With a tight sports section on tap for Friday am, there wasn't enough room to get in everything that came out of River Rats practice this morning/afternoon at RPI, a scheduled "short" session that lasted over an hour.
Given the day off to rest in the midst of a busy stretch of games were Joey Mormina (who wore the third 'A' as alternate captain for the first time this season Wednesday night in Rochester), Mark Flood, Brandon Nolan, Jakub Petruzalek, Jamie Johnson, Pat Dwyer, Trevor Gillies and Mike Leighton.
On the ice were Noah Babin, Brett Carson, Chris Blight, Mike Angelidis, Jerome Samson, Joel Rechlicz, Nic Blanchard, Steve Ward, Bryan Rodney and goalie Justin Peters, whose return from the ECHL will be the subject of Friday's weekend advance.
"We wanted to give guys a rest," coach Tom Rowe said. "We've got a lot of games coming up."
Jensen declared himself fully recovered from a bout with food poisoning that cut short his NHL debut Monday afternoon and landed him in the hospital. He was actually standing up straight and smiling after practice. The most amazing part of his story, for me, was having to heave right under the stands in the runway to the dressing room, after being asked to do a TV interview. At least it didn't happen on camera, I guess.
Forward Daniel Sparre has been released from his pro tryout and returned to the ECHL. Rookie defenseman Casey Borer was on his way back from Carolina and will be in the Rats lineup this weekend.
Meanwhile, the news on rookie center Bobby Hughes isn't good. Hughes, just 20, has been out since Jan. 9 with a neck/shoulder injury, not unlike what forced Rats assistant coach Geordie Kinnear to retire prematurely in 2000. Though Rowe stopped short of calling it career-ending, it's starting to look that way.
"I don't want to say that because nobody's come to that decision," Rowe said. "It could be the rest of this year and a good part of next year. It's unfortunate, because he was really coming on. By now, we would have had him pencilled in to be part of every critical situation, power play, penalty kill, everything. He's a high-end offensive player.
"I think he's going through the steps of seeing some doctors back home and getting a clear-cut decision on what it is and how long it's going to be and what the long-term prognosis is. Until he does that, we're not going to say too much about it. I can tell you this; it's as very serious injury."
Rowe was gracious in accepting the compliment afforded he and Kinnear by Carolina coach Peter Laviolette regarding the job Albany's coaches have done preparing players to step in and contribute at the NHL level. Though Borer is back, he averaged nearly 18 minutes of ice time for the Canes; Keith Aucoin, Ryan Bayda, Wade Brookbank and Tim Conboy all remain up top.
"I love watching our guys, I really do," Rowe said. "I like watching our big club play, in general, but I certainly take more of an interest when somebody on our club goes up there and plays. I get a kick out of it, especially the first time they get called up, seeing the expression on their face, or talking to them on the phone and hearing the excitement in their voice. We get excited, no doubt about it. I get as much satisfaction out of that as probably anything we do, to be honest with you."
Then someone (OK, it was me) jokingly asked Rowe about playing Conboy out of position all season. A natural defenseman, Conboy has skated at right wing the last two games for Carolina.
"It's good for Timmy, but he's a d-man," Rowe said. "He'll never be caught playing with Eric Staal, I can guarantee you that."
This weekend is a huge one for the Rats, and not just because Friday is U.S. Army Puck Night and Dora the Explorer is in tow on Saturday. Albany has two games against Bridgeport, who have a one-point hold on the division's last playoff spot and one game in hand. These are four points they absolutely must have.
Leighton has continued his outstanding play, and Peters was sharp in Monday's loss at Philadelphia, but the offense has got to start finishing some of the myriad chances they have created in recent games. Winning one out of every seven from here on -- with an overtime or shootout point or two sprinkled in -- isn't going to do much good.
