Amerks Drop 2-1 Decision to Bulldogs on Hall of Fame Night
January 10, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY)... Dustin Tokarski made 19 saves in net and Justin Courtnall scored the eventual game-deciding goal early in the second period as the Hamilton Bulldogs held on to defeat the Rochester Americans 2-1 Friday night in front of a crowd of 8,124 at The Blue Cross Arena. With the loss, the Amerks have now dropped three of their last four games since the turn of the New Year and fall to 14-14-3-3 on the season.
Prior to the game, the Amerks inducted former captain and longtime defenseman Mike Hurlbut into the Hall of Fame. Hurlbut, who became the 55th member of the exclusive club, is the longest-tenured captain in the storied history of the Amerks, having worn the "C" during all five of his seasons in Rochester (1997-98 to 2001-02) while leading the team to multiple appearances in the Calder Cup Finals. The defenseman appeared in 288 games with the Amerks and recorded 167 points on 44 goals and 123 assists to rank tied for fifth all-time in points and 11th in games played among Rochester defensemen. In four of his five seasons with the Amerks, Hurlbut either held or shared the team lead in points by a blueliner.
Rookie forward Dan Catenacci scored his fourth goal of the season late in the third period to cut Rochester's deficit in half, with Tim Schaller and Joel Armia drawing assists on the lone tally. Matt Hackett, making his fourth consecutive start between the pipes, stopped 17 shots in the loss for the Amerks, who finished without a single power-play goal despite 10 man-advantages throughout the contest.
Nathan Beaulieu scored the opening goal for Hamilton, while Louis Leblanc, Sven Andrighetto, and Martin St. Pierre all added assists.
Nearly the entire first six minutes of the opening period were played on special teams, as the Amerks and Bulldogs traded minor penalties. With Schaller in the penalty box for slashing, Hamilton struck with its first goal on a shot from Beaulieu. With a heavy screen in front, Beaulieu fired a shot from the blueline that snuck through Hackett. Hackett reached back with his arm in a last-ditch effort to stop the goal, but the puck had already crossed the goal-line.
The Bulldogs added an insurance goal 6:08 into the second period when Courtnall tipped the puck on net following a shot from the side-boards by Leblanc that eluded Hackett and ended up in the Amerks net.
With 34.8 seconds remaining in the second period, the Amerks appeared to score their first goal of the game on the power-play. Following a wild scrum in front of the net, Nick Tuzzolino gathered the puck and slammed it past Tokarski for the score. However, the play garnered further review, and the goal was eventually waved off due to the puck being kicked into the net.
The Amerks finally broke through with 5:10 remaining in regulation, when Schaller made a drop pass to Armia at Hamilton's blueline. Armia drove to the corner and delivered a pass to Schaller, who was crashing the net. While Schaller couldn't convert on the opportunity, Catenacci was standing back-door, and batted the puck out of mid-air and into the net to bring the score to 2-1.
With 40 seconds left in regulation, Hackett vacated the net for the extra attacker, but Tokarski and the Hamilton defense were able to hold off the Amerks for the 2-1 win.
The Amerks and Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, Jan. 11 as the home-and-home series shifts north of the border for a divisional showdown at Copps Coliseum in Southern Ontario. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will be the fifth of eight meetings this season and will be carried live in Rochester on Sports 1280 WHTK.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2014
- Hogs Lead Third Period Push for 4-3 Win - Rockford IceHogs
- Stars Beat Heat 5-0 - Abbotsford Heat
- Nilstorp Shuts out Heat, Stars Take over First Place in Division - Texas Stars
- Welcome Back Mr. Jones - Manchester Monarchs
- Win Streak Frozen by Penguins - Adirondack Phantoms
- Griffins Fall to Wild, 3-2 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Kostopoulos, Power Play Lift Penguins Past Phantoms - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Monsters Fall in Rockford 4-3 - Cleveland Monsters
- Admirals Rally to Sink Pirates 5-4 in Shootout - Norfolk Admirals
- Amerks Drop 2-1 Decision to Bulldogs on Hall of Fame Night - Rochester Americans
- Checkers Ride Fast Start to Beat Barons - Charlotte Checkers
- B-Sens Survive Hershey 4-2 - Binghamton Senators
- Sharks defeat Hartford - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Senators Battle Past Bears - Hershey Bears
- Complete Team Effort Swims Sharks Past Wolf Pack 3-1 - Worcester Sharks
- Manchester Pulls away from Sound Tigers Late - Bridgeport Islanders
- P-Bruins Blank Crunch 1-0 - Providence Bruins
- Pirates Sunk in Shootout by Admirals - Portland Pirates
- Ryan Craig Returned on Loan to Springfield - Springfield Falcons
- Falcons Win Streak Snapped with Loss to Devils - Springfield Falcons
- Bulldogs Win Sixth Straight, Drop Americans 2-1 - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Syracuse Edged by Providence in Shootout - Syracuse Crunch
- Wild Holds off Defending Champs, Beats Griffins 3-2 - Iowa Wild
- Wedgewood Earns First Career Shutout - Albany Devils
- Marlies Down IceCaps 3-2 - Toronto Marlies
- Marlies Edge IceCaps 3-2 - St. John's IceCaps
- Comets Fans and AUD Experience Praised - Utica Comets
- Comet Tales: Meet Dustin Flynn - Utica Comets
- Jets Recall Zach Redmond from IceCaps - St. John's IceCaps
- Wings Recall Sheahan, Reassign Parkes - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Anaheim Reassigns Goaltender Andersen to Norfolk; Recalls Gibson - Norfolk Admirals
- Tye McGinn Recalled by Flyers - Adirondack Phantoms
- Forsberg Reassigned to Milwaukee - Milwaukee Admirals
- AHL, IceCaps, Province to Hold All-Star Classic Contest - St. John's IceCaps
- Admirals Recall Defenseman Teigan Zahn from Utah - Norfolk Admirals
- Monsters Invade Barn this Weekend - Rockford IceHogs
- Amerks Loan Lepkowski to OHL's Oshawa Generals - Rochester Americans
- Penguins Announce Inaugural Hall of Fame Class - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Wolf Pack to Hold Open Public Address Announcer Tryout - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Lucy Hale to Perform Concert After Falcons Game January 20 - Springfield Falcons
- Pirates Open 2014 Home Schedule with Visit from Norfolk - Portland Pirates
- IceCaps to Honour NL Power, Nalcor and City Workers - St. John's IceCaps
- Late Goals Doom Comets - Utica Comets
- Barons Rally to Beat Comets in Overtime, 3-2 - Oklahoma City Barons
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
