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Amerks Weekly – Nov 27 – Dec 3

Posted on by Steve Lopez

Amerks Games This Week

  • Friday – 11/29 – 7:05pm – vs Toronto (13-2-2-1)
  • Saturday – 11/30 – 7:00pm – at Cleveland (11-7-1-1)/

AHL North Division Standings as of November 29th

The Amerks went 2-0-0-0 last week and sit alone in second place in a very tight North Division in which all teams except for one have a points-percentage above .500.

The North Division itself remains the strongest in the league so far, with seven teams among the top-16 of the league standings.

What Happened Last Week?

Record Nov 20-Nov 26: 2-0-0-0

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

Notable: The Amerks are riding a 5-game winning streak and an 8-game point streak, going 7-0-0-1 in that stretch! In the absence of their offensive stars, they’re getting key contributions from depth players such as Scott Wilson, Brett Murray, Sean Malone, Eric Cornel, and Tyler Randall.

Also Notable: Wait… who is that? Last Friday night the team strutted out a roster that included a line with names such as Boomhower, Aquin, and Vail… and the team still found a way to win in what was perhaps their best performance of the season. With so many new faces, we won’t judge you for constantly checking your roster card to figure out who is wearing those unfamiliar jersey numbers.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss: Welcome back to head coach Chris Taylor. After suffering behind the bench up in Buffalo for a few weeks, Tails returns to Rochester and inherits a roster that is vastly different than when he left. Full credit to coach Gord Dineen for the work he did in the interim, as he managed to keep the team competitive despite an incredible amount of injuries and recalls. That’s quite the feat and – aside from the special teams – he did a remarkable job in the past 2 months.

Three Stars

.1. Tyler Randell – Goals in back-to-back games as “Thor” steps up his game when the team needs it the most. While no one expects him to be more than a 4th liner with a great right-hook, any offense he can contribute is much-needed right now with the roster still in shambles.

.2. Kevin Porter – The captain is quietly having a nice season so far. He’s riding a five-game point streak and is already halfway to his goal total from last season, with five goals in 18 games, compared to ten goals in 58 games in 2018-2019.

.3. Andrew Oglevie – Oglevie is also on a five-game point streak and with the recall to J.S. Dea, he is now the Amerks top offensive threat. It’s great to see him staying hot when the team needs him most, something that has been a problem for other players in past seasons.

Stats Leaders

Look Ahead

Only two games this week, but they’re both doozies. These will be the first games of the season with Chris Taylor back behind the bench.

Friday night will be the first of six matchups against Toronto, as the division-leading Marlies roll into Rochester. Any questions about whether the Marlies might stumble following the promotion of Sheldon Keefe to the Maple Leafs were answered definitively last weekend, with the Marlies dominating in two wins. These head-to-head matchups, four-point games – even early in the season – are extremely important and the depleted-Amerks will need to bring their best game to the ice to keep pace in the division.

Saturday night the team will travel to Cleveland for their third of eight games against the Monsters. The teams have split the previous two meetings, the first game going to Cleveland in the shootout (remember Gerbe’s razzle-dazzle winner?) and the second game to Rochester.

Transactions

  • November 23, 2019 – John Gilmour (D) – ⬇️ from Buffalo to Rochester
  • November 25, 2019 – Jean-Sebastien Dea (F) – ⬆️ from Rochester to Buffalo/

Video Room

Game 17 – 11/22/2019 – Home Win vs Hartford

Game 18 – 11/23/2019 – Away Win at Binghamton

[Video not available at press time]

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.
  • 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 13-5-1-0 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 have taken the lead in the Central Division as well as climbing to fifth place overall in the league.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) is performing great in his return from offseason surgery, with a 6-2-0-0 record, 2 shutouts, 1.74 GAA, and a .926% 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

  • Justin Bailey: 4+6=10 in 20 games with AHL Utica
  • Nicholas Baptiste: 3+2=5 in 11 games with AHL Toronto.
  • Kyle Criscuolo: 4+3=7 in 15 games with AHL Lehigh Valley
  • Jack Dougherty: 1+4=5 in 19 games with AHL Belleville
  • Brendan Guhle: 1+3=4 in 4 games with AHL San Diego, 1+3=4 in 15 games with NHL Anaheim
  • Alexander Nylander: 4+6=10 in 23 games with NHL Chicago
  • Danny O’Regan: 4+9=13 in 20 games with AHL Hartford
  • Matt Tennyson: 0+0=0 in 1 game with AHL Binghamton, 0+3=3 in 15 games with NHL New Jersey
  • Scott Wedgewood: 6-3-1-0, 2.91 GAA, .896 SV% in 12 games with AHL Syracuse/

Talking Points