A WEEKEND IN CHARLOTTE WITH WORK TO BE DONE
Dec 14, 2022By Suzie Cool
The Rochester Americans are headed south this weekend to take on the Charlotte Checkers in back-to-back matchups on Friday and Saturday.
While this might seem like any normal road trip on the Amerks 2022-23 schedule, it’s not. For the lone time this season, Rochester will fly to its destination and, believe it or not, that can be a big game-changer.
“You don't get to do this a lot in American League, at least in the North Division,” commented Amerks head coach Seth Appert when asked how the difference in travel can have a difference on the team. “Charlotte is a nice city, so it's a good opportunity for the guys to go on the road, have time together, not have the grind and wear and tear of a five, six, seven-hour bus ride, you know, it’s a short, direct flight.”
December seems to be a month of lengthy road trips with extra days in the same city, and Appert doesn’t mind that. With the team leaving Thursday morning, the Amerks will have practice in Charlotte that same afternoon and then will have a night to relax and explore the city before facing an extremely tough opponent in the Checkers two days in a row.
“We'll practice in Charlotte Thursday afternoon and then we're playing a very, very good opponent back-to-back nights. So, there's a lot of good that can come from this trip.”
Despite Charlotte sitting in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with a 12-9-2-1 overall record and 27 points, the Amerks can’t take the Checkers lightly. Especially on the road.
Rochester enters the weekend’s contests showing a 1-8-0 record against Charlotte since the start of the 2018-19 campaign and a 3-9-1 mark dating back to 2017-18. The Amerks are searching for their first win in the Queen City against the Checkers since earning a 4-1 victory back on Jan. 20, 2018.
Appert knows that a win against Charlotte this season won’t be any easier than in years past.
“They’re a very good line rush team. They're very good in the offensive zone. All their analytic numbers offensively are very strong. Their numbers defensively are a little less than that,” explained Appret when asked what makes Charlotte a tough opponent for the Amerks to take on this weekend. “They put you in a lot of uncomfortable positions. We're going to need to be good defensively. We need to manage the puck and prevent them from getting on as many line rushes as they seem to get on in most of the games we've watched them.”
This is the Amerks last little bit of travel before the holiday break and they return home for a three-game homestand. In Appert’s eyes, this isn’t the time to start coasting because the holidays are around the corner. If the Amerks want to continue to be one of the best teams in the American Hockey League, they’ll continue to go full throttle no matter the time of year.
“I've talked to our team about how the best teams keep pushing ahead to Christmas. They don't coast into Christmas and that's something we want to be doing over these next two weeks,” Appert said.
This weekend against Charlotte continues a three-game road swing for Rochester as the team heads south for a pair of contests against the Checkers beginning on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7:00 p.m. before wrapping up the weekend with another go-around on Saturday. All of the action from Bojangles' Coliseum will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.