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Archive for July, 2009

Jeff Taffe Signs With Amerks

July 3, 2009 - By

The third day of free agency is just wrapping up and the Rochester Americans are a better hockey team.  It was reported that free agent center Jeff Taffe has agreed to a two year two way contract with the Florida Panthers and Amerks.

The front office at Blue Cross Arena has been saying they would be active in bringing in veteran players and I think this is proof that we can believe them.

Jeff Taffe should be the veteran first line center that the Amerks have needed for a few years now.  Last season he scored 25 goals and 50 assists in 74 games in the American Hockey League with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  That is a point a game player.  Taffe also played in eight games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and assisted on two goals.

This is an excellent player to be signed.  If you have doubted the Panthers, Curt Styres, or Lewis Staats then this should give you more reason to believe.

A team does not win because of one player, but it’s a start.

Kevin Oklobzija had these two quotes from Staats in his blog:

“We’ve made a certain level of financial commitment to get these deals done,” [...]Read More

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Panthers Sign Clay Wilson

July 2, 2009 - By

The Panthers still need a lot of help on defense so it’s still too early to tell if Wilson will see any time in Rochester.  I typically don’t do straight press release posts, but I am this evening to get caught up.  The timing of finishing up another project came at the worst time, but now I can dedicate more time to this site.  Amerks fans may remember Wilson from his time playing with the Syracuse Crunch.

SUNRISE, FL – Florida Panthers Assistant General Manager Randy Sexton announced today that club has signed defenseman Clay Wilson to a two-year contract.


“Clay is a versatile and mobile player who was one of the top defensemen in the American Hockey League last season,” said Sexton. “He [...]Read More

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2011 All Star Game, vs Pirates, Diff Divisions, Misc

July 2, 2009 - By

The big news of the day on Tuesday was that the Amerks hired Ted Nolan as the new VP of Hockey Operations.  I had the chance to talk to Rochester Americans Owner Curt Styres about a few other things that I felt were newsworthy.

The team did formally submit a bid for the 2011 AHL All Star Classic to be hosted in Rochester, something I first mentioned January 28th.  Styres was not sure if any other teams had put in a bid for the game.  The game in 2011 will be the 75th Anniversary of the league so American Hockey League President David Andrews had hinted that he was hoping to have the game be in either Hershey or Rochester.  Styres said that at a recent Board of Governors meeting Andrews asked if anyone wanted to host the game and then looked directly at Styres.

The Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch will be in different divisions next season.  He said that he believes the teams will be playing each other eight times, down from 12 during the 2008/2009 season.

Styres did not have any other information about divisions or schedule formats.  It sounds like the schedule is pretty much [...]Read More

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Ted Nolan Hired by Rochester Americans

July 1, 2009 - By

The announcement today that Ted Nolan has been named the new VP of Hockey Operations for the Rochester Americans is hopefully the start of many big announcements to come.

Today is the start of the free agency period and it’s a time that the Florida Panthers and Rochester Americans have said that they will be busy getting veteran players signed in Rochester.

Hockey fans in Western New York will remember Nolan from his days at the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres from 1995 to 1997.  He was named coach of the year for the 96/97 season.  That was also his last season with the Sabres after a highly publicized dispute between himself John Muckler and Dominik Hasek.

If we go back even further in time he did play for the Rochester Americans during the 1984-1985 season.  During that season he played in 65 games scoring 28 goals and 34 assists for 62 points.

Ted Nolan and Jody Gage (who is still employed by the Amerks) also have a history when they played together with the Adirondack Red Wings back in the early 80′s.

Most recently Nolan coached the New York Islanders from 2006-2008.  In his first season as head [...]Read More

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