By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — He’s not going to be slotted as a top six forward, nor will he be a regular part of any power play unit with the Rochester Americans.
Still, Riley Fiddler-Schultz, an undrafted free agent signee in the summer of 2023, is a very valuable member of the group, according to coach Michael Leone.
The mere words seem counter intuitive. After all, Leone held Fiddler-Schultz nearly all of his rookie pro season in the ECHL. Then sat out the first 14 games this season, and 16 of the first 18. Healthy scratches rarely are considered key components.
Yet the second-year forward on Friday night again proved what Leone has been saying all season. He scored two goals – his first multi-goal American Hockey League game – and helped the Amerks rally from a 3-1 deficit to a 6-3 victory over the Utica Comets 6-3 in front of 9,052 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
“He’s a winner, he does everything right,” Leone said. “There’s certain players you want when things get tough.”
Fiddler-Schultz scored Rochester’s second goal with 1:53 remaining in the second period, then tied the score 3-3 just 1:37 into the third. His quick-strike tallies sparked a string of five unanswered goals as the Amerks (18-9-3-0) won for the 10th time in 12 games.
Viktor Neuchev then broke tie at 4:54 with his sixth goal before Graham Slaggert provided game-breaking insurance at 9:41 with his league-leading fourth short-handed goal.
When Brett Murray scored his team-leading 14th goal at 16:51 into an empty net, the Amerks moved into first place in the North Division with 39 points.
But as nice as first place sounds – even if the Amerks have played more games than anyone in the division – Leone isn’t taking any bows. It is still just December.
“I don’t look at the standings,” he said. “I want us to play team hockey and I want us to keep getting better.”
That seems to be the approach for Fiddler-Schultz as well. Yes, he has taken advantage of opportunity, even if it didn’t come until November. Over his past eight games, he has scored four goals and assisted on two.
But sandwiched in that stretch of production were two games when he again was a healthy scratch. The Amerks had too many healthy players, most with higher organizational stature.
That’s OK, he said. It’s motivation.
“It puts a bit of a chip on your shoulder,” he admitted.
There had to be a mountain on his shoulder by the time November rolled around, what with sitting out every game for five weeks. But Leone assured the hard-working forward that his time would come.
“Any team sport that you play, every person is important,” Leone said. “I just told him when he was sitting out that ‘You’re going to be a huge part of it.’ ”
He was on Friday, sparking the comeback after Utica had built 2-0 and 3-1 leads. That 2-0 lead came in the game’s first three minutes, with a pair of Rochester turnovers just inside the Comets blue line leading to odd-man rush goals.
Ryan Schmelzer scored at 1:44, steering home from the left edge of the crease a perfect goal-mouth feed from the right wing by Nolan Foote.
Just 1:08 later, with the Amerks on a power play, Simon Nemec swept a Nathan Legare rebound into an open net and the Comets had an instant 2-0 lead.
Levi had stopped Legare’s breakaway – the result of a giveaway by defenseman Ethan Prow at the right point – but Nemec beat the rest of the Amerks up the ice and was by himself to score.
“We started out really well for the first minute and a half,” Leone said, “then we had a couple egregious turnovers.”
The Amerks didn’t score until 1:11 of the second period (Isak Rosen’s 13th goal) but Nemec’s second of the game restored Utica’s two-goal lead at 3:00.
Still, there was no panic from Leone or the Amerks.
“Sometimes it’s important to sit back and let the group figure it out,” he said.
The line of Tyson Kozak, Ty Tullio and Fiddler-Schultz provided the impetus for the comeback with the late second-period goal and early third-period strike.
“That Kozak, Fiddler-Schultz and Tullio line was unbelievable,” Slagger said. “They did a great job setting up the next line. They made their players defend for long periods of time.”
Fiddler-Schultz now has five goals and two assists in 12 games. That’s two more goals than captain Mason Jobst has scored this year. So is he a goal-scorer?
“I trust my abilities and I believe I can do that,” he said. “I just have to keep my foot on the pedal. I have to keep the belief in myself that I deserve to be here.”
Neuchev broke the 3-3 tie off a one-timer from between the hash marks, after Lukas Rousek delivered the perfect centering pass. After scoring just two goals in his first 25 games, the second-year winger now has 4-3-7 in his past six.
Slaggert then continued his short-handed brilliance with his seventh goal of the season. He stripped the puck from Brian Halonen and sped away on a two-on-one with Josh Dunne, intending to pass the entire way.
Except defenseman Daniil Misyul defended it well, taking away the passing lane, so Slaggert was forced to shoot. Which turned out to be just fine: he made a quick backhand-to-forehand move and snapped the puck past goalie Nico Daws, just under the cross bar.
“I was definitely looking for Dunner all the way up the ice,” he said. “Luckily I kept it long enough.”
Phil says
Great game! Levi was not his sharpest, but neither was Daws on the other side. Amerks have 4 balanced lines making them very dangerous and hard to defend against, when the offense gets going they are hard to defend against! Rosen, Murray and Slaggert seem to be the hot hands right now, Prow though sometimes a defensive liability seems to help the forwards create offense. Hardly noticed Wahlberg and Helenius being gone speaks to the depth on this team! Wahlberg and Jobst have had very underachieving offensive performances so far this season but Slaggert, Warren, Kozak and even Fiddler Schultz have more than made up for that deficiency! All in all great game and great crowd!
ted says
very nice article Kevin! Its really so much more fun when you are winning, and playing well. That was our 1st win of the year when trailing after 2 periods.
I hate when the schedule allows for some teams to have so many games in hand. It must be cliche though…or ‘coach speak 101’ that every coach always says ‘Oh I never look at the standings’.
Yeah well, I’m pretty sure they do so they can tell us whatever they want. But if you aren’t looking at the standings, you aren’t paying attention to what is needed to reach the ultimate goal.I wonder what would happen if nobody ever published the standings all season long so it would be a big surprise at the end where everyone finished. I know thats silly, but so is saying you want to play team hockey so you don’t look at the standings. (see me about that Bridge in Brooklyn)
It was pretty important to win that game last night in front of a near full house. Thats what will ensure more such crowds. Hope it continues.
Let’s finish the year out with a ‘W’!!!
ted says
postscript: And they did just that with a very entertaining, fast paced, penalty free (what???) 3-2 OT win to finish out the 2024 portion of the schedule with 41 points and share of 1st place overall in the AHL. Don’t think any of us expected that!
Our captain awoke! He finally scored his first goal since the beginning of November! In fact he also scored his 2nd goal as well, netting the OT winner. Picked a very nice time to snap his drought.
Loved the way the team played aggressive in the 3rd period after coughing up the lead in the early seconds. They swarmed the O-Zone for most of the final 15 minutes but couldn’t dent the twines. They deserved the ‘W’ and got it on the first shot of OT.
I don’t have record books hanging around, but our 13-3-2 road record has to be one of our finest road showings over 18 games. And our overall 19-9-3 record is also pretty neat.
Keep it going guys. this is fun.