Aviators blanked by Jr. Americans 5-0 

The Elmira Aviators (8-12-3-1) were shut out by the Rochester Jr. Americans (14-6-2-2) 5-0 at the LECOM Event Center Friday night.

The Jr. Americans were hungry for revenge after the Aviators defeated them 6-0 in Rochester on Nov. 16. Rochester got off to as good a start as it could have hoped with two first-period goals.

First, the Americans’ leading scorer, Calle Karlsson buried a puck out in front on the power play. Then, Elmira turned the puck over in its defensive zone allowing Nick Reif to find Owen King on the rush to make it 2-0.

The Jr. Americans would repeat their first-period output with another pair of goals in the middle frame. Rochester defenseman Liam Chapman jumped in as the trailer to give his squad a 3-0 lead with a top-shelf finish.

After that, the Americans’ power play revved up again with Jaden Dyke and Karlsson setting up Hugo Branthsson for his 10th goal of the season on a beautiful, one-touch, passing sequence.

From that point onwards the Jr. Americans put the game into cruise control and the Aviators failed to create any turbulence.

Rochester would stamp one more exclamation point on their night in the final period via an Owen King shorthanded goal. King dashed through center ice using his speed to round the defense and lift the puck over Aviator goaltender Carson Barnes’s shoulder.

The 5-0 result is Elmira’s first time being shut out as a team. 

The Aviators failed to muster double-digit shots in any period Friday, registering 18 shots for the game. Americans’ goaltender Danick Leroux registered his second shutout of the season with the win.

Elmira is now 2-7-3-1 at home and 8-12-3-1 overall. They still sit at 9th in the East Division.

Meanwhile, the Jr. Americans have leaped first in the division with a 14-6-2-2 record. Since the two teams last faced off in Rochester, the Jr. Americans have won three straight and the Aviators have lost three in a row.

Tomorrow night Elmira will look to flip the script like they did back in Rochester. The Americans took Game 1 in that series 6-3 before the Aviators rallied to win Game 2 6-0.

The Aviators will go for the series split on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LECOM Event Center. The game is free to stream on NATV this weekend and can always be listened to on Big Foot Country Legends.

Mac Young is the play-by-play voice of the Elmira Aviators. To contact him email [email protected].