Let's Go Amerks!

Another One Goal Loss, Pens Defeat Amerks in the Shootout

January 6, 2012 - By Keith Wozniak

The Amerks picked up a point again on the road against a tough Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team which is better than nothing. It came down to the skills competition where Eric Tangradi scored in the eighth round scoring top corner glove side on Drew MacIntyre for the win. These one goal losses and one point games could come back to haunt the Amerks in April. A week ago they were only one point back of the first place Marlies and after tonight their seven back from first in the division but tied for eighth in the conference.

The game started with both teams skating back and forth for the first 10:48 before the first whistle of the game and then they finished the first period in under a half hour. At 17:11 of the first period Marcus Foligno put the puck on goaltender Brad Thiessen who tried to go for the glove side but it went off the edge of his glove. The puck landed to the side of the net where Phil Varone was skating in and scored for his third of the season.

Jason Williams tied the game at 11:07 of the second period with a shot from the [...]Read More

Tags: Alex Grant ι Brad Thiessen ι Bryan Lerg ι Derek Whitmore ι Drew MacIntyre ι Eric Tangradi ι Geoff Walker ι Jason Williams ι Jonathan Parker ι Marcus Foligno ι Maxime Legault ι Nick Crawford ι Paul Szczechura ι Phil Varone ι Postgame ι Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PenguinsCategories: Amerks

Gameday: Maturing Amerks Hit the Road Again; Morrisonn and Tropp Return

January 6, 2012 - By Keith Wozniak

The Amerks hit the road again for the start of a busy almost second half of the season. They’ll be playing three games in three nights starting tonight against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and then Binghamton Senators and then closing out the weekend against the Hershey Bears on Sunday. The team will play every Friday and Saturday night until April 6th which is the second to last weekend of the season. This will also be one of five sets of three games in three nights to finish the season.

Last weekend the Amerks ended the year one point behind the Toronto Marlies for first place in the division and here we are a week later and the Amerks are now six points behind them and ninth place in the conference. It’s not October or November anymore, this is the time of season when points start to have a lot more meaning when it comes to the playoffs. There are 43 games remaining and there’s only four points separating the Amerks from where they are in ninth place to the Hamilton Bulldogs in 13th.

The Rochester Americans have been maturing as the season goes on which is great instead of a quick [...]Read More

Tags: Binghamton Senators ι Colin McDonald ι Corey Tropp ι David Leggio ι Drew MacIntyre ι Hershey Bears ι Injuries ι Matt MacKenzie ι Michael Ryan ι Ron Rolston ι Shaonne Morrisonn ι Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PenguinsCategories: Amerks

Brayden McNabb Picked for the AHL All-Star Game.. Why Whitmore Was Not

January 5, 2012 - By Keith Wozniak

It was somewhat surprising when the American Hockey League announced the playing roster for the AHL All-Star Game later this month in Atlantic City and Brayden McNabb was listed as representing the Amerks. That’s not meant to take anything away from McNabb. The obvious choice was Derek Whitmore but that was without looking at statistics around the league. McNabb has been playing with the Sabres since November 26th and is making a big case for himself to stay up there as long as possible.

Brayden McNabb played in the first 19 games of the season for the Amerks scoring one goal and putting nine assists on the scorecard. There’s a reason the rookie was called up to the Sabres and has stayed up there, he’s a good defenseman. Well, the other reason was that no one else was ready so he got the call and he proved himself. TJ Brennan was already called up and Joe Finley didn’t have an NHL deal at the time.

Will McNabb play in the game? If he’s back in Rochester by January 28th, yes he will. If he’s still with the Sabres he will not. Well, that’s my guess at least. It’s doubtful a [...]Read More

Tags: AHL All-Star Classic ι All-Star ι All-Star Game ι Brayden McNabbCategories: Amerks

Corey Tropp Sent Down; AHL Replay in Preliminary Stages

January 3, 2012 - By Keith Wozniak

The news from Monday was that the Buffalo Sabres sent Corey Tropp back to the Amerks now that he’s recovered from a concussion. Unless you’ve been following the Sabres you’ve probably forgotten about Tropp as an Amerks forward. He’s only played in 12 out of 33 games for the Amerks this season with 10 of those in October. In those 12 games Tropp scored four goals, had three assists and 19 penalty minutes. He also played a game in November and December. I was in Buffalo when Tropp scored his first NHL goal and you can read about that here. Tropp wears #14 with the Amerks (or at least did) and his return to the Amerks assumes that the Sabres will stay healthy.

Another bit of information came out yesterday from Bridgeport where it has been confirmed that The AHL is going to be testing out a replay system at four Bridgeport Sound Tigers games this season. This may come as a surprise for some who don’t follow the American Hockey League too closely. It’s one of the few professional leagues left in the world that has not had any type of replay system. The league has said that [...]Read More

Tags: AHL ι American Hockey League ι Bridgeport Sound Tigers ι Charlies Wang ι Corey Tropp ι NeuLionCategories: Amerks

A Few Random Postgame Thoughts, Another One Goal Loss for the Amerks

December 31, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

The story of the night once the game started was the enormous crowd that showed up to see the Rochester Americans tonight. The line to get tickets at the box office and will call nearly filled the lobby well past the start of the game. The attendance announced was 9,7771 which is the largest crowd I’ve ever seen in that building since I started going to games in 2006. A crowd of 10,136 was announced on January 12, 2007 but no one I’ve talked to ever remembers that large of a crowd that season. That was the end of an era of padded numbers with tickets printed, not actual attendance which is reported now. Anyways… hopefully everyone was entertained and comes back again!

I don’t have the time to do a typical post game report so here’s a few random thoughts:

** This was the Amerks 11th loss by one goal. Include a game where an empty netter was scored and it’s really their 12th. There’s probably a few ways you can look at a stat like that. Is it due to goaltending letting in one too many soft goals? Typically the case. Is it due to the lack of [...]Read More

Tags: PostgameCategories: Amerks

Gameday Notes: Amerks vs Bulldogs; Big Crowd Expected

December 30, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

The Amerks have a chance to take first back first place in the North Division with a win tonight over the Hamilton Bulldogs, a team they’ve had difficulty beating so far in six games this season. The Bulldogs have 12 wins this season and five of those have been against the Rochester Americans. Both teams are playing improved hockey lately so it should be a competitive game starting at 7:35 at the War Memorial.

Rochester is on a four game winning streak having just defeated the Oklahoma City Barons in a shootout and overtime. They handed the Lake Erie Monsters a 4-1 loss last Wednesday and almost two weeks ago defeated the Houston Aeros on the road. The winning streak has the Amerks within one point of first place in the North Division and thanks to a Toronto Marlies loss on Thursday they have a chance to move up. They’re a young team finding ways to win through injuries, call ups and overall simply working as a team.

Hamilton on the other hand has won six of their last 10 games and picked up points in eight of those games. On Monday the Toronto Marlies were winning 3-0 at the [...]Read More

Tags: David Leggio ι Derek Whitmore ι Drew MacIntyre ι Evan Rankin ι Gameday ι Hamilton Bulldogs ι Injuries ι Jacob Lagace ι Marcus Foligno ι Matt MacKenzie ι Michael Ryan ι Paul Szczechura ι Phil Varone ι Shaone Morrisonn ι TJ BrennanCategories: Amerks

Guest Spot on the Power Play Post Show; Article About the Marlies

December 30, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

I’ve mentioned the Power Play Post show before but not as often as I should since as far as I know it’s the only in depth radio show/podcast in the world with in depth discussion of the American Hockey League. The show is based out of Binghamton but is focused on the entire league, not discussion about Binghamton first and then everyone else. The show typically starts with the hosts Bob Howard and Jason Wilcox discussing what has happened over the previous week followed by Bob interviewing a few guests. For the 11th episode of their 8th season I was a guest on the air to talk about the Amerks along with forward Ryan Keller of the Oklahoma City Barons and Mike Kelley who is the play by play broadcaster for the Springfield Falcons.

If you’d like to take a listen head on over to http://pppshow.net to download or stream the recent episode! I’m more of a writer than talker (at least I think I am – I never listen to myself) so if you listen let me know how I did even if I was horrible. I can’t be too bad if Bob keeps having me back as a guest.

[...]Read More

Tags: Brian Burke ι Power Play Post Show ι Toronto Maple Leafs ι Toronto MarliesCategories: Amerks

Taylor Chorney Hit on Amerks Evan Rankin

December 29, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

During the December 27th game between the Rochester Americans and Oklahoma City Barons the hit in the video below took Evan Rankin out of the game and he did not return. He had to be helped to the ice by the trainer and missed the game the next night on December 28th. I may be biased but it sure looks like Chomey skates at him and raises his shoulder as he goes in for the hit. There was no penalty called on the play.

Rankin has been the a key player on the ice for the Amerks since joining them on November 25th when he was signed to a professional tryout. In 13 games with the team he has seven goals and five assists which includes two games with two goals. The 25 game PTO will run out at the end of January and assuming he’s not out for long it should be a guarantee he’ll land an AHL contract to stay here the rest of the season. The only other player with seven goals in that same time frame is Derek Whitmore.

Here’s the video:

Tags: Evan Rankin ι Injuries ι Oklahoma City Barons ι Taylor Chorney ι VideosCategories: Amerks

Amerks Shootout Win Extends Streak to Four Games; Adversity is No Problem

December 29, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

(Update: Added shootout video and Travis Turnbull incident) This Rochester Americans team is supposed to lack goal scoring. It’s supposed to be missing a couple of players as veteran leadership. It’s supposed to lack depth. It’s also supposed to be torn apart by all of the injuries and call ups but the players put everything out on the ice and won in a shootout against the top team in the league. They were down 2-1 and 3-2 during the game but came back each time and didn’t slow down at all. With the four game winning streak in hand the Amerks have climbed back to within one point of the North Division leading Toronto Marlies. The players are certainly giving reasons to believe that the glass is half full and filling up.

(Picture by Steven Christy from http://okcbarons.com/)

Paul Szczechura, Shaone Morrisonn and Evan Rankin were all out of the lineup with injuries but watching the game it was hard to tell. Sure, the team failed to score on five power play chances which is where a Szczechura or Rankin could have helped but when you can score at even strength it’s not as bad.

We’ve shared concerns about this [...]Read More

Tags: Alex Biega ι Dan Ringwald ι David Leggio ι Derek Whitmore ι Drew Schiestel ι Jacob Lagace ι Jonathan Parker ι Magnus Paajarvi ι Marcus Foligno ι Mark Voakes ι Oklahoma City Barons ι Phil Varone ι Postgame ι Ryan Keller ι TJ Brennan ι Travis Turnbull ι Videos ι Yann DanisCategories: Amerks

Amerks Extend Win Streak to Three; Rankin Down; Back at it Tonight

December 28, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

The Amerks travelled to to play a two game set against the Oklahoma City Barons and they came out on top of the first game with a 4-3 win in overtime. The team was up 2-1 before the Barons scored two goals in 56 seconds and then Paul Szczechura scored halfway through the third to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime. Watching the game online they had some struggles but didn’t back down from the top team in the league and came out victorious with an overtime goal scored by Drew Schiestel.

This was the third straight win for the Amerks and just like that they’re within three points of the North Division leading Toronto Marlies. They’re still eighth in the Western Conference but can quickly jump to third by taking over the top spot in the division. Assuming the team keeps playing hard every night, players can stay healthy and there’s few call ups anything is possible.. as everyone says, it’s a long season and it’s still only December.

Back to the game….. Paul Szczechura (aka Chewy.. aka Sahara if you listen to Rick Jeanneret) fresh off a recall to the Buffalo Sabres scored the first goal [...]Read More

Tags: Alex Biega ι Corey Fienhage ι Derek Whitmore ι Drew MacIntyre ι Drew Schiestel ι Evan Rankin ι Gameday ι Injuries ι Oklahoma City Barons ι Paul Szczechura ι Phil Varone ι Philippe Cornet ι Postgame ι Ryan O'Marra ι Triston Grant ι Yann DanisCategories: Amerks

Sabres Return a Healthy Whitmore

December 26, 2011 - By Keith Wozniak

The Sabres sent Derek Whitmore back to the Amerks today after his short two game promotion, surprisingly they didn’t harm him in any way while he was called up.. Whitmore didn’t put any points on the scoreboard but his hustle, scoring chances and hard work should earn him another call up this season if the need comes up and it likely will. The Sabres signed Whitmore out of Bowling Green State University and as a college student not drafted many questioned if he’d have what it takes to play in the NHL and he finally got the chance to prove that he could. It only took 272 games in the American Hockey League to get to this point but he was finally able to fulfill his dream of playing in the NHL.

Derek Whitmore is currently the Amerks leading scorer with 13 goals and seven assists in 29 games.

The Amerks are off to Oklahoma City to play two games against the Barons on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Tags: Derek Whitmore ι TransactionsCategories: Amerks

« Previous 1 … 6 7 8 9 10 … 107 Next »