The Rochester Americans lost to the Mantioba Moose on Wednesday night in a shootout and have extended their winless streak to seven games. It wasn’t a bad game by any means. The officiating was questionable, but not the deciding factor. Mike Keane won the game in the seventh round of the shootout beating Amerks goaltender Mike Brodeur.
The Manitoba Moose have the best record in the American Hockey League. The Rochester Americans are second worst in the league. Games like this make you question whether the other team was having a bad night, or if the Amerks really do have the potential to be a contender next season.
Jason Krog opened the scoring at 7:15 of the first period with a power play goal. Krog let a fast shot go that beat Plante top corner stick side. Keaton Ellerby had been sent to the penalty box 1:15 earlier for closing his hand on the puck. Tyler Plante had lost his stick and with the puck in front of the net Ellerby closed his hand over it. It was a great shot by Krog and proved why he’s ranked 5th in the league in points (23 G, 43 A) and considered one of the top players in the league. If only the Amerks had the money it’d take to sign a player like him next season.
Stefan Meyer tied the score at 12:52 of the first period for his 16th goal of the season, assisted by Karl Stewart and David Brine. Daniel Rahimi was trying to clear the puck from the side of the net when Meyer worked hard and was able to steal the puck to squeeze it past Schneider.
The Moose took a 2-1 lead when Dusty Collins scored at 14:36 after a giveaway by Jason Garrison.
After the goal Mike Brodeur was sent in to replace Tyler Plante. Plante seemed startled when he saw Brodeur on the ice but stated, “Obviously something happened after and we started playing good, his call, just have to get ready for the next one.”
Changing the momentum of the game is what the coaches had hoped for and it worked. “They were not the best goals and we decided to change the goalie to change the momentum in the game,” Jason Cippola said.
It worked. The Amerks came out strong in the second and controlled the period by scoring two goals and out shooting the Moose 13-5.
Michael Caruso scored his first career at 7:33 of the second period. Peter Aston let a shot go from the point and Schneider gave a big rebound off to the side that Caruso was able to take advantage of. Cipolla summed up the goal saying, “he made a good play, saw the shot coming from the point, creeped in like he’s supposed to for rebounds, sure enough right on his tape and he buried it.”
He’s ahead of pace when it comes to goals scored. Caruso said after the game, “I went my whole first year without scoring, one goal in my second year, so I’m not exactly a sniper. Great to get that off my back. Felt good.”
The Amerks took the lead at 14:14 of the second period when Dan Collins scored a power play goal assisted by Jordan Henry. Henry took the shot from the right side, Schneider stopped the initial shot and as he tried to get the puck away from the net Dan Collins was there to take the puck and squeeze it between the left skate and the goal post. The picture below is the puck just about to leave the blade of Collins’ stick.
“Working hard and going to the net, how a lot of our goals were scored,” Meyer commented.
“If we play like that we’re not going to go very much longer without winning,” Caruso said regarding the second period.
The Amerks had a 3-2 lead when Stefan Meyer was called for a penalty at 17:16 of the third period for closing his hand on the puck. The second time in the game that was called against the Amerks. Meyer states he didn’t close his hand on the puck, “what i did was push the puck to my defensemen on my team.” Meyer is an honest player and if he says he didn’t do something I’ll take his word. Meyer went on to say, “it was a cheesy way to lose when we worked so hard, really made my night miserable, I thought I was making the safe play.”
The penalty led to Guillaume Desbiens scoring the Moose to tie the game at three and force overtime.
All seven shots by the Amerks were stopped by Manitoba. In order the following had chances in the shootout: David Brine, Franklin MacDonald, Michael Duco, Michal Repik, Stefan Meyer, Stefan Meyer, and Michal Repik.
In case you’re wondering why MacDonald of all people was given a chance it’s because of what he’s shown in practices. Describing his shot Cippola said, “He’s got like a fake shot, like shoot it but let the puck keep going and it works everytime.”
We were at practice on Tuesday and witnessed Brodeur get beat by the shot and had everyone amazed. Giving MacDonald a chance was talked about on the bench and they left the decision up to Franklin, who accepted.
Stefan Meyer closed by saying, “Schneiders angles are redicilous, no net there, they probably said the same thing about Brodeur. A 1-0 shootout goes to show how good the goaltending was.”
The next game for Rochester is on Friday night in Syracuse.
