Based on how the team continues to play with a few key players out of the lineup it continues to bring up the thought, what’s possible when players return to the lineup?  See yesterday’s post Playing the What if Game.

(Photo by Lauren Long / The Post Standard)

I’ll take this way of thinking at this time of the season compared to a “grumbling fan base” that seems to be going on in Syracuse.

From Crunch reporter Lindsay Kramer:

The uninspired programming that is the Syracuse Crunch’s season has apparently gone into winter re-runs.

To a growingly grumbling fan base, it looks like a sure ratings loser.

Rochester’s Paul Szczechura put the topper on his hat trick with the game-winner with 1 minute, 17 seconds left in overtime to demoralize teetering Syracuse and lift the Amerks to an improbable 5-4 win at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

It was the second time in a week, spanning three games, that Syracuse had coughed up a two-goal lead in the third. Bridgeport exploited the Crunch in much the same manner on Jan. 28 to win in a shootout.

To read more about the game from him.

Drew MacIntyre got his first win since December 27th.  It was his second consecutive four goal game, both against the Crunch.  It was also the fourth time in five games that MacIntyre has allowed at least four goals against this time picking up a win.

Marcus Foligno has now had at least one assist in the past four games, this time with two assists.  He has six assists in the past four games.

Phil Varone and Travis Turnbull also scored for Rochester, both players with two goals in the past three games.

The Toronto Marlies won as well yesterday keeping their four point lead over the Amerks for the division lead.  The Amerks did move up to a tie for seventh place in the conference with 51 points.  The Amerks are only three points out of sixth and four away from fifth in the conference.  These numbers will continue to jump all over the place but picking up five out of six points on the weekend is a great way to start the month of February.

Toronto and Rochester play next on Wednesday morning at 11am in Toronto.. big game on the line!

Below is the game report from the Amerks:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2012

SZCZECHURA’S FOUR-POINT NIGHT LIFTS AMERKS OVER CRUNCH, 5-4

(Syracuse, NY)… A hat-trick and a four-point performance from Paul Szczechura helped the Rochester Americans complete a two-goal third period rally to defeat the Syracuse Crunch 5-4 in overtime at the War Memorial at Oncenter on Saturday night. Szczechura tied the game late in regulation time and capped off his spectacular night with the game-winning goal with 1:07 to go in the extra session, extending his point streak to four games along the way.

The win represented the 100th win in franchise history for the Amerks over the cross-state rival Crunch.

Brayden McNabb and Marcus Foligno, who has also picked up points in four straight games, each contributed two assists, while Phil Varone and Travis Turnbull both chipped in a goal apiece. Goaltender Drew MacIntyre turned away 33 shots to earn his first win since December 27.

Syracuse was led offensively by Patrick Maroon (1+1) and Kyle Palmieri (0+2), each of whom chipped in a pair of points in the loss. Luca Caputi, Josh Brittain, and Peter Holland also lit the lamp for the Crunch and Marco Cousineau finished with 36 saves between the pipes.

The Amerks struck first in the contest for a 1-0 lead, as Szczechura finished off a perfect feed from Foligno. Off a fast break for Rochester, Foligno took the puck wide around the defense and found Szczechura driving to the net for an easy tap in.

The Crunch came back with a pair of goals just 20 seconds apart within the first five minutes of the middle frame. First, Maroon beat MacIntyre on the power-play with a no-look shot from the middle of the slot, followed by Caputi burying a point-blank wrister behind the Rochester netminder.

Syracuse found the back of the net for the third consecutive time at 13:08 of the second period to build a 3-1 lead, as Brittain deposited a rebound for his first of the season.

After Varone blasted a one-timer from the high slot past Cousineau to bring the Amerks back to within a single goal at 13:49, Peter Holland responded for the Crunch to restore their two-goal cushion and make the score 4-2.

Rochester pulled back to within a single goal with a power-play goal at 7:49 of the final period. Turnbull deflected a left-point slapper from Drew Schiestel for his eighth goal of the season and second of the weekend.

Szczechura scored his second of the game with just 4:07 remaining in regulation, beating Cousineau off the rush with a slapper from just inside the Syracuse blueline.

Szczechura then completed the hat-trick 3:53 into overtime, sending a wrister from the left circle to the top corner of the net on a three-on-one rush for his ninth goal of the season.

The Amerks travel north of the border on Wednesday, February 8 for an 11:00 a.m. meeting with the Toronto Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum.

Szczechura Hat Trick Leads Amerks to Comeback Win Over the Crunch is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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). We stopped the streak at two.’’

A large home crowd and a hungry team.  The Amerks have nine home games in February, here’s hoping they do the same things.  The team is only three points out of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference and heading into the second half of season every win starts to become more and more valuable.  Still trying to look at things with a half glass full kind of way.

The Amerks had six power play opportunities but again were held scoreless.  The last time the team scored a power play goal was January 13th.  They haven’t scored in six games with 23 chances during those six games.  Looking at the other side, the Amerks have lost four of those six games and the opposition has only scored four goals out of 24 chances.  Four goals isn’t all that much, even strength goals have been a bigger factor but when you can’t score playing five on five you need the power play to stand up.

One concern is, how much has the “no quit” attitude taken a toll on this Amerks team?  They work hard and do what they can but when you’re not winning it starts to take an emotional and physical toll.

Past seven games, #Amerks have scored just 12 goals. Winger Derek Whitmore: "A little bit of doubt and a lack of confidence sets in,"

January 27, 2012 10:41 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@kevinoDandC

Kevin Oklobzija

We’ll see what happens when the team plays against the Toronto Marlies at 3pm today in Toronto.

Here’s more on the game from the Amerks:

Syracuse jumped out to a quick start, taking a 2-0 lead before the game was three minutes old. Kyle Palmieri opened the scoring with his team-leading 24th goal of the season. A dump-in by Syracuse bounced through traffic and Palmieri, who found his way in behind the Rochester defense, picked up a loose puck in front and knocked it in for the goal at 1:47 of the period. Caputi picked up the lone assist on what proved to be the game-winning tally for his first of two points on the night.

The Crunch added to their lead 70 seconds later when Rick Schofield scored his fifth goal of the season. The unassisted goal came after Schofield’s shot from the right wing went through a screen in front to make its way past MacIntyre.

The teams played a scoreless second period, though there was no shortage of scoring opportunities at both ends of the rink. Strong play between the pipes by MacIntyre and Tarkki kept it a 2-0 game through 40 minutes of play.

After nearly 30 minutes of scoreless activity, Bell extended his team’s lead to 3-0 at 12:02 of the final frame when his shot from the high slot eluded MacIntyre for his sixth goal of the campaign. Andrew Gordon and former Amerk Sean Zimmerman each earned assists on the play.

Caputi and the Syracuse power-play capitalized on a late man-advantage opportunity, needing just 13 seconds on the man-up after Rochester’s Paul Szczechura was sent off for holding. Bell earned his second point of the night with an assist and Nate Guenin also helped set up Caputi’s sixth goal of the season at 15:45 to make it a 4-0 contest in favor of the Crunch.

Joe Finley sat the game out due to illness.

Amerks Shutout in Syracuse; Toronto at 3pm Today is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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 called for boarding and in the scrum immediately after along the boards Finley used one arm and sent Maroon backwards and onto the ice.  That’s the other thing that’s great to see, a defenseman that will use his size and show the opposing team that they’re not going to be pushed around.

The Crunch got on the scoreboard at 3:10 of the second period with a great cross ice pass from Bryan Rodney to John Mitchell who had no problem putting it into the net with a one timer.  The Crunch had just entered the Amerks zone and the Amerks were out of position so they had no problems scoring.

TJ Brennan followed right up just about two minutes later with a rifle of a shot from the top of the face off circle beating Crunch goaltender Iiro Tarkki.  From my seat I was practically behind Brennan and he picked the opening and buried it perfectly.

Up through the second period the game was back and forth with the Amerks getting many more chances than the Crunch but the Crunch seemed to spend more time inside the Amerks zone.  This is where the defense did their jobs well which allowed the Amerks offense to get down the ice and continue putting shots on net.

It only took 29 seconds into the third period for the Amerks to score a power play goal (remember when it seemed like that would never happen?).  TJ Brennan received a pass from Zack Kassian through the middle of the ice and passed it to Colin Stuart who scored.

The Crunch tied the game at two when Peter Holland scored a power play goal at 3:39.  Mathieu Carle skated with the puck around Colin Stuart and passed the puck to Holland who was untouched and caught Leggio not back into position.

Marcus Foligno scored the game winning goal on the power play at 13:50 of the third period.  Mark Voakes had the puck to the side of the Crunch net and centered the puck right to Foligno who was in the slot to beat Tarkki who wasn’t centered for the shot.

A few other things:

How great was it to see the Amerks finally play a game against the Crunch and hit them more than they hit us?  There’s obvious changes in the lineups but it’s great to see.  Maxime Legault plastered the same Crunch player against the boards twice within a short time frame of the first period.

The Amerks put a season high 44 shots on net against the Crunch and only allowed 24.  The Amerks only allowed three shots in the first period and four in the third before the Crunch tried to turn it up in the third period for the remaining seven shots.

The two goals scored against David Leggio had more to do with the Crunch players getting open for great shots and not Leggio playing poorly.  Not sure many goalies would’ve had a real chance on those except for the occasional miracle save.

Joe Finely was given a 10 minute misconduct along with Mat Clark of the Crunch.  Why?  Good question.  After a play there was a mixup near the Amerks bench and the linesmen got between the two of them.  There were no punches thrown.  A few shoves and a bunch of words but that’s about it.  Only thing I can see is that they didn’t separate when the ref told them too and the ref was also preventing a fight from happening before the game was over.  One of those, “What has happened to hockey?” moments.

The announced crowd was 3,141 which was pretty good for an early season Wednesday night game.  Those who were there were into the game and cheering on the team, it wasn’t like being in a morgue we’ve seen over the past four to five seasons.

Line combinations:

Since people that aren’t at the game seem to ask often here’s the line combinations for most of the game.  MacKenzie was playing defense and on the wing at times during the game.

Zack Kassian, Paul Szczechura, Colin Stuart

Marcus Foligno, Mark Voakes, Derek Whitmore

Phil Varone, Jonathan Parker, Maxime Legault

Maxime Legault, Shawn Szydlowski, Matt MacKenzie

Joe Finley, Shaone Morrisonn

TJ Brennan, Nick Crawford

Brayden McNabb, Drew Schiestel

Alex Biega, Matt MacKenzie

Box score:

Syracuse Crunch 2 at Rochester Americans 3 – Status: Final
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 – Blue Cross Arena

Syracuse 0 1 1 – 2
Rochester 0 1 2 – 3

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Maroon Syr (boarding), 5:45; Voakes Rch (interference), 18:26.

2nd Period-1, Syracuse, Mitchell 2 (Rodney, Kennedy), 3:10. 2, Rochester, Brennan 2   5:30. Penalties-Holland Syr (hooking), 3:20; Mitchell Syr (hooking), 13:24; Clark Syr (hooking), 19:14.

3rd Period-3, Rochester, Stuart 6 (Brennan, Kassian), 0:29 (PP). 4, Syracuse, Holland 3 (Carle, Sexton), 3:39 (PP). 5, Rochester, Foligno 6 (Voakes, Crawford), 13:50 (PP). Penalties-Szczechura Rch (delay of game), 2:31; McNabb Rch (hooking), 3:39; Sexton Syr (tripping), 11:57; Clark Syr (misconduct), 16:25; Finley Rch (misconduct), 16:25.

Shots on Goal-Syracuse 3-7-14-24. Rochester 14-17-13-44.
Power Play Opportunities-Syracuse 1 / 3; Rochester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Syracuse, Tarkki 3-4-1 (44 shots-41 saves). Rochester, Leggio 5-3-0 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-3,141
Referees-Marcus Vinnerborg (45).
Linesmen-Tim Kotyra (53), Derek Sylvester (76).

Season High 44 Shots and Standup Defense Leads Amerks to Win is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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 goals and a defense that is easily broken down.

#Amerks Stuart on team's power play: "Not very good. The opportunities were there. We failed to execute...it's as simple as that."

November 5, 2011 9:34 pm via TweetCaster for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@DropThePuckWHTK

Drop The Puck

This Rochester Americans team is hard working and has potential but is also missing some key pieces and is playing inconsistently.  Those are the struggles of a young development team.  There’s still a long season ahead but slow starts can quickly come back to haunt a team in March and April when the playoff battles start tightening up.

By all accounts from some people at the game, Drew MacIntyre didn’t play horrible in net for the Amerks so the loss can’t be pinned on him, he stopped 37 out of 42 shots faced.  A soft Amerks defense can’t allow that to happen, they gave the Crunch way too many opportunities and the Crunch were able to score.

On the other end of the ice the Amerks had some early chances but failed to score at which point the Crunch slowly took control.

The same two teams finish out the weekend Sunday night at 6:05pm in Rochester.  The Amerks will be closing out a three in three weekend, the Crunch had Friday night off.  Based on the comments after the game it’ll be up to the Amerks to want this win and go out and earn it.  The Crunch have all of the momentum and will be taking advantage of known weaknesses to go up early in the game.

Oh yea, Jacob Legace scored his fifth goal of the season at 8:49 of the first period and Marcus Foligno also scored his fifth of the season with 15 seconds left on the clock, with an assist to Paul Szczechura.  A meaningless goal but a goal.  Szczechura has now played in two games and has two assists.

#Amerks Stuart: "I sure hope we don't forget about tonight..we need to take it personally & it should carry over for tomorrow night."

November 5, 2011 9:32 pm via TweetCaster for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@DropThePuckWHTK

Drop The Puck

We hope you guys don’t either and deliver what’ll likely be a small home crowd a solid win.

Puck drops at 6:05pm Sunday evening at Blue Cross Arena.  The game will also be televised live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and on the radio dial at WHTK 1280AM and 107.3FM in Rochester.

Below is the Amerks recap along with the box score:

Rochester Americans 2 at Syracuse Crunch 5 – Status: Final
Saturday, November 5, 2011 – Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter

Rochester 1 0 1 – 2
Syracuse 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Syracuse, Cumiskey 1 (Bell, Sexton), 5:51 (PP). 2, Rochester, Lagace 5   8:49. Penalties-Foligno Rch (high-sticking), 4:09; Turnbull Rch (cross-checking), 16:45; Jacques Syr (hooking), 16:54; Clark Syr (cross-checking), 18:57; Jacques Syr (cross-checking), 19:27.

2nd Period-3, Syracuse, Sexton 3 (Maroon, Rodney), 10:56 (PP). 4, Syracuse, Rodney 1 (Bell, Sexton), 14:31 (PP). Penalties-Cumiskey Syr (interference), 3:41; McNabb Rch (hooking), 8:58; Schiestel Rch (tripping), 14:22; Bodie Syr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:32.

3rd Period-5, Syracuse, Bell 4 (Sexton, Cumiskey), 12:28 (PP). 6, Syracuse, Clark 1 (Maroon, Sexton), 16:24. 7, Rochester, Foligno 5 (Szczechura), 19:45. Penalties-MacKenzie Rch (cross-checking), 5:57; Bodie Syr (cross-checking), 5:57; McNabb Rch (tripping), 10:52; Voakes Rch (slashing), 11:58; Biega Rch (goaltender interference), 13:39; Voakes Rch (hooking), 14:14.

Shots on Goal-Rochester 11-7-6-24. Syracuse 11-14-17-42.
Power Play Opportunities-Rochester 0 / 5; Syracuse 4 / 8.
Goalies-Rochester, MacIntyre 1-4-1 (42 shots-37 saves). Syracuse, Tarkki 2-2-1 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-5,023
Referees-Chris Brown (86), Tim Mayer (19).
Linesmen-Jeff Walker (28), Fraser McIntyre (94).

AMERKS FALL TO CRUNCH IN SYRACUSE

(Rochester, NY)… The Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch met for the first of two straight meetings Saturday night in Syracuse, and round one of the home-and-home series went to the Crunch, who skated to a 5-2 victory at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

The Syracuse power play was the difference in the game as the Crunch scored four of its five goals with the man advantage. Overall, the Crunch went 4-for-7 on the power play. The same two teams will meet again Sunday in Rochester at The Blue Cross Arena at 6:05 p.m.

Drew MacIntyre got the start in goal for Rochester as he and David Leggio continue to alternate in the crease. MacIntyre made a season-high 37 saves while facing 42 shots on goal from Syracuse. Jacob Lagace and Marcus Foligno scored for Rochester as both players found the back of the net for the second night in a row and now share the team goal-scoring lead with five apiece on the season.

Each team struck in the opening period of play, with Syracuse getting on the board first on a power play goal. Kyle Cumiskey was set up by Mark Bell and beat MacIntyre with a slap shot from the slot at 5:51 of the period. Dan Sexton was also given an assist on the play on his way to a five-point night (1+4).

Just under three minutes later, Lagace struck for the second night in a row to even the game at 1-1 when he found a loose puck in the corner and brought it to the net where he knocked it home. That would be all the scoring in the first period, which saw the teams each fire 11 shots on goal.

In the second period, the Crunch power play continued to produce, scoring twice in a four-minute span to take a 3-1 lead. First, Bryan Rodney found Dan Sexton streaking to the net and fed him with a pass that allowed Sexton to tuck the puck just inside the post for his second point of the game. Minutes later, Rodney and Sexton were at it again, combining to give Syracuse a 3-1 lead. With Drew Schiestel off for tripping, Rodney tipped in a shot just nine seconds into the man-advantage opportunity. Sexton and Bell were credited with the assists on the goal.

Syracuse scored again on the power play in the third period as Bell made it a 4-1 game at 12:28 with the Crunch on a two-man advantage. MacIntyre stopped the initial two shots, but Bell was able to get his second attempt at the rebound just past the outstretched arm of the Amerks’ netminder. Mat Clark tacked on Syracuse’s fifth goal of the game later in the third period before Foligno notched his fifth goal of the season and second in as many nights off an assist from Paul Szczechura with 15 seconds to go in the game to make it 5-2, which is how the game would end.

Notes: Sunday’s game between the Amerks and Crunch will be televised on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and broadcast on 107.3 FM and 1280 AM, Rochester’s Sports Talk… The game will mark the completion of Rochester’s second set of three-games-in-three-nights on the season… Szczechura and Maxime Legault were both in the lineup for the second straight game after each player made his season debut Friday night in Binghamton… Szczechura now has an assist in each of his first two games with the Amerks.

Amerks End Lousy Road Trip Losing 5-2; Special Teams Needs Work is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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 be helped off the ice.  He had surgery on his ACL and today he said it’s now down to the frustrating process of waiting for the doctors to clear him but also not rushing a return.  It’s not where he wants to be but he said watching the games has given him a chance to watch from another view and share that back with the team.

Drew Schiestel will probably try and get back onto the ice next week but is still a couple of weeks away.  Based on that it sounds like the original report from Hamilton is somewhat true of 4-6 weeks, a time frame originally denied by the team.

Dennis Persson is still a couple of weeks away as well.  He was injured in practice and has not been seen.

Michael Ryan and Shaone Morrisonn were on the ice this morning and unless something happens overnight they’ll be playing this weekend.  Ryan missed the last two games, Morrisonn just the game on Tuesday night.

Also worth noting, the Amerks did not send any video to the AHL from the Syracuse Game on Tuesday night.  The Griffins had sent in video from three different plays but it sounds like as long as no one was injured the Amerks just want to play, not get into the habit of hunting for “supplementary discipline.”

Last bit is that Matt Ellis not expected down here and Rolston said that he has not heard of any updates.

Amerks Injury Updates and the Parker Suspension is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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, kind of cheating on the pass,” David Leggio said talking about that first goal.  ”That one I had to regroup from and just kind of say forget about it elevate your game.”

The Crunch were able to take advantage of a poor pass from out behind the net by the Amerks and Nicolas Deschamps scored on Leggio.

Jacob Legace got the Amerks within a goal scoring at 10:11 of the first period with an assist to Riley Boychuck.  Boychuck was playing the puck behind the Crunch net when he turned and delivered a perfect pass to Legace who had skated from the side to the front of the net.  None of the Crunch players were covering him and he had a perfect shot on an open net.

Through the first two periods I counted at least five great pad saves by David Leggio to keep the Amerks in the game.  These weren’t your ordinary pad saves where he just stood there and and stopped the puck.  These were saves where he would stay focused on the puck while down in the butter fly and extend his pad with the puck to keep the Crunch from scoring.  That’s likely goaltending 101 but based on previous years those would’ve been easy goals.  Leggio definitely helped keep the Amerks in the game.

“We’re very lucky that we have the goalies that we do,” Derek Whitmore said about David Leggio and Drew MacIntyre.  ”We’ve got guys that can go every other night, I know they don’t neccessarily like that, they like to get in the pipes and play four five six in a row but for right now both our ‘tendies’ are playing well fr us and David had a very solid game tonight and helped us with a big win.”

During Sundays game we saw Marcus Foligno drop to the ice to block a shot and tonight saw something similar by Mark Voakes during the 2nd period when he dove across the ice to keep the Crunch from taking a clear shot on net.  It’s these little things that the players are doing that are helping them to win these hockey games.

I asked Ron Rolston about that play and he responded with, ”We’ve talked about our slow start and the players have jumped on board with the way we need to play as a group right now with the youth that we have on our team, we’ve got to be a team that plays with a lot of effort and second effort plays and that play showed it.  I think guys are trying to set a standard as what we’re going to be as a team and in order to set a high standard you have to make those plays, you have to block shots, you’ve got to work hard getting back to help the defense and Mark is one of those players that really a great two way player and  can do everything for you.  Heart and soul guy for us.”

Joe Finley had another great game standing tall keeping players out of the crease and even out of the zone.  He appears to have shown more confidence the more he has played showing that he should deserve a spot in the top six once everyone is healthy.

With 7:43 remaining in the third period Derek Whitmore was layed out hard into the boards but referee Darcy Burchell did not call a penalty for whatever reason.  After Whitmore got back up on his feet he went after the Crunch player and tackled him to the ice to earn a roughing penalty.  The Amerks were down by one goal at the time and it was not the time of a game you want to go down a man.  The penalty kill unit did a great job killing off the penalty to give the Amerks another shot with five guys on the ice.

“That’s just an undisciplined play by a vet guy like myself, I can’t be doing that especially in a tight game,” Whitmore said.  ”I take full responsibility, I thought the hit was a little from behind.  I have to be smarter than that in a tight game.  Luckily the boys bailed me out on the kill and we were able to tie the game and win in the shootout but that’s unacceptable from me.”

Rolston said he didn’t see what Whitmore did because of where it happened on the bench side but commented saying, “Whit is an emotional player in terms of how hard he plays and how much he cares for our hockey team.  I know if it was a mistake on his part he’ll certainly be accountable for it and make amends.  I don’t have any worries about Derek Whitmore and what he’ll do and how he’ll take care of things.”

Nick Deschamps did the Amerks a favor with 5:18 remaining in the third by shooting the puck at David Leggio after the whistle had blown from an obvious off side which gave him two minutes in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct.

That gave the “shooooooot” shouters a chance to be heard as the Amerks went on the power play.  The power play unit of TJ Brennan, Nick Crawford, Colin Stuart, Corey Tropp and Mark Voakes the chance to cycle the puck and get something setup and they were successful. Stuart passed the puck to Brennan near the blue line who then sent the puck cross ice to Crawford who skated in and chose top corner stick side to tie the game 2-2.

“He was another player that took advantage of a couple injuries, jumped into the lineup and has played great for us,” Ron Rolston said post game talking about Crawford.

The game went to overtime and the Amerks had a 4 on 3 power play after Kyle Palmieri was sent to the box for holding the stick of TJ Brennan.  The Amerks were not able to capitalize which sent the game into a shootout.

Kyle Palmieri scored first for the Crunch by going back hand after tricking Leggio into trying to make a save.

Derek Whitmore quickly answered back scoring on the Amerks first attempt by shooting top corner stick side.

“As a player you kind of want to work on a couple of moves just to have a few in your back pocket and that’s one of them and it worked out,” Whitmore said about his shootout goal.

Jonathan Parkers game winning goal was something that he had planned out. “I was thinking back to my rookie year in the WHL where I was the last shooter in the game, I score and we win,” Parker said.  ”I basically mishandled the puck and dumped it off into the corner instead of getting a shot on net.”

He was successful this time putting the puck past Tarkki glove side to win the game.

The Amerks never gave up in the game, didn’t let mistakes slow them down, they continued to play and play hard.  Players who turned the puck over early in the game were finishing hits and playing the puck much better later in the game.

When asked about staying in the game Jonathan Parker said, “That shows how much character our locker room has in here, we talked about playing a full 60 minutes and finishing it off in the third period.  We battled it out, played a good overtime and eventually won it.”

** Michael Ryan was out for the second straight game after complaining of a headache on Sunday but is expected back on Friday.  Shaone Morrisson sat out the game, only thing known was that he was sick.

Team Effort by Amerks Leads to Shootout Win (Video included) is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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 a solid game on Sunday scoring a goal and also tallying two assists.  He arrived at Buffalo Sabres training camp on an invite and earned himself an NHL contract.  Not too bad!  The Democrat and Chronicle has an article on Amerks rookie Jonathan Parker “chasing his hockey dream.”

Watch for Zack Kassian, Mark Voakes and Derek Whitmore to continue to grow together and put up points on the scoreboard.  There has been some question whether or not Voakes can be a top center, repeat performances like Sundays can quickly put that debate to rest.

Marcus Foligno was also impressive scoring his second goal of the season.  He scored the goal, got into a fight and as the buzzer sounded at the end of the second period he went down to the ice to block a shot.  Who can remember the last time an Amerks forward went to the ice to block a shot?  No recent examples jump into my head.

Defense is one area that has struggled after four games into the season.  Shaone Morrisson has looked like an AHL rookie at times and TJ Brennan has turned the puck over with poor passing.  Again, it’s still very early in the season and they’re just starting to get into the flow of the game.

As of writing this there has not been any additional discipline to Corey Tropp for his hit on Landon Ferraro on Sunday night.  Tropp and Ferraro ran into each other as they were both racing down the ice, Ferraro had to be helped off of the ice, you can see that hit here.  Tropp was given an interference penalty and it really looks like they just ran into each other.  I contacted The AHL but have not heard anything back, will update if anything changes.

The Amerks game preview mentions “long time rivals” which is true except for in recent seasons when the teams have not been that good.  Both teams already appear to be better and considering they play each other 10 times the games can mean a lot and players can quickly hold a grudge against the others.  The new playoff format gives the three division winners an automatic spot and the next five go based on points.  Even though the two teams aren’t in the same conference with 20 points in the standings on the table the games can have some meaning.

Twitter accounts to follow: @letsgoamerks (duh!), @amerkshockey, @kevinodandc, @dtprobsanderson, @syracusecrunch, @pscrunchhockey and @pppshow said he’ll be tuning into the game and will likely share thoughts.

As for the misleading headline, David Leggio isn’t changing positions but based on how well he was feeding passes to TJ Brennan during warmups on Sunday night it looks like he could.  As everyone was leaving the ice Leggio was in the corner feeding pucks to TJ Brennan taking one timers on net.  He looked like he was having fun doing it as well.  Just one of those things you see when you get there early for warmups.

Forgive the “scratches” on the picture, the glass at BCA sucks for taking quality pictures through.

Game Promotions: The game falls on the next installment of the new “Tim Hortons Two for Two Days” ticket promotion, which offers two 200-End tickets, two Tim Hortons travel mugs and two First Coffee Free coupons starting at just $22.00.

Gameday: Crunch visit Amerks, Leggio Changing Positions? is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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)
http://hundreddegreehockey.blogspot.com/

Oil Field Hockey (Oklahoma City Barons)
http://www.oilfieldhockey.com/

Pilot to Gunner (Houston Aeros)
http://pilottogunner.wordpress.com/

The Third Intermission (Houston Aeros)
http://thethirdintermission.blogspot.com/

Runnin’ With The Herd (San Antonio Rampage)
http://rampagenate.blogspot.com/

Something’s Bruin (Providence Bruins)
http://somethingsbruin.net/

The Peoria Rivermen Blog (Peoria Rivermen)
http://rivermenblog.wordpress.com/

 Thoughts Inside The Box (Albany Devils)
http://icepuddle.wordpress.com/

If you know of anything I missed please share!

Other Blogs Covering AHL Teams is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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, Rochester Americans, Toronto Marlies, Houston Aeros, Hamilton Bulldogs, Lake Erie Monsters, Texas Stars, San Antonio Rampage, Rockford Icehogs, Grand Rapids Griffins, Abbotsford Heat, Oklahoma City Barons, Milwakee Admirals

There’s a small snippet of information with each prediction but you’ll have to get a copy to read that.  I don’t think The Hockey News would want me reprinting the whole article.  I see no real reason to disagree with Kevin on any of the predictions, that’s about as much of a prediction I’ll make on the upcoming season.

The Hockey News Ranks Amerks to be 4th in the West is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

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 in a position yet to commit.

“When a university team has an opportunity, they get priority,” Dolgon said. “That’s understandable.”

Dolgon said he and Gross will work towards a game in 2012-13 once SU’s available dates for that stretch are clear.

Professional hockey with 20,000+ fans lost out to a softball game.. softball?  Really?

Oh well, now we’ll look forward to this happening in the 2012/2013 season!

Amerks vs Crunch Game at the Carrier Dome Called Off is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.