Published: March 12, 2009 12:14 am      

MIKE MASTOVICH| Injuries to Syracuse defensemen end up hurting Chiefs

A couple bad breaks for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch inadvertently took their toll on the Johnstown Chiefs’ defensive corps.

The Crunch lost defenseman Andrey Plekhanov for six to eight weeks because of a separated shoulder. Syracuse also will miss blueliner Kyle Wharton for four to six weeks because of a broken thumb.

As is the case in such situations, the “Big Club” in Columbus turned to its ECHL affiliate to bolster the thinned out AHL lineup. The Chiefs lost defensemen Trevor Hendrikx and Jon Landry – both Columbus Blue Jackets contract players – when the NHL team assigned them to Syracuse.

“Our roster is never set,” Chiefs coach Ian Herbers said Wednesday afternoon. “It seems like there are always changes, guys coming in and guys going out. We try to make the best of things. This is a chance for guys to step up. This might be a chance for somebody new coming in.”

The departures magnified a nagging situation on an often injury-riddled Johnstown defense. Experienced blue liner Greg Gallagher’s play was limited by a painful upper body injury last weekend.

David Schulz is expected to come off the injured list to help fill a spot.

Mike Knight, who returned to the lineup last week after spending six weeks on the IR, played well but needed 10 stitches after a linesman stepped on Knight’s bare hand with a skate blade during his fight with a player at Wheeling. Knight continued to play the remainder of the weekend and had a key goal in Sunday’s win against visiting Elmira.

“Even the games we played with four defensemen the guys played hard and played well,” said Herbers, who is accustomed to juggling his lineup, especially on defense. “I’m pleased with how things have progressed on the back end. With Knight back it gives us a little more physical presence. He comes to battle. It’s nice to have one of our older guys in the lineup as well.”

The current Chiefs defensemen include Kyle Bushee, Russ Sinkewich, Ryan Card and Knight, with Gallagher and Schulz probably needed despite their bouts with injuries.

In the past, forward Mike Bartlett moved to defense and did a solid job when necessary. But Bartlett remains on AHL recall to Lake Erie.

All-star goaltender Kris Mayotte still is a backup with Bridgeport in the AHL. He won a shootout against Philadelphia on Saturday.

The Chiefs (69 points) are tied for second place in the ECHL North, two points behind Cincinnati (71). Wheeling (69), Trenton (68), Elmira (67) and Dayton (61) all remain in the hunt for the division’s four playoff spots.

The Chiefs host Cincinnati on Friday and Wheeling on Saturday, both 7 p.m. starts, before visiting Wheeling on Sunday at 4:05.

An extended losing streak can knock a team out of the postseason picture. A winning streak would keep a club in the thick of things.

But Herbers won’t ponder games that far into the future.

“We can’t look at the entire weekend. We’ve got Cincinnati,” Herbers said. “We’ve got to take it one game at a time and just worry about Friday’s game right now. We need to take care of business on Friday, and then worry about Saturday, and then worry about Sunday. I told the guys we need to start taking care of business ourselves. If we start putting up wins, we don’t need to worry about other teams in the standings.”



Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.