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Amerks Weekly – Dec 4 – Dec 10

Amerks Games This Week

  • Wednesday – 12/4 – 7:05pm – vs Toronto (15-3-2-1)
  • Friday – 12/6 – 7:05pm – vs Charlotte (8-10-3-0)
  • Saturday – 12/7 – 7:05pm – vs Charlotte (8-10-3-0)/

AHL North Division Standings as of December 4th

The Amerks went 1-0-1-0 last week and sit alone in second place in the North Division. Some separation is beginning to show in the points, but all teams except for one still have a points-percentage above .500.

What Happened Last Week?

Record Nov 27-Dec 3: 1-0-1-0

Check out our latest Amerks Review post for details on last week’s performance.

Notable: I felt the team outplayed division-leading Toronto on Friday night at home before giving up a tying goal in the 3rd period and ultimately losing in overtime. The loser point softens the blow. The teams will meet five more times this season so there are a lot of points still up for grabs.

Coach Chris Taylor was also pleased with the results in his post-game interview following his first game behind the Amerks bench this season.

Three Stars

.1. Andrew Oglevie – “Shrek*” stayed red hot with his first career hat trick on Saturday night in Cleveland, providing all the offense in the Amerks’ 3-2 win. He’s on a 7-game point streak and has 12 points in his last 10 games.

*This one is a stretch, but I’m determined to make it work.

.2. Brett Murray – In summary, Murray is out-performing expectations early in his professional career, and it’s exactly what the Amerks have needed with their recent roster troubles. 3+11=14 in 15 games played. 7 points on his current 5-game streak. He has a point in 11 of 15 games played this season. He went 14 games without taking a penalty before finally earning a delay of game on Saturday night.

.3. William Borgen – Believe it or not but Will has become somewhat of a forgotten prospect as a result of the logjam of defenders that Sabres GM Jason Botterill has brought into the organization in the last 6-8 months. However, that doesn’t decrease Borgen’s value in any way as he continues to improve on the ice and position himself as a reliable right-shot defenseman for the team.

Stats Leaders

Special Teams

Both the power play and penalty kill are (very) slowly trending in the right direction. Some roster stability, as well as having their full coaching staff back in place, should help the special teams moving forward.

Look Ahead

No rest for the weary, as the Marlies are back again on Wednesday night in another battle for the top of the division. Reinforcements have finally arrived with the Sabres sending Curtis Lazar and J.S. Dea back to Rochester. We’ll see where they slot into the lineup; I doubt they’ll break up the Oglevie – Kevin Porter – Murray line so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them slot into the second line with Scott Wilson.

Friday and Saturday night will bring back-to-back games against the defending Calder Cup champions, the Charlotte Checkers (that’s a lot of Cs). It’s been a rough season for Charlotte. They had some significant roster turnover over the offseason and are struggling to stay afloat in the Atlantic division. However, Charlotte currently has the best PK in the league so that could spell trouble for an Amerks team whose PP is still struggling.

Transactions

  • December 3, 2019 – Curtis Lazar (F) – ⬇️ from Buffalo to Rochester
  • December 3, 2019 – Shaw Boomhower (F) – ⬇️ from Rochester to Cincinnati
  • December 4, 2019 – Jean Sebastian Dea (F) – ⬇️ from Buffalo to Rochester/

Video Room

Game 19 – 11/29/2019 – Home Loss (OT) vs Toronto

Game 20 – 11/30/2019 – Away Win at Cleveland

Injury Report

  • C.J. Smith – Lower Body – Week-to-Week. CJ suffered a lower-body injury early in the first period of the game vs Utica on November 2nd. He was helped off the ice and did not return to the game. Still looking at 4-6 weeks. Not skating yet as of 12/3/19, but we’re at the 4-week mark so hopefully sometime soon.
  • Taylor Leier – Shoulder – Week-to-Week. Leier had offseason shoulder surgery. He has returned to skating with the team in practices, but is still in no-contact mode.
  • Remi Elie – Lower Body – Day-to-Day. This one is a mystery, as he’s missed multiple weeks at this point.
  • Jarrett Burton – Lower Body – Week-to-Week. Burton was hit awkwardly into the boards on 11/8 and crawled to the bench.
  • Andrew MacWilliam – Upper Body – Week-to-Week./

Farmville

The Cincinnati Cyclones are 14-5-2-0 in their quest to return to the top of the ECHL and avenge last season’s premature ending. They finished 2018-2019 with the best record in the league but fell to rival Toledo in the second round of the playoffs.

After a slow start, the Cyclones are rolling and are right in the thick of the hunt for the division lead.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) is performing great in his return from offseason surgery, with a 6-2-1-0 record, 2 shutouts, 1.88 GAA, and a .925% save percentage. The timetable for his promotion to Rochester remains somewhat unsure, but it’s likely that will come sometime after the new year.

Old Friends