We just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who has continued to read our site daily.  The on ice hockey season may be over, but there’ll be plenty going on during the off season that we will continue to cover.  Even though the players locker rooms have been cleaned out, we won’t be cleaning out our desks, but instead stacking paper work with things to work on.

How have you enjoyed our first season covering the Amerks?

We’ll also gladly accept any constructive criticism as well.  We plan on sticking around for a while, so let us know.

Only six months until Amerks training camp starts!

The ice was being removed from Blue Cross Arena this morning after the Rochester Americans closed out the 07/08 season with a 6-5 victory over the Lake Erie Monsters on Sunday night at Blue Cross Arena.

Mark Mancari scored two goals and also got an assist, he led the team this season with 57 points.  His two goals also tied Stefan Meyer with 21 to end the season.

Paul Baier scored his first professional goal in the second period.

Jordan Henry, Brady Calla, and Marek Zagrapan also tallied goals.

The Amerks also allowed a short handed goal, yet another category they led the league in this year.

In the coming days and weeks we’ll recap the season, and talk about the future.  It appears all but final that the Florida Panthers will be the sole affiliate next season.  Florida Panthers assistant GM Randy Sexton said the Panthers have every intention to stock the Amerks next season.  Also with speaking with the Buffalo Sabre prospects, none of them expect to be back in Rochester next season.

The Rochester Americans close out the season tonight at Blue Cross Arena against the Lake Erie Monsters, game time is at 6:05pm.  The Amerks will end the season with the worst record in the league, worst record in Amerks team history, and are currently on a six game losing streak.

Tonight is also Amerks Awards Night as the team will honor their top performers of the year.  A special award should be given to fans who have stuck around this season.

Stefan Meyer and Dylan Hunter are both expected to miss the final game with shoulder injuries.

The Amerks had there usual morning skate today at Blue Cross Arena, one player that stuck out was a face on the ice that hasn’t been seen since January 5th, Mike Card.  Unfortunately he won’t be playing in any of these final three games, but he looked great practicing in full gear with the team.

Tyler Plante is going to get his chance to redeem himself by starting again tonight against the Syracuse Crunch.  Cunneyworth was telling him to not let the other team control or see his emotions.

The team was being told to go into the opposing end hard and continue to shoot the puck each and every time.  “You’re here to play hockey and play hard, if you’re not here for that get the __ off the ice,” said Cunneyworth.

Stefan Meyer did not practice and won’t be playing tonight.  He suffered a shoulder injury on Wednesday when Pavel Valentenko boarded him in the second period.

Dylan Hunter also didn’t practice, he had left Wednesdays game in the second period with a shoulder injury as well.

Rob Globke was also on the ice today for the Amerks.  Hopefully, he will be back in the lineup for tonight’s matchup.

The Rochester Americans play the Syracuse Crunch tonight at Blue Cross Arena to begin the final weekend of the season.  The team is hoping for a better game tonight than last Sundays embarrassing 10-3 loss against the Crunch.

The Amerks have lost 9 out of 11 games against the Crunch this season, and have also been outscored by a margin of 49-21.

If the Amerks win these final three games, and the Norfolk Admirals and Lowell Devils lose their remaining games they can stay out of last place in the league.  Not likely, but it’s all we have left to play for.

The team travels on Saturday to play the Toronto Marlies at 4pm on Saturday, and returns home on Sunday to end the season against the Lake Erie Monsters at 6:05pm.

Patrick Kaleta will be sitting out the final three games per advice from Sabres doctors to rest a lingering shoulder injury.

“If I had the choice, I’d be there playing,” Kaleta said. “It feels like I’m giving up on the team and I’m not about that.”

The Buffalo Sabres anticipate him making the roster out of training camp next season, it’s understandable they wouldn’t want him to [...]Read More

After building a 4-1 lead shortly into the second period, the Amerks allowed the Hamilton Bulldogs to score seven more goals and win the game 8-4.

At the end of the first period as I got up to walk around Copps Coliseum I said, “I won’t get my hopes up especially heading into the second period.”  I was right.

The Amerks controlled the game in the first period by building a 3-1 lead with goals from Jordan Henry, Stefan Meyer, and Martin Lojek.

Clarke MacArthur scored the fourth goal for the Amerks on the power play to give them a 4-1 lead, it was all downhill from there.

The real point of no return came in the third period when it was a 5-4 game in favor of the Bulldogs.  Anthony Stewart had the puck at the top of the face off circle and faked a shot, two Bulldog players went to the ice to try and block it, Stewart then rang the puck off of the post.

The Bulldogs then scored another three goals to end the game, one of those was an empty net goal.

As usual the team played a solid first period, second period started decent, but the [...]Read More

As the Rochester Americans head into the final four games of the season, the city has issued an ultimatum to Steve Donner, the co-owner of the Amerks and Knighthawks – sell the teams or vacate the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

We’ll find a way to summarize all of this next week, until then we’ll be at each of the final four games (Weds @ Hamilton, Fri vs Syracuse, Sat @ Toronto, Sun vs Lake Erie).

You can read the full report from Rachel Barnhart on 13wham.com.  There should be more information in Wednesdays edition of the Democrat and Chronicle as well.

May 6th is the date that all AHL teams need to report to the league to declare whether they will operate next season.  So, if anything we’ll have some sort of answer within the next 30 days.  Seems like we’ve heard that before…

The Amerks got runover by the Crunch on Sunday night losing by the final score of 10-3, with six of the 10 goals coming in the third period. 

The Amerks also broke a franchise record with 43 losses in regulation.  As there are only four games remaining let’s see if they can muster a winning streak to end the season as they also failed to gain any ground on the Lowell Devils and Norfolk Admirals to not end the season in last place in the league.

Dylan Hunter gave the Amerks an early 1-0 lead as he scored his 20th goal of the season as his dad, Dale Hunter, watched from the stands.   Johan Kroll and Mark Mancari were credited with assists.  Dylan Hunter tied Stefan Meyer as each are now at 20 goals.  Mancari continues to lead the team in points with 53.

The game was close at the 10:22 mark of the second period when Tanner Glass tipped in a shot from Martin Lojek to make it a 3-2 game.  It was all downhill from there.

The next seven goals were scored by six different Crunch players.  The final three were scored in a span of three minutes, the final one coming short [...]Read More