GAMEDAY NOTES & QUOTES: FRIDAY, MARCH 24
Lineup notes & quotes from Coach Appert ahead of tonight's game
Mar 24, 2023The Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears face-off in a Friday night rematch at Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks are celebrating Women in Sport Night, presented by Zweigle’s, with a pregame panel featuring Meghan Chayka, Anna Dua, Hayley Moore, and Jackie Nicholson.
Rochester-native Jen Gorbczynski is on the call with Don Stevens, and you can watch the game on tape delay at noon tomorrow on the CW Rochester.
LINEUP NOTES
Forward Tyson Kozak returns to the lineup tonight, after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.
Kozak will join a line with center Brendan Warren and winger Aleksandr Kisakov. “I thought [Kohen] Olischefski, Warren, and [Matej] Pekar were excellent,” Amerks head coach Seth Appert said after skate on Friday. “But with four games this weekend, we’re going to get some fresh legs in.
Appert explained that he doesn’t like viewing it as getting people rest, but instead as “injecting fresh legs” into the lineup. On preparing lineups for a three-in-three weekend:
“I think that we’ll evaluate how the weekend goes. You can make all these plans for it and then somebody gets hurt, somebody gets called up… in the American League, it’s better to play the day in front of you and then adjust as you move forward.”
Appert did not denote who would be starting goaltender, but based on past three-in-three weekends, it’s likely that Malcom Subban will get two starts and Michael Houser will get one.
WORTH MENTIONING
Michael Mersch has goals in back-to-back games, including the lone tally in Rochester’s trip to Hershey last Saturday night.
Jiri Kulich tallied his team-leading 19th goal of the season on Tuesday night against the Syracuse Crunch.
Rochester has earned points in 9 of their last 14 games and currently the magic number to clinch a playoff spot sits at 19.
The Amerks and Bears are, quite literally, the oldest rivalry in the American Hockey League, as the two oldest teams in the league have faced-off 463 times.
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
The Hershey Bears currently sit in second place in the Atlantic Division with 81 points and are 6-4-0-0 in their last ten games. The Bears have not played a game since last facing the Amerks on Saturday night in Hershey.
“They’re an excellent team,” Appert said today. “They’re veteran-laden, heavy, and hard to play against. There’s not a lot of weaknesses to their group.”
Forward Mike Sgarbossa leads the Bears with 52 points (19 goals, 33 assists) in his 51 games so far this season. He recorded an assist on Saturday against the Amerks on rookie Ethen Frank’s goal. Frank leads the Hershey squad with 27 goals.
“I thought that was an excellent game that we played in their building,” Appert told the media. “It was two teams that were very committed to playing the game the right way.”
Appert noted that this Hershey team does not give out chances. And when you’re playing a team like that, there’s two things that are really important:
“One, you have to maximize the chances you get. And two, you can’t hand them chances. They’re not going to give it back to you. We have to be stingy defensively and smart with the puck.”
Goaltender Zach Fucale has appeared in 33 games for the Bears so far this season, but is currently inactive. Hunter Shepard, who stopped 22 shots on Saturday night, has received the nod in three of Hershey’s last four games.
GAME NIGHT PROMOTIONS
The Amerks celebrate Women in Sport Night tonight, presented by Zweigle’s, with a pregame panel featuring Meghan Chayka of Stathletes, Anna Dua of NHL and NHL Fantasy, Hayley Moore of the AHL, and Jackie Nicholson from RIT. The panel begins at 6pm, and you have the chance to network before the game begins.
Rochester-native and RIT Hall of Fame hockey player Jen Gorczynski is on the call tonight with Don Stevens. Tonight’s game can be viewed on the CW Rochester tomorrow, Saturday, March 25, at noon.
Linesperson Kirsten Welsh is working the game tonight as well. Welsh was one of the first four women to work on NHL ice in 2019 and one of 10 breaking barriers in the AHL starting in 2021.
COMING UP THIS WEEKEND
The Amerks head to Utica to face-off with the Comets for the first time since December 28.
Rochester then returns home on Sunday for a matinee match-up against the Cleveland Monsters and their second-annual Bills Day, presented by UR Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital.
Rochester revealed their specialty red jerseys for the game, and bidding on game-issued jerseys, as well as player-autographed specialty pucks and coaches ties, is live now at Amerks.com/Auction! There will be two more surprise items added to the auction on Saturday, which benefits Golisano Children’s Hospital.
The pregame fun starts at 2pm for the whole family: stop by the Hall of Fame area pregame to compete in our mini-NFL combine, take a photo with Jumpin’ Josh Allen and more!
It’s a 3-2-1 Weekend at Blue Cross Arena: enjoy $3 beers, $2 hot dogs, and $1 popcorn all game long at select concession stands.
