Home
»
2009
»
January

Archive for January, 2009

Rochester Americans Travel to Grand Rapids; Sprukts Loaned to Latvia

January 30, 2009 - By

The All-Star break has come to a close which means the season is starting to wind down for the Rochester Americans, which is probably considered a good thing.  The team is on the road this weekend for back to back games against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

A week ago against Thursday when they lost to the Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoit Groulx used the term “bus lag” to describe the loss and the Rochester Americans lack of what seemed to be effort.

Up until this mornings game day skate, the Rochester Americans have been off the ice since last Saturday when they were shutout against the Albany River Rats in Albany.  The coaching staff had told the players to have some fun and get their minds off of hockey for a few days, we’ll see tonight how it worked out.

The two games this weekend are games three and four of six that will be played this season.  The Griffins have won both previous games, the most recent was a 6-0 win over the Amerks on December 21st at Blue Cross Arena.  The Rochester Americans are 16-18-2 all-time against the Detroit Red Wings’ affiliate.

The team will be traveling without [...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Amerks

Amerks Sign Ross Carlson

January 30, 2009 - By

Rochester Americans General Manager Jody Gage announced today that the club has signed forward Ross Carlson to a 25-game professional tryout (PTO).

Ross, 26, arrives in Rochester after spending the first-half of the 2008-09 season with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, where he registered 22 points (10+12) along with 14 penalty minutes (PIM) in 27 games. He started the season with the American Hockey League’s Peoria Rivermen, appearing in three games and scoring one goal.

A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Carlson spent last season with three different teams, but recorded his best year as a pro en route to capturing a career best in goals (18), assists (20) and points (38) in 49 contests with the Texas Wildcatters (ECHL). In 26 career AHL games with the Providence, Rockford, Houston and Peoria, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward has three goals and four assists for seven points, while also skating in four postseason games.

Prior to turning pro, Carlson had an illustrious four-year (2003-07) collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin, notching 34 goals and 58 assists for 92 points in 133 games. He posted his best season during his sophomore campaign, collecting highs with 12 goals and 29 points for the [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Amerks

2009 AHL All-Star Classic Pictures

January 28, 2009 - By

We managed to take almost 1,000 pictures at this past weekends 2009 AHL All-Star Classic in Worcester and finally have all of them uploaded to our flickr account.  It’s going to take us some time to tag all of them so that you can easily search and find pictures of any players you may be looking for, but until that happens feel free to browse through all of them.

All of our pictures were taken using Canon PowerShot S5is

Click either link below to view the pictures:

2009 AHL All-Star Classic Skills Competition

2009 AHL All-Star Classic Game

We also have a couple thousand more pictures from Amerks games over the past two seasons.  Again, majority of them all need to be tagged with descriptions, but I wanted to post the links so people could start viewing them if they wanted to.

View all of our pictures at:

http://www.flicker.com/letsgoamerks

Tags: ι ι Categories: Amerks

Rochester to host AHL All-Star Game in 2011?

January 28, 2009 - By

In two years the American Hockey League will be having it’s 75th anniversary of the All-Star Classic and the league still needs a home for the event.  The President and CEO of the AHL stated at the annual state of the league address that he would like to have it in a city that has some history in the league.  The general consensus amongst others seemed to narrow that down to either Hershey or Rochester.

The Rochester Americans last hosted the All-Star game on January 17, 2000 at Blue Cross Arena.  The Hershey Bears last hosted the event on January 16, 1996.  The four year difference would not really make that much of a difference with one city deserving it more than the other.

As we spent the weekend in Worcester for the 2009 All-Star Classic events it was amazing to talk to so many people about the Amerks and Rochester in general.  The one comment that seemed to be made by most was about wanting to see the Amerks get back amongst the elite of the league.

Lewis Staats also commented that it had been brought up in discussions, but nothing more than in general conversation.

When I mentioned [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι Categories: Amerks

Live From the AHL All-Star Game; Amerks Brodeur Starting

January 26, 2009 - By

It’s night number two of the AHL All-Star Classic event and time for the actual game.  Mike Brodeur of the Rochester Americans is getting the start in goal for Team Canada.  Brian Elliott of the Binghamton Senators was slated to get the start but when the Ottawa Senators called him up the starting position shifted to Brodeur.

Mike Brodeur said, “someone must have just flipped a coin or something,” regarding him getting the starting job.  Mike is very humble and unsure of himself in the role that he has earned.  The most exciting part of being the starter for Brodeur isn’t about the honor that goes with it, but rather not having to sit on the bench for two hours prior to being able to play.

The game is being broadcast to over 100 million people, and tonight the world gets to see the player that has turned the season around for the Rochester Americans.  All-Star games are all about offense, so he’s going to be put to the test early.  When we talked about the lack of defense and him really being put to the test some of the defensemen in the locker room started laughing.

The theme of [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Headlines

Live from the AHL All-Star Skills Competition!

January 25, 2009 - By

Here we are the DCU Center in Wooooooooooooster Mass for the AHL All-Star Classic skills competition where the best of the American Hockey League attempt to show off their best moves.  If you’re at home right now make sure to check the broadcast schedule to watch live on TV, or get on AHL Live and tune in.

Alyssa is down at ice level taking a lot of pictures, we’ll try and get them uploaded after the event to our flickr page.

The one thing I’ve noticed about traveling to other arena’s around the league is the lack of banners hanging from the rafters compared to Blue Cross Arena.  The pride and tradition of Rochester Americans hockey may have faded over the past few years, but the team is legendary in the American Hockey League.  It will return, someday.

One of the highlight of last years skills competition was Mark Mancari’s record breaking hardest shot at 102.8mph.

He’s scheduled to take part in the EA Sports Breakaway Relay, wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t getting another chance at the hardest shot.  Wait, I meant the Reebok Hardest Shot.  Everything is sponsored, have to make sure [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι Categories: Amerks

Third Straight Loss, but Difference is Night and Day

January 25, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans were shutout and lost their third straight game on Saturday night against the Albany River Rats in Albany as the league enters the All-Star break.  With the All-Star break typically considered the mid way point of the season, one thing is for certain about this Rochester Americans team – the difference is night and day compared to the way they started.

Getting back to last nights game, the deciding factor was the first period when the team just couldn’t get any offense generated.  The Rats took advantage of that and was able to score two goals.  The first one that deflected in wasn’t good, but that’s the type of bounces teams look for to be able to win games.  The second power play goal for the Rats was something they should have been able to stop from reaching the net.

“We played hard, very happy with the effort, very disappointing weekend in terms of the the outcome, thought we deserved better today and last night, but a bad game on thursday,” commented Benoit Groulx after the game.

The Amerks continue to struggle on the power play, going 0 for 5 on Saturday night.

Asked Groulx about the [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι Categories: Headlines

All-Stars Skills Competition This Afternoon

January 25, 2009 - By

The AHL All-Star game and skills competition is today (Sunday) and tomorrow here in Worcester, MA.  The competition is at 4pm today and if you’re in Rochester you can watch it live on Time Warner Sportsnet Channel 26.  If you are anywhere else in North America, check the broadcast schedule to see if it’s being shown near you.  The competition will feature the following events:

Sher-Wood Puck Control Relay
Reebok Fastest Skater
Enterprise Cleaning Corporation Rapid Fire
Reebok Hardest Shot
Charter Communications Accuracy Shooting
Bud Light Pass and Score
EA Sports NHL 09 Breakaway Relay

The one competition that will be of interest is the Reebok Hardest Shot, let’s see if Mark Mancari can break the AHL record of last year, as well as go up against Chara’s record breaking 105.2mph shot on Saturday at the NHL skills competition.

Categories: Amerks

Fight Video: Tanner Glass vs Nicolas Blanchard

January 25, 2009 - By

The puck barely touched the ice for the first time on Saturday night at the Times Union Center when Nicolas Blanchard (Albany River Rats) and Tanner Glass (Rochester Americans) dropped their gloves to fight as the game got underway.  YouTube did not seem to pick up on the higher quality of the video, apologies that it did not upload as intended.  A decent fight that lasted almost a minute.

The Amerks were shutout 3-0 by the River Rats to lose their third straight in three nights prior to heading into the All-Star break.

Check out our game night entry and our post game write up about the loss.  The fight at the start of the game seemd to have little effect on the actual game, but did provide some early entertainment for those in the seats.

Tags: ι ι ι Categories: Amerks

Live from Times Union Center; Amerks vs Rats

January 24, 2009 - By

It’s the last game before the All-Star break for the Rochester Americans as they battle the Albany River Rats here at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY.  Updates will continue throughout the end of the game (just getting posted at the end of the 2nd period as we got the internet connection working)

Right when the puck dropped tonight Tanner Glass and Blanchard dropped the gloves to get in a nice long fight.  Decision to Blanchard he had some good zingers right in the beginning and everything else

Only 4 minutes into the game and the Amerks are already on their first penalty kill.  Neil Clark took an Albany playerinto the net and was called for roughing.  Mike Ryan scored his 23rd goal of the season making the score 1-0 already.  The Amerks aren’t looking bad…it was a great tip in by Ryan.

Second goal of the night will be credited to Chris Beckford-Tseu.  A routine shot on goal by Samson…Becks gets hit in the chest with it, it goes in the air, over his head and in slow motion crosses the line.  If he would have turned around for even a split second, he would have been able [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι Categories: Amerks, Headlines

Thursday Gameday: Amerks vs Crunch

January 22, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans are back at home tonight for an odd Thursday night home game against thruway rivals Syracuse Crunch, game time is at 7:05pm.  The Amerks lost the first three games this season against the Crunch but have won the last two.  The last win was back on January 9th, final score was 3-1.

The team has won six of its last eight, including two road wins this past weekend against the Manchester Monarchs and Providence Bruins.  Looking at the past 15 games they are 10-4-0-1.  Something strange is happening here in Rochester, the team is creeping closer to a .500 record.

The Crunch are coming off of a 6-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Monday afternoon, they have won three of their past four.

Goaltender Mike Brodeur, who has started 17 of the last 19 games for Rochester, and will start again tonight, boasts a 12-4-1 record in 17 games between the pipes for the Amerks. His 2.07 goals-against average and .933 save percentage presently rank him third and second among AHL netminders, respectively. Further, his two shutouts tie him for fourth in the league.

The game will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK, whtk.com [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Amerks, Headlines

Cory Murphy Picked Up By Tampa Bay

January 19, 2009 - By

corymurphy

Well, Cory Murphy gets to stay in the NHL.  Much to many Amerks’ fans’ saddness, the Tampa Bay Lightning claimed Murphy off re-entry waivers.  Kevin O’s blog said it best for me…so, I am going to quote him.  Check out his blog here: Kevin O’s Blog

I can’t, however, criticize the Panthers for being player friendly. This is the type of deal that makes players happy, that makes players respect management.

They didn’t bury Murphy in the AHL, they gave him a chance to stay in the NHL and perhaps earn another contract for next season.

And since Murphy was never a guy targeted to play in Rochester, the Amerks really didn’t lose him. Losing tough-guy winger Steve MacIntyre on waivers in training camp was a punch in the gut. He was to be a focal point in Rochester.

But in Murphy’s case, you can’t lose something that was never yours to begin with.

Tags: ι ι ι Categories: Amerks

1 2 3