Lineup notes & quotes from Coach Appert ahead of tonight’s game
Mar 24, 2023
The 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.
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.
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.
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….
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