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Archive for July, 2009

Amerks Mascot The Moose in Trouble? E5

July 31, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

The mascot for the Rochester Americans, The Moose, could be in jeopardy of being shipped back into the wild.  There have been rumors floating around that The Moose could be replaced by R. Thunder as the teams mascot.

With the recent news this week that Fred Costello would not be returning after 32 years and the news back in May that Jody Gage was no longer going to be General Manager after 14 years it’s not really all that surprising that The Moose could possibly be next.

The first thought about The Moose being released was that there’s no way it could ever happen.  I started asking around and continued to hear that the idea either was brought up or is even still an option.  Over the past couple of years I’ve tried to stay away from reporting rumors, but this one ranks an E5 on Eklunds scale.  I’ve sent numerous emails to people in the front office to comment about this but no one has replied.  I know that others have sent emails as well but and did not receive a reply.

I held off on writing this hoping someone would say, “that’s a crazy idea.”  But apparently it [...]Read More

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David Brine Accepts Qualifying Offer

July 28, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

Returning to hockey news, David Brine has accepted the Florida Panthers qualifying offer of a one year two way deal.  Brine will be entering his third season with the Rochester Americans this fall.

Last season Brine was fifth in scoring on the team with 8 goals and 23 assists along with 70 penalty minutes.  He also dressed in 79 out of 80 games, the highest of any Amerk player during the season.

He is a consistent two way player who can be relied upon to win the majority of face offs he takes along with not being afraid to play the body.  In terms of depth he’s not near the top for the Panthers but they know he exists.  The Panthers had called up Brine for nine games during the 2007/2008 season.

In 2006, Brine was a contestant on the reality series Making the Cut: Last Man Standing that appeared on Global TV in Canada.  He did not win the series but impressed Mike Keenan enough to earn a tryout with the Florida Panthers which resulted in being signed by the Panthers as an undrafted free agent.  Former Rochester American Franklin MacDonald went on to win the season.

With the [...]Read More

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More Bad Press for Amerks

July 28, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

The news on Monday that Fred Costello would not be returning as organist for the Rochester Americans did not have to be that big of a story but it’s turned into one.  The reason?  The way Amerks President Lewis Staats is being portrayed as handling the situation.

It also doesn’t help that this made the front page of this mornings sports section in the Democrat and Chronicle.

This quote in the D&C from Costello sums up the situation, “It’s not the fact that they made a move. It’s how I was told.”

Every sports fan in Rochester knows Fred Costello from Amerks and Rochester Red Wings games for playing the organ.  He plays the music.  That’s the way it is and has always been.

John Catalano, the Amerks vice president of production and marketing was also quoted in the D&C saying, “We realize this is not a popular decision, but sometimes unpopular decisions need to be made.”

When an unpopular decision like this is going to be made it needs to be handled a little more delicately.  All one has to do is look at the comments attached to the article in the Democrat and Chronicle.

If the team had [...]Read More

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Another Update on Dadonov

July 24, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

As expected it’s looking more and more like Evgeni Dadonov will be in a Rochester Americans uniform this fall, unless somehow the court system gets involved which is not likely.  Traktor Chelyabinsk, the team Dadonov had been playing for, opened training camp on Thursday and Dadonov was not there.  A sure sign that all of this legal talk has not scared him and that he does want to play in North America.

Andrei Nazarov, headcoach of Traktor, said on Friday that they would sue in the Florida court systems for either Dadonov to return to the team or for the Florida Panthers to compensate for his return.  Nazarov spent two seasons playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning and also told the paper that he has “relationships with local lawyers” and thinks Traktor “has a good chance to win this thing.”

I highly doubt that the Florida Panthers and Dadonov’s agent would have allowed a contract to be signed if there was any doubt about his status to play in North America this season.

I also doubt that any of this is scaring the Panthers organization in any way.

This is all an update from this previous article initially [...]Read More

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Winning is Everything for Chris Taylor

July 16, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

The Rochester Americans put the icing on the cake Thursday afternoon by signing veteran center Chris Taylor to a 2yr American Hockey League contract.  The ownership was not joking around when they said they would be bringing in veteran leadership once free agency began.

The veteran leadership that Chris Taylor will bring to the Amerks locker room is something that has been missing in recent years.  Taylor said, “I play hockey to win, I don’t play hockey to play hockey.  I want to win and expect everyone in this dressing room wants to win.”

“This is one of those times when we can take something good that was there in the past and bring it into today to help him and help us,” Lewis Staats said before introducing Taylor.

Over the past two weeks the Rochester Americans and Florida Panthers have made a strong statement that they’re committed to winning by signing Jeff Taffe, Jamie Johnson, Clay Wilson, Graham Fink, and now Chris Taylor.

Any time a player signs a contract with a team they will say that they’re excited, most of the time they are and at other times it’s just good public relations.  When Chris Taylor said he’s [...]Read More

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Updated: Dadonov Contract Approved by NHL

July 13, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

It was recently mentioned that Russian prospect Evgeni Dadonov of the Florida Panthers had signed a deal and would be a part of the Rochester Americans in the upcoming season, but Dadonovs coach thinks differently.

Earlier in the Spring of 2009 it was announced that Dadonov had signed a 2yr deal with Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL, so the idea of him suddenly signing a deal to comeover to North America to play seemed odd.

Nothing official announced by the Panthers, the only mention of Dadonov to North America seems to be from a conversation that occured between Jack Birch (Florida Panthers director of player personnel) and Kevin Oklobzija of the Democrat and Chronicle.

Kevin Oklobzija followed up with Jack Birch who said:

“We’ve heard no issue with it; his entry-level contract was accepted and approved by the league last week,” Birch said. “If there was a problem, they wouldn’t have approved the contract.”

The web site RussianProspects.com had posted the following:

As reported by North American sources, Evgeni Dadonov  (Florida Panthers) might have signed an entry-level contract with the Panthers. But the situation is tricky because not more than two months ago Dadonov signed a two-years deal [...]Read More

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Panthers/Amerks Sign Graham Mink

July 10, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

The Florida Panthers and Rochester Americans made headlines on Friday and proved that they’re not joking around about being competitive when they announced that Graham Mink has signed a two year contract.  Mink is the strong veteran forward who can score that has been promised to fans.

In early April when Curt Styres and Jacques Martin sat down at a press conference to announce changes for the upcoming season it was met with a lot of wait and see attitudes by fans and for good reason.  We were being promised four top six forwards, a veteran defensemen, and a ‘tough guy.’  The question remaind, would Curt Styres really open up the teams bank account to make things happen?

The past nine days has proved that he will.  When Curt Styres says he is going to do something that means he is.  Graham Mink, Clay Wilson, and Jeff Taffe are all quality players being brought into the organization.

Mink spent last season with the Hershey Bears and helped them win the Calder Cup.  The second to last place team in The AHL last season was able to get a player who just won the Calder Cup.  That’s further proof that [...]Read More

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American Hockey League Teams on Twitter

July 9, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

As the 2009/2010 season approaches it appears as if the American Hockey League is finally represented within the Twitter universe.

Twitter is a great service for sports fans due to the fact that news can usually be summed up in less than 140 characters leaving out all of the extra fluff that accompanies articles.

If you’re new to Twitter I’m going to list some ways to effectively use the site and follow teams, if you’re just looking for the list of teams scroll down.

By following LetsGoAmerks (and other teams) on Twitter you’ll be able to get live updates about the Rochester Americans with scores, injuries, transactions (call ups and players being signed), game day lineups, media appearances, and much more.  If you scan through the updates I’ve posted I think you’ll notice it’s a all great info.  Also taking a moment to brag, LetsGoAmerks offers the best coverage of any AHL team on Twitter.

Bookmarks

The old fashioned way of bookmarking web sites is still the easiest for a lot of people.  Simply save your favorite teams page as a bookmark and refresh it whenever you want to check for updates, no need to sign up for an account!

[...]Read More

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Amerks Announce 09/10 Opponents

July 7, 2009 - By Keith Wozniak

The Rochester Americans along with other teams in the American Hockey League today announced the schedule format and division alignments for the 2009/2010 season.  The biggest change is that the Syracuse Crunch are headed for the East Division in the Eastern Conference and the Amerks stay in the North Division of the Western Conference.  Another big change in the Amerks schedule is that they will not be playing any teams from the Western Division.

The Amerks only play 13 of the 29 teams in the league this season.  They will play against Abbotsford Heat, Grand Rapids Griffins, Hamilton Bulldogs, Lake Erie Monsters, Manitoba Moose, Toronto Marlies, Portland Pirates, Adirondack Phantoms, Albany River Rats, Binghamton Senators, Hershey Bears, Syracuse Crunch, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The first home game for the Amerks will be Saturday October 3rd at Blue Cross Arena, the season will start the night before on October 2nd on the road (opponent not yet named).

The Amerks will play the Portland Pirates a total of four games, two of those games will be at HSBC Arena in Buffalo.  The Pirates roster is pretty much changed over from when the Amerks and Sabres were affiliated so the game won’t be [...]Read More

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