HENRIETTA, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans concluded their 2018 preseason with a 4-1 victory over the North Division rival Syracuse Crunch at the Gene Polisseni Center on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Eric Cornel and rookie newcomer Andrew Oglevie each tallied a goal and an assist for a multi-point effort to lead the Amerks to their second victory of the three-game preseason schedule. C.J. Smith and Dalton Smith rounded out the scoring as netminder Scott Wedgewood made his unofficial Amerk debut as he stopped 29 of 30 shots he faced on the evening.
Taylor Raddysh spoiled Wedgewood’s bid for a shutout as he scored the lone Crunch goal while goaltender Eddie Pasquale took the loss in Syracuse’s exhibition opener.
Following a scoreless opening period, the Amerks tallied a pair of goals on their only two shots during the second stanza and took the 2-0 lead into the intermission.
C.J. Smith lit the lamp from an odd-angle shot to give Rochester a 1-0 lead at the 6:39 mark before Dalton Smith redirected Wayne Simpson’s point shot with nearly five minutes left in the frame.
“It feels good to contribute offensively,” Dalton Smith said. “I know my role on the team to finish my checks and be an energy-guy, but it is good to find the back of the net by just going to the net.”
Cornel upped the Amerks lead to 3-0 with 13:13 left in regulation as he buried a rebound from Oglevie and Zach Redmond.
“It was my third preseason game,” said Cornel. “I am starting to get my legs under me, but it was good to see our team come together against a team who we will be playing a lot of the course of the season.”
The Crunch pulled Pasquale despite facing a three-goal deficit inside the final two and a half minutes left in the contest and trimmed the Rochester lead with 55 seconds left.
After the goal, Syracuse pulled the netminder yet again, but Cornel scooped up the puck in-between the hash marks and slid a pass to Oglevie to seal the 4-1 win.
“It was a slow start for us but I thought we got better as the game went on,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “We did not have our best first two periods but Wedgewood played well and stood tall then in the third. He played really well.”
Rochester opens its 63rd American Hockey League season at home on Friday, Oct. 5 against the Charlotte Checkers at the Blue Cross Arena.