#ThruwayPuck Season 2 Episode 2

 In the first episode since the beginning of the season, Dan and Otto hit a variety of topics. The Olympics, Comets, Amerks, and a quick rundown of the surprises in the NHL are among the many. Download the podcast on ITunes and be sure to leave your feedback here.

#ThruwayPuck Episode 3

Dan and Otto are joined by Jay to preview the AHL playoffs. A look at the most current standings and the handling of Mikhail Grigorenko by the Buffalo Sabres. Find the podcast on ITunes and subscribe. Be sure to add your thoughts on the topics or suggest something for the next episode!

Burns to represent Wild in NC

Brent Burns was the lone Minnesota Wild player to be selected for the All-Star game in Raleigh, North Carolina. The draft for the game will take place on the 28th at 8pm, the skills competition on the 29th at 7pm, and the game will take place on the 30th at 4 pm.
Burns led the Wild in points for most of the season before Martin Havlat and Mikko Koivu found their grove, they lead the team with 38 and 36 points respectively. Burns is still in third on the team in points with 12 goals and 14 assists, second in goals behind only Cal Clutterbuck.
In other news related to the blog, former Rochester American and current Florida Panthers player Evgeny Dadonov will represent Florida in the Super Skills competition. Dadonov has 10 points in just 14games this season for the Panthers while adding 16 points in 24 games for the Amerks.
Michal Repik and Clay Wilson will be representing the Americans for the Western Conference All-Star team in the AHL All-Star game on January 31st at 7pm. The AHL skill competition will be held on Sunday January 30th at 3pm. Repik led all Amerks scorers in the first half of the season with 35 points, good for 12th in the AHL while Wilson has been a presence at the point, piling up 27 points. Athletic Trainer Kent Weisbeck will also be representing the Amerks.

Bulldogs sneak by Amerks in OT

First a few notes before the period by period game recap. After watching college hockey for the last 2 months and not making it to an Americans game I was reminded of just how much I hate TV timeouts. They kill the flow of the game and often take away momentum that has been building for one side or the other leadings up to them. On the positive side the Spencerport Jazz band did great performances of both the Canadian and American national anthems before the game. 
An announced crowd of 4659 was there to watch the game tonight, which seemed to be a fairly large one tonight. I am a big fan of the section covers/advertisements; it brings everyone together and makes the stadium seem much more alive. I really enjoyed the upper level seats as well, normally I sit in the upper bowl which are decent seats but we took the cheap ones today. The ones we were in, as you can see in the picture, literally allow you to see everything going on on the ice, as well as making it easy to watch plays develop. The only downfall is the distance that you are from the far end. 
The sled hockey demonstration by some of the members of the gold medal winning US team was very interesting. I have never seen the game played before but was instantly impressed since I know how much balance it takes when I have two feet on the ice and can push with my legs, never mind all the extras that they were doing.

First Period:

The Amerks came out hot to start the game, they had three very solid scoring opportunities in the first two minutes of the game but unfortunately Hamilton goalie, Robert Meyer, was ready to go as well denying them any success in the first period. The key to the American's success in the first period was the intensity of their dump and chase game plan. For the first half of the period the Amerks were getting the puck in deep and then outworking the Bulldogs to regain control the puck and generate scoring chances. This was shown by the shot totals after the first period; the Amerks had 16 shots to the 7 generated by Hamilton. The second half seemed to reverse the game plan, though Hamilton was not able to generate nearly as many shots or scoring chances as the Amerks had.

The Amerks had two consecutive power plays in the middle of the period which gave them a chance to get ahead. Jimmy Bonneau took the first penalty, 2 minutes for interference. The Americans seemed to control the puck well but were never really able to generate any quality shots during that time. Andrew Conboy took the second penalty for the Bulldogs, an elbowing call at 14:33 of the period; just two minutes after the first power play had expired. This power play yielded the same results as the first for Rochester which swung the momentum for Hamilton.

The first Hamilton goal was set up by a miscommunication by Tyler Plante and the pursuing turnover behind the Amerks net. Plante went out to play the puck behind the net and was successful in doing so; however when he turned around he had a Hamilton player pressing him hard from both sides. Plante left the puck behind the net where it was recovered by Aaron Palushaj who rolled around to the right of Plante, fired a perfect pass onto the tape of Andrew Conboy who put the puck home just inside the post to the left of Plante.

The remaining three minutes of the period were uneventful until Chris Taylor had to hook down a Hamilton forward to break up a 2 on 1 situation with just 9 seconds left. This was a good penalty to take though since it appeared that the Bulldogs would have had no trouble taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission without it. The period ended shortly thereafter with a scrum that send both Michal Repik and Olivier Fortier to the box to start the second period.

The Bulldogs seemed to control a majority of the play in the period despite the large disparity in shots. The scoreboard only read 1-0 however and the Amerks were still in the game.

Second Period:

The second period seemed to be a much more relaxed phase than the first period. The Amerks reverted to a forcheck with much less pressure and therefore generated many fewer shots and opportunities for themselves. The emotion wasn't lacking in the least however as a scrum of some sort was formed almost every whistle, though there were no fights in the game. The nine minute mark of the second period was the first major event, which was new comer from boston, Jordan Knackstedt getting called for high sticking.

The penalty wouldn't have been a big deal; however the Amerks were not able to kill it off. After stopping three shots being sprawled out all over his crease Tyler Plante finally found his match and Aaron Palushaj got his second point of the night, burying the rebound shot. Andreas Engqvist and Brendon Nash were both credited with assists on the goal that made it 2-0 Hamilton.

The Amerks weren't done yet though, especially since they had come back from being down 3-1 just two nights earlier. With just under eight minutes left in the period the puck was dumped into the Bulldogs zone. It took a favorable bounce off the glass where it was picked up by Jordan Knackstedt and fed nicely across the slot where it was met by two Amerks players. The other new guy from the Boston trade, Jeff LoVecchio, got his stick on it and buried it to get the game back to a one goal deficit. Only 16 seconds after the goal the Bulldogs Alexander Avtsin took a penalty similar to the one taken in the first by Chris Taylor. The Amerks weren't going to settle for starting the night 0-3 on the power play though. Clay Wilson fired a shot on net where it settled in front of the Hamilton goalie and was smashed home by Michael Duco, who picked up his second goal in as many games since his return from a broken rib. A minute after the Duco goal AJ Jenks had the missed opportunity of the night, firing wide on a one timer from the slot on a semi open net.

Tyler Plante made some fantastic saves at the end of the period to assure that the Americans would take at least a tie into the second intermission. The period seemed to be split again in the second; Hamilton controlling the play much of the first half and Rochester taking over for the later half. Shot in the period were 17-9 in favor of the Bulldogs, though I felt play in the second was closer then play in the first.

Third Period:

The third period continued the flow of the previous two periods; the Amerks started hot again, controlling the puck for most of the first three minutes of the period but coming up empty. Their attack was countered as Hamilton controlled from most of the next three minutes. Michael Caruso picked up the only penalty of the period, another good hooking penalty; however it was his own turnover that caused the situation to occur.

The referees did a good job of letting both teams play I thought. There were only eight penalties in the game; four for each team and two of those were the offsetting ones at the end of the first. The players were playing with lots of emotion, something that tends to happen when they play twice in three nights and both games are closely fought affairs.

Both goalies made huge saves to close out the third. Plante's biggest save of the night was on a tipped point shot with under a minute left that looked like it was headed to the far corner of the net before he got his toe on it. Mayer matched the effort with a sprawling save on the Amerks final rush with less than ten seconds left. Shots for the third period were 13-6 once again in favor of Hamilton. The total second and third period shots for the Amerks did not match the number of shots the generated with their high pressure fore-check in the first period.

Overtime:

Overtime didn't provide much action until the goal was scored by the Bulldogs. Neither team was willing to take a risk prior to that point as they both cleared the red line and got the puck in deep. The Hamilton goal was a result of the same play; the puck went in deep and was recovered by Hamilton. Eventually it was worked to the front of the net where three Bulldogs players were ready to work put it home. Max Pacioretty was credited with the goal, Alex Henry and David Desharnais were credited with the assists. Plante made the first two saves but couldn't get the third, giving him 37 saves for the night but the overtime loss.

Overall:

The first period was basic Amerk's hockey. They were getting the puck in and grinding it out, something that I usually expect when I attend the game. After the first period the effort went away and the game became more about finesse. Players were trying to make one extra move, one extra shot before getting the puck on net. Overall it was a great game to watch, plus a Ryan Miller bobble head and dollar dogs and drinks Friday, who could possibly not enjoy that?

The Amerks return home Sunday, after a trip to Binghamton tomorrow, to take on the same Senators at five pm. Be sure to catch the in state rivalry if you get the chance.

Origin of my odd sports followings

I have been questioned many times as to how I ended up following such an odd variety of sports teams, so I have decided to let you all know exactly who I follow and how it got to be that way. I have an extreme anti-New York team bias which I've never fully been able to explain but I credit most of it to my high dislike of bandwagon fans. I suppose living in the state with the team you see many more of them then rooting for a team outside the state, so I stay away from anything in New York. As far as my favorites I'll start with my biggest passion, hockey, and work my way though.

Hockey:

NHL: I was never really a huge single team fan as a kid, always more of a fan of the players. Initially it was Pavel Bure when he played for the Canucks so I followed them closely, then I became a fan of Eric Lindros and therefore the Philadelphia Flyers. I went and saw the Flyers play against the Hartford Whalers and was one aggressive move away from getting my jersey signed by Lindros. Once his career headed downwards I didn't really follow anyone until the Minnesota Wild. We were on a family vacation in the mid west during the summer of 2000 right before their opening season. We went and saw the arena but weren't able to get a tour but the energy in the entire city for the team was amazing. This sparked my interest in the Wild along with watching Marian Gaborik play. I have been to 2 Wild games so far, both in Buffalo. The first was while Gaborik was still there, I was 2 rows from the ice and it was one of the most amazing experiences ever and the other was last year toward the end of the season. I still follow Gaborik now that he is in New York but the Wild are still my team. Overall I am just a hockey fan in general, ill turn on any hockey game that's on TV regardless of who is playing just to watch some hockey. I have been to a few other Sabres games on occasion since the prices can be reasonable and nothing is better than live hockey regardless of your seats or the level.

AHL: The Rochester Americans are my adopted hometown hockey team. Being from Utica, we have had our share of semi-pro hockey teams pass through. My junior year of college at Brockport I began going to Amerks games with my roommate and got hooked. My senior year all of my roommates were hockey fans with an AHL team at home so I used Rochester as mine. I go to about twenty games a year but always keep track of how they are doing when I'm not there or they are on the road.

College: Being a student at Brockport, the Golden Eagles are naturally my favorite team. I am part of/one of the creators of the Eagles Nest Crazies, the student section for the home games. I travel across the state to support the team with my friends, causing as much trouble as we can for the opposing teams. I would love to write about the games but until I graduate and am not friends with the players anymore I will not be doing so. As far as D-I hockey goes I don't have a personal favorite team, I pull for the Bemidji State beavers since my dad taught there but once again ill watch any game that happens to be on TV. The college tournament leading up to the Frozen 4 however is like a holiday. I have been known to set up 2 TVs and a computer and watch every available game during the day.

Football:

NFL: I'm not sure when I became a football fan but I credit my dad's friend in Iowa for getting me to be a Green Bay Packers fan. Once I started following them my passion grew, I had tickets thought Brockport to see the Packers play in Buffalo my freshman year but the transportation never showed up. Obviously I started following the packers while Favre was there and loved him as a Packer. I was ok with the trade to the Jets and Favre playing there because I understand the desire to play and the teams decision to move on but the move to Minnesota crossed the line, now that he is playing there I could not like him less. I've never been to an NFL game but do hope to get to one someday soon, even if it's going to see the Bills play at some point.

College: As I'm sure you have noticed if you have read just about any blog so far I am also an avid Hawkeyes fan and hope dearly to go to a game in Iowa City at some point in my life. I have seen them play in Syracuse; some of you may remember the 4 stops inside the 4 yard line with under 2 minutes to play. This one again goes to my dad's friend who bought me an Iowa jersey when I was first born but also to my grandfather who always has an opinion about how they are playing. I was in Iowa for their Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech last year which was an experience by itself.

Baseball:

MLB: My passion for the Diamondbacks comes from my other grandfather who lived in Arizona and took me to a bunch of games when I was younger. My first game was their inaugural season and I believe it was against the Giants. I have also seen them play the Rockies, Padres, and during their World Series winning year I was them play the Astros. Chase Bank Stadium is the only MLB level field I have ever been to, thought I have never seen a game with the roof open. I am also a fan of anyone that beats the Yankees, this goes back to the bandwagon fan concept. I do acknowledge a few actual Yankee fans, but it's not very hard to be a fan of a team that finishes in the top 2 in the league year in and year out with a payroll that could pay off multiple teams' rosters.

Minor Leagues: I have attended a few Syracuse Skychiefs, and Buffalo Bison games as well as one Rochester Red Wings game but I do not follow any of them with any interest.

Miscellaneous:

I refuse to follow NBA basketball at all, though thanks to over coverage on ESPN I can name many more starters off a variety of teams then I would like to admit. I will watch some college basketball from time to time but that is usually limited to UNC/Duke games (in which I root for UNC) for the rivalry and the March Madness tournament. Most of my interest in the tournament is based on pools as well, not in the actual basketball itself. Syracuse basketball I refuse to root for…ever…because the only time you hear about a Syracuse basketball fan is when they are ranked or making a run in the tournament. I would like to see their football team do well but that is only because they don't have any bandwagon fans at the moment, I'm sure if they start winning it will fill right back up again.

A sport I would like to follow more closely is indoor lacrosse. I played lacrosse in high school and enjoyed it but never followed it a whole lot. I've been to multiple Rochester Knight Hawks games which I have enjoyed but never followed them outside of what I see at the game. I have attended multiple Rochester Rhinos games and enjoyed each one more than I expected to, since I was not previously a soccer fan. I watched as much world cup action as I could this summer as a result of the interest in the Rhinos game and nationalism. I recently found out about the Rochester Raiders indoor football team and will have to make seeing that a priority, I witnesses the AF2 championship in Iowa one year and the intensity of arena football is amazing.

I have yet to be offered an opportunity to watch a new sport that I have turned down. I'll watch anything once and generally return if given that chance. Sports have always been part of my life and will be for a long time to come. This blog is a chance for me to express my views and at the same time increase my knowledge of sports and current events in them. I hope you enjoy what I have to say and even if you don't let me know what would make it more enjoyable for you.