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Posts tagged 'Hershey Bears'

Posts Tagged ‘Hershey Bears’

Amerks Comeback Takes the Bears to the Shootout; Successful Weekend

January 9, 2012 - By
Amerks Comeback Takes the Bears to the Shootout; Successful Weekend

The Amerks loss to the Hershey Bears can be looked at a few ways but the best way to look at it is that this team has a lot of heart, character and a never say die attitude that’s awesome to watch.  After two periods the Bears were winning the game and had a 36-9 advantage in shots, they had a 15-3 advantage after the first period.  The game appeared to be a game of kids amongst men but it was still only 2-0 after 40 minutes with plenty of time for the Amerks to make it a game.  They did just that 15 seconds into the third period and then tied it up with 61 seconds left on the scoreboard to send the game into overtime and the eventual shootout.

(photo courtesy of Sweetest Hockey on Earth, a Hershey Bears site similar to this one)

It was a successful weekend for the Amerks picking up four out of a possible six points in the standings.  They lost in the shootout on Friday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and defeated the Binghamton Senators on Saturday.  I’ve often said not so nice things about the quality of video that you get [...]Read More

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

January 6, 2012 - By
Gameday: Maturing Amerks Hit the Road Again; Morrisonn and Tropp Return

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

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Big Joe Finley, Strong on Defense, Can Also Throw Lawn Mowers and Attack Mascots

November 29, 2011 - By
Big Joe Finley, Strong on Defense, Can Also Throw Lawn Mowers and Attack Mascots

The big news out of the Buffalo Sabres on Monday is that they have signed defenseman Joe Finley to a three year two way contract making an NHL salary of $525,000.  He came to training camp on a tryout and has now signed a National Hockey League contract with the Buffalo Sabres.  A pretty good story for a guy determined to prove he still has a career ahead of him.

Finley was drafted 27th overall in the first round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.  If you were to just look at his stats you might think he’s a first round bust but he’s far from that.  Two other former Amerks were drafted in the first round of the 2005 draft, Marek Zagrapan by the Buffalo Sabres and Kenndal McArdle by the Florida Panthers.

At 6’8″ tall Finley plays a strong defensive game, is very dependable, rarely gets caught out of position and is successful at keeping the front of the net cleared.  Because of his size he has a very long reach and on top of that is one of the best skaters on the team.  He’s a shut down defenseman whose game has excelled since being paired with Shaone [...]Read More

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Other Blogs Covering AHL Teams

October 15, 2011 - By
Other Blogs Covering AHL Teams

Without anything Rochester Americans related to write about this morning I thought I’d take a minute to share some links to other blogs out in cyberspace covering AHL teams, much like I cover the Amerks here.

We’re all unique in how we cover our teams but all hold one thing in common, being passionate about the teams that we cheer on.  There are independent sites, not associated with any major news papers / media outlets.  I’ll work on a separate list of blogs written by those places.

Here’s what I have in my reading list, if there’s others out there please share!

(in no particular order – if anyone feels like copying and pasting this list for their site go right ahead, just don’t forget to add mine!)

Power Play Post Show (Podcast discussing all AHL teams)
http://www.pppshow.net/

Wrap Around (Binghamton Senators)
http://bobppps.wordpress.com/

Admirals Roundtable (Milwaukee Admirals)
http://admiralsroundtable.com/

Chairman How’s Glorious Army (Syracuse Crunch)
http://chairmanhowsgloriousarmy.com/

Chasing Checkers (Charlotte Checkers)
http://chasingcheckers.com/

Chirps From Center Ice (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
http://nafsnep.wordpress.com/

Hershey Bears Hockey (Hershey Bears)
http://hersheybearshockey.blogspot.com/

Sweetest Hockey on Earth (Hershey Bears)
http://www.sweetesthockeyonearth.com/

Hundred Degree Hockey (Texas Stars)
[...]Read More

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The Hockey News Ranks Amerks to be 4th in the West

October 6, 2011 - By
The Hockey News Ranks Amerks to be 4th in the West

The Hockey News has published it’s preview of the American Hockey League’s 2011/2012 season and the Rochester Americans are ranked 4th in the West and based on those predictions would win the North Division.  The rankings were put together by the D&C’s Kevin Oklobzija.

Thanks to Admirals Roundtable for the rankings.  Looking back at the 2010/2011 rankings Ryan from Admirals Roundtable wrote this:

- The Calder Cup finalists were ranked 16th and 27th overall.
- The division winners were ranked 19th, 3rd, 14th, and 18th.
- Four of their top 10 didn’t make the playoffs (Chicago, Worcester, San Antonio, Grand Rapids)

It’s that time of year where everyone makes predictions just because it’s the thing to do.  Everyone knows (or should know) that a season can change in a matter of weeks due to injuries, call ups, trades and even a group of players not living up to their expectations.

Here’s the rankings:

East (first to last): Hershey Bears, W-B/Scranton Penguins, Portland Pirates, Springfield Falcons, Manchester Monarchs, Syracuse Crunch, Worcester Sharks, Connecticut Whale, Binghamton Senators, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, St John’s Icecaps, Albany Devils, Norfolk Admirals, Providence Bruins, Adirondack Phantoms

West (first to last): Charlotte Checkers, Peoria Rivermen, Chicago Wolves, [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Amerks

Third NHL Camp for Joe Finley, Third Times a Charm

September 23, 2011 - By
Third NHL Camp for Joe Finley, Third Times a Charm

When the @BillHoppeSabres sent out a tweet saying that Joe Finley was being invited to the Buffalo Sabres camp it did not seem to create that much news and that’s because not many camp invites ever amount to all that much.  Now that Finley’s had some time at camp he’s being noticed and it’s not likely he’ll crack the Sabres lineup but there’s some room in the Rochester Americans lineup.

So, why hasn’t this former first round pick cracked an NHL lineup yet?  A combination of untimely injuries and a lot of depth in the Washington Capitals organization when he played for the Hershey Bears.  The same thing could happen here, he’ll have to prove extremely valuable to take ice time away from a Sabres draft pick.

He’s big, he can play different positions and he can skate.. a player to watch.

The article below talks about him at the Sabres training camp, here’s an article as well from last season as he started with the Hershey Bears.

From The Buffalo News (link below):

Finley isn’t shy about physical play and fighting; his stats certainly bear that out.

“But that can’t be your main focus,” he said. “You have to go out and make [...]Read More

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The American Dream The Drive for Five 1987 Calder Cup Video

August 11, 2011 - By
The American Dream The Drive for Five 1987 Calder Cup Video

There really aren’t enough words that could describe this video from WHEC highlighting the Rochester Americans 1986/1987 Calder Cup Championship season, you need to just watch it.  Working on getting more classics like this online to share.  There’s so many classic Amerks videos out there that have never been seen by most of us “newer” fans.

Don Lever, John van Boxmeer, Jody Gage, Gates Orlando, Benoit Hogue, Daren Puppa, Ray Sheppard, Darcy Wakaluk and so many more names that will bring back memories. You can see the full roster here on hockeydb.com.

Great quote in the video, “It is not necesarily the team with the best talent that wins championships. Desire often dictates the difference between success and failure. The 1986 1987 Amerks drive to a 5th Calder Cup was built around the kind of character and leadership that comes from desire.”

Great bit of info that led to winning the division championship:

In the 1986–87 season the John VanBoxmeer-coached team won the division championship on the last game of the season against the Binghamton Whalers. The Amerks were one point behind the Whalers and playing in Binghamton. After goalie Darcy Walkaluk paced the team to a tie [...]Read More

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Amerks Schedule, Affiliations and Conference Layouts

June 2, 2010 - By

The NHL and AHL seasons have not ended yet but that doesn’t mean we can start looking towards the Rochester Americans 2010/2011 season that will start in just over four months.  It’ll be here before we know it.

I’ll get right into the news that Lewis Staats shared with me on Wednesday…

Schedule

* The American Hockey League will open their 75th season the weekend of October 8-10th.  The final details of the opening weekend are being worked out and could be announced as early as the end of this week.  Because it’s the 75th season the hope is to have the Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears, two of the leagues oldest franchises, to play a home and home series.  Both sides are trying to work out arena conflicts to make this happen.

Hopefully the Amerks home opener is not October 8th, the same night as the Roger Waters concert in Buffalo (I say that only because I have tickets).

* The Amerks only had to get on a plane once during the 09/10 season but will likely be taking two plane trips this upcoming season.  A trip out West to play the Moose and Heat for one trip and [...]Read More

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Calder Cup Finals are Set, Hershey vs Texas

May 26, 2010 - By

At the start of the season it was easy to predict that the Hershey Bears would be in the Calder Cup finals, predicting the Texas Stars would be there opponent would not have been a prediction.  The Stars defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs in game 7 to advance to the finals.  All eyes are on the Stanley Cup finals at this point, but this should be a decent series for the Calder Cup.

Here’s the NHL.com recap of the Stars win:

The first-year Texas Stars rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2 on Wednesday night to win Game 7 of the AHL Western Conference Finals and a berth in the Calder Cup Finals.

The Austin-based Stars won Games 6 and 7 in Hamilton to earn the opportunity to face the defending AHL champion Hershey Bears, the top farm team of the Washington Capitals, beginning on June 3 at Hershey.

The Stars become the first team since the Chicago Wolves and Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2002 to reach the Calder Cup Finals in their first AHL season. In doing so, Texas won a pair of Game 7s on the road – just the fifth time in AHL [...]Read More

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Gameday: Bears Going for History and Amerks Injuries, Additions, Releases

April 2, 2010 - By

The Amerks have a chance to be a part of history again this season as the Hershey Bears go for the AHL record for most wins in a season.  The Bears are currently tied with the previous record holder the Binghamton Senators who set the record at 57 wins during the 1992-1993 season.  Rochester has been horrible on Friday nights al season so if there was ever a night to break out of that cycle it’d be tonight.

A win would not only be exciting but a huge boost of morale to the team heading into the last few games and the playoffs.  The Bears are at this point considered the favorites to win the Calder Cup yet again.  Anything can happen though, here’s hoping an upset occurs tonight!

Tyler Plante has been the go to goalie for the Amerks in recent weeks and there’s no reason he would not get the start tonight.  In 7 starts in March he was 5-1-1 with a 1.88 GAA and .942 save percentage.  The only way to stop the Bears from scoring 1.88 GAA and .942 save percentage.  The only way to stop the Bears from scoring though would be to put a [...]Read More

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Late Comeback Not Enough, Bears Win 5-4

December 20, 2009 - By

The one positive out of Saturday nights game on the road against the Hershey Bears is that it was a better game than the previous two.  Evgeny Dadonov, Chris Taylor, Jamie Johnson, and Daniel Steiner all had two point games.  In the end the Bears were able to take advantage of a weak defense and scored a few easy goals.

There was no scoring in the first period and it was a pretty even period with the Amerks having more scoring chances.

Jimmy Bonneau and Grant McNeill dropped the gloves at 2:57 of the third period and put on a good fight.  Both players got a few good punches in.  I’d give the edge to Bonneau since a couple of his punchs appeared to buckle McNeills knees.

For the second game in a row the Amerks followed up a fight with a goal.  Evgeny Dadonov scored his fourth goal of the season at 3:26 of the second picking a top corner off a great pass by Chris Taylor from the high slot.

It only took Bears Captain Bryan Helmer a measly 38 seconds to score unassisted and tie the game 1-1.  Oskar Osala followed up nine [...]Read More

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Steve MacIntyre vs Grant McNeill Fight Video

December 18, 2009 - By

Steve MacIntyre vs Crunch 11-20-2009Steve MacIntyre dropped the gloves with Grant McNeill of the Hershey Bears on Friday night and the footage is below.  MacIntyre gets the obvious decision with a couple of good punches.  The winning fight for MacIntyre appeared to spark something in the team since they were able to score a goal a few minutes later.  It turned out to be the only goal of the game.

MacIntyre did not return after the fight because he was not feeling well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16AhyBXET8

You can check out all of the videos I have uploaded at http://youtube.com/letsgoamerks.  If you’ve taken some video at a game please send me a link so I can share it!

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