The Rochester Red Wings dropped a matinee game, 9-6, to the Buffalo Bisons at Coke Cola Field on Thursday to snap their 4-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, the Red Wings maintain first place in the International League North Division with a 35-26 record. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (33-27) entered Thursday night’s action 1.5-games behind the Wings.
Former Bison hurler Andrew Albers, who pitched last year’s season opener against the Wings for Buffalo, was rocketed by his former teammates with runs in each of the first 3 innings as the Bisons grabbed a 4-0 advantage.
However, the visitors from the Flower City rallied in the fourth when Kennys Vargas ripped a bases-loaded double to draw the Wings within one run at 4-3. A single by James Beresford, and walks to Logan Schafer and Jorge Polanco, filled the bases for Vargas.
The Bisons chased Albers in the 6th with a pair of runs to open up a 6-3 margin.
Rochester knotted the count at 6-6 with 3 runs in the 8th. Tommy Field and Buck Britton started the rally with walks. Wilfredo Tovar lined a double to center to score both runners. Tovar crossed the plate with the 6th run on Adam Brett Walker’s double to left.
But the Bisons regained the lead in the home half against reliever Dan Runzler (1-2), who ended up taking the loss, with a trio of runs of their own.
The Red Wings begin a homestand on Friday night against the Toledo Mud Hens at 7:05 p.m. with fireworks to follow the game.
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The Buffalo Bills signed a running back Dan “Boom” Herron on Thursday. He spent part of the 2015 season with the club. In accordance with team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 5-10, 212-pound Ohio State product has played in 35 career games, starting 3, and racking up 468 yards and 1 touchdown on 112 carries. He also caught 31 passes for 277 yards. Herron, 27, originally entered the league as a sixth round pick (191st overall) of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2012 NFL Draft.
To make room on the roster for Herron the Bills released CB Julian Whigham.
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Who: Rochester Rattlers vs Chesapeake Bayhawks
When: Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD
Watch: ESPN 3
Week 8 Pregame Notes
Rochester won the first battle with the Bayhawks in Week 6 (May 28th), 18 to 14 in Rochester’s first home game of the 2016 season. Jesse King led the way for the Rattlers with five goals and two assist. Goalie John Galloway was strong in goal for the home team with 15 saves.
Rochester won both games during the 2015 season against Chesapeake. In the first game in Chesapeake on May 30th, Rochester won (15 – 11). Jordan Wolf had a game high, six goals. Joel White had a team and game high, eight ground balls. In their second game on July 11th in Brockport, Rochester won 14-13. Wolf was held to one goal but Dave Lawson stepped in and had four goals and one assist in the win. John Galloway made seventeen saves against the Bayhawks.
2016 Season Recap
The Rattlers are currently 2 – 3 after back to back home wins over the past two weeks. On Thursday, June 2nd, Rochester won, 13 to 9 over the Ohio Machine. Jeremy Boltus led the Rattlers with four goals. Goalie John Galloway was named the “Coca-Cola Player of the Game” after making 21 saves against the Machine.
What to Look Out For
Many of the Rattlers were able to get on the scoreboard against the Bayhawk. King led the way with 5 goals and 2 assists. But many other Rattlers had big days including Jeremy Boltus had 4 goals, Ned Crotty scored 3 goals and had 1 assist. Penfield native Kyle Denhoff and Wolf each had 2 goals against the Bayhawks (Wolf also had 2 assists). John Ranagan returned to the Rattlers (from his NLL commitment) and scored 1 goal in his first game back.
Playing in front of the home Rochester crowd, the Rattlers were able to feed off of the energy. With nearly 1,200 fans to watch the Rattlers first home game, the team jumped out to a 4-3 led in the first quarter and never looked back. They were able to get 11 more goals between the second and third quarters to Chesapeake’s 6.
Bayhawks’ offense had many goal scorers including Brendan Mundorf, Drew Westervelt, Matt Danowski, and Anthony Kelly each scored 2 goals apiece. Local Rochester Knighthawks star and Irondequoit native, Joe Walters, scored 1 goal and 2 assists for the Bayhawks. Goalie Brian Phipps also had 17 saves in net for Chesapeake.
Coach’s Notes
Each week, Rattlers Head Coach, Tim Soudan, talks with members of the League and press to discuss the team’s accomplishments, concerns and production. Here’s what Coach Soudan had to say about the team going into the Week Eight:
“The Bayhawks are a very talented team and they are well coached, it is important that we go down and play with effort and energy! We need to be able to win on the road and we haven’t been able to do that yet this year. I am looking forward to getting together with the guys again and looking forward to adding Matt Dunn from Maryland this week, he should fit right in!“
Looking Ahead
After Saturday’s game, the Rattlers travel to Denver to play the Outlaws at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on June 18th (Game time is set for 9:30 p.m.). The Rattlers next home game is July 2nd vs the Boston Cannons (Game starts at 5 p.m.). To purchase tickets, please visit our events page.
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From sabres.com, At its core, the NHL Scouting Combine is really nothing more than a week-long test. For the better part of it, prospects are tested mentally, sitting down for up to 30 high-stake job interviews in a matter of five days. They’re then tested physically to the point of exhaustion. Not once, but twice.
Yet for all its rigors, Kieffer Bellows was sure not to take a moment of his Combine week for granted. His father’s advice lingered on his mind: It was an experience he’d only have once. Soon it will be Draft day, and then it’s off to school. Bellows wants to absorb the moments as they pass.
Certainty is a rare thing to come by when it comes to the drafting process, and yet Bellows has the comfort of knowing that – if all goes according to plan – he’s experiencing the process with four of his future teammates. All are expected to play at Boston University, the same program that produced Jack Eichel one year ago.
Bellows, along with fellow forwards Clayton Keller and defensemen Dante Fabbro and Chad Krys, have all committed to BU for their freshman seasons in 2016-17. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy, another Draft-eligible prospect, just concluded a tremendous freshman season with the Terriers and, barring an early jump to the NHL, will return as a sophomore next year.
Having those future teammates around – as well as a number of past teammates from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. – has eased the transition into the Draft for Bellows.
“It’s made the whole process a lot easier,” he said at the Combine. “Most of the guys from my team are here and a lot of guys I’ll be going to school with next year are here. It’s just a comfort factor when you’re going to work out or you’re going to breakfast or something. It’s really exciting and I’m very fortunate to have them here.”
Keller actually fits into both categories, a teammate of Bellows’ with the USNTDP and a fellow commit to BU – at least for now. Keller describes himself at “99-percent committed” to becoming a Terrier, but he also hasn’t completely shut the door on the possibility of joining the Windsor Spitfires, the Ontario Hockey League team that drafted him in 2014.
Keller and Bellows are best friends off the ice, which one would think might nudge Keller all the way toward BU. The problem is that they’re also both friends with fellow Draft-eligible prospect Logan Brown, who will play for Windsor next year and has known Keller since he was seven years old.
So, what’s the tiebreaker? Perhaps it’ll be a talk from Eichel, who already took the route from Ann Arbor to Boston and then to a dynamic rookie season in the NHL. He met with the USNDTP after a game last year and his conversation with Keller made an impact.
“I kind of just sat down with him and talked about BU and he just explained how much he loved it and how much he respects [Terriers coach David Quinn],” Keller said. “I think that really put a mark in my mind of where I want to go and I think that motivated me a little bit.”
McAvoy, with a year of experience already under his belt, has done his share of recruiting too.
“I’m friendly with all the guys that are coming in,” he said. “I’ve been talking to Keller a little bit, trying to persuade him one way. I think that he wants to be a Terrier and he’s told me that but at the end of the day he’s going to go with what he thinks is his best path to make it to the NHL.”
Meanwhile, McAvoy has also received his share of advice from Eichel, who he knows from his own time at Ann Arbor (he was on the under-17 team while Eichel was on the under-18 team) and has spent time with at BU this summer.
“I was talking to him a few days ago before all the testing went down and he sent me best wishes,” he said. “He told me to just do my best, to work as hard as I can, and he kind of gave me a heads up on Buffalo. He said [Sabres General Manager Tim Murray] can be an intimidating guy but to just be yourself and it will all work out for the best.”