GAMEDAY NOTES AND QUOTES: AMERKS START HOMESTAND AGAINST T-BIRDS
Jan 20, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (18-13-3-1) will attempt to complete a sweep of their three-game schedule on the week when they entertain the Springfield Thunderbirds (18-14-3-2) at Blue Cross Arena Saturday night.
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Tonight marks the beginning of a four-game homestand for Rochester, with all of the team’s remaining games in January taking place in The Flower City.
POLICING THE GAME
Amerks head coach Seth Appert confirmed Saturday morning that forward Tyson Kozak will be out of the lineup due to a lower-body injury. There is no timetable on how long Kozak will be out, but this comes as a result of a hit delivered to the second-year pro in Friday’s 2-1 win in Utica.
“It was a terrible hit,” said the Amerks bench boss. “There were four hits like that last night.”
Earlier in the week, defenseman Jeremy Davies was also taken out of the equation after a spill with a player from Lehigh Valley Wednesday night. He will miss 2-4 weeks, per Appert.
“What happens is you have to go fight guys. We’ll police it.”
CONTAGIOUS PAIN
Blocking shots isn’t fun, but it’s a necessary ingredient to winning hockey games. In Friday’s win over the Comets, Rochester limited Utica to 25 shots in the game in large part to putting bodies in front of pucks to protect their goaltender.
“I think blocked shots are contagious. The more guys do it for each other, the more it encourages, maybe guilts, other guys into doing it. Kozak’s at the lead of it, but Brendan Warren does it a lot and Ethan Prow is a great shot blocker; Riley Stillman’s a great shot blocker and it becomes contagious. Then you got Brandon Biro and Lukas Rousek becoming really good shot blockers. When you’re on the bench, other than a goal, the other thing that gets the bench going the most is a big hit or a blocked shot. Everybody knows blocking a shot isn’t fun. Nobody wants to block a shot. It’s miserable, but you do it for your teammates because you want to win.”
LEVI BACK
Earlier this morning, the Buffalo Sabres announced that goaltender Eric Comrie has been recalled to the NHL. In a subsequent move, Devon Levi has been reassigned to Rochester for the second time this season. The rookie netminder will get his third AHL start and first in front of the home crowd at Blue Cross Arena.
“It’s just an opportunity to play for Devon. What you expect and know is he’s going to bring competitiveness. He plays the position with a real high compete level. You can feel his passion and his love of the game and the position. I expect he’s going to give us a good effort today.”
Levi’s only prior weekend with the Amerks came at the start of December, where in his AHL debut, the Quebec native stopped 40 shots backstopping the Amerks to a win, before making 30 saves the following night. Levi, 22, holds a 2.94 goals-against-average and a .921 save percentage with Rochester. He is 8-7-2 in 19 games with Buffalo this season.
WOAH, WE’RE HALFWAY THERE
Tonight is game 36 of the season for the Amerks, marking the midway point of the 2023-24 AHL season for Rochester. The team skates into the night tied for third place with Belleville in the North Division as each team has collected 40 points to date.
“We’ve been playing the right way and practicing the right way for six to eight weeks now. We were preaching to our guys to stay the course when we weren’t getting rewarded. This is going to turn into wins long-term. Now we’re starting to see some results.”
“You do look at standings more at this point of the year, but I’m a process-oriented coach. We can’t control the standings and how some of the other teams are doing, but we can control how we practice, how we play, and how we prepare. I’m more of a day-to-day coach. I try not to look too far ahead. I just want our guys to try and be great today and give ourselves the best chance to win.