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Archive for August, 2009

Top Six Amerks Stories That Needed a Followup

August 28, 2009 - By

I’ve posted a number of stories about the Rochester Americans this summer and found six that needed a follow up prior to the new season starting.  If anyone ever comes across something I’ve posted or said in the past that needs correcting please share.

1. This summer the Amerks HAVE done everything they said they were going to do.  A lot of people have been skeptical about the team and changes that were announced at the end of last season and for good reason.  I believe that this organization wants to be open and honest which they have been.

2. The Moose is NOT going anywhere.  I’ve talked to a few people that there was talks at some point but it was probably just one of those things tossed around.  Bottom line – he’s safe as a mascot.

3. Andrew Peters is NOT signing with the Amerks.  There’s no room for him.  The Amerks have six veterans currently signed right now which is the limit in the AHL.  Could that change if one of the current players earns a full time spot in Florida and Peters still needs a job?  Of course, but not likely (although I [...]Read More

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Amerks Getting Back to The Top

August 26, 2009 - By

The Amerks had a media lunch event today that was a round table discussion of sorts about the past, present, future, and any questions in between.  A lot was discussed and I’ll try and sum up a lot of it the best I can.  The one thing that sticks out is that the Amerks are the Amerks.  They are not a team affiliated with someone else.

The Amerks want to be the best organization of any sports league, not just the American Hockey League.  They want to provide the best entertainment for the fans and also be the most open organization.  Those are not my words, those are the words spoken by everyone present at the event.

Ted Nolan, Jody Gage, Lewis Staats, Jolian Foster, Ric Seiling, Don Stevens, Craig Rybczynski, and Adam Winslow were all present from the organization.

Here’s a few of the topics covered.

** Jerseys – The team will have three jerseys this season.  A white jersey, a blue jersey, and the stars and stripes jerseys.  The one that was worn during the 95/96 season.  The white and blue jerseys will have the horizontal striping at the bottom.

** Training Camp – the team will [...]Read More

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Rochester Ranked 10th in Top Minor League Markets

August 25, 2009 - By

Sports Business Journal did it’s annual ranking of  Top Minor League Markets and Rochester, NY ranked 10th out of 239 markets in the list.  The market rank was based off of three category-specific scores: tenure rank, attendance rank and economic rank (more about this project).

Cities ranked in the top 9:

1. Hershey-Harrisburg, Pa
2. Fort Wayne, Ind.
3. Tulsa, Okla.
4. Billings, Mont.
5. Spokane, Wash.
6. Peoria, Ill.
7. San Bernardino County, Calif.
8. Bossier City-Shreveport, La.
9. Idaho Falls, Idaho

Some other nearby cities that were also ranked – #29 Albany, #36 Binghamton, #38 Auburn, #48 Batavia, #125 Elmira, and #159 Syracuse.  For a full list of all 239 markets click here.

The ranking was based off of local sports teams Rochester Americans, Rochester Red Wings, Rochester Razorsharks, and I believe the Rochester Raiders (they’ve changed leagues a number of times).  The Rochester Knighthawks are considered a major league team.

While attendance numbers have been down recently for the Amerks they still rank pretty good compared to other American Hockey League teams.  Although I do wonder what numbers were reported.

We have three excellent stadiums in Rochester [...]Read More

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Amerks Sign Defenseman Matt Duffy

August 24, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans announced today that they signed defenseman Matt Duffy to a two-way American Hockey League contract, a day before I was about to post an article asking why he hadn’t been signed yet.

“Matt came in at the end of last season and was an immediate contributor to our team,” said Gage. “We look forward to seeing him at camp and hope he can further his development at the AHL level.”

Matt Duffy was called up in March 2009 to the Rochester Americans when his season with the University of Maine was finished.  He scored a point in his first game with the Amerks and went on to play in nine total games putting up two goals and four assists.  Once the Amerks season was over he was sent to the Florida Everblades where he skated in two regular season games and three playoff games.

After a 4-2 win for the Amerks against the Binghamton Senators in April 2009 assistant coach Jason Cipolla said this about Duffy, “Duffy has good hockey sense which helps him.  His ability to adjust to the pro game has helped by his hockey sense so he’s able to make the jump probably quicker than [...]Read More

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Keaton Ellerby Ready to Join the Panthers

August 22, 2009 - By

The Florida Panthers saw the departure of Jay Bouwmeester this summer and in the wake of that they’re in need of help on defense, Keaton Ellerby is well aware that an opportunity awaits him in September.

I had the chance to talk to Ellerby this weekend and he stated, “They’ve told me that I have a good shot this year, just go in and have a good training camp and good preseason.”

Keaton Ellerby was drafted in the first round (10th overall) by the Florida Panthers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, something he shares in common with Bouwmeester – being a first round pick.  Bouwmeester was drafted in the first round (3rd overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

After he was drafted Ellerby had the chance to tryout but was cut from Team Canada at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.  That wasn’t something that had a negative impact.  I asked Ellerby if he ever thought from then until now he’d be considered a potential to make the Panthers roster he said,  “When i got drafted i knew i had the chance of making it somewhere down the line.  It was exciting, a good opportunity [...]Read More

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Veteran Mike York Signs With Amerks

August 21, 2009 - By

About 24 hours late in the news cycle, but in case you have not heard – The Rochester Americans signed veteran Mike York to a one year AHL deal on Wednesday adding another element to an already improved roster.  York was ranked 15th in the assists category in the AHL during the 08/09 season with a total of 47.  He also had 11 goals and lead the Syracuse Crunch team with a total of 58 points in 75 games.

“It’s a great day for Amerks Hockey,” said Amerks VP of Hockey Operations Ted Nolan. “To get a player of Mike’s caliber will help some of the younger guys develop their skills and help us win some hockey games.”

Crunch fans from last season seem to be divided about York.  Some think he was invisible for much of the year, others understand the role he played as the teams leader in points.  I’ll side with those who understood the role he played with the team.

Over his 10-year career, he has played in 579 NHL games with the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes and Columbus, compiling 127 goals, 195 assists and 135 penalty minutes.

[...]Read More

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Amerks vs Crunch Pre-Season Games

August 19, 2009 - By

In news that comes as no surprise at all, the Amerks two pre-season games will be against the Syracuse Crunch.  The teams aren’t even in the same division anymore so we can’t say division rivals.  Thruway rivals maybe?

The teams will play a home and home series with two games in three nights.  The first game will be Sunday September 27th at the ESL Centre in Henrietta at 6pm.  The second game will be Tuesday September 29th at the OnCenter in Syracuse at 7pm.

Supposedly a third road game could also be in the works.

General admission tickets for the game at ESL will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Florida Panthers end their pre-season games on September 23rd before they head to Finland to start the season overseas.  It will be interesting to see who they bring on the trip with them and who gets sent down early to get to training camp here in Rochester.  It’s expected that Keaton Ellerby, Jason Garrison, Michal Repik, and Shawn Matthias will be working hard to try and earn a full time roster spot.

To download/import the Amerks schedule click here for the steps.

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Download and Import Amerks Schedule into Calendar

5
August 19, 2009 - By

Here’s the Rochester Americans 2009/2010 schedule available for download that you can import into your Outlook, Google Calendar, or any other calendar app that supports a .csv file should work as well.

To download the file, right click on the link below and choose “Save Target As..” and save on your computer…

Google Calendar — “right click” here

Yahoo Calendar — “right click” here

If you’re a Blackberry addict like me you can easily import this into your BB Calendar as well.  If you sync already you know what to do, if not here’s a couple basic steps.  Follow the steps below to import into Outlook or Google..  If you use Microsoft Outlook you can also use Desktop Manager to synchronize your calendar.  If you use Google you can download Google Sync to import into your phone.

Microsoft Outlook

1. Select the “File / Import and Export” Menu option.

2. Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”.

3. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”.

4. Find the desired CSV file (0910_amerks_schedule.csv) and select “Do not import duplicate items” and click “Next”.

5. Select “Calendar” and click “Next”.

Google Calendar

1. Thanks to Chris [...]Read More

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Amerks Hire New VP of Sales and Marketing

August 16, 2009 - By

The Amerks and Knighthawks hired Kerry Atkinson as the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, a move that should have a positive impact on the overall game night experience.

Atkinson is a former employee of both the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills so he’ll be yet another known figure that should be able to help bring the Amerks back to top billing in the community.

One of the many reasons that Curt Styres hired Ted Nolan was because he’s a person that is well known in the hockey world.  Styres had said that if he called someone up to do business they would ask, “who is this?”  When Nolan mentions his name he already has someones attention.

I would imagine that in the business community Styres and Staats have had to start from the bottom introducing themselves.  Based on the resume of Atkinson it seems as if they’re bringing someone else on board to help them along.

This is not a big name free agent signing to help the team on the ice, but the franchise still needs a lot of help off the ice and this new addition to the Amerks staff seems to prove that Curt Styres [...]Read More

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Amerks 2009-2010 Schedule Released

August 13, 2009 - By

The day has finally arrived for the 2009/2010 American Hockey League schedule!  Time to start planning road trips.

If you’re looking for start times check here.

Here’s the full schedule:

2009/2010 October Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2009-10-03Lake Erie3atRochester2Final OT 2009-10-09Lake Erie2atRochester5Final 2009-10-10Rochester1atAlbany6Final 2009-10-12Syracuse1atRochester4Final 2009-10-16Toronto2atRochester5Final 2009-10-17Rochester4atToronto3Final OT 2009-10-21Binghamton2atRochester4Final 2009-10-23Rochester2atAlbany1Final 2009-10-24Rochester3atSyracuse2Final OT 2009-10-25Syracuse0atRochester3Final 2009-10-30Rochester4atBinghamton2Final 2009/2010 November Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2009-11-06Syracuse3atRochester4Final OT 2009-11-07Toronto1atRochester4Final 2009-11-10Hamilton1atRochester4Final 2009-11-12Rochester3atPortland (B)6Final 2009-11-14Rochester3atGrand Rapids1Final 2009-11-20Syracuse2atRochester5Final 2009-11-24Rochester5atHamilton2Final 2009-11-27W-B/S3atRochester4Final 2009-11-28Rochester0atBinghamton5Final 2009-11-29Rochester7atSyracuse4Final 2009/2010 December Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2009-12-01Rochester4atManitoba1Final 2009-12-02Rochester1atManitoba2Final 2009-12-05Rochester2atAbbotsford6Final 2009-12-06Rochester2atAbbotsford1Final 2009-12-11Abbotsford2atRochester1Final 2009-12-12Rochester2atHershey6Final 2009-12-15Syracuse3atRochester5Final 2009-12-18Hershey3atRochester1Final 2009-12-19Rochester4atHershey5Final 2009-12-20Hamilton5atRochester4Final OT 2009-12-22Rochester2atLake Erie6Final 2009-12-26Hamilton2atRochester4Final 2009-12-27Binghamton3atRochester5Final 2009-12-30Rochester1atHamilton4Final 2009-12-31Rochester1atLake Erie5Final 2009/2010 January Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2010-01-02Rochester3atW-B/Scranton5Final 2010-01-08Grand Rapids6atRochester3Final 2010-01-09Lake Erie3atRochester1Final 2010-01-10Binghamton1atRochester6Final 2010-01-15Rochester6atHamilton5Final SO 2010-01-16Rochester4atSyracuse3Final 2010-01-22Hamilton6atRochester1Final 2010-01-23W-B/Scranton3atRochester5Final 2010-01-24Adirondack1atRochester3Final 2010-01-29Albany4atRochester3Final 2010-01-30Rochester2atToronto0Final 2010-01-31Adirondack1atRochester2Final 2009/2010 February Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2010-02-03Rochester2atLake Erie3Final 2010-02-05Hamilton5atRochester2Final 2010-02-06Rochester5atBinghamton4Final 2010-02-10Rochester1atAdirondack3Final 2010-02-12Abbotsford3atRochester2Final 2010-02-13Lake Erie2atRochester3Final 2010-02-14Rochester2atBinghamton4Final 2010-02-16Manitoba6atRochester3Final 2010-02-19Manitoba4atRochester3Final 2010-02-20Portland4atRochester3Final 2010-02-21Portland2atRochester3Final SO 2010-02-26Grand Rapids3atRochester5Final 2010-02-27Rochester1atHamilton4Final 2010-02-28Binghamton3atRochester4Final OT 2009/2010 March Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2010-03-05Rochester5atAdirondack2Final 2010-03-06Rochester1atToronto0Final 2010-03-07Rochester3atPortland2Final 2010-03-12Albany4atRochester3Final 2010-03-13Rochester5atSyracuse3Final 2010-03-14Grand Rapids3atRochester2Final 2010-03-19Rochester2atBinghamton4Final 2010-03-20Rochester4atW-B/Scranton5Final 2010-03-24Rochester3atLake Erie1Final 2010-03-26Binghamton4atRochester3Final 2010-03-27Rochester7atToronto3Final 2010-03-28Toronto4atRochester3Final SO 2010-03-31RochesteratGrand Rapids 2009/2010 April Schedule and Results DateAwayHome 2010-04-02HersheyatRochester 2010-04-03RochesteratHamilton 2010-04-07RochesteratGrand Rapids 2010-04-09TorontoatRochester 2010-04-10RochesteratSyracuse

Here’s the early season break down of the schedule that I had posted.

There’s some interesting changes to this years schedule, all [...]Read More

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Amerks Jersey Ranked 2nd by The Hockey News

August 13, 2009 - By

The Hockey News ranked jerseys last year based on the teams logo, this year they decided to go by patches, striping, and piping to rank the jerseys.  I also need to mention colors as well.

The Amerks were ranked second for a “Classic crest with a clean look to it.”  I’m not quite sure how the Milwaukee Admirals got the top spot.  In a typically boring month for hockey news this is what we get.

Take the time to visit The Hockey News web site to vote for the Rochester Americans jersey as the best in the AHL – http://thehockeynews.com/pages/puck_poll.php

Two teams missing are the Texas Stars and Abbotsford Heat because the teams have not officially launched their jerseys.  To view what was actually said about each jersey click here – http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/27493-.html.

Here’s the straight rankings:

1. Milwaukee Admirals
2. Rochester Americans
3. San Antonio Rampage
4. Springfield Falcons
5. Manchester Monarchs
6. Worcester Sharks
7. Norfolk Admirals
8. Bridgeport Sound Tigers
9. Peoria Rivermen
10. Chicago Wolves
11. Manitoba Moose
12. Houston Aeros
13. Hershey Bears
14. Toronto Marlies
15. Grand Rapids Griffins
[...]Read More

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Amerks Summer News Stories, Getting Caught Up

August 12, 2009 - By

It has been a busy summer for the Rochester Americans with a lot of great news and a couple of stories that have generated some bad press.  Looking at the bigger picture it has been a positive summer.  Here’s the start of “round up” type posts I’ll be doing once the season gets started.  There’s always a lot of news but not always enough to make an individual post for.  They’re also a great way for people to get caught up that may not read this site or the news all that often.

Here’s what has happened so far this summer:

** Training camp for the Amerks has not even been announced yet but the doesn’t mean some Amerks aren’t back on the ice already.  The Rochester Americans Summer Hockey Camps are underway at ESL being led by Amerks assistant coach Jason Cipolla.  It’s great to see so many kids sporting the Amerks logo playing hockey, a sign that the season is close.

** Matt Duffy is still an unsigned draft pick of the Florida Panthers.  He was drafted in the fourth round and #104 overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.  When his season ended with the University of [...]Read More

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