Alexandre Picard of the Syracuse Crunch is going to be the player to watch in tonights game at Blue Cross Arena between the Rochester Americans and Crunch.  Picard scored a hat trick on Friday night against the Amerks and then follow that up with a four goal night on Saturday against the Albany River Rats.  In two nights Picard has increased from 9 goals on the season to 16.

Brett Parnham, who was signed on Thursday, is going to be dressed for tonights game to make his pro debut.  He scored 50 goals this season in the OHL, second behind the expected 2009 #1 draft pick John Tavares.  He’s here on a tryout to see if he’s able to fit in with the level of play in the AHL.  Hopefully his excitement is able to carry over onto the ice to provide some sort of spark.

I expect that Tyler Plante will be getting the start in goal for the Amerks.  That’s just a guess, did not have the chance to get to the morning skate today.  Hopefully the defense will provide some support for the fast skating Crunch unlike the loss on Friday night.

If the Amerks can play the whole game tonight like they did during the first period on Friday it’ll be a great hockey game.  They’ll also need the defense to keep the fast skating Picard and Filatov from skating circles around them.

The Crunch are on a five game winning streak and need every point they can get to try and stay in the playoff race.

The Amerks are on an eight game losing streak and need every point they can get to stay out of dead last in the league.

Not much else to say other than that.

There’s one reason a win would be awesome – our son and dedicated Amerks fan is celebrating his 5th birthday today.