AMERKS COME UP EMPTY-HANDED IN UTICA
Rochester unable to generate any offensive firepower in 3-0 loss to Comets
Jan 17, 2026The Rochester Americans (19-13-4-1) fell behind midway through the first period and could not generate much offensively as they came up empty-handed in a 3-0 loss to the intrastate rival Utica Comets (11-18-4-2) Saturday at the Adirondack Bank Center.
Despite the shutout defeat, Rochester’s first on the road against the Comets since Nov. 11, 2023, the Amerks have points in 14 of their last 19 games dating back to Nov. 22. The Amerks will enter Monday’s game with the Syracuse Crunch tied for third in the North Division standings while holding a game in hand.
After tallying his first-career AHL hat trick and producing a game-high eight shots on Friday night in Belleville, Isak Rosén topped all Amerks with five while Zac Jones registered three to lead all defensemen.
In the third start of his young AHL career and fourth appearance overall, goaltender Scott Ratzlaff (2-1-0) suffered his first loss while stopping 21 of the 23 shots he faced in-between the pipes.
Utica got a goal in each period from Angus Crookshank, Brian Halonen, and team captain Ryan Schmelzer, respectively, while netminder Jakub Málek (5-6-1) logged his second shutout in eight days for his third consecutive win.
FIRST PERIOD
Both teams gained an early power-play in the first three minutes of the contest and neither were able to find success while the Amerks registered were able to register four shots.
Rochester drew a high-sticking penalty midway through the frame, however, Utica got on the board as Crookshank stood tall at the blueline before gathering a loose puck. The fifth-year forward carried the puck as he was all alone near the benches and darted up the ice. While on the breakaway, Crookshank cut to the center of the zone and beat Rochester’s rookie netminder for his ninth of season at the 10:16 mark.
The Amerks eventually outshot the Comets 8-5 but not before being assessed a late tripping penalty in the final 22 seconds of the frame.
SECOND PERIOD
With over 90 seconds of carryover power-play time, Utica did not waste much time before Dennis Cholowski and Halonen exchanged passes atop the point. Cholowski held the puck after accepting the feed and sent a no-look, backhanded return pass to Halonen, who converted in the first minute of play to increase Utica’s lead to 2-0.
After gaining a two-goal cushion, the Comets limited Rochester to just five shots over the course of the middle period to take the lead into the intermission break.
THIRD PERIOD
The final 20 minutes of regulation had some tense moments as Rochester had some pushback, and despite holding a 5-on-3 man-advantage for nearly 50 seconds, the visitors were unable to find any success as the score remained 2-0.
The Amerks exhausted their timeout late in the frame and even pulled Ratzlaff for an extra attacker as they tried to spoil the Comets’ bid for a shutout, but Schmelzer put the final touches on the 3-0 score with an empty-net conversion with 2:27 remaining.
UP NEXT
The Amerks close out their three-game road swing as they travel to Upstate Medical University Center on Monday, Jan. 19 for a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Syracuse Crunch. The afternoon matinee will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
ROC: None
UTC: A. Crookshank (9), B. Halonen (10), R. Schmelzer (2)
Goaltenders
ROC S. Ratzlaff– 21/23 (L)
UTC: J. Málek– 20/20 (W)
Shots
ROC: 20
UTC: 24
Special Teams
ROC: PP (0/4) | PK (3/4)
UTC: PP (1/4) | PK (4/4)
Three Stars:
1. UTC - J. Málek
2. UTC - A. Crookshank
3. UTC - R. Schmelzer