The Amerks are at home tonight to play against the Manchester Monarchs, travel to Hamilton against the Bulldogs on Saturday, and return home to face off against the Peoria Rivermen on Sunday.
The Amerks are currently on another losing streak having lost the past 5, and are 1-15 in there past 16 games. Our last win came against the Hamilton Bulldogs on December 28th when the team ended a 10 game losing skid.
Tonights game at home against the Manchester Monarchs will be the second of two meetings between the teams this season, the last time they played on November 30 the Amerks won 3-1, which was the last win before starting the 10 game losing streak.
The Bulldogs on Saturday will have Carey Price back between the pipes, he was recently sent to them from the Montreal Canadians. Carey Price led the Bulldogs to the Calder Cup Championship last season and is the main reason the Amerks weren’t able to beat the team in the first round of the playoffs. The Amerks last win came against the Bulldogs on December 28 when the 10 game losing skid ended, the Amerks are 4-0-1 against them this season.
They return home on Sunday against the Peoria Rivermen for the second of two meetings, the last on December 15 the Amerks lost 4-3.
The biggest challenge of the weekend will be whether or not we can score any goals, especially against Price. The team has only scored three goals in the last five games.
The article in today’s Democrat and Chronicle titled “Amerks players have plenty left to play for” basically stated at this point the players are still trying to give it all, they understand they won’t be winning a Calder Cup this year, but they still want to win games and the know everyone (fans, parent teams, coaches, other players, other teams, etc) is watching them.
Here’s one excerpt from the article:
Cunneyworth knows the task facing the players is difficult. Minds may be wandering. The attitude of, “oh well, we lost, so what,” could easily set in.
While the players may be trying to keep that attitude away, unfortunately I think it’s safe to say it has already set in amongst a lot of fans. Many long time season ticket holders have already stated they merely go to games to see friends and typically leave early.
We’ve written about how individual players have been improving, our next hope is that those individual achievements will mesh together to create better chemistry and create some more wins.
It would be great to leave the arena this weekend and see smiling faces celebrating a win rather than the usual saying of, “oh well, we lost, so what.”
Martin Lojek was returned today by the Florida Panthers and should be playing tonight to help out on defense.
Anthony Stewart is still with the Florida Panthers where he has been averaging about 7 minutes of ice time per game.
Clark MacArthur and Patrick Kaleta are still with the Sabres. With the way that MacArthur has played for the Sabres this week we may not see him back any time soon.
Mike Card is currently the only active Amerk out due to an injury, he suffered another concussion last week. There hasn’t been any reports about possibility of a return any time soon.
