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Posts tagged 'Jeff Taffe' (Page 6)

Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Taffe’

Amerks Release Bonneau; Limited Roster Spots

October 8, 2009 - By

The Amerks announced on Wednesday that they released forward Jimmy Bonneau from his PTO contract after only one regular season game.  It’s probably safe to assume that management was unhappy with his performance during the home opener against the Lake Erie Monsters.

There were a number of players who did not perform well during that game but Bonneau must not have been the “enforcer” the team was looking for.

The surprising part about Bonneau being released is that the team had started training camp with three experienced enforcers and now they’re down to none.

I could be the jinx in this situation.  I wrote an article about Mike Sgroi, he was released.  Last week I was about to post one about Trevor Gillies and then he signed with Bridgeport.  This week I was going to post something about Bonneau and now he’s gone.

Ted Nolan had talked over the summer about creating a “safe working environment,” but as of right now it seems far from it.  I put in a call to Ted Nolan to get more information about why and what they’re looking for but as of writing this have not received a call back.  [...]Read More

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Amerks Lose Home Opener in Overtime

October 4, 2009 - By

The Rochester Americans home opener on Saturday night was supposed to have ended with a win and made headlines on the 11 o’clock news casts.  It didn’t really end that way.. but it wasn’t a bad game.

A few changes at the arena for the new season were positives.  The new team store had some new merchandise, the party deck appeared to get busier as the night went on, and the between play entrainment seemed to be a little better.

The food that SMG provides still sucks.

The new opening video featured Jody Gage and Ted Nolan talking about what it means to be a Rochester American.  A lot of great words spoken by two great guys.  I recorded it from my seats, turn up the volume.

If you’re reading this from a feed click here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUDjatI9FI

Back to the game.. after watching tonight’s game it’s easy to notice that the team is still missing a few key players and is playing with a few players that shouldn’t be playing at this level.

It was also obvious in the seats that a few key fans are missing as well.  The attendance on the game sheet lists 4,124.  [...]Read More

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Jeff Taffe, Preseason Game #3 vs Crunch, End of Camp

September 29, 2009 - By

The Amerks wrapped up training camp this morning at the always freezing cold ESL Centre in Henrietta.  The team will also finish there preseason with a game tonight in Syracuse against the Crunch at the On Center.  The puck drops just after 7pm and I’ll be there.  Tickets are $5, no idea if they’ll charge more at the door.

The Florida Panthers today placed Jeff Taffe on waivers.  There’s very little chance he’ll be claimed off of waivers based on his current contract.  He’s signed to a two way deal this season and a one way NHL deal in 2010/2011.  I doubt an NHL team see’s that much value in him, or at least we can hope.  I’ll try to find out tonight if there’s any chance he’ll fly back on his own to join the Amerks.

Tonight’s game is an opportunity for the first two lines to try and continue building some chemistry on the ice.  It’s also a game for a few players to get a last look by the team prior to either being released or offered deals to go play with the Everblades.

The line of Dadonov, Taylor, and Mink looks to be our top line [...]Read More

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Amerks Lose Second Preseason Game

September 28, 2009 - By

Brent Regner, Dan LaCosta, and Jamie Johnson

Something familiar happened on Sunday evening, the Amerks lost to the Crunch.  The final score was 4-1, the fourth goal was on an empty net.

If you showed up to the game expecting to see some finesse hockey you would have been let down.  The games going on in the other rinks were probably smoother than this one.

The game was sloppy, was all over the place, had little chemistry, and also had some guys trying to show themselves off more than trying to work together as a team.

We just need to remember, it’s only the preseason.  These players have only skated together a couple of times with there first real practice together Sunday morning for a short gameday skate.

After the game head coach Benoit Groulx said, “To me it’s an exhibition game.  We have alot of things that we need to put together and we’ll keep working at it.”

“Tonight we’re missing so many guys still with the Panthers like Repik, Duco, and Taffe.  Tonight we tried something and obviously it’s too early to get an idea,” is how Benoit Groulx replied to a question [...]Read More

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Amerks Training Camp Roster Here

September 23, 2009 - By

2008 ESL Practice

Here’s a quick list of the players that will be with the Amerks during training camp.  Many of them were just cut by the Panthers on Wednesday so no idea if they’ll be here on Thursday.

The players still with the Panthers are Mike Duco, Jeff Taffe, Alexander Salak, Michal Repik, and Shawn Matthias.  Chances are Matthias and Repik will be sticking with the Panthers.

The List (typed up quick, will post more later):

Forwards

Under Contract: Chris Taylor, David Brine, Brady Calla, Evgeny Dadonov, James DeLory, Jamie Johnson, Kenndal McArdle, Graham Mink, Victor Oreskovich, Andrew Sweetland, Mike York, and Dan Collins

Invites: Scott Bartlett, Jimmy Bonneau, Benjamin Breault, Trevor Gillies, Stephane Goulet, Tom Harrison, Lee Jubinville, Tyrel Lucas, Josh McQuade, Jordan Morrison, Nathan O’Nabigon, Les Reaney, Mathieu Roy and Mike Sgroi

Defense

Under Contract: Rory Fitzpatrick, Michael Caruso, Keaton Ellerby, Peter Aston, Luke Beaverson, Matt Duffy, Clay Wilson, Jordan Henry

Invites: Travis Gawryletz, Cleve Kinley, Jon Landry, Dwayne Zinger

Goalies

Under Contract: Tyler Plante, Chris Beckford-Tseu

Invites: Daryl Borden and Ryan Mior

Under Contract:

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 Categories: Amerks

Amerks Training Camp Roster and Other Notes

September 23, 2009 - By

The 2009/2010 season for the Rochester Americans is finally upon us.  It seems as if everyone from youth hockey all the way up to the NHL has started except for the Amerks.  The Amerks will open training camp on Thursday morning from 10am – Noon at the ESL Centre.

The camp roster is supposed to be released at some point during the day on Wednesday September 23rd.  I’ll have it posted here later in the evening.  If you don’t want to wait you can obviously keep an eye on Amerks.com all day for the roster.  If you’re on Twitter you can follow @letsgoamerks and you’ll be notified when it’s available.

Some players that are expected to be at camp outside of the already signed players include: Ross Carlson, Mike Sgroi, Trevor Gillies, Cleve Kinley, and Lee Jubinville (more info below).

In case you missed the exciting summer of news you can get a recap here, “Amerks Summer News Stories, Getting Caught Up.”

The Florida Panthers are expected to make their roster cuts on Wednesday or Thursday as they return to Florida after a lengthy travel schedule for the preseason.  The Panthers are heading [...]Read More

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Florida Panthers Article: Optimism In Rochester

September 16, 2009 - By

The article below appeared on the Florida Panthers site this past Sunday about the optimism surrounding the upcoming Rochester Americans season, something that has been missing in recent years.

One thing that’s exciting is the interest in the Amerks that a lot of Panther fans have taken.  These fans view the Rochester Americans as the Rochester Americans, not just the prospects of the Florida Panthers.  They recognize the history of this team and seem to understand the importance of the Amerks winning and how that can positively impact the big club.  These are the same thoughts that have been shared by Florida management as well.

With the Amerks front office getting back to making the Amerks relevant in Rochester again and the teams NHL parent recognizing the same thing it really does give a sense of optimism.

To bring ourselves back down to earth for a moment, I do agree with those that are saying it all sounds great in writing but we won’t know anything until the roster is assembled for opening night and the puck drops.

Training camp opens in nine days, maybe there will be more than 10 of us there to watch?

[...]Read More

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A few Panthers/Amerks Related Stories

September 1, 2009 - By

The Florida Panthers open training camp in less than two weeks (Sept 12th) and most of the players are set to return to Florida next week (Sept 6th) so it’s time to share a few Panthers related stories (courtesy of The Litter Box) and how they relate to the Amerks.  The Litter Box is an excellent site that is part of the growing SB Nation, an excellent network of sports blogs.  Keep that site bookmarked if you want to stay up to date on the Panthers.

*** Panthers plan season without GM — This probably explains the lack of activity by the Panthers this summer.  On the flipside this summer has felt like a dream come true for Amerks fans compared to the previous few years.  The owner has been busy spending money signing players building a team that should be a contender, at least on paper.  One concern has been that the Panthers could call up some of these players should they need help, such as Jeff Taffe.

*** Panthers Roster — speaking of Taffe, the Panthers web site was updated with the teams roster to also include numbers and on that roster is Jeff [...]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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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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