AMERKS WEEK 4 ROUND-UP: BIRO LEADING THE WAY, ANOTHER BUSY WEEK AWAITS
Nov 8, 2022By Suzie Cool
It’s hard to believe that the Rochester Americans have already completed four weeks of the 2022-23 season.
During that span, the Amerks have went 6-4 over their first 10 games and sit in second place in the North Division. While the Amerks are currently in a stretch in which they’re facing North Division opponents for 15 straight games, they’re tasked with another busy stretch of three games in four nights.
Here’s a little on what we’ve learned from the young 2022-23 season so far: these divisional faceoffs – with quick turnarounds – have proved to provide big teaching moments for the young group of offensive players, Amerks forward Brandon Biro has been on a tear to start the year, and Amerks head coach Seth Appert feels that a week that features three different opponents is tough for everyone to prepare for.
WHAT GAME LAST WEEK PROVIDED THE BIGGEST TEACHING MOMENTS:
“I think they all had good teaching moments,” Appert began to explain when asked what game from last week provided the biggest teaching moments.
Last week, the Amerks were faced with three games over a four-day span. On Wednesday, they prevailed 7-2 over the Syracuse Crunch before splitting a home-and-home series against the Utica Comets over the weekend.
Between the games on Wednesday and Friday, Rochester combined for 12 goals, something that Appert was extremely pleased with from his young group of forwards.
“I knew our scoring would be a work in progress with how young our forward group is, so it's great to see us score so many goals on Wednesday and Friday.”
Saturday was a different story as the Amerks headed to the Adirondack Bank Center and, although the same opponent, a different outcome for Rochester as they fell 2-1 to close out its week of three-in-four action.
“I think one of the real things that I was excited about is how well we played Saturday in the loss,” Appert continued when discussing the 2-1 week the Amerks came away with. “We didn't play very good in some of our other losses, so you're going into Utica and it’s a hard building to play in. Most of our guys haven't played in that building yet and to a team that blew two leads in the week. So, you know how angry they're going to be. You know how physical they're going to be, and we did a lot of good things to put ourselves in a position to win that game. We just didn't capitalize offensively.”
BRANDON BIRO STEPPING UP WITH MORE THAN JUST SKILL:
“I think the skill has always been there. I think it's the other stuff that's risen,” said Appert when asked how Biro has leveled up in terms of his skillset this year.
With two assists on Friday’s game against the Comets, Biro took over the team's scoring lead with 11 points on three goals and eight assists while also extending his point streak to four straight games. Dating back to last season, the third-year pro has totaled 13 points on five goals and eight assists over his last 13 games and hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span.
Appert continued discussing Biro’s growth this season with, “His skill is growing with the way we practice and the positions we put our guys in, in practice. Their skills are going to get better if they're present in practice, and he is. He's also the first or second guy in the shooting room every day, so he's putting time into his craft.”
However, like Appert said, the skill has always been there for the young forward. This year, it’s been Biro taking his game to the next level and, instead of just playing hard, the young forward has made it extremely tough for opponents to play against him.
“What’s even more impressive is that he's went from being a player that played hard to being a player that’s hard to play against, and there’s a big difference in that. It sounds subtle, but there's a big difference. His level of physical commitment to getting the puck right now is extremely high, and that's allowing his skill to flourish.”
BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLAYING HARD AND BEING HARD TO PLAY AGAINST:
“Everybody works hard, we’re in the second-best league in the world. They're all one-percenters in terms of work ethic and competitiveness. Otherwise, they wouldn't be at this level,” Appert began to explain when asked what the difference between playing hard and being hard to play against meant.
Appert then continued with, “Playing hard is that you backtrack hard, and you do things right and you play the game from a pretty honest perspective. Being hard to play against means you physically take your game to your opponents.”
So, this brought Appert back to his discussion on Biro and the way the Amerks scoring leader is playing this season. Being hard to play against is going to vary from player to player and with the way Biro is making it difficult on his opponents, it’s giving him more opportunities with the puck and allowing his overall skillset to flourish.
“Biro does it differently than Mersch (Amerks captain Michael Mersch) – he’s going to use his size – but Biro is going to do it with how many puck battles he wins and how strong he is on the puck, and how he cuts people's hands off physically with the angles he takes. So, he's been very demanding to play against and he has the puck all the time because of it right now,” finished Appert when discussing Biro’s game.
GOING INTO A WEEK WITH THREE GAMES AGAINST THREE DIFFERENT OPPONENTS:
“That’s a hard week from a coaching staff perspective,” stated Appert when asked how to prep and practice during a week that features three games against three different opponents.
This is the first week of the season that the Amerks aren’t facing the same opponent back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. Instead, the Amerks take on the Crunch on Wednesday, Cleveland Monsters on Friday and then head north of the border to face-off against the Belleville Senators on Saturday.
Not an easy week to prep for when you have three different opponents in the span of four days.
Appert continued with how much he leans on his staff in a week like the one coming up.
“Less for me, more for my assistants because I spend the majority of my mind on our team and I let my assistants who, I have such a great staff, Amir (Amerks video coach and team services Amir Gulati) and Webby (Amerks assistant coach Mike Weber) and Pecs (Amerks assistant coach Michael Peca), they do the majority of the scout work. So, they have a lot of work this week, and, because they're so good, that allows me to stay focused on our guys.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK:
The Amerks are faced with another week of three-in-four action.
On Wednesday, Rochester takes on Syracuse at Upstate University Medical Arena with a 7:00 p.m. puck-drop. The weekend is then split with the Amerks taking on the Monsters for the first time this season on Friday before matching up against the Senators on Saturday. Both games are slated for 7:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.