Good morning from the spacious Blue Cross Arena for the Rochester Americans Tuesday morning practice, this place feels like the worlds best hockey arena after watching so many practices recently at the igloo known as ESL Centre.
The Amerks are back on the ice preparing for Wednesday nights game against the Rockford IceHogs. Former Amerk Sean McMorrow is playing for the IceHogs, possible first period bout for Emmerson? We’ll have to wait and see!
The groin injury suffered by Mike Brodeur does not appear to be too serious. With any luck a miracle will happen and he’ll fully recover in time for the teams long road trip next week. The team won’t be taking any chances in rushing his return to the ice. The doctors as well as Brodeur will have to have full confidence that his groin is healed, it’s not an injury a goalie can return from and not be at 100%.
Tyler Plante has been called up from the Dayton Bombers for the second goaltender. Whether that means he’ll be the backup to Beckford-Tseu, or Beckford-Tseu will be backing him up is unclear. Our bet is on Tyler Plante making the start, it’ll be his opportunity to show that he’s improved while playing with the Bombers in the ECHL.
Here’s some stats regarding the goalies this season:
- Mike Brodeur: 13-5-1 // 2.16 GAA // .931 save percentage
- Chris Beckford-Tseu: 3-14-1 // 3.94 GAA // .868 save percentage
- Tyler Plante: w/ Bombers 6-11-1 // 3.35 GAA // .888 save percentage
w/ Amerks 0-5 // 5.10 GAA // .850 save percentage
Sometimes numbers say everything.
Stefan Meyer and Riley Emmerson are back on the ice practicing. Both players have been off the ice since the Rochester Americans lost 4-1 in Binghamton on January 14th. Stefan Meyer had a knee injury, Emmerson hurt his ankle again. Both players are taking part in the full practice.
Michael Caruso returned to action this past weekend after being out since that same game against Binghamton in January.
Drew Larman took a shot to the foot over the weekend, had been some concern about a potential injury, but he’s back on the ice.
Luke Beaverson is also injured, but as of right now we’re not sure why. With the return of Caruso we can probably expect to see Beaverson sent back to the Everblades when he’s healthy.
Winger Neil Clark was released from his tryout contract. He had brought in for some extra muscle while Emmerson recovered from his sprained ankle.
The IceHogs are 20 points ahead of the Amerks in the standings. Looking at the goals category, the Hogs have scored 154, compared to a league low 101 goals scored by the Amerks. The Hogs have allowed 137 compared to 161 allowed by the Amerks.
This team has proven they can compete with the best teams in the league, being consistent about being able to win is the issue. This game, just like all of the others is going to come down to scoring and goaltending. Or maybe that should be scoring some goals and a solid defensive game.
