Rockers Updates

The Motor City Rockers last took to the ice over a week ago when they completed a weekend sweep of their former division rivals, more on that shortly, the Port Huron Prowlers on November 11th at McMorran Place. With eleven teams in the FPHL this year, this past week was a bye week for Motor City as they were the odd team out of the schedule. It's been an extended break for me as well as I was at a different kind of rock show the weekend the Rockers were disposing of the Prowlers, a three night stand of concerts by the insanely great My Morning Jacket in Chicago. That explains the lack of game recaps for those two games, but in a nutshell, the Rockers dismantled Port Huron 7-1 at Big Boy Arena on November 10th, in the season's first real "old time hockey" game. Lots of hits, cheap shots, punches and buffoonery, we're looking at you Adam Heinzl, in this one. Then Motor City spotted Port Huron a 2-0 lead after two the next night on the road, only to rip their hearts out with three unanswered goals in the third for the 3-2 win.

With those two wins, the Rockers now stand at 5-0-2 on the season, good for nineteen points and second place in the Empire Division, five points behind first place Binghamton who has played three more games than Motor City. Wait a minute, did I say Empire Division? Why, yes I did. That's another thing that occurred since my last update. The Rockers switched divisions on November 8th, switching places with the Blue Ridge Bobcats who now reside in the Continental Division. Geographically it makes sense. Motor City was stuck in a division with two teams, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, that they don't play once all season which made little sense to me. Now the problem is their Michigan rival Port Huron still sits in the Continental Division. My best answer is, hey, it's The Fed. What is the point in over-analyzing it? Maybe next season they'll re-align again and get the two Michigan teams back in the same division. Let's move on for now.

On to the roster, the Rockers have made a number of moves since my last update. After Roman Gaudet was placed on injured reserve, forward Adam Morgan was signed. Morgan has spent time in the FPHL with Delaware and Port Huron and at 6'5', 220, more than made up for the size lost with Gaudet down. However, his stay was short-lived as he skated in two games for the Rockers, going scoreless before his release. The Rockers then made a couple trades, acquiring another big forward in Thomas "TJ" Delaney from Watertown for the FedTastic "future considerations." At 6'6", 220, Delaney brings the same size that Morgan had, as well as 36 previous games of FPHL experience with Delaware and sixteen games in the SPHL with Vermilion County. His younger brother Tim is already on the Motor City roster, so the Rockers have their first brother duo in team history. Motor City also dealt the rights to defenseman Charlie Bedard to Danbury for those same "future considerations". Bedard had been selected from Delaware in the dispersal draft but never skated for the Rockers.

Once TJ Delaney made it official and signed, the Rockers had to drop a player from the roster and it was forward Francis Moore who was released. The rookie skated in three games while here, going scoreless. They were faced with the same situation when Gaudet returned from the IR and unfortunately defenseman Ryan Rotondi was the odd man out. Rotondi skated for the Rockers in three separate stints last year and is a local guy, so don't be surprised if he makes his way back at some point should injuries or recalls become an issue. This season he played in six games, with one point on an assist.          

The Rockers made one more move today, inking defenseman Erik Oganezov to a contract. The Russian blueliner is in his third season in the Fed and fifth city. He started his career in 2021-22 skating in forty games for Binghamton, scoring four goals and adding eight assists. Last season he split his time between the Black Bears, Delaware and Elmira, playing in 41 games overall with one goal and twelve assists between the three teams. This season he started with the expansion Blue Ridge Bobcats, going scoreless in two games before being released. Welcome to The Rock Show Erik.

So that gets things up to date both on the ice and off. Speaking of on the ice, the Rockers are finally back at it tomorrow night in what I'll call the Battle of Former Travis Ridgen Employers as they travel to Watertown to take on the Wolves for the first time this season. Watertown sits at 3-5 so far, it's another opportunity for Motor City to add to their point total and get closer to first place Binghamton. Face-off at Watertown Arena is at 7:30 PM.