The Amerks lost to the Syracuse Crunch tonight 5-2 in their first preseason game.
Everyone knew they could look forward to a few fights tonight and I’m sure a lot of people wanted to see (or hear about) Ryan James Hand take on Jon “Nasty” Mirasty. But, who was ready for the four fights that took place? After last season, one fight would have been a treat.
Hand of course dropped the gloves first, only 3:19 into the game. But, it wasn’t with Mirasty. It was with Mike Sgroi who is a real heavyweight. This bodes well for Hand showing he isn’t afraid to take on people a bit bigger than himself.
Hand never did get to take on Mirasty. In fact, Mirasty didn’t fight anyone tonight. Ryan didn’t mind though saying, “I’m not really upset [about not fighting Mirasty], I have a lot of respect for him. I’ll get my chance.”
The second fight of the game was between James DeLory of the Amerks and Trevor Hendrikx of the Crunch. Kevin O said this one was pretty much another draw.
The third and fourth fights involved Neil Clark who played for the Grand Rapids Griffins last season. First he tossed down the gloves to fight a rather unwilling Kyle Wharton who just avoided most of Clark’s punches. His second fight of the night came against Bryan McGregor. This fight clearly went to Clark.
Scoring goals for the Amerks were Mark Lee and Jacob MacFlikier. Chris Beckford-Tseu was in goal for the first period and part of the second where he saved 13 of 15 shots. David Shantz was in goal after that stopping 10 of 13 shots.
Although there was no radio coverage or online streaming of the game, Kevin O from the D&C did a fantastic job keeping everyone updated on the game. LetsGoAmerks would like to thank Kevin for his time and updates.
The Amerks are on the road again tomorrow for their second preseason game of the season in Cleveland where they will take on the Lake Erie Monsters.
Then on Saturday is the first time fans in Rochester will get to have a good look at the new team when they once again take on the Monsters. The puck drops at 7:35pm at the ESL Sports Centre. I for one can’t wait to