The Amerks are finally back home from the long and grueling road trip to the midwest.  On his way to the ice Tyler Plante commented, “I am still so tired from that trip.”  I would expect that they all are.

They played five games in six nights.  All five games were in different cities.  There was travel time and lack of sleep and three big wins (that could have been four).  The team traveled 2,451 on their road trip.  That is a lot of travel on little rest.

Kenndal McArdle is back on the ice today.  He was out practicing with Luke Beaverson before the team got on the ice.  They are both still out now that the whole team has joined them.  Kenndal is in a green jersey though, so I’m sure he is not full contact.  Luke is back to full contact so, I wouldn’t expect to see him around here much longer with eight defenseman healthy.

Defenseman, Mike Caruso was the only healthy scratch in Sunday’s win over the Peoria Rivermen.  He wasn’t playing his best in the two games prior to that so Franklin MacDonald took his place in the lineup.  Who will sit tonight?  My guess is Luke Beaverson and Peter Aston.  Although Aston and MacDonald played very very well on the road trip, Caruso won’t be sitting out long.  I’m sure he has learned his lesson and will be back on top of his game tonight.

The line that refuses to cut their hair is working on puck movement on the powerplay.  Mike Duco, Shawn Matthias, and Randell Gelech are working hard on getting crisp, clean passes in front of the net.  Michal Repik, David Brine and Karl Stewart are doing the same.

One player that says no one should be tired is Stefan Meyer.  I asked him if all the travel could be an issue in the game and he said, “It shouldn’t be.  No one should be tired, we had two days off.  We had a good practice.”  We’ll check back with him after the game tonight.

Mike Brodeur will be getting the start in net tonight.

Tons of promotions going on over the next three games, check them out here.

The Amerks play the Grand Rapids Griffins tonight at 7:05 pm.  The last time the Amerks went to Grand Rapids, they split the weekend with them.  Rochester is 1-3-0-0 this season and 17-19-2 all-time against Detroit Red Wings’ affiliate.   Tonight is the fifth of six games between the two teams this season.  The Griffins have outscored the Amerks 19-8 in the season series.  The Griffins are on a downward spiral right now having lost their last five games, so it would be a good time to take them down.