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Alexander Salak Joins Mink on PlanetUSA All-Star Team

December 30, 2009 - By

I dislike posting press releases instead of writing my own content, but sometimes it’s the easiest thing when I only have a few minutes.

(Rochester, NY)… Rochester Americans goalie Alexander Salak has been named to the PlanetUSA team for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic, which will be held January 18th-19th at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

He joins teammate Graham Mink as a member of the PlanetUSA squad. Mink was named the all-star team’s captain earlier this month.

Salak boasts a 16-4-0 record with 583 saves in 22 games with the Amerks. The rookie also carries a 2.33 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. Despite missing the last three games, he is still tied for second in the league in wins and is tied for seventh in save percentage. The 22 year old has played in 67 minutes in two games with the Florida Panthers this season. The native of Strakonice, Czech Republic, signed an entry-level contract with Florida on May 29, 2009.

Rochester kicks off its week on the road against the Hamilton Bulldogs tonight at Copps Coliseum. The 7:30 p.m. contest will be carried live on SportsRadio 1280 [...]Read More

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Amerks Fall From First in Loss to Dogs'

December 30, 2009 - By

If I were to write a full recap of the game it would contain one word, snoozefest.  The team just could not get things going offensively.  The team has another game on Thursday evening at 5pm on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters.  The Monsters have been playing well lately, we’ll see what happens.

Here’s the Amerks press release about the game:

(Hamilton, December 30)… The Hamilton Bulldogs recaptured first place in the North Division with a 4-1 win over the Rochester Americans tonight at Copps Coliseum. The win moved Hamilton (21-8-2-3, 47 points) one point ahead of the Amerks (22-11-2-0, 46 points) for the top spot in the division.

The loss ended Rochester’s streak of earning a point in nine straight games against Hamilton and extended the Amerks’ road losing streak to four games. It also interrupted the Amerks’ two-game winning streak. Despite the setback, Rochester still leads the season series with a 3-1-1-0 record.

J.T. Wyman and Mikael Johansson led Hamilton with two points each tonight (1+1). Bulldogs’ goalie Cedrick Desjardins earned the win in goal with 24 saves and held Rochester to one goal. The Amerks got a goal from Chris Taylor and a 20-save effort [...]Read More

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Amerks Receive de Gray On Loan; Release Schulz

December 30, 2009 - By

Finishing out the year with some good old fashioned press releases to get caught up.  John de Gray played in Wednesday nights loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs.  I’d be telling a lie if I said I watched a lot of the game and could give a fair assessment on his play.  He seems to be the type of defensemen that the team has been needing with Rory Fitzpatrick still out of the lineup.

(Rochester, NY)… Rochester Americans Vice President of Hockey Operations Ted Nolan announced today that defenseman John de Gray has been loaned to the Amerks by the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. In a related move, Rochester released David Schulz from his PTO.

The 6-4, 209-pound de Gray comes to Rochester from the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL. The second-year pro has five goals, six assists and 28 penalty minutes in 29 games this season with the Condors. The 21-year-old defenseman was a third-round selection (83rd overall) of Anaheim in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

The Markham, Ontario, native has played in 97 career professional games, 68 of those in the American Hockey League with teams in Portland and Iowa. The blueliner has registered seven goals, [...]Read More

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David Brine Returning Wednesday Night vs Hamilton

December 29, 2009 - By

David Brine has been out with a rib injury and will return to action on Wednesday night vs the Hamilton Bulldogs.  I caught up with him at an Amerks youth camp this afternoon that my son took part in.  Brine has been out since early December and has been missed on faceoffs and the penalty kill unit.  The Amerks PK unit was near the top of the league but has since fallen to the middle of the pack.

In 23 games this season Brine has 9 goals and 5 assists, 2 of those goals were scored short handed.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times over the past few days that the team seems to be getting back on the right track both with their play and players.

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Keaton Ellerby Selected as AHL All-Star for Team Canada

December 29, 2009 - By

Amerks defenseman Keaton Ellerby was selected today to play for Team Canada in the 2010 Time Warner All-Star Classic in Portland in a few weeks.

PlanetUSA will be announced on Wednesday at 2pm. Graham Mink has already been named Captain of that team. Alexander Salak should be picked to join him as well.

Team Canada roster -
http://theahl.com/2010-canadian-ahl-all-star-team-announced-p139779

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Wow.. Amerks Have a Practice Tuesday Morning

December 29, 2009 - By

It’s a been a rare thing for the Amerks over the past month to have a practice but they finally had one Tuesday morning. It seemed like just about the whole team was back together too.

Mike York, David Brine, Tyler Plante, Rory Fitzpatrick, and Luke Beaverson were all on the ice. Rory said he’ll be back on January 8th. I did not get the chance to talk to anyone else, was only at ESL to get my kid signed up for a camp and happened to get there near the end of practice.

The team is getting back in the right direction and should be just about back to the full team by the time they play Grand Rapid on January 8th. Next week they’ll have a week of practice which will help out even more.

Next game is Wednesday night on the road in Hamilton and on Thursday at 5pm against Lake Erie. I’ll have the live chat going for Wednesdays game.

Team Canada All-Star roster is announced at 2pm. I asked Jody Gage who was going and he said he was sworn to secrecy.

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AHL All-Star Rosters Announced Tuesday and Wednesday

December 29, 2009 - By

It’s that time of year again for the AHL All-Star rosters to be announced.  The playing rosters for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic will be announced on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The 24 man roster for Team Canada on Tuesday at 2pm and the PlanetUSA roster on Wednesday at 2pm.  I’ll post the rosters when I have a moment but to get them right away keep an eye on theahl.com.

The 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic will feature the 2010 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Monday, January 18 (8:00 p.m. ET) and the 2010 AHL All-Star Game on Tuesday, January 19 (6:00 p.m. ET), and will be televised live nationally in the United States and Canada.

We’ll be going to the game in Portland and will provide excellent coverage for the second year in a row.  It’s always easier the second time around.

Amerks forward Graham Mink has already been named the captain of PlanetUSA.  I’m guessing that Jamie Johnson will be announced on Tuesday as part of the roster for Team Canada.  Johnson is currently 7th in the league in scoring with 32 points (13G+19A).

Alexander Salak would have been [...]Read More

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Matthias and MacIntyre are Back

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December 29, 2009 - By

The weekend is over, post game articles have written, and that means it’s time for some more player moves.  After a long month of transactions it seems like things are back in favor of the Amerks.  The Florida Panthers sent Shawn Matthias and Steve MacIntyre back to the Amerks on Monday.

Matthias had been called up since December 9th and played in 10 games for the Panthers.  In those 10 games he logged 2 goals and 2 assists.  In 15 games this season for the Amerks he has three goals and four assists.

MacIntyre had been called up for the Panthers vs Flyers game last week but did not see any real action.

The only active player currently with the Panthers that had seen some time with the Amerks is Victor Oreskovich.  Kenndal McArdle is still technically called up but is on the injured list.

Now it’s time we hope the trend of call ups and injuries is coming to an end.

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Amerks Getting Back on Track with 5-3 Win Over B-Sens

December 28, 2009 - By

After a month long skid for the Rochester Americans I believe that things are headed back in the right direction.  The Amerks won their second game of the weekend by defeating the Binghamton Senators 5-3 in front of 4,367 in downtown Rochester on Sunday evening.  There are still some concerns, but the lineup that has been depleted by call ups and injuries seems to be finding it’s way.

The AHL has 43 transactions for the Amerks just in the month of December and there’s still a few days left.  That is a lot of change.  Within the month of December was also a number of injuries, the tail end of a six game road trip, a hectic travel schedule, and very few regular practices.  Those are not excuses, they are facts that impact consistency and chemistry.  It’s only two wins, but they’re wins that will give the team a much needed boost of confidence.

It also helps to have Jeff Taffe back in the lineup playing on a line with Jamie Johnson and Michal Repik.  Those three players combined for a total of six points on Sunday.  The two assists for Johnson gives him 32 points [...]Read More

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Amerks Take Back First With Win Over Bulldogs

December 27, 2009 - By

The Amerks defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday night in front of 7,083 fans to take back first place in the North Divsion.  A pair of goals from Jeff Taffe, a fancy goal by Evgeny Dadonov and an unlikely empty netter by Keaton Ellerby gave the Amerks a 4-2 win.

The win ends the four game skid for the Amerks and likely gives the team a little more confidence in themselves and the pieced together lineup.  Graham Mink had been out hurt for the past two weeks but decided enough was enough and suited up to play.

Ryan Mior got the job done with 45 saves.  The defense is another story, but that’s nothing new.

It was a great post holiday crowd and even better that the team found a way to win.  I had to leave right after the game to visit family in Buffalo which explains the lack of a better writeup.

Here’s links to Kevin O’s coverage in the D&C:

Was it a pretty victory? Depends how you look at it

Rochester Amerks defeat Hamilton Bulldogs

Rochester Amerks’ reinforcements in need of reinforcement

The team is back on the ice [...]Read More

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Merry Christmas; Text Service; Drew Stafford Festivus

December 25, 2009 - By

Merry Christmas to everyone out there!  I hope everyone is having a great Christmas day with family and friends or even just by yourself or with your pets.  I’ll be firmly planted on the couch playing NHL 10 on our new Xbox 360 and watching 24 hours of a Christmas Story.  Enjoy the day!

My gift to Amerks fans is a new text messaging service to share the wealth of information available here.  There’s a box on the top right side of the main page at http://www.letsgoamerks.com.  I’ve tested it out and it seems easy to sign up to and it should also be easy to unsubscribe from.

Starting in a week or two I’ll be sending out links to new articles, reminders the morning of a game, the score at the end of games, and also news of call ups and injuries.  There’s also the ability to reply to messages if you want more info or have any questions.  We’ll see how it goes.. I won’t be spamming and there won’t be any advertisements.

Former Amerk Drew Stafford recorded this great video discussing Festivus that is worth watching.  Unfortunately I can’t embed it but the link is below.  [...]Read More

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Duco and Matthias Sent Down

December 24, 2009 - By

Just a quick post to mention that the Florida Panthers have sent Mike Duco and Shawn Matthias back to the Amerks. Since it’s the day before Christmas I’m going to get my hopes up that we are slowly getting our team back together.

Duco was called after last Saturdays game in Hershey and played in the Panthers vs Flyers game on Monday. His highlight of the night was a first period scrap with Ian Laperriere.

Shawn Matthias has been called up since the Amerks completed their road trip on December 6th.

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