MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -(Rochester, November 20)... The Rochester Americans defeated the Syracuse Crunch 5-2 tonight at The Blue Cross Arena. Keaton Ellerby got the Amerks first home hat trick since Stefan Meyer got one in December 2006 to lead the Amerks to victory. This is Rochester’s second-straight win, which improves the team to 14-2-1-0 (29 points) on the season.  The Amerks are now 5-0 against the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate this season.

Ellerby’s three-goal performance earned him first star of the game tonight. Second-year center, Shawn Matthias also had a three-point night (1+2) earning him the second star of the game. David Brine was named third star as he tallied two assists in tonight contest.

In the first period Ellerby snipped the puck over the left shoulder of Crunch goalie, Dan LaCosta to put the Amerks in the lead 1-0 on the power-play. Ellerby’s first goal of the season was assisted by Matt Duffy and Jeff Taffe.

TheADVERTISEMENT Crunch power-play tied the game at one as Dan Fritsche netted his fourth goal of the season at the 12:17 mark of the first. Assisting on the goal was Alexandre Picard and Maksim Mayorov.

The Amerks regained their lead when Matthias put the puck between his legs and flipped the puck past LaCosta. Assisting on Matthias’ second goal of the season was Brine and Clay Wilson.

Andrew Sweetland zig-zagged his way in and out of the Syracuse defense where he eventually slipped the puck past the extended reach of LaCosta to increase the Amerks lead to two. Sweetland’s first goal of the season was assisted by Matthias and Jordan Henry.

Just 32 seconds into the third period, Ellerby netted his second goal of the game to put the Amerks on top of the Crunch by three. Assisting on the goal was Brine and Repik.

The Crunch cut the lead in half when Trevor Frischmon managed to slip the puck into the back of the net at the 2:11 mark of the third. Frischmon’s short-handed goal was assisted by Fritsche.

With 35 seconds remaining in the game Ellerby found the net for the third time tonight. After the goal Amerks fans showed their support as hats came raining down on the ice.  Wilson and Matthias got the assists on Ellerby’s goal.

Rochester heads north of the border on Tuesday, November 24^th to battle the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum. The 7:30 p.m. contest will be the first in Hamilton this season and the second of 10 meetings between the North Division rivals. The matchup can be heard live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester’s Sports Talk.

Commissioner Bud Selig shaved drug suspensions of players and broke the rules of MLB. Will Manny Ramirez and three others do a year? What will happen to dozens of minor league players whose records, teams, and leagues are affected? Read the whole story at SZ ( www.mlnsports.com).