GAMEDAY NOTES AND QUOTES: AMERKS HOST BEARS IN FINAL HOME GAME OF 2023
Tonight’s matchup is the 465th all-time between the American Hockey League’s two oldest teams and the first meeting since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals back in June
Dec 29, 2023
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (13-11-2-1) are at Blue Cross Arena for the final time in the calendar year as they welcome the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears (25-6-0-0) to the Flower City Friday night.
Tonight’s matchup is the 465th all-time between the American Hockey League’s two oldest teams and the first meeting since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals back in June.
“They ended our season in a great series,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “We showed our pre-scout this morning and showed some of the things from the playoffs last year. The level of play on both teams was just so high. It gets exciting; reminds you of how much fun it is to earn the right to play in those big moments.”
“They’re the best team in the American League right now. They don’t have any weaknesses. They have a lot of veterans that are elite, high-end AHL producing players. They have a big, mean, physical defense core. They pose many different challenges.”
SOME THINGS CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN
Hockey is often a day-by-day sport where the results of one night have no impact on the following day’s game. Players are taught to have that mindset, however, some games, or in this case series, are impossible to forget. The Amerks remember what happened last spring and it’s something they can use as fuel for tonight.
“We played them in the playoffs last year,” said Brett Murray. “It’s a game that’s been marked for a little while. The team that eliminates you from the playoffs leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It was a great experience playing in such meaningful games, not only for the team, but to this city and the 11,000-12,000 fans that were at every single game cheering for us. It really puts it into perspective for why we want to play this game and why I want to keep coming back here (to Rochester).”
“It’s fun to play them for the first time since last year,” said Linus Weissbach, who scored two goals and posted five points in the playoff series against Hershey. “It was a cool experience last year and it will be fun to play them again. That was the toughest stretch of games that I’ve personally played. I think you take some lessons away from that.”
DISSECTING THE RESULTS
Rochester enters the final weekend of 2023 with a 3-7-0-1 mark over their last 11 games. Despite the outcomes, Appert, along with his players, believe things are trending in the right direction.
“I feel the best about our team right now from a team defensive standpoint that I have all year,” said Appert. “Until you get your defensive play in order, you’re just masking problems. We were scoring our way out of problems earlier in the season. Now at this point in the season games become more 4-3, 3-2, 2-1. We weren’t capable of winning those games five weeks ago. Now we are. Our team defense has improved a ton. The offense is still there, but it’s been dormant lately. We have to score more dirty goals.”
“It’s a long season,” said Weissbach. “There’s a lot of ups and downs, and even though we’re going through a rough stretch results-wise, you want to take away positive things from those, too, because you never know what’s coming down the stretch. I think it’s going to benefit us in the long run.”
“We are playing well,” said Murray. “We’re playing the way we think we should be playing. You really need to take what’s been happening the last two weeks and learn the lessons. Games are hard and they’re extremely hard in the playoffs. You look at these teams like Hershey and Syracuse. These are teams we faced on our run in the playoffs last year. Not every game is going to be handed to you. You have to earn it. We’re hopefully fortunate enough to learn that lesson once, and early in the season being only 26 games in.”
SHOOTING BY DESIGN
The Amerks and Bears have put an emphasis on quality over quantity when it comes to shots on goal this season, with each team ranking in the bottom-third of the league. Rochester, however, has outshot its opponents in four straight games. In last year’s playoff series, the Amerks outshot Hershey in four of six games.
“It’s a balance,” said Appert. “I believe in shooting, especially from the point with traffic because I think shooting creates chaos. When you get your opponent in chaos you then have the opportunity to take advantage. But I also believe in not just shooting to shoot. Taking a shot at the top of the circle with no traffic is really not a great play. If you can find another play that challenges the opponent’s goalie it has a higher likelihood of resulting in a higher scoring chance, a goal, or a rebound. We need more point shots and more traffic to start with. Then we can get our opponent in chaos, and from there we can find some of the nicer plays to take advantage of that chaos.”
“I think we have a very high-skilled offense here,” said Murray. “The byproduct of that is a lot of shots and a lot of offensive zone pressure. We like to thrive on that and get the puck in then go to work. It’s by design. The high-pressure offense is hard to defend. You might not always get the results, but as long as we continue to play like that eventually you’ll see teams break down and we’ll find success.”