Riley Emmerson and Michael Duco werer out on the ice before practice. Duco wants to stay out and practice with the team, but Cipolla is sending him back to check with the Doctor.  Emmerson looked good on his skates.  Don’t expect either of them on the ice for tonight’s game.  Duco is coming back on the ice.  So, it looks like he will be practicing with the team.

I am excited to finally see Cory Murphy play in the Blue Cross Arena.  It’s really not the same watching them online.  I have been excited about seeing him since he cleared waivers back in October.  It was too bad the Panthers just assigned him back to Florida again right after clearing.  He would have been a great addition to the team.

Mike Brodeur will be starting in goal tonight which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.  He is now the best goalie in the league and will want to hold that title against the ailing Crunch tonight.

Blue Jackets’ goalie, Pascal Leclaire was placed on IR with a lowerbdy injury.  He will be out at least seven days.  LaCosta has been called up to replace him and the Crunch signed Kris Mayotte to a PTO.  That just adds insult to injury for the Crunch who are also missing Nikita Filatov who was also recalled to the BJ’s this week.

Nikita Filatov was playing in the World Juniors for Team Russia and was barely back in the states when he was recalled.

Our powerplay units for tonight look good.  The First has Cory Murphy and Janis Sprukts on the point with Stefan Meyer, Michal Repik and Tanner Glass.  The second has Keaton Ellerby and Jason Garrison on  point and Randell Gelech, Jacob Micflikier and Karl Stewart.

With Tanner on the first powerplay unit…does that mean that the Florida Panthers’ brass will be in the stands.  That seems to be the only time he truly works hard.  Whenever Jack Birch is at the games, Tanner gets into fights right from the start of the game, he pushes hard to the net and he makes his presence known all over the ice.

With his move to the first powerplay unit, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Birch watching the game tonight.  I can’t really see any other reason for him to be moved up over Karl Stewart or Jacob Micflikier on the first unit.  They have both been playing far better than him.

Enough about Tanner and my anger at his ability to play better when he feels like it.

Stefan Meyer is one of the last guys on the ice today.  Working hard, as usual.  Lately it has really been paying off for him.  He had a great weekend in Manitoba last weekend where he had three points in two nights, including the game tying goal on Saturday with only 4 seconds left.  His confidence level should be high this weekend. 

Come to the arena tonight at 7:35pm to see an important game between the Amerks and their arch nemesis, the Syracuse Crunch.