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AMERKS STICK TO ROUTINE IN PREPARATION FOR GAME 5

AMERKS STICK TO ROUTINE IN PREPARATION FOR GAME 5

May 4, 2023

“They’re great moments in your life and in your career, so you want to enjoy them,” Amerks head coach Seth Appert said after practice on Wednesday.

 

With five days between Game 4 and Game 5, which is a do-or-die game on Saturday night for both teams, it’s important to stay in the moment. The Amerks took Monday off to rest and used Tuesday to lift and have a team meeting. They hit the ice on Wednesday and Thursday to start making some minor adjustments.

 

“The vibe is good,” he said, and emphasized the need to make sure that every day at the rink is fun. “Practice should be engaging and passionate and competitive and fun. On the best teams I’ve coached, fun and work and compete mesh.”

 

 

That’s been true of this Rochester group all season long, but especially during this 20-game playoff push. Even last week, as the team trailed in the series, the team mindset was positive.

 

“The guys have a really good approach: they come to get better, they come to learn, and they come to work on their game.”

 

This week, Appert showed clips from Steve Kerr’s press conference, after the Warriors' Game 7 victory on Sunday: “He talked about making the simple play over and over and over, doing the right thing over and over and over.” Appert felt that hearing it from someone else — and someone else in a different sport who has found a ton of success — would resonate with the room.

 

Because although Game 5 comes with added pressure, there’s no need to change who you are as an individual player or as a team. Appert also mentioned how the Navy SEALS talk about that: how you fall to your level of training.

 

“We want to be the best versions of ourselves, and if we do that, we’ll give ourselves a good chance to win.”

 

Amerks captain Michael Mersch agreed. “I’ve said this before, even after we lost the first two games,” he told the media on Thursday. “Just stick with your routine and what makes you successful, what you can become better at as a player throughout the week to get ready.”

 

In a five-game series, that’s making adjustments, both on what you can take advantage of against your opponent, and of what you can take away from them. Facing a team like Syracuse, who have squared-off against Rochester sixteen times already this season, there are always little adjustments to make.

 

“You just have to play the right way, be relaxed and in the moment,” Mersch said.

 

Mersch has played in Game 5s before, as have a group of the returning players, who went to Utica in Round Two last season and beat the Comets in their own building. “It is one of the greatest feelings in the world,” Appert explained, “to win a playoff series on the road. That was an incredibly special thing that we were able to accomplish.”

 

The Amerks look to do it again, and to feel that feeling, on Saturday night in Syracuse. But it won’t be easy for the young squad. “It’s hard. It just is,” Appert said. “The crowd is in their favor.”

 

 

“We’ll have a good contingent of Rochester fans over there, which is awesome, and we’ll do everything we can to make them the loudest fans in the building.”

 

The best way to do that, of course, is by scoring the first goal. That always takes the home crowd out of it, in any game you watch, as Mersch pointed out. “Every game’s different though,” he continued. “Whether things happen that way early or not, you always have to have a response.”

 

The Amerks found that response in Game 1 in Syracuse. After both Crunch goals, the Amerks responded with one of their own, led largely by Linus Weissbach. “He was our best forward in Syracuse,” Appert said. “For him to play with the competitive nature he played with in these four games, it’s been really, really inspiring to see.”


 

 

“Linus Weissbach is playing the best hockey of his pro career right now.”

And he’s bringing other guys into the fight with him. “That’s what you play for, right? These games,” Weissbach said today. “You want to do everything to win and help the team any way you can. That pushes me right now, and I think that goes for a lot of guys, too.”

 

Weissbach skated with Jiri Kulich and Lukas Rousek after Kulich’s return to the lineup in Game 3. The three forwards combined for nine points in the two games at Blue Cross Arena. “All three of us want to contribute any way we can,” he explained. “For us, we’re leaned on to be a little bit more offensive, but we still want to clean up our defense. We try to bring that full package every night.”

 

 

They’ll likely skate together again in Syracuse for Game 5, as forward Filip Cederqvist is “likely still out” for the game, according to Appert. Brendan Warren, who has missed the last five games is day-to-day. “He’ll have a chance, potentially, to be in this weekend,” Appert said. Warren is participating in full-team practice this week.

 

The Amerks hit the ice again on Friday in Rochester before heading to Syracuse. The puck drops on Game 5 at 7:00pm on Saturday night, and fans can stream the game on AHLTV or The Fan Rochester, as well as watch at The Distillery Mt. Hope location.

 

The winner of Game 5 will face the winner of the Toronto-Utica series, which the Marlies currently lead 2-1. Game 4 of that series is Friday night in Utica.

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