TACO BELL WRAP-UP: HELENIUS, KOZAK HIT MILESTONES
Amerks prepare for two-game week against Cleveland
Oct 21, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (1-3-0-0) built 2-0 leads both Friday and Saturday against Toronto, but came out on the wrong side of 4-2 and 3-2 losses, respectively.
Despite the outcomes, a pair of Amerks reached milestones in the second week of the season, hoping to build on them and skate forward as Rochester looks ahead at another pair of games against a divisional opponent.
MILESTONES
Friday night saw Konsta Helenius score his first professional goal in North America, driving the puck past Marlies goaltender Artur Akhtyamov in the second period.
“We were at the defensive zone and then we got the puck and used our fast attack,” said Helenius. “I know ‘Neuch’ (Viktor Neuchev) got me the pass and I was coming down the wing and just decided to take a shot. I thought it may have been a bad shot, but maybe the goalie wasn’t going to be ready for it. I guess I got lucky.”
Helenius was drafted 14th overall by Buffalo this past summer. Prior to this season, the Finnish forward had spent his entire life in his native country, having played the last two seasons professionally for Jukurit in Liiga, the top pro hockey league in Finland.
“I think the biggest difference here is there’s less time, so you need to be quicker with everything. Usually in Finland, teams would take their time and do slow breakouts, but we were coached by Olli Jokinen, who played so much in the NHL and knows what it takes to play in the NHL, so we were fast and played fast. I think that’s helped a lot with transitioning to the smaller ice here.”
The 18-year-old wasn’t the only Amerk reaching a milestone on the weekend. Less than 24 hours later, Tyson Kozak would score in Saturday’s game, which was his 100th professional game. The third-year pro has 12 goals and as many assists for 24 points in his 100 games, having spent all of them in the red, white, and blue.
“It kind of just flew by,” said Kozak. “Obviously, I’ve been injured a few times over the last two years, so it’s taken a while to get here, but it’s been a lot of fun playing here. It’s a great place to be. To hit that milestone definitely feels good knowing I had to battle through all of those injuries and persevere. My goal this year is to hopefully stay healthy and have a productive season.”
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
The season is four games old, meaning 68 games and a possible 136 points remain up for grabs. Early moments in a season can often present the most growth and opportunities to learn. For the Amerks, a lesson in situational awareness is being taught following the weekend’s series with Toronto.
Rochester has both scored first and drawn the first penalty in each of its four contests so far, however, the Amerks were outscored 5-1 in the second period of both games Friday and Saturday with the Marlies. Last season, the Amerks were 26-6-4-2 when scoring the first goal, but are 1-3-0-0 to begin the 2024-25 campaign.
POWER OUTAGE
Special teams play a key role in any team’s success. The Amerks have had several chances, hit posts, missed nets by the narrowest of margins, and ran into some exceptional goaltending. This has all added up and resulted in the team going 0-for-21 on the power-play through the first four games of the season.
“It’s a bit of needing to make adjustments and some bad luck,” said Helenius when talking about the power-play. “We’ve had chances, but we just haven’t scored. Maybe we need to practice goal-scoring. We need to be better.”
COMING UP NEXT
The Amerks play another home-and-home series, albeit a more elongated version, starting Wednesday night at home as the Cleveland Monsters visit Blue Cross Arena with the Amerks still in search of their first win on home ice. Three nights later, Rochester will be the road team as they visit the Monsters at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse for what will be the third straight Saturday the Amerks spend away from home.