Amerks 3 | Bears 8

Rochester was outmatched badly yet again this evening, losing to the Hershey Bears, 8-3. The shots weren't impressive either, as Hershey outshot the Amerks 50-16.

Early on, the Amerks kept it close. Hershey scored first and Rochester answered back. Hershey reclaimed the lead and Rochester answered back, but that was about it. Hershey started rolling after that, scoring three goals in under five minutes. The Bears made it 6-2 a little while into the third, before Rochester scored again. Not long after, two more Hershey goals and it was officially over.

So anyway, Jason Garrison returned to the Amerks after getting a taste of the NHL in the Panthers' ugly 4-0 loss to St. Louis last night, adding an assist in his return to the AHL.

In goal, Tyler Plante got the start, and he stayed in for all eight Hershey goals. It sounded like he made some good saves, and facing fifty shots can't be fun, but giving up eight goals isn't so hot, either.

But there are still some things that are worth pulling from this at least for a Panthers' standpoint, I guess.

Mike Duco is just awesome. Kid's all heart and he's a talented, spirited, hardnosed player. He scored one of the Amerks' 3 goals, added an assist and fought. Twice.

Getting his first pro point was Keaton Ellerby, registering an assist on Duco's early goal. In the third, he got roughed up a bit by Keith Aucoin.

The Amerks brought in Jacob Micflikier and he had a point on each goal, scoring once and assisting on the two others. Micflikier, Brine and Duco were the only plus players for Rochester tonight.

Rochester needs a lot of help and even though there have been changes, being outscored 16-38 through your first eight games is probably a sign of a little more than just rookie mistakes. To their credit, they scored three goals without Meyer again and Sprukts was still out. Defensively, Fitzpatrick still hasn't returned.

With the exception of Quad City, Rochester has played tough teams. But they've only even been able to fight and keep it close, at times, for a few minutes at a time. Had they not been able to beat Quad City, this weekend would have been a total disaster. So they've got that going for them, and hopefully we'll see something start to happen here, and quickly.

I listened to Craig Schaller's postgame show tonight, too. I can't say I've become a fan of it from what I heard. I can't say I understand the purpose of having a call-in discussion show if you're not going to actually discuss anything. When one of the callers would present an opinion that was against his own, it deteriorated quickly and he'd call the person a moron and cut them off.

This is the third or fourth game I've listened to and the radio guy, Don Stevens, is just great.