Rochester takes on the Toronto Marlies at home Friday, and travel to Syracuse on Saturday.
By Erica Whyte
As the Rochester Americans (8-11-0-1) kick off week eight of the regular season, they look to tackle division rivals, the Toronto Marlies (10-6-1-1) and the Syracuse Crunch (11-5-0-2), this upcoming weekend. The Amerks came out on top in the first and only time they have faced the Marlies this year, but remain winless after four meetings with the Crunch.
Through the ups and downs of this young season, one thing that has remained consistent is the dominance of the Amerks special teams. The Amerks power-play ranks fourth in the American Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, and the penalty skill sits in third.
“We work well in practice,” said Amerks assistant coach Brad Tapper earlier this week. “We have a lot of small-area drills that we do, it’s all about time and space. We try to move the puck within two to three seconds, and we need the shooting mentality to get pucks to the net.”
Defenseman Brady Austin insists that although special teams have been doing well, more needs to be done in other areas of play.
“Our power-play has been doing well, and scoring a lot of goals for us, but we’ve got to be good 5-on-5,” he said.
Both Cal O’Reilly and Cole Schneider, who are currently among the league’s top scoring leaders, were returned to Rochester last week, but Justin Falk, William Carrier, and Taylor Fedun remain in Buffalo.
The Amerks will host the Marlies for Star Wars Night on Friday, Dec. 2. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester.