AMERKS CONTINUING TO FINE TUNE DEFENSIVE GAME
Jan 27, 2023By Suzie Cool
This weekend wraps up the season-series between the Rochester Americans and the Charlotte Checkers, with the previous two meetings being in the Queen City back on Dec. 16 and 17 when Rochester completed a two-game sweep. Both Rochester and Charlotte come into the weekend’s action with nearly identical records with at least 20 wins and 14 regulation losses.
While the major storyline from that two-win weekend in mid-December was goaltender Malcolm Subban combing for 75 saves and completing a shutout, this was the point in the season where Amerks head coach Seth Appert felt the defensive core really started to put things into place.
“I thought that this (trip to Charlotte in December) was the start of us becoming a little bit better of a defensive hockey team,” started Appert when asked what the Amerks did well in their first round of a back-to-back set against Charlotte this season.
Amerks blueliner Chase Priskie echoed Appert’s thoughts on the defensive unit beginning to blossom during their trip to Charlotte.
“I agree, I think for the for the defense there has been a lot of shifting in pairings and you gain confidence in each other and chemistry when you're not constantly shifting those pairings around,” began Priskie when asked if this was where he saw the shift in the team’s defensive game. “The fact that we've been able to play with a consistent pairing the last couple of weeks, I think it will only help our chemistry (continue to) grow.”
Now, the Checkers lineup that the Amerks are taking on tonight is shaped a little bit different than that of the Charlotte roster that Rochester saw in mid-December.
Last time the Amerks faced the Checkers, Appert described Charlotte’s lineup as “decimated”, especially with the absence of forwards Zac Dalpe, a former Amerk, and Aleksi Heponiemi, two of the Checkers’ top five forwards who have combined for 39 points on the season.
The defensive effort that Rochester began to string together in Charlotte is going to be incredibly important again tonight against a fully loaded Checkers lineup.
“We were a really committed defensive team. We were strong on pucks, managed the puck well. We boxed out at the front of the net well, so we had a good, strong defensive commitment that whole weekend. We're going to need that again tonight,” finished Appert when discussing what will be needed to continue to see success against the Checkers tonight.
Tonight's matchup is the third between the two teams following the Amerks weekend sweep back on Dec. 16 and 17 in Charlotte, with puck drop slated for 7:15 p.m. due to pregame ceremonies with the Amerks annual Hall of Fame Night presented by UR Medicine Orthopedics & Physical Performance. All of the action will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.