AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks fall to Crunch in fight-filled affair

Published on October 25, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Americans dropped their third straight contest to the Syracuse Crunch this season, falling 6-1 tonight at the War Memorial at Oncenter. With the loss, Rochester has now fallen in six of its last seven games as it has yet to find a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets' affiliate this season. Syracuse was powered with three-point performances from Clay Wilson (2+1) and Maksim Mayorov (2+1) to earn first and second star honors, respectively. John Vigilante, the game's third star, and Kirill Starkov each contributed with a goal and an assist as well. Dan LaCosta turned away 23 of 24 shots to earn the win in net.

Karl Stewart scored Rochester's lone goal, his second of the weekend, as Chris Beckford-Tseu made 29 saves in his third straight start between the pipes in the losing effort.

Syracuse quickly opened the scoring just 17 seconds into the contest with Starkov's first of the season. Trevor Frischmon and Andrey Plekhanov received the helpers on the play. The Crunch would take a 3-0 lead entering the second stanza with a pair of back-to-back goals from Wilson, one of which was on the powerplay.

The hometown Crunch extended their lead to 5-0 with a pair of second-period powerplay tallies from Mayorov at 3:57 and 18:17 of the period, respectively. Syracuse finished the game going 3-for-9 on the powerplay as opposed to Rochester's 1-for-9 conversion rate.

Stewart finally put the Amerks on the board with his third of the season and second in two games at 6:24 of the final period. Rookie forwards Michal Repik and Shawn Matthias were each credited with assists on Rochester's only goal of the night.

Vigilante found the back of the net just over two minutes later to record his first goal of the season and secure the 6-1 victory for the Crunch.

Recently acquired defenseman Riley Emmerson definitely made his presence felt tonight in his American Hockey League debut with the Amerks. The 6-foot-8, 248-pound hard nosed defenseman went toe-to-toe with Syracuse's Jon Mirasty to quickly add 10 PIM to the Amerk record books. Mike Duco, the league's second-place leader with 60 PIM, also dropped the gloves with Ryan Garlock of the Crunch.

The oldest rivalry in the American Hockey League will be renewed on Sunday, October 26th as Rochester travels to the Giant Center to take on the Hershey Bears in a battle of the league's oldest franchises. The 5:00 p.m. contest is the first of two meetings between the two teams and will be carried live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK, whtk.com and AHL Live. Rochester was 1-1-0-0 in the season series a year ago and 180-199-53 all-time against the Bears. Hershey (6-1-0-0) is currently the top team in the East Division.

Rochester returns home on Friday, October 31st for Halloween night matchup with the Toronto Marlies at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:35 p.m. North Division contest will the first of a season-long six-game homestand for the Amerks and can be heard live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK, whtk.com and AHL Live. The game will be the first of eight scheduled meetings between the two teams this season.

That night, the Amerks will also host their second annual "Sweets in the Suites." Sweets in the Suites is a one-night special ticket promotion designed to work in conjunction with the spirit of Halloween. Children 12 and under who arrive in costume will receive a free ticket to the game with the purchase of one adult ticket.

As part of the festivities, all children can trick or treat during the first intermission of the game up in the suite level and in the main concourse of The Blue Cross Arena.

During the game, there will be a costume contest for kids and adults with the winners taking home an Amerks' Prize Pack.

The first 5,000 fans that night will also take home an Amerks' magnet schedule, courtesy of M&T Bank.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 25, 2008


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