Pas sérieux la Can Am cup....

[François]

Rhinos face top rival, but match means little
By JEFF DiVERONICA
Democrat and Chronicle


(July 30, 2003) — Montreal player/assistant coach Nick DeSantis expects an intense match in tonight’s 7:30 Can-Am Cup championship in Quebec against the Rochester Rhinos.

“This is a game that goes beyond the Can-Am Cup itself,” DeSantis is quoted as saying on Montreal’s Web site. “This game will also be about sending messages as we’re getting close to the playoffs.”

Here’s the real message: These rivals care more about the A-League postseason than a Cup competition that has provided little incentive to win. Why else would Rhinos coach Pat Ercoli have played only a handful of regulars in the match that earned Rochester a berth in the title game?

Veterans Lenin Steenkamp, Craig Demmin, Scott Schweitzer and Doug Miller didn’t even suit up for that win and starting goalie Billy Andracki took the day off.

With seven regular-season matches left, Rochester (12-5-4) trails Montreal (13-5-3) by two points (42-40) in the Northeast Division race. The top two teams make the playoffs, but Pittsburgh (34 points) also is in the mix. Montreal plays at Pittsburgh Sunday. The Rhinos have key divisional matches at Frontier Field Friday against Toronto and Sunday against Syracuse. Rochester plays in Montreal on Aug. 13.

“We still want to go out and win (tonight), but with all the games we’ve played we want to put out the team that has the best potential but also gives us the potential to win the league games ahead of us,” Ercoli said.

Don’t expect to see many Rhinos regulars tonight. Ercoli declined to disclose who may play. But Starting defender Bill Sedgewick is out with a quadriceps injury. And backup forward Jamel Mitchell is out with a hip injury suffered in Sunday’s 2-2 tie with Charleston.