vs Amerks Game Possible at the Carrier Dome

YNN out of Syracuse is reporting that the Syracuse Crunch have made it official that they will be playing a game this upcoming season inside of the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.  The game will be played on March 24, 2012.  Their opponent? The Rochester Americans.

The Crunch are looking to break the all time AHL attendance record for the second time in three years.  The first time was when they played the Binghamton Senators at the New York State Fairgrounds on February 10, 2010 attracting 21,503 fans.  At the time the Senators were chosen as an opponent because the Amerks had also been thinking about an outdoor game but scrapped plans due to costs.

Update: The below paragraph was written prior to TheAHL schedule being released, it was down to either Binghamton or Rochester as an opponent.

Maybe this time around with no outdoor game in the works and the return of the Sabres maybe it’ll be in the leagues interest to choose the Amerks?  Binghamton had a strong showing at the last game and are the defending Calder Cup champs, something that they have in their favor.  Also, it’s still unknown how much of an impact the return of the [...]Read More

Crunch Finally Defeat the Amerks, In Game Number 80

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April 11, 2010 - By

The game on Saturday night meant absolutely nothing to the Rochester Americans.  A win against the Crunch would have been a great way to end the season with a complete sweep of the ten games between the two teams but it wasn’t meant to be, the Crunch won the game 5-2.

The supposed plan was to start Alexander Salak in the game but I don’t think that was ever going to happen.  Even if Tyler Plante did not get called up I think someone else would have been brought in to start in net for the Amerks.  With nothing on the line and the Crunch with a strong dislike for both goalies it was obvious that something would have happened.

Jon Mirasty spent time during the warmups chirping at Salak but Salak didn’t give him the time of day.  Maybe if those players spent less time worried about trying to intimidate their opponents during warmups they’d be in the playoffs instead of scheduling locker cleanout day.

Alex Petizian Save on Chad Kolarik

Alex Petizian was the unfortunate goaltender to get the call and make this is his first professional game.  The game will either scar him for life [...]Read More

Gameday: Panthers Call Up Plante, Amerks in Syracuse

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April 10, 2010 - By

The question about who would start the regular season finale tonight has been answered now that Tyler Plante has been called up to the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun is sitting out with a back injury so Plante is called up to backup Scott Clemmenson.

At least the Panthers have been consistent with callups from game 1 of the season all the way through game 80.

Alexander Salak will obviously get the start tonight against the Syracuse Crunch. Who will backup Salak is a question mark, one option would be for Marc Cheverie who was recently signed to arrive in Rochester. Chris Beckford-Tseu has a game with the Florida Everblades tonight in Elmira in a possible series winning game.

Updated 1:35pm: The Amerks have signed goaltender Alex Petizian to an amateur tryout contract.  Here’s the blurb on Petizian that the Amerks sent out:

He just finished his senior season at St. Lawrence University, where he compiled a 5-5-3 record with a 3.12 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage in 13 games for the Saints. In 2008-09, the Kirkland, Quebec, nativehad an outstanding junior campaign for the Saints and his 2.18 goals against average was third in program history. Petizian started [...]Read More