IceCaps notebook: Personnel changes shake line-up

ST. JOHN ’S, Newfoundland and Labrador – Marco Rosa has very quietly disappeared from the St. John’s IceCaps roster and there is a very real possibility he will not play another game for the AHL team this season.
 

Rosa is suffering from the lasting effects of a concussion he suffered in December and has sat out the IceCaps last 23 games. He is periodically spotted in the team’s locker room prior to practice and sometimes watches the team play from a seat in the press box of Mile One Centre, but it remains clear he is not close to returning to action any time soon.
 
“It’s frustrating,” Rosa said while watching his teammates play the Binghamton Senators on Dec. 11 in St. John’s. “Sometimes I feel fine, then … the symptoms come right back. I’ve never gone through this before, so it’s all new to me.”
 
The 30-year-old forward was enjoying his best season as a professional hockey player prior to the injury, having wracked up six goals, 21 assists and 27 points in 29 games before suffering a concussion. At the time, he was the IceCaps leading scorer and number one center.
 
It is believed he suffered the concussion during a Dec. 16 game in Manchester, N.H. Rosa was sent hard into the boards on a hit from behind by Manchester’s J.D. Watt and later in the game was tagged with a high stick from the Monarchs’ Pat Mullen.
Although Rosa did play in the IceCaps next two games, it was obvious something wasn’t right with the native of Toronto, Ontario. Rosa’s last game with the IceCaps was on Dec. 18 in a win over the Portland Pirates.
 
Anyone who has seen him watch the team from the press box or at ice level can easily see how much Rosa wants to rejoin his teammates. However, Rosa admits he doesn’t know if he will be able to rejoin the team before the 2011-12 AHL season ends.
 
In fact, Rosa acknowledges retiring from professional hockey is not out of the question, although it’s an option he prefers not to think too much about.
 
“I want to come back and play … but I have to think about life after hockey, too,” Rosa said.
 
Rosa is not currently practicing with the IceCaps, nor is he skating on his own. In order to rejoin the team, his concussion symptoms would have to dissipate all together. That hasn’t happened yet, and until it does, Rosa will continue waiting and watching from the sidelines.
 
Mannino shocked, frustrated by demotion
 
When the IceCaps decided carrying three goalies was no longer healthy for the club, they surprised a lot of the team’s fans by shipping veteran Peter Mannino to Chicago of the ECHL. Mannino’s numbers in St. John’s were solid and up to the point when he was cut in late December, he had been the club’s most consistent goaltender.
 
Mannino left town without an opportunity to speak with local media, so how he felt about the situation was never really addressed. However, during a recent interview with The Trentonian, Mannino let it be known he was caught off-guard by the demotion to the ECHL.
 
“It’s definitely frustrating and it’s definitely a shock this year,” Mannino said to Mike Ashmore of The Trentonian. “I thought things were going very well in St. John’s, and I had a little stint in Winnipeg. But I never lost confidence, and I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, especially coming off of surgery this summer. But it’s definitely frustrating; we all want to be at the highest level of the game in this locker room. It’s one of those things where I’m kind of finding my game and hopefully find some type of chance to get another crack in the American League and hopefully the NHL.”
 
New kid in town
 
A trade by the Winnipeg Jets has resulted in some roster shuffling for the IceCaps. The Jets traded winger Riley Holzapfel, who had been suiting up in St. John’s, to the Anaheim Ducks for center Maxime Macenauer.
 
Macenauer played 29 games with the Ducks earlier this season, picking up one goal and three assists. Prior to the trade, he had been assigned to the Ducks’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y., where he had four goals and two assists in 13 games.
In two games with the IceCaps since the trade, he has zero points and is plus-one.
 
Macenauer, 23, is in his third season of professional hockey. According to the website Hockey’s Future ( www.hockeysfuture.com ), he is a fast, defensive-minded center who is very good in the face-off circle and is a consistent, dependable penalty killer. He is a native of Laval, Quebec and spent four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League prior to turning pro.
 
In 2007, Macenauer was a third round pick, 63^rd overall, by the Ducks in the NHL entry draft.  
 
Player of the week
 
IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 12.
 
Pasquale went 3-0-0 during the week, leading St. John’s to 2-0 and 2-1 wins over the Providence Bruins on Feb. 7 and 8 respectively, before coming up big in a 4-3 victor over the Binghamton Senators on Feb. 11.
 
The 21-year-old goalie posted a sparkling 1.32 goals-against-average and a .954 save percentage during this time.
 
Forney sent back to ECHL
 
The IceCaps returned winger Michael Forney to the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL on Feb. 13.
 
St. John’s had re-called Forney from the Eagles on Feb. 6 when a rash of injuries left the IceCaps short on healthy bodies up front. In three games with St. John’s, Forney failed to register any points and was minus-one. The 23-year-old has 18 goals, 27 assists and 45 points in 50 games with the Eagles this season.
 
Contact Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
Photos by Jeff.Cull@prohockeynews.com