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Ullmark is Playing for the Cup; CJ Smith Ends his Slump

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After a great weekend in Charlotte the Amerks returned home to practice for road games ahead vs Toronto and Belleville before the All-Star break. They had won 4-1 and then were down 4-1 and scored three goals before losing in overtime.

Seth Griffith talked about the win on Saturday saying, “We came out hot. We had two big goals from Cornel and Malone so for them to get us out to a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes of the game was huge and it was smooth sailing there on out. We didn’t give them a whole lot and we had a lot of chances. I felt like with the opportunities we had we could’ve got a few more than four.”

****

Linus Ullmark is always great for his positive attitude, outlook on life and moving forward. He’s also looking towards spring hockey for the first time in North America.

He’s played in 30 games for the Amerks this season and is tied for second in the AHL with 17 wins. He’ll also be headed to the AHL All-Star Game in Utica this coming weekend.

With those stats he’s still asked about his one game with the Sabres and gives a simple reply, “A game is a game and a win is a win so it’s always nice to have that in the back seat but I’m just trying to prepare for the next practice and next game.”

As the wins start adding up he still knows how important it is to have unwind and keep life balanced.

“I think it’s important for everybody doesn’t matter what you do, if you’re a pro hockey player or if you work in a bakery or something like that. You have to have a safe zone or whatever when you can come home and relax and do whatever you want to do. For me, there’s 76 games in a season and then there’s post season so there’s a lot of hockey games. If you only focus about hockey it’s going to bring you down quite fast. For me I like to go back to my wife, relax, whatever is in store for that day and come back tomorrow.”

Mr and Mrs Ullmark have March 20th circled on their calendar as the due date for their first child. Talking about that Linus had the new dad smile on his face with the excitement of what’s to come and he also joked about how he’ll need to be well rested.

He’s played in the NHL, he’s an AHL All-Star, he’s leading the Amerks so what else does he have to accomplish? A playoff run.

“You play for the cup, you play for nothing else. You don’t play for 76 games in the regular season and then go home. You can’t be satisfied with that. Playing on the senior level like this, I haven’t been able to go on a long run yet. I really want to go there, I just want to have the first taste of playoff hockey in North America and I think it’s going to be awesome. It’s completely different playing a playoff hockey game than regular season hockey game.”

****

CJ Smith went through his first slump as a pro at the end of December going seven games without a point. In the last eight games he’s had 4G+3A.

He talked about it saying, “I had that dip but fought my way back through it and got back to my game and have been better over the last three or four games.”

“My time and space got taken away even more and it was something I had to learn to fight through. I was just trying to be consistent with everything I was doing and I found a way to battle through it.”

When asked if he prefers goals or assists he smiled and said, “They both feel pretty good either way. I like being on the ice for a goal and I like helping the team win so whatever I can do to help the team win brings a good feeling.”

****

Quick roster notes:

Defenseman Matt Tennyson was called up to the Sabres due to an injury to Nathan Beaulieu on Monday night. Beaulieu was hit early in the game on Monday and left with an apparent concussion and has since been placed on injured reserve.

Brendan Guhle was missing from Amerks practice on Tuesday morning. No update on his absence. He had left practice early last Tuesday and missed a game on Sunday in Charlotte.

With two defenseman out of the lineup the Amerks have called up Arvin Atwal from the Cincinnati Cyclones.

No new updates on MacWilliam (week to week / upper body), Blackwell (week to week / upper body) or Goers (indefinite).

The post Ullmark is Playing for the Cup; CJ Smith Ends his Slump appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.


Gameday vs Marlies Notes and Quotes

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The long stretch away from home ice advantage is finally over and the Amerks are back in Rochester to play against the first place Toronto Marlies for Hometown Heroes night.

So far this season the Marlies are 2-1 against the Amerks.

Rochester 0 @ Toronto 2 (Jan 26 2018) Final
Rochester 2 @ Toronto 0 (Dec 29 2017) Final
Toronto 3 @ Rochester 2 (Dec 15 2017) Final

The games are close. The game last week was 1-0 until the Marlies scored an empty goal with 30 seconds left.

“It’s a big two points especially here at home. We always talk having a good start so we really need to focus on that,” CJ Smith said after practice.

Chris Taylor said this game is a big deal. “We’ve been chasing Toronto all year and they’re one of our biggest rivals right now and second for me is the first responders. What they do is tremendous for the community. Third is obviously Brian getting ready for the Olympics.”

“We didn’t do a very good job in the neutral zone the last game in Toronto. We allowed them to come up with speed. They had a lot of shots from the outside,” Chris Taylor said talking about the Marlies. “For us, we have to liit their speed coming up and we didn’t do a very good job of that the last game. We did out chance them. We have to get the second, third opportunities. We had some first good opportunities.”

Unless you’ve been unplugged from the internet for the last week you’ll know the big story line tonight is Brian Gionta suiting up for the Amerks for the first time in his professional career. He’s using this as a one game tune up before heading to the Olympics in South Korea.

“They have a great team, obviously being in first place and us chasing them it’s a big game,” Brian Gionta said talking about the Marlies. “Head to head those points are huge.”

As he was talking it was natural for him to say “us chasing them.” Tonight will be his first game but he’s a part of this team as much as anyone else the locker room.

I asked him about saying “us” and he replied with, “The guys have been great, they’ve accepted me as part of the group and this is just one more step along the way and it’s fun to be part of it with them. They’ve been great with the process. I’ll go out there and battle with the guys tonight.”

Based on practices we can expect to see Gionta skating on a line along with Kevin Porter and Sahir Gill.

“It’s weird seeing his name up on the board on the lineup today but it’ll be pretty exciting,” CJ Smith said talking about Gionta. “He brings leadership, positive attitude and experience. He brings honestly, the guy is well rounded.”

****

Devante Stephens and Arvin Atwal were called up from Cincinnati this week and will be in the lineup paired up together. Nathan Paetsch and Conor Allen appear to be the scratches on defense. Looks like Dalton Smith will be the forward sitting out tonight.

Linus Ullmark wasn’t on the ice for the gameday skate but was in the building. Taylor said with a smile when I tried to ask about Ullmark, “We’ll have to wait and see, I don’t want them to know.”

Could be Wilcox, could be Ullmark. We’ll have to wait until shortly after 6:30pm tonight to find out. Either way, this team plays with confidence in front of both goalies.

Injured list has Brendan Guhle, Andrew MacWilliam, Colin Blackwell, Garret Ross and Barry Goers. [ Injury Updates ]

****

In case you missed it, Linus Ullmark and CJ Smith had great performances at the 2018 AHL All-Star game helping lead the North Division to the win. CJ Smith skated away with the 2018 MVP honors with 3G+2A in the round robin three on three tournament.

Ullmark, Smith hope to be on cusp of joining Sabres – [ Read more on NHL.com ]

CJ Smith grateful for All-Star Opportunity – [ Read more on Amerks.com ]

CJ Smith’s MVP status not surprise for Baptiste – [ Read more on The Buffalo News ]

****

A crowd of over 7,000 pushing 10,000 is expected tonight so if you’re coming to the game buy tickets ahead of time to avoid long walk up lines. On busy nights there’s often a long line of cars to get into the Civic Center garage as well so if that’s your parking preference plan ahead!

The post Gameday vs Marlies Notes and Quotes appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.

Amerks are Full of Opportunity; CJ Smith Injury

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The weekend didn’t go as well as the Rochester Americans wanted on the ice and the week started off with more bad news, leading scorer CJ Smith is out 3-4 weeks with a lower body injury.

Colin Blackwell talked about the CJ Smith injury news saying, “He does it all. Power play, kills penalties. Great teammate, great guy, works hard on and off ice so to lose a guy like that it’s tough. Especially this late in the season where it’s that grind where every single point point matters.”

Chris Taylor shared a little bit of a brighter light on the injury saying hopefully it should only be three weeks. He also said, “Gives another guy an opportunity.”

The injury to CJ Smith happened a few games prior but he was playing through it as it nagged him.

“They both battled through injuries just to stay in the lineup and sometimes that affects you in different ways,” Chris Taylor said. “Maybe it could’ve only been one week or two weeks if he didn’t. Those are the types of kids we want, they want to keep playing, they want to keep battling for the guys.”

The “they” in that quote is referring to Brendan Guhle who was out for three weeks with a lower body injury.

Colin Blackwell is hopeful to return this weekend and will have an immediate impact.

“I just want to get out there as soon as I can and hopefully do what I can to help the team,” Blackwell said after practice on Tuesday. “Coach has been stressing it all year that it’s an opportunity for someone to step up and hopefully make their mark.”

Another player will get an opportunity to earn some playing time. Justin Danforth has been added to the roster for the second time this season. He’s continued to be a leading scorer for the Cincinnati Cyclones. In 44 games he has 28G+30A and is a +26! The 28 goals has him 2nd in the ECHL scoring race and the 58 points has him 2nd in the ECHL behind another former Amerk, Shawn Szydlowski.

Danforth has played in one game this season with Rochester. He had limited minutes in the game and still managed three shots on goal.

“Guys who’ve played 3rd and 4th line, everybody gets an opportunity,” Taylor said.

That was clear in practice with Eric Cornel skating on a line with Kevin Porter and Sahir Gill. Cornel has often been skating on the fourth line but stepped into the game against Hershey and scored.

The season isn’t getting any shorter, it’s time for someone to really stand out and take advantage of all of the opportunities available. It hasn’t happened yet.

The Amerks looked to start winning again, but were shutout at home. They went through a tough practice and prepared for a road trip with some returning players. It wasn’t enough, they lost 5-3 vs Lehigh and then gave up a goal with three seconds left and lost in overtime vs Hershey.

That’s only the last week of a rough month. The Amerks only have one regulation win in their last 13 games with a second win in overtime during that span. They have points in nine out of those 13 games which has been the story of the season.

“We have to be better defensively at the right times. We’ve given up timely goals that shouldn’t have been,” Taylor said when asked what they need to do to be better. “In Hershey we had the puck deep in the zone with 14 seconds, pinned in the corner and they still came back and scored a goal.”

Linus Ullmark made a huge save with 43 seconds left in the game. The Amerks cleared the zone twice following the save. Eric Cornel and Sean Malone had the puck pinned against the boards deep in the Bears zone but with four Bears players battling for the puck. The Bears won the battle, the play took off and the Bears scored with 2.8 seconds left.

The loss in Hershey was the eight straight loss for Ullmark, matches his worst streak in Rochester that ended the 2015/2016 season. It’s not a goalie problem though. He isn’t getting the help in front of him that he was.

Taylor added, “We have to tighten up and be better. The guys care. They work hard but there’s little things we need to be better.”

This is the worst stretch of games for the Amerks this season and currently one of the worst in the league as well. The only thing helping is that they’re still in an almost guaranteed playoff spot thanks in part to the continuous points. Rochester leads the league with 21 games having gone into overtime.

With 26 games left in the regular season the standings are now being talked about and looked at. Taylor said, “Everyone’s fighting for these points, these points matter. The guys are concerned about it. We talk about it every day, who’s behind us right now? This is the type of season where you have to start looking at it. The guys understand.”

“These guys need to push and get better, watch video. Come together and stick together as a team and make sure we’re focusing on each other and the team.”

The team had a day off on Wednesday to rest and recover before starting preparations on Thursday for a busy weekend with three games in three days. Home Friday vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Saturday in Binghamton and back home Sunday afternoon vs Binghamton.

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Kyle Criscuolo out 4 to 6 Weeks; More on the Call Up

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The bad news is that Kyle Criscuolo will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a left shoulder injury. The good news is that he’ll have fresh legs for the Amerks in the playoffs.

(Featured photo by James P. McCoy / Buffalo News)

Evan Rodrigues was given a week to week status on his injury the Sabres were in need of a center and gave the call to Criscuolo on Sunday afternoon.

On Monday night Criscuolo took a hit from Matt Martin of the Toronto Maple Leafs and immediately took off to the bench and down the hallway.

Criscuolo leads the Amerks with 15 goals in 50 games this season, he also has 19 assists.

The Amerks have relied on depth all season and won on Sunday because of it. The line of Justin Danforth, Daniel Muzito-Bagenda and Dalton Smith lead the way. At the start of the season they would’ve been considered the sixth line.

There’s 17 games left in the season, it’ll be time for more of it and have a great stretch into the playoffs.

****

Seth Griffith is still with the Sabres and was a healthy scratch, why didn’t he play instead of Criscuolo?

The answer is simple, the Sabres wanted a center and that’s where Criscuolo has played all season. And played very well at the position on both ends of the ice.

It’s bad news for Amerks to lose a top player but at the same time this is why many players are here – develop and reach their goals of playing in the NHL.

When Linus Ullmark has been asked about a player getting called up at any point in the season he provides a genuine smile and talks about how happy he is for the player and hopes they do well. Coaches are the same. Other players are the same.

For too many years call ups were often based on draft position and hype for a prospect over actual performance throughout the season in Rochester. In years past when someone was called up that hasn’t been performing, or played a great game or two, it has sent a message through the locker room that only certain guys had a legitimate chance. And it was true.

For the first season in a long time the focus on Rochester has been winning, development and depth. Win as a team, grow as players, move on and then there’s depth to fill in the openings. Those guys in the depth positions step in, work their way up and repeat.

A simple approach that hasn’t existed.

They aren’t going to all be kept in a bubble in the minors when there’s an opportunity to be rewarded.

Another sign of the culture shift that has changed in one season in a positive way. It must be working because the Amerks are in the playoff picture and competing at the top of the league. Yes, they’ve had a bad stretch and struggled but have never been “out if it.”

But yea, it still stinks to lose a player.

****

The Amerks have also been playing without CJ Smith for the last nine games as he works on returning from a lower body injury. His initial status was 3 to 4 weeks which would put his return back within the next week.

CJ Smith still leads the Amerks with 14G+25A even with missing a long stretch.

Other injury updates: Garret Ross (week to week) is skating on his own and Eric Cornel (day to day) returned to Amerks practice today.

Amerks practiced Tuesday morning to prepare for three games this weekend.

The post Kyle Criscuolo out 4 to 6 Weeks; More on the Call Up appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.

Amerks Lose after Giving Up a Four Goal Lead

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The Rochester Americans came together as a team on Thursday night giving up six straight goals to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and blowing a four goal lead.

That’s right, the Amerks had a 4-0 lead at one point in the game. They also had a 16-6 advantage in shots at the end of the first period. It took nine minutes for Bridgeport to get their first shot on goal.

This was the second straight game the Sound Tigers were down by four goals and came back to win. On Sunday they won 5-4 over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Credit to them for not giving up.

It’d be easy to make excuses about the lineup and line pairings but it’s just that, an excuse. No team should ever give up six straight goals after being up by four.

The first four goals scored by Sean Malone, Stuart Percy, Hudson Fasching and Danny O’Regan were all quality goals. Malone scored by creating a play in front of the net with Fasching. Percy blasted a slap shot. Fasching scored off a pass from Malone. Danny O’Regan walked the puck in, picked his spot and sniped it.

Individual efforts wiped out by an ugly team loss.

Kristers Gudlevskis was chased from the net after Danny O’Regan scored the fourth goal for the Amerks. Eamon McAdam was perfect with 19 saves.

Ryan Bourque scored a power play goal at 3:29 of the second period tipping in a shot by Kyle Burroughs. The Sound Tigers cycled the puck, screened Wilcox and started their comeback.

Travis St. Denis scored his first of three goals in the game at 12:42 of the second period. Nathan Paetsch stepped up and stopped his man at the blue line, Matt Tennyson followed the puck carrier, Steve Bernier, but Bernier was still able to send a pass to the slot. Danny O’Regan attempted to make a play on the stick of St. Denis in the slot but he tipped it past Wilcox.

The Amerks were still in the game at that point and continued to be for the rest of the second period. They were moving the puck and playing a physical game but were unable to get quality shots or get McAdam out of position.

The comeback continued when Travis St. Denis scored his second of the game 22 seconds into a power play at 3:53 of the third period. Justin Danforth was in the box for holding.

As the game was being played at this point it felt like 26 other games this season, it’d be tied up and go into overtime. Bridgeport was out to win this one.

Bridgeport was able to do what the Amerks couldn’t, cycle the puck to create a scoring chance. Travis St. Denis scored his third of the game from the top of the face off circle over the left shoulder of Wilcox. Nylander tried to skate in front of St. Denis and may have taken away any vision on the shot for Wilcox.

With 5:20 left in the third Justin Danforth and Garret Ross didn’t hesitate playing past the whistle and creating a little mix up in front of the Bridgeport net. It wasn’t enough.

Steve Bernier scored the game winning goal with 4:17 left in the third period redirecting a shot from in front of the net.

Second straight successful five goal comeback for Bridgeport. Empty net goal by Ryan Bourque with 60 seconds left. Game over.

After they were down by four goals the Sound Tigers changed their goalie, tightened up their game and scored more goals than the Amerks. They passed the puck and created better scoring chances.

The Amerks spent a lot of time carrying the puck in, shooting it and then turning back to the defensive zone.

Eamon McAdam had it pretty easy back stopping the comeback and earning the win. Adam Wilcox finished the game with 21 saves.

Before the game started the Amerks were 19-2-2-1 when leading after two periods. The Sound Tigers were 2-19-2-0 when trailing after two. A great comeback for team and a throwaway game for another.

***

Two players returned from injury.

CJ Smith had been out since February 11 and missed 12 games due to an ankle injury. He had four shots in the game but was ineffective for much of it.

Garret Ross had been out since January 21 and missed 19 games with a back injury. He was involved in one scrum in front of the Sound Tigers net in the third period.

The only player on the Amerks injured list is Barry Goers who’s out indefinitely and unlikely to play this season.

***

Amerks lines:

29, 11, 65
20, 43, 19
92, 14, 24
28, 17, 26

27, 2
10, 22
4, 5

32

Scratched: Arvin Atwal, Dalton Smith, Myles Powell and Jake Linhart.

In Buffalo: Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste, Casey Nelson, Brendan Guhle, Kyle Criscuolo, Seth Griffith and Linus Ullmark.

The post Amerks Lose after Giving Up a Four Goal Lead appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.

A Few Bad Bounces and Amerks Lose Third Straight

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That was a bad road trip for the Rochester Americans. There’s no way to say anything positive about the team effort of this road trip.

On Thursday night they had a 4-0 lead after 23 minutes of play against Bridgeport. They lost 6-4. [ Game Recap ]

On Friday night they had a 3-2 lead after 43 minutes of play against Providence. They lost 5-3. [ Game Recap ]

They also gave up hat-tricks in each of those games. Travis St. Denis on Thursday, Austin Czarnik on Friday.

On Sunday evening they had two different leads in the game, including a two goal lead after 32 minutes of play. They lost 6-4.

A highlight of Sunday was CJ Smith scoring his pro hat-trick and Alexander Nylander earning quality assists on each one of them.

The first goal was off of a great pass from Nylander behind the net and CJ Smith with the quick shot scored. The second goal was a drop pass from Colin Blackwell carrying it into the zone and a laser of a shot from the face off circle. The third goal was a redirect off his rear end from a Matt Tennyson shot.

Arvin Atwal scored the other goal for the Amerks with a blast from the slot, assist to Garret Ross.

Highlight worthy goals that are great for individual efforts but meaningless in the third straight loss for a team trying to gain momentum heading into the playoffs.

Three games that started out with hope and we’re steady declines as the games went on into losses. One thing that didn’t help was bounces not going the Amerks way.

Amerks were up 3-1 when Danny O’Regan blocked a shot with his skate, Vinni Lettieri grabbed the loose puck and shot the puck before Johansson was able to slide over and get set.

Taylor Fedun attempted to block a shot with his hand by Hubert Labrie but instead the puck redirected down low and through the pads of Johansson. Game was tied 3-3.

The game winning goal is a goalies worst nightmare, scored from the red line. It’s happened to every goalie at some point in their career and is always a goal they’d like back (especially when it happens at the pro level).

Brenden Kotyk picked up a loose puck off a Dan Catenacci face off win, dumped the puck in and Johansson appeared to think it was going wide. It went in the net. Wolf Pack went ahead 4-3 at that point at the end of the second period.

CJ Smith got a bounce of his own by scoring off his back end to complete the hat-trick. Matt Tennyson took the initial shot, CJ Smith turned and the puck went off of his back side and into the net. The game was tied with 7:58 left to play in the third period.

Dan Catenacci crashed the net to give the Wolf Pack a 5-4 lead with 3:31 left in the third and Vinni Lettieri scored his second of the game into an empty net. Game over.

Two blocked shots with a bounce in favor of Hartford and a fluke goal. Take those away and it’s a different hockey game.

The Amerks had chances to win the game and take back the lead in the third period but in the 65th game of the season almost isn’t going to be close enough.

***

Justin Bailey was assigned to the Amerks for the game only for the purpose of serving his one game suspension.

Amerks lines at the start of the game on Sunday:

29, 11, 65
92, 43, 19
28, 14, 20
37, 12, 24

10, 22
5, 27
2, 38

31

The post A Few Bad Bounces and Amerks Lose Third Straight appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.

Peterson is Familiar with the Amerks Standings; Mittlestadt is Not AHL Eligible

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The Rochester Americans returned to work this morning with a practice session that included Judd Peterson, one of two new players that’s joining the team to finish out the season. Will Borgen is the other player that’ll be joining the team and he’ll be at practice on Tuesday, was traveling on Monday.

After practice Peterson said, “It’s been exciting, a little nerve wracking coming into a new environment.”

He got the call on the bus ride home on Saturday to join Rochester and would be on a flight Sunday morning to practice today. A quick turn around without time to process the season that just ended for him.

He’s disappointed in the way that the season ended for St. Cloud State but said it was a no-brainer come to Rochester to keep playing hockey and see where it goes. He’s also kept an eye on how the Amerks have done throughout the season and noticed on Saturday night when they clinched a playoff spot.

When asked how he’d describe his game he said, “Power forward. Use my speed, drive wide and get to the net. Penalty killer, energy guy. Try and get stick on pucks and use my speed.”

At first glance in his first practice he has some wheels and as soon as the team started penalty kill work he was attacking the puck without any hesitation. I didn’t catch who said it but heard one player on the ice mention they didn’t have time to even think before he was on them.

Peterson said, “Really cool to come into a great organization like this and so far things for them (the Amerks) are going good and whether I get any games or not I’m glad I’m here.”

“I have to come in here, show them what I have and that I belong here, that I can play here. That’s my goal to do so. I’m fortunate enough that they even gave me a chance to come in here to practice with them, hopefully play and prove myself.”

Chris Taylor talked about Peterson being a big welcome just like anyone else new that joins the team, “We have a lot of bodies here and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on guys to make sure they’re playing well.”

“A player that’s been in the organization for a while now so we’re going to make some tough decisions here. Good to see him on the ice with the rest of the guys. It’s a different atmosphere for him coming from college to pro.”

Peterson was drafted 204th overall in the 7th round of the 2012 NHL draft.

It’s not easy picking up your life and moving within 48 hours but he’s excited to be roommates and teammates with Will Borgen for the rest of the season in helping the transition.

***

Casey Mittlestadt signed with the Buffalo Sabres on Monday morning but will not be eligible to join the Amerks for their playoff run this season. Players on NHL contracts had to be assigned to AHL teams on NHL trade deadline day to be eligible.

The only way he could have joined would have been if he signed an ATO (amateur tryout) and then started his entry level contract at the start of the 2018/2019 season. That’s the path Will Borgen is on.

Per Bob McKenzie of TSN here’s more details on Mittlestadt’s contract: Because Mittelstadt is a late birthdate (Nov/98), he burns the first-year of his entry-level contract as soon as he signs it, but he does not get to count this season as a pro year, which means he won’t need to be protected for expansion draft (assuming it’s in 2020). When his entry-level contract expires in 2020, he won’t be a full RFA. That is, like Johnny Gaudreau and Jaden Schwartz, amongst others, who graduated entry-level with limited experience, he won’t be able to receive an offer sheet and has no salary arb rights etc.

***

CJ Smith and Justin Danforth are the two injuries impacting the Amerks right now and both are hopeful to be ready for the playoffs. CJ Smith would jump right back into the lineup.

This time of year there’s always questions about lingering or nagging injuries that guys are playing through and whether or not anyone needs some rest.

Chris Taylor said, “I don’t believe in a lot of rest for guys, I want them to stay ready and on their toes. Sometimes that hurts you when you don’t play them enough. I want them to be in great shape, ready to go.”

“We’ll see where guys fit in, different line combinations. Defense partners. We need everyone going on the right foot here,” Taylor said. “It’s just a juggling act right now to see where guys fit in the lineup.”

Tough decisions ahead on who gets to play and who doesn’t. Taylor has said the toughest part of his job is sitting someone out.

The post Peterson is Familiar with the Amerks Standings; Mittlestadt is Not AHL Eligible appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.

Linus Ullmark Returns Tonight vs Syracuse

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The Rochester Americans have three regular season games remaining before the playoffs, two of those games are against the Syracuse Crunch in what could be a preview of the first round of the playoffs. The Crunch have a 5-1-1-1 series advantage this season. Rochester won the first two games of the season against Syracuse and also the last game in a 5-4 shootout. The five games in between were all tilted in favor of Syracuse.

Linus Ullmark will suit up in an Amerks uniform for the first time in a month, his last game with the Amerks was a 5-4 shootout win against Syracuse on March 11. He was called up to the Sabres, played in 4 games, recovered from a concussion and is ready to play.

There was some doubt this week with Jonas Johansson still around and sharing the net in practice but that’s in the past. Johansson packed his bags and is going to help Cincinnati in the playoffs in the chase to win a Kelly Cup. Getting back into the pace of a game is always a challenge for a goalie but there’s no doubt in the locker room that Ullmark is going to step in as if nothing ever happened.

Rochester’s defense is one that many teams would love to have: Brendan Guhle, Casey Nelson, Will Borgen, Zach Redmond, Andrew MacWilliam and Matt Tennyson. Borgen has played in five straight games and fit right in on the blue line.

Excellent chemistry and friendships in the locker room should result in renewed chemistry on the ice for players that have been out of the lineup for considerable time. Nelson (33 games), Baptiste (24 games – questionable for tonight) and Guhle (15 games) have all been with Buffalo and as mentioned above UIlmark has been gone for a month and hasn’t played in two weeks. Kyle Criscuolo missed 13 games as well after being injured in his first game with Buffalo. He returned for one Amerks game but will be out of the lineup for the second game in a row, still considered day to day. CJ Smith is expected to play tonight after missing the last 7 games with the return of a lower body injury.

Criscuolo is practicing with the team. Justin Danforth is the only player still on the injured list that isn’t skating with the team.

That’s a lot of moving pieces to shuffle back into the lineup with the playoffs just over a week away.

Syracuse has been one of if not the top team in the league since January with a record of 26-9-2-3. In the same time frame Rochester is 15-13-8-3.

Chris Taylor talked about the relentless game that Syracuse plays and they have to be ready for them tonight.

Rochester is currently in third place and two points ahead of Utica in the standings with each team having three games left in the regular season. Whoever lands in the 3rd place spot will play Syracuse. Utica has the tie breaker on Rochester.

The post Linus Ullmark Returns Tonight vs Syracuse appeared first on Let's Go Amerks!.


Amerks Regular Season by the Numbers

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The first half of the 2017/2018 Rochester Americans season was recapped as a fun winning team. In the second half of the season they stayed alive, stuck with it, made it through injuries, recalls and it was enough to clinch a playoff position.

The team finished in third place in the North Division. They also finished with more losses than wins. The last time the Amerks finished in third place and had 37 wins and had more losses than wins was the 1995/1996 season. John Tortorella was the coach and they went on to win the Calder Cup.

A total of 47 players were dressed for and played in at least one game this season.

Record/Standings:

First half: 23-8-4-3 (53 PTS)

Second half: 14-14-7-3 (38 PTS)

Final record: 37-22-11-6 (91 PTS)

Other seasons where they’ve made the playoffs and lost more games than they’ve won: 1979/1980 (lost in the first round), 1997/1998 (lost in the first round), 1995/1996 (won the Calder Cup), 2001/2002 (lost in the qualifying round), 2002/2003 (lost in the qualifying round), 2013/2014 (lost in the first round).

Last time the Amerks finished w/ 91 points was the 09/10 season. The head coach at the time was Benoit Groulx, the current coach of the Syracuse Crunch. Chris Taylor was the second leading scorer on the team with 61 points (17G+44A). The first round series was against Abbotsford where Rochester lost in game 7. They had taken a 3-1 series lead before everything collapsed. Without going back into too much detail, the team was a mess internally between players and coach. This season is pure respect within the locker room.

First half standings and the end of season standings:

The Amerks finished 11th overall in the league in points percentage and 15th overall with 37 wins. They finished tied for fourth in fewest regulation losses with Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Tuscon had 20, Lehigh Valley had 19 and Toronto had the fewest at 18.

29 overtime games (9-11 OT, 3-6 SO) for the Amerks tied the league record set by the Milwaukee Admirals in 2006-07 (9-4 OT, 6-10 SO).

Eight of the 11 overtime losses were on the road which tied a league record with Albany River Rats (2001/2002) and Ontario Reign (2016/2017).

Leaders and streaks:

Zach Redmond was the team points leader with 47 points and also assists with 32. He also finished fourth in scoring among AHL defensemen. He finished the season with 15 goals, three shy of breaking the franchise record for most goals by a defenseman of 18 set by Amerks Hall of Famer Rick Pagnutti in the 1972/1973 season. Redmond also lead the team with 180 shots on net and also had a team high eight power play goals. The last time a defenseman lead the team in scoring was Mike Kostka with 55 points (16G+39A) in 2010-11.

Sahir Gill lead the team with 18 goals followed by CJ Smith, Kevin Porter and Colin Blackwell who all had 17.

No one finished with 20 goals or more for only the second time in franchise history. The first time was in 2014/2015. CJ Smith had the best chance of breaking that benchmark until he was sidelined for 19 of the last 26 games in the regular season with a lower body injury.

CJ Smith ranked third on the team with 44 points (17G+27A) through 57 games, good enough for 10th among all AHL rookies. Smith, who was named MVP of the 2018 AHL All-Star Challenge, also finished his first pro season tied for 11th in assists among all first-year players.

CJ Smith was the only player with a hattrick this season, March 18 at Hartford.

Colin Blackwell lead the team in the final month finishing with 22 points (11G+11A) and a plus-14 on-ice rating over his last 15 games for the Amerks. The second-year pro also totaled 15 points (9+6) during his career-long seven-game point streak and recorded seven multi-point outings dating back to March 11 to finish second on the team in scoring. Since Jan. 1, Blackwell had been held scoreless only nine times. He also lead the team with three short handed goals.

Linus Ullmark finished the season with a 21-12-10 record that included two shutouts in 44 games. He finished the regular season third in the AHL in saves (1,242) and seventh in minutes played (2,579) while tying for ninth with 21 wins, his second straight season with 20 or more victories. Ullmark also ranked seventh and 14th among AHL goaltenders with a .922 save percentage and a 2.44 goals-against average, respectively. On Friday, he was named the team MVP and Most Popular Player for the second straight year, becoming just the second netminder in franchise history to earn both honors in back-to-back years.

Most consecutive games: Sean Malone played in 73 straight. He missed the first three games of the season as a rookie waiting to get in his first game and once he did there was never a doubt that he’d be taken out of the lineup.

Most games: Sahir Gill played in 74. Missed one game due to illness and then the last game of the season with a lower body injury. His playoff status is unknown.

There’s a massive gap of 41 between the best and worst in the the plus/minus category. Andrew MacWilliam finished at plus 19, Matt Tennyson was a minus 22. Debate all you want about plus/minus as a stat but a massive gap like that is proof of something.

Shooting Percentage: Seth Griffith at 23.1%, 15 goals on 65 shots.  Colin Blackwell was second at 19.8% with 17 goals on 86 shots.

Honorable mention to Brian Gionta who finished the season with 100% shooting percentage. One game, one shot on net, one goal.

Primary assists: Seth Griffith had a team high 19, Danny O’Regan 18, Colin Blackwell and CJ Smith both had 17, Zach Redmond, Sahir Gill and Kevin Porter each had 14.

Secondary assists: Zach Redmond had a team high 17, Alexander Nylander 15 and Stuart Percy had 14.

Highest scoring game: February 16 in a 12-3 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Amerks only had 2 shutouts and were shutout 7 times.

Dalton Smith had a team high 102 penalty minutes in 45 games. On the low end Sahir Gill played in 74 games with only 12 penalty minutes. Nylander only had 10 minutes in 51 games.

Rochester finished with 234 goals scored and allowed 221. The 234 scored was helped by a 10 goal and 12 goal game. In comparison, Syracuse also had 234 but allowed only 189. Toronto scored 254 and only allowed 170.

Special Teams:

Power play finished 12th in the league at 18.3%

Penalty kill finished 5th at 84.1%

At the half way point of the season the power play was 11th and penalty kill was at 5th.

Injuries:

Injuries played a big part of the second half problems. The unofficial number that I have running for man games lost in the regular season is 251. We’ve kept a running tally going over on our injuries page. The team hasn’t released an official number and while some games may not be accounted for the number is as close as you’ll find.

Barry Goers added 63 games to that total, he last played on November 11 before a season ending injury.

Two injuries that had the biggest impact of the season were Andrew MacWilliam and Colin Blackwell. The physical defensive style of play from MacWilliam was instantly felt and the energy Blackwell brings to every game forcing plays was noticed as well.

Kyle Criscuolo and Sahir Gill out of the playoffs could prove to be bigger impacts. We’ll find out this weekend.

NHL Playing time:

There’s currently 18 players on the Amerks roster going into the playoffs that have NHL contracts. 14 of them played in at least one game in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres this season.

The 14 players and NHL games player were Casey Nelson (37), Nick Baptiste (33), Seth Griffith (21), Brendan Guhle (18), Matt Tennyson (15), Justin Bailey (12), Kyle Criscuolo (9), Taylor Fedun (7), Hudson Fasching (5), Linus Ullmark (5), Alexander Nylander (3), Zach Redmond (3), Danny O’Regan (2) and Adam Wilcox (1).

The four who didn’t get in a game were Sean Malone, CJ Smith, Kevin Porter (was called up and rewarded with NHL pay to end the season) and Eric Cornel.

First, Second, Third Period:

Scoring by period (for / against):

1st period 68-60, 2nd period 69-82, 3rd period 85-62 and overtime 9-11.

Shots by period (for / against):

1st period 783-710, 2nd period 758-824, 3rd period 723-733 and overtime 54-61.

Record when…

Leading after the 1st: 15-5-3-1

Leading after the 2nd: 21-3-2-1

Tied after the 1st: 15-7-4-3

Tied after the 2nd: 20-3-2-1

Trailing after the 1st: 7-10-4-2

Trailing after the 2nd: 8-15-4-2

Out shooting opponents: 23-10-2-2

Out shot by opponents: 14-12-9-4

1 goal games: 14-4-11-6

2 goal games: 12-13-0-0

3 goal games: 8-1-0-0

That’s it for now. If you’re looking for more in depth stats like time on ice, shot attempts, shots blocked or more you won’t find them. The AHL and team don’t release a lot of stats that are tracked internally.

……………….

 

Season Defining Night; Player Performances Through Two Games

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The Amerks are down 2-0 in the best of five series but aren’t out of it yet. A season isn’t over until that final hand shake line and that’s the last thing the team wants to do on home ice. If you’re reading this and live in Rochester you should be at the game.

Emotions are in check, the game plan is set and the only thing left to do is win one game. And then another. And another. Syracuse knows that they’re going against a team that will leave everything on the ice and go hard at them.

After practice on Tuesday morning CJ Smith said, “Forget about the last two games and worry about Wednesday. Championship mentality, one game at a time.”

“I think there’s more focus,” Chris Taylor on how two days of practice have been this week. “I think the guys understand where we’re at.”

There’s a simple message – it’s a one game series. They know they can beat the Syracuse Crunch and even though they’ve been outscored 12-7 in two games they’re going into the game with confidence.

Taylor also said this week, “Results is what ultimately matters and we know that.”

They’ll be without one defenseman, Andrew MacWilliam was suspended for three games.

****

Six players were called up from Cincinnati after they ended their season in the first round of the playoffs: Forwards Justin Danforth and Daniel Muzito-Bagenda. Defensemen Arvin Atwal and Eric Knodel. Goalies Jonas Johansson and Jason Kasdorf.

There’s still hockey to play in Rochester and the decision to have them around instead of sending them home.

****

The current playoff format of best of five in the first round started in 2012. Since then six different teams have come back from being down 2-0 and then forcing a game five. Two have advanced do the second round. One of the two teams that advanced was the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2015. They were outscored 12-6 by Toronto in the first two games. The next three games Toronto was outscored 13-7 by Grand Rapids.

Two current Amerks players were on that Griffins team that advanced – Kevin Porter and Nathan Paetsch.

In 2013 Providence Bruins were the other team to win three straight after going down 2-0 against the Hershey Bears.

Another historic comeback can start tonight.

****

Looking at player performances.

Before the playoffs started last week Amerks GM Randy Sexton talked about being pleased but not satisfied with the season. When asked what would bring satisfaction he replied, “Satisfaction for us really will be having a long hard series but most importantly seeing each and every player on our team get better. To have success in the regular season is and was important and we’ve had that, and our guys have all improved. This is the second season, this is the post season. We need to see that continued improvement and development in each and every one of our players and our staff.”

After two playoff games we’ve seen the same set of players continue to play hard, the same players struggle and a complete disappearing act for one. A story of the season has been “the response” and how the team and players respond from being down. Tonight might be the last chance this season.

When Taylor was asked if this week defines how someone is looked at over the summer he said, “Absolutely. It’s going to show us individually where you’re at and where you’re at as a team player.”

It shouldn’t be any surprise that the new players brought in by the new regime are the ones that continue to play the best. Kevin Porter, Colin Blackwell, Zach Redmond, Kyle Criscuolo, CJ Smith, Andrew MacWilliam, Stuart Percy and Sahir Gill have made mistakes at times like everyone else but every shift from start to finish they’re out there working hard.

Returning players Justin Bailey and Nick Baptiste each scored big goals as needed on Saturday night in game two. Down by two goals Justin Bailey scored short-handed. Down by two goals again Nick Baptiste redirected a shot to give the Amerks a chance again. Rookie Sean Malone has been as reliable as he has been all season winning face offs and battling for loose pucks.

Sahir Gill missed a week of practice with a giant walking boot and was limping on Friday night during game one. He played on Saturday night and was skating like he never missed a practice or game. That’s a championship mindset that Colin Blackwell often talks about. Gill has had a career season and continues to show up to play every game.

In 2004 the Amerks were down 3-1 in the first round against the Crunch when a struggling Ryan Miller sat out games five and six. Tom Askey stepped in and won two games. Ryan Miller returned for game seven and the Amerks won the series in overtime. Ryan Miller continues to have a successful NHL career that isn’t defined by sitting in two AHL playoffs games – but it was a wake-up call.

Linus Ullmark has struggled in two games. He has a 5.59 goals against average and a .880 save percentage. Are they all his fault? No. But he hasn’t been the top goalie he’s expected to be. Could Adam Wilcox change things up this week? Doubtful. Players and the coaches said after the game on Saturday that Linus was fine and to expect a huge game from on Wednesday.

When asked how he’d grade his performance so far Ullmark said, “Can I say awful or should I say something else? It’s tough, they’re a good team. A lot of things have been going their way and not gone our way. Playoff hockey is like that.”

Talking about how the players after the game on Saturday still had confidence in him Ullmark responded with, “It’s very reassuring, you don’t want anyone having any doubts in their mind about how we’re going to play. I have full faith in my guys and hope they have faith in me. It’s one of those things that you have to have each others backs no matter what.”

Syracuse is changing things up and going with Connor Ingram in game three. Does Wilcox start for Rochester? Doubtful but we’ll find out this morning.

Alexander Nylander has disappeared. In two games he’s only had one shot on net and was benched in the third period of game two (except for one short shift). He had a few opportunities to shoot the puck but hesitated… looking to make a pass instead of the necessary shoot first playoff mind set. He’s had opportunities to chase pucks in the Crunch offensive zone but hasn’t. These aren’t new problems, they’ve been problems for two seasons. Does Nylander have the same fate in game three?

Hudson Fasching was a healthy scratch in game two of the playoffs after a poor game one.

Brendan Guhle has been chased down in the Amerks zone and has struggled to be the fast skating breakout defenseman he’s hoped to be. He shares a minus-5 stat along with Taylor Fedun. Guhle will be a full time NHL defenseman and it’s likely it’ll be as early as the 2018/2019 season. As quoted above, Randy Sexton talked about looking for continued improvement and development, it hasn’t happened with Guhle.

With everything on the line it’s time to define the season tonight and keep it going.

The playoffs are just a segment of the overall grade a player will have by management. Playoff performance isn’t going to end a hockey career but it can certainly define where it’s at right now. Chris Taylor has had individual conversations with everyone about the way the game is being played, there’s open and honest dialogue within the team. It may not seem that way based on quotes to the media but that’s because they keep it all internal.

Overall the 2017/2018 season has been a big improvement in every way with turning the Rochester Americans around but that shouldn’t satisfy anyone. The season needs to extend to Saturday night in Syracuse for game five.

A three-game comeback is possible and there’s enough talent on the team to make a run at it. Every player is taking tonight as a one game series. That’s the only mindset anyone can have otherwise it’ll be over early on Wednesday night.

Any moral victories about the overall season in Rochester being better than previous years can come later on. Right now, this is the playoffs, it’s perform and win or go home. All or nothing. Who shows up to win?

Player Thoughts from the Amerks 2018 Locker Clean Out

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The ice is gone, the bags are packed, the locker room is empty and players are making plans to go back home for the summer. Locker clean out’s are complete and with that comes end of season thoughts and looking forward. Getting swept in three games by Syracuse wasn’t how anyone wanted the season to end. It was a tight group of players and coaching staff with honest feedback within the room. The team kept the message the same after practices and games but internally they were honest with each other.

If you’re ever curious about the ice being cleared out of the arena here’s a short video of what they do.

Comments below from Will Borgen, Colin Blackwell, Hudson Fasching, CJ Smith, Sahir Gill, Danny O’Regan, Alexander Nylander and Sean Malone.

Also added Linus Ullmark, Brendan Guhle, Nathan Paetsch, Nick Baptiste, Kyle Criscuolo, Kevin Porter, Zach Redmond and Chris Taylor.

I left out the bits of everyone saying they want to get faster and stronger in the off season because everyone says it. The quotes are all verbatim without any additional story being told behind them. These were all from Thursday April 26 and Friday April 27.

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Will Borgen

On how his first pro games went, “I thought it wasn’t too bad of an adjustment, I had a lot of help from the older guys. The defense corp was a really good group of guys so they helped me out a lot but obviously I still made some mistakes but overall it was good.”

On the mistakes, “Simple ones. I can fix them, the coaches can help me fix them. I just have to learn, I haven’t played pro hockey for long so I’m learning right now.”

On fitting in with the team, “The first week or so was a little uncomfortable, new team, new guys. You get used to it and the guys were really nice and welcoming so they helped me out a lot. After about a week I was close with most.”

The talk of the Amerks all season was needing to keep it simple and struggled and Borgen said, “That describes my game, I keep it simple for about 60 minutes. I’m not going to score, I’m not going to do anything too crazy.”

On wanting to play in the playoffs, “I think I wanted to play but it’s not up to me and I haven’t been here all year. This is their team, some of those guys have been here all year. It was cool to learn from it and see what playoff hockey is about.”

If there were any surprises playing pro hockey, “No, not really. I think I expected most of it. I expected the guys to be stronger, I expected it to be a little better hockey and smarter. Nothing really surprised me too much.”

***

Colin Blackwell

On the overall season, “Obviously from a team perspective it didn’t end the way we expected or hoped. It was a tough series and obviously hindsight is 20/20 but it’s one of those things where I thought we left it all on the ice but a couple of mistakes here and there was a result of the whole series. I thought we had a great season, I thought we came in and were off to a slow start. We were talking the other day that it’s a shame that it has to end so soon because everybody’s a tight knit group and hanging out all the time. Not too often you’re going to run into a group of guys like that. Just the way the team came together we had some ups and downs this year. We battled through it and it sucks that the season had to end that way but it’s a group of guys that’ll keep in touch a long way moving forward.”

On his individual season, “Individually I came as kind of a question mark. I came here every single day trying to show my stuff and work hard. I think I was able to prove myself that I was able to play at a high level. It’s going to be a big summer for me moving forward.”

At what point they realized it was a tight group, “Kind of from training camp. That’s one of the toughest parts of the year. It’s hot out there and we’re having those long practices, body aren’t accustomed to skating and doing all that much. I think going from there we realized we had a strong leadership group, not even just captains and assistant captains. We had some other veteran guys that stepped up and took a lot of guys under their wings this year. You saw a lot of younger guys that even though it was their first, second or third year pro, a couple years younger than I am and you saw them grow over the course of the year. That says a lot about the coaching staff and leadership group that we had where guys could look at the Nathan Paetsch’s, Kevin Porter and Gionta when he was here. The people to lean on in all aspects of the game.”

Honest feedback within the room, “I think that’s one of those things where you can run into leadership or coaching staffs that might say the things that people want to hear but everyone was holding everyone accountable. You heard when you were playing well and when you weren’t playing well. The coaching staff here what I was extremely fond of is that when you make a mistake you weren’t put at the end of the bench or something along those lines. He allowed you to grow and learn from your mistakes and it’s the kind of player coach/coaching staff that you want to play for. The leaders on the group whether we were struggling or not they let us know what the situation was and nobody was beating around the bush and that goes a long way. When I first got here it was everything about trying to reinstall the history that the Americans had here and this was the first step in that blue print and we have the guys here to grow. The future is bright with some of the guys that we have in this locker room.”

Asked about pride playing in the AHL, “Oh absolutely. I think you see it throughout the league. There’s some guys that do very well in the NHL but they might struggle in the AHL. It’s definitely a grind and sense of pride like you said because obviously everybody would like to play in the NHL but it’s one of those things where you’re going to have to go through the process and learn from your mistakes and maybe get the opportunity. We saw here with our team that so many guys had the opportunity to go up this year and were successful in doing so. That says a lot about the group we have with the internal pressure day in and day out from people pushing each other. When yo have a group of guys that are willing to do that on a daily basis it’s going to help not only with the team goals but individual goals as well and that says a lot about what we have here.”

On next season and contracts, “I haven’t really thought about that to be honest. Something that eventually we’re going to cross that door and I loved playing here and I’d love to be back but at the same time I’m not 100% sure what’s going to be said and what not. This is definitely a place where I’m comfortable and I enjoyed my time here from on the ice to off the ice. I’d love to be back, it’s definitely something I’d be excited about.”

Asked about the challenge of playing 60 mins for the team, “Throughout the course of a 76 game season mistakes are going to be made. I thought guys brought it every single day, practices and games. The nature of the beast of the game every now and then you might be trying to make a play and sometimes those plays connect, you have a goal or an assist and everything looks really good. Other times you might try to make that same play and it’s a turnover the other way. Over the course of a long season you learn from that. I think we had some ups and downs this year but looking back on it we went on a hot streak at one point in the year and maybe got points in 10 of 12 games but a lot of overtime losses in that stretch. We learned from that and it allowed us to grow at the end of the year and get us to where we were. Looking back you can always say maybe give more effort here and there but every single time especially playing at this level it’s a competitive nature that every single shift guys were giving everything they had.”

Asked about his game around his injury, “Obviously when I came back, even before I came back, I thought I was turning on the jets and getting to that point of the season where I was feeling a little more comfortable. When I came back everybody was kind of going through that grueling point of the season and I had a little bit of time to take care of myself and rest a little and I was able to make that push in the second of the year. It was one of those things where I came back I had great help and it allowed me to do everything I could.”

Something to work on this summer, “Face-offs are definitely something I’m going to key on this summer. I think I came in and was ok at face-offs and the whole season you have your ups and downs. Look at playoff hockey and face-offs are everything. It’s one of those things some guys make jobs and livings out of taking face-offs. It’s one thing I learned this year and in the playoff push and how vital it is and playing in all different situations.”

***

Hudson Fasching

On his individual season, “I think it was full of ups and downs. It was all over the place a little bit at the beginning. It was good and then it was bad. Finished the year pretty well and then the playoffs obviously weren’t what I wanted. It was a fun year and at the end of the day I got better as the year progressed and that’s the bottom line for me is to continue to get better and work on my game.”

On the feedback that he wasn’t going to be playing after game one in the playoffs, “It was just game one wasn’t good enough and that was pretty much. Wasn’t a whole lot to it.”

On the culture change he saw, “I think it was every day you came to the rink and you were excited to be there. It was a fun place to be. We worked hard and had good results. It was a fun time and that’s the biggest reflection for me is to have that winning culture. People wanted to be there every day.”

On the leadership group, “It was a lot better this year. It was stable. They were always there and so supportive of everyone and they were awesome. I have no other words to say other than they were awesome.”

***

CJ Smith

On his individual season, “Went well I think. Was pretty proud of the way my season started. I thought I had a pretty good first half, injuries were tough and derailed me a little bit. In the end it was a really good learning good experience even though we didn’t get the results int he playoffs. I feel like I didn’t play the wanted to play individually.”

Any surprises in his first pro season of hockey, “The long grind of the season was more shocking. The injury kind of took away from that too. I was pretty hurt overall. Being able to come every day to the rink and show up every day is kind of tough when you’re hurt. Just being able to overcome that was a pretty big learning curve too.”

Current health, “Obviously wasn’t 100% in the playoffs but I think everybody’s playing hurt too so I couldn’t really excuse it as an excuse at that point for my play I guess.”

Asked about how honest it was inside the locker room, “Everybody held everybody pretty accountable. That was one of the positives we had with our team. Everybody liked each other and respected each other so we were able to hold each other accountable and be able to be honest with each other in a respectful manner and not create separation in the locker room at the same time.”

I asked about the theme all season about needing to play 60 minutes when they weren’t winning games, “I think it’s just kind of mentally and as a team being play a full 60. I don’t know if it’s one specific night you can just blame it on being tired when you kind of doing it consistently. I just think it’s something we have to learn how to manage a full game.”

On who the leadership group is, “There’s a good mix of people but I think you can put Porter, Paetsch, Redmond, Fedun and MacWilliam. I think they contribute a lot and they’ve had a lot of experience in pro hockey and they were able to help younger guys such as myself.”

Asked if there’s a sense of pride playing in the AHL, “I think especially now. It’s important to play in the AHL nowadays especially the way drafting and developing players is so important to a team in the NHL. I think the AHL has made a pretty big step in the last couple years and I think teams have really started to use AHL more and more now in developing players and their young prospects. I think it’s helped me out immensely.”

***

Sahir Gill

On his career season, “I think I was given a pretty good opportunity here obviously and I was just trying to make the most of it. Regular season wise there was a lot positives to take out of it so I was happy.”

Coming back from injury to play in the playoffs, “If you’re able to play you’re going to play so it was obviously good to be out there with the guys and try to compete.”

“Like every team we had roster changes and things like that. Over the course of a year it’s a long year mentally and physically. I thought sometimes maybe we tried to do too much or working too hard instead of just being a little bit more patient and playing a little smarter. I don’t think it was ever for a lack of care of effort, I think every guy out there was trying to do the best that he could for the team and sometimes that’s not always going to go your way.”

***

Danny O’Regan

On his individual season, “I had kind of crazy season, obviously getting traded at the deadline. I thought it went well overall and learned a lot. Got some experience at the NHL level and learned a little bit more of what it takes. Overall I couldn’t be happier coming to this organization.”

First impressions coming into the organization, “It was a really easy transition. I knew a lot of the guys and the coaches were great. Everyone involved made it really easy.”

On the leadership group, “It was a really close group and a lot leaders in the room. A lot of guys who were pretty vocal and had that experience. Guys like Porter and Paetsch, you can go down the list. Guys who’ve played hundreds of games and know what it takes to win.”

***

Alexander Nylander

On his overall season, “I think I had a really good finish. A tough start there coming after the injury and took a while to come back. Never been injured like that before. I think I really made strides after All-Star break and was playing really good.”

On his playoff performance, “I thought I had good games but unfortunately I didn’t get so much ice time in all three games. I think that I played good just unfortunate that we lost.”

Asked if coming back from the injury was more of a mental or physical thing, “It was both, it was an injury that I was still feeling for a couple months even when I started playing. It finally went away towards All Star break and started feeling better. That thing is just mentally and physically just getting confident and getting your game back.”

Something to improve on, “Getting even more confidence in having the puck more and take it more to the net.”

***

Sean Malone

On his, “I thought coming off my injury at the start of the year was pretty tough and missing training camp and starting all over again and playing at a level that was a lot better than I played last year. I think it was a slow start for me but I tried to do the best I could with the role I was put in. I thought I continued to improve throughout the year and that’s what it’s all about. At the end of the year I was playing a lot more than I played at the beginning of the year so I think it went pretty well.”

On any surprises playing pro hockey, “The intensity. You have a lot less time with the puck and the defensemen are a lot better here than they are in college. They have better gaps, a lot quicker, faster, stronger.. totally different but defensively it’s a lot harder to shut guys down because they’re a lot better players.”

On the culture and atmosphere coming in, “I thought it was great and honestly didn’t expect that. Having a team where all the guys are pretty good guys and making it enjoyable to, as you’ve heard many times, coming to the rink every day. I think there’s value in that. Having an environment where you want to come here and you want to get better every single day definitely makes an impact on my game.”

On the honest feedback within the room, “Really honest I thought. They’re up front about everything. You get to develop relationships with your coaches which I didn’t really do much of in college. Especially leadership for sure, guys were held accountable and that’s really important for a team aspect.”

On Chris Taylor as a head coach, “I thought he was great. He expected certain things out of me, he’s a coach you want to play for and win games for.”

Asked why needing to play 60 minutes was a theme , “I honestly don’t know, I just try to control what I can control and I try to put out an effort for 60 minutes individually. When guys see that they want to step up their game as well. I couldn’t tell you, I don’t really know what it was. We had slow starts all year and playing down by a couple of goals isn’t a recipe for success and we saw that in the playoffs.”

Asked how familiar he was with the AHL before this season, “Not really much. I remember talking to Criscuolo when he came back to school after playing a couple of games in Grand Rapids in his senior season and he said it was a lot tougher to play in and he was right. You don’t have a lot of time with the puck and a lot harder to make plays.”

Improving his game, “In terms of my game I’d like produce more offensively. I think I can take on more of an offensive role and think I have that ability. I have the confidence in myself to do it and want to have a good training camp to start off next year.”

Asked about the foundation and culture being built in Rochester, “I think if you look at where our managements come from in Pittsburgh. They have a lot of guys that were AHL’ers that were able to step up in the NHL and play right away. Probably Bryan Rust is my best example. He was a more defensive player in the AHL, built his way up over the course of a year or two and next thing he’s riding shotgun with Sydney Crosby. Pretty cool it can happen just like that. With the culture we have here I hope that it eventually translates to Buffalo.”

Memorable moments of the season, “Obviously the playoffs. The last game here was the most memorable for me. Just coming out and seeing the fans and the towels waving was awesome. The support on a Wednesday night was unbelievable. Second is Brian Gionta’s goal against Toronto. Never heard a building louder and our fans screaming USA, that was pretty cool.”

***

Linus Ullmark

On looking back at the season, “Two things.. first of all I’m very happy and fortunate to have been a part of this group. I’ve had one of the best seasons I’ve ever been a part of. We didn’t get the Calder and that’s a shame but just to be a part of this group, to meet these people, these awesome players and persons and the staff around us has been a tremendous opportunity for me. It’s been an awesome experience. I have a lot of gratitude towards everybody in this organization.”

On the emotion after the playoff elimination loss, “I was sincerely sad about the whole thing. I’ve been dreaming about playing in the playoffs for three years over here and to come out there and have that kind of performance it stinks. I wanted to give more to the Rochester community and the organization and not do that it just hurts. And then you think of all the people that work around and in the team and you feel like you let everyone down. That’s the kind of things that felt most sad for me.”

On winning and playing for each other and the family atmosphere, “We just grew stronger and stronger and that’s why it was so painful to lose three straight against Syracuse because you want to win with this team. You want to win with the players, win with your friends. I’ve said before, we’re a family right from the start and we just grew stronger before every match and practice that went by.”

What made this year different than the last two years, “It was a combination of a lot of things. We had the right people at the right places. We had great coaches, great young guys who wanted to develop and strive forward. We also had older guys in Porters and Paetsch that really were pulling both forward and showed the way for the younger guys. We were always trying to compete against each other. For me and Coxy (Adam Wilcox), I told him during the season too, he was my favorite goalie partner of all time. It was one of those things where you have all these gems in this team and it’s been great fun.”

On the friendship and partnership between Wilcox and Ullmark, “It’s a lot easier to come to work everyday if you know that you’re a good friend with the goalie partner and there’s no hard feelings towards who’s starting in net and who’s not. We’ve always had each others backs no matter what. He had a great season too. If he was starting these three games in the playoffs I would not have been mad at him. I would have been more pissed off at myself for not being in the net. I wish him all the best, I really want to meet him sometime more in the future.”

More pride playing in Rochester this year that Porter and Paetsch brought in, “We came into the season, we had more stakes on the table. We had a lot more guys coming in that had been through and going further in the playoffs. The management told us that we wanted to create a winning culture down here so we knew that we also have to step up, there’s no days off. Those guys that came in really showed what it takes to be a winning team. It didn’t end up the way we wanted but we all got something out of it in the end.”

At what point did you go into games expecting to win, “Preseason. Right away when we beat Toronto in two straight games. I looked at the first game from the side and then I played one in Buffalo and I just felt right away this is such a big difference compared to last season. Two years before it’s been more of a hassle, struggle to not lose and it’s now more that we’re going to win at all times. Having all these come back wins early in the season we just grew that mindset bigger and stronger.”

Bringing that attitude to Buffalo, “I sure hope so. We know how much it stings now to lose in the first round when you really want to go all the way. It’s one thing if you play all these years and you never get to the playoffs you never really get to know how it feels to play on the bigger stage. Now that we’ve had the opportunity to do it we just want to go there even more.”

On how different/more intense the playoffs were, “It’s an eye opener. It’s a lot tougher to be out there. A lot more physicality and there’s a lot of things that wouldn’t really be part of the regular season that come into play later on. It’s tough. I think it’s way tougher for the players in front of me to play because they’re out there smashing bodies left and right. For me it’s more about stopping pucks and that doesn’t change if I go into playoffs or not.”

On Jason Botterill expecting him to be one of two goalies in Buffalo next season, “Right now it’s a nice thing for him to say. It’s nice to hear but it also gives me not only confidence but also gives me courage that when I go home now I have something to strive for. It’s not as easy that I might be one of two, I don’t have certain spot there. I still have to fight for it. I can’t just go home to Sweden and lay on my back all summer long. I have to go out there and work my butt off every day and be a professional. That’s what I’ve been trying to do and develop all these years, to be a professional every day. It’s going to be tough but it’s also going to be a fun summer that’s for sure.”

On how much Rochester has meant to him as a city, “To be honest when I came in here I heard a lot of bad things about Rochester as a city but when you get to know the community, get to know the city and know your way around here it’s like last year was an eye opener. I moved out and was closer to the guys and was a lot more fun. This year I lived out in Webster on Irondequoit Bay and I said to my wife how are we ever going to top this living in the states? We had everything we wanted and it was the perfect setup for us. It’s been a lot of fun and I appreciate everything the fans have done for us. Every time we have the Distillery meetings or anything like that. Every game they came to us and watch us and cheer for us it’s been a lot of fun. It’s one of those things you’re going to cherish later on in your career but right now I’m very thankful to all of them.”

On a highlight being in Rochester, “I would say the whole experience of it. Living here and saying that Rochester was my first home from home. No one is ever going to take that away from me. Rochester is always going to be a part of me, my wife and all of my family.”

Garbage plate, “Never. See I’m trying to be a professional and stay away from that stuff.”

Asked about being a goalie nerd, “You have to have an open mindset. There’s always going to be some new stuff on the market. For me it’s more about trying new stuff and see what it’s all about and all of the fuss. How is someone approaching a problem or how does something feel. You’re just trying to find tweeks that little bit of extra edge every time and every day in your preparation. That part of it is the equipment. I love gear, I’m a huge goalie gear nerd. Everything about it I love to just go see what everything is all about. The best thing for me is to get my hands on stuff and try it out. Do I switch? I don’t know. I have a full summer to decide if I want to switch or not.”

***

Brendan Guhle

On how he’ll look back at the season, “I think it was a positive season. We learned as a group and as it was the first time we’ve seen playoffs here in a while so it’s not like everybody’s going to know what to expect. It was good in that aspect. We learned how to win games at the start of the year. When we went through a tough stretch we were able to kind of climb out of that a little bit at the end of the season. We played a good Syracuse team in the playoffs, they’re a good team.”

On how much playoff experience will help, “It was good to get that experience and know that pace. They’re a good team. It’s not even just the playoffs, it’s how they play all the time.”

On how influential the guys in the room were in his first pro season, “They’re great guys. Hanging out with MacWilliam, Porter and Paetsch in the room. If I had any questions I could ask them or whether we were just talking in the locker room about everyday stuff. Those guys were welcoming with open arms and grateful to have them here.”

On wanting to win for each other and what it means, “Just not trying to do everything yourself. If you have to take a hit to make a play or willing to do that or if you have to block a shot and willing to do that. Just bearing down that little bit extra in those one on one battles I think are the key things.”

Asked if he was surprised by anything in his first pro season, “I think it was pretty smooth for the most part. I just worked every day and tried to improve my game which I know I did from the start of the season. I’m happy with how it progressed.”

On MacWilliam’s influence as a part of the leadership group, “I think you can just tell by the way he plays that he’s part of the leadership group. He’s always blocking shots, always taking hits, making hits and is vocal on the bench which is nice. He’s a great presence to have there.”

On a personal highlight of the season, “I think it was against Hershey, we won 7-6 in a shootout. It was the game where we were losing 3-0 in the first 10 minutes and then scored like five goals in the second period. I had my first goal of the season in that game too. Was just a fun game and that’s where I was like whoa we have a good team here.” (They actually scored six goals in the second period)

On what he’ll personally work on in the off season, “I’m going to try to improve my quickness, my first three steps. I’m going to get stronger and add some weight and I’ll be coming back in good shape.”

Anything specific to take from time in Buffalo, “Just knowing the preparation and how consistent you have to every day. I know what to expect next year, there’s no excuses.”

***

Nathan Paetsch

Looking back at this season, “I’m proud of the work we did and the group that we built. This room is special, the guys had a lot of fun this season. Obviously it’s disappointing not winning a playoff game. I think it’s a great look on things to come for this organization.”

On what he hoped young players took from the three playoff games, “I think they learned a lot. Obviously I’ve played a few playoff games in my day so I knew going on. You can try to tell guys and prepare them but it’s nothing like the real thing. Intensity ramps up a lot, level of play ramps up and it’s just a different beast. Emotions run high and you have to find that happy medium of controlling your emotions but playing with enough emotion. I think guys were kind of learning as they went and some of the Syracuse guys maybe figured out a little quicker and that might of been the difference.”

Had to learn to win but how much does the sting of a loss carry forward with you, “It hurts losing and you learn to win but yea I think guys learned what it takes in the playoffs. There’s going to be a lot of guys back next season and hopefully take this momentum forward and go into next year with their eyes wide open and ready to go.”

On how early the new culture took place, “Quicker than we had anticipated. The guys that were before were hungry for that. Some of the guys that had been here for three years they were just desperate for that team unity. They’re great kids, really wanted it and didn’t know how to go about it. I think it really came together a lot quicker than we hoped for and it was exciting. I think we started the season better than anyone would have ever imagined. Obviously we had a little dry spot there at the end but there’s a lot of ups and downs in the AHL season with guys getting called up and injuries. It was pretty consistent hockey all the way through. I thought the culture was expecting to win. ”

On how to instill that culture, “It’s day in and day out. It’s practice habits, it’s showing up every day to work and not just for the games. When you come in for practice, when you come into the weight room you take a professional mentality to it. Guys learned, it took some time. Guys were learning how to be pro’s and showing up on time, showing up early, doing a little extra. The way to treat people in the locker room and stuff. It came together real nicely and guys grew as a team and as individuals.”

On what it means to win for each other and what it looks like, “Even after we lost so many guys a lot of the comments I heard was that it was sad this group wasn’t going to be together. We wanted to win so bad to keep this group together and that shows the character in that locker room and what guys felt for each other. I think at times in the playoffs we maybe cared too much and we ran out of position and maybe it cost us, that’s part of the learning thing too. There was no a lack of caring in the playoffs, I’ll tell you that. Guys cared a ton and wanted to win so bad. Now that they learned you have to care a lot but do it smartly, it’s a teeter totter trying to figure out that emotion but not too much emotion.”

On the family atmosphere, “Tayls is probably the biggest part but also it starts with Randy too and Botts. They went out and targeted character people. Randy came in right off camp and had a speech to let guys know where everybody stood. That trickles down to Tayls. He’s an amazing coach. I’ve never seen a first year coach with such a great repertoire with the guys. Tayls is a real smart guy, let’s be honest he was the smartest guy when he played so obviously that’s why he’s such a great coach. The guys loved playing for him. You’ll see quotes from guys saying they came back because they wanted to play for Tayls. That’s huge and that’s how you get guys back in this league. The top end guys that maybe get an offer here or there but they’re going to come back to play for the coach. Our other coaches too, we had a great staff and training staff. All of that is important for that family atmosphere.”

On the balance Taylor had to have in being honest but being that players coach, “It’s tough but that’s the head coaches job. It’s not an easy job and it’s why a lot of people don’t want to do it. He cares a lot but he has to do what’s right for the person and for the team and sometimes that’s being brutally honest. Some guys need to hear it and it’s not an easy thing to do. Even as an older guy sometimes I have to say things to guys that’s uncomfortable but it’s for the best. The thing is they knew that it came from somebody that cared about them so matter how brutal in what he was saying they knew he wasn’t doing it out of spite or malice it was because he cared and wanted the best for them.”

On carrying the culture up to Buffalo, “Of course, that’s the whole point of what we’re trying to do here. We want them to learn what it is to be a family and be a family atmosphere, to care, to be a pro every day in practice and at the rink and during the games and how you do that and treat people. If it doesn’t carry up to there than we’re doing our job right here. They’re great kids and going to do a great job. Their time here was special and they’re going to take that with them.”

Asked him about community support and pride this season, “Look at that Wednesday game, I don’t know if I’ve seen a first round Wednesday game like that with that many fans. The support was incredible and want to let the fans know how much we care. That’s everything for us. The atmosphere was just rocking in here and want them to know that we care and it’s just making us work this much harder this summer to come back and give them more of that success and more playoff games.”

Asked him about want to play more in the playoffs, “Any hockey players want to play, I love the game, I want to play but I also understand my role. I also understand how good the other guys were that were playing, that’s just the reality of the situation. We had a D core that you don’t see very often in this league. We had a great balance, guys with a ton of NHL games just a year or two before. We were deep but you saw that we needed that depth.”

On his future, “I hope to keep going. I’m not ready to hang them up yet. Hopefully they’ll keep me around longer. Time will tell. I still have the passion to put the work in and I still love what I’m doing.”

***

Nick Baptiste

On how he’ll look back at the season, “One of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of in terms of just culture, guys and good people. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed. It’s just a great group of people here that made coming to the rink every day a fun time and it’s going to be one of those years you’re going to remember for a long time.”

On the playoffs being an eye opener, “It was exciting for me to get some playoff games. Obviously not the result we would have liked for the season to end the way it did but definitely a building a block for guys like myself and Guhles and Bailey and guys that are trying to make that transition to the NHL and Sabres. Playoff games and playoff hockey is always going to help with that transition.”

Biggest difference, “It’s just tighter checking, guys are more physical. You don’t have as much time with the puck. It’s also just more intense. Usually crowds are in it a little more and it’s just an exciting time and unfortunate we didn’t get to play a little longer.”

On the team expecting to win and when he began to notice, “For me it was definitely right before I was called up for that 30 game stint where I realized this team was going into every game expecting to win. It was just the precedent we set for ourselves. We expected nothing but to win. Talking guys today still upset with the whole Syracuse situation, I don’t think we played as well as we would have liked but that’s hockey, it’s a tough game and tough league and hats off to them for playing so well over there.”

On who was responsible for the family atmosphere, “I think it starts from the top down. Jason Botterill made it an apparent to guys in Rochester that it’s going to be important to set that culture here and win here. He started it and it was upon Chris Taylor and then translated to our leadership group with Porter and Paetsch and those guys to follow the winning culture and vibe down the lineup. When you have a group of guys as good as we did it’s easy to have fun and be a good team and be great people.”

On wanting to win for the older guys, “Of course, you always want to win for your older guys and guys that you never know how long someone’s career is going to be, everyone’s career comes to an end. It’s unfortunate that we got swept and lost the way that we did. I’ve learned so much from guys like Porter and Paetsch and older guys who’ve been through it. It’s only going to better me moving forward.”

Asked if that leadership is what was missing the last two seasons, “I think I’ve had great leaders my whole career, the past years have been great. I think it was just something different with this group. Winning helps a lot and I think we started winning pretty early in the season and it was a trend that kind of happened throughout the whole year. It’s easy to stay positive and in a good mind frame when you’re winning games. I think the first two seasons we didn’t win nearly as much so obviously things weren’t as positive and wasn’t as great of an atmosphere as it was this season.”

On how much he’ll carry all of this forward into the next step in his career, “Tons, tons, oh tons. I’ve already talked to younger guys that want to make the jump to the NHL next year. We’ve just talked about how much it’s helped us in terms of becoming professionals making the necessary steps and tweaks in our games to make it to the next level. Hats off to the older guys to really show us the way and guide us and help us out.”

“I think that was a big part of our success this season was our younger guys noticing how you have to act and how you have play as a professional down here and translate that winning culture up to Buffalo. We’ve talked about culture a ton here because it’s been so great here. It’s no secret we finished in last place in Buffalo, there’s no secret I was a part of it. It’s something that doesn’t sit well with me, I don’t like losing. I know Jack and BOGO and Ryan and guys that are coming back next year in Buffalo feel the same way. We’re tired of losing and we’re going to word to turn things around in Buffalo.”

On playing more of a defensive style and when it clicked, “I think for me it was learning what I had to do to get my foot in the door to make the transition to the NHL. You can’t expect to leave the AHL mid season and go up to the NHL and score 50 goals, it just doesn’t happen that way. Me and Chris Taylor talked a lot about how I have to change my game and how I have to mold it to a situation to where I can dependable up in Buffalo for Phil and be able and to do the things that allow him to put me out on the ice late in games and responsible. Just molding myself to be a more responsible 200 foot player was a focus after the season got kicked off.”

On how ready he thinks he is to make that jump, “I think I’m ready. I think it’s time for me to make that jump. The window of opportunity to play in the NHL is pretty slim. I think my window is now. I’m turning 23 years old in August and not getting younger so I have to make sure I have a great summer and come ready to play next season. I think for sure I’ve taken the steps and mentally I’m ready to go and be a big part of the Sabres.”

On highlight of being in Rochester, “Just the guys and being with them and the staff and the people around the city. It’s just a breath of fresh air to be in a place where you go to the rink and you’re happy to be there every day and excited to get on the ice.”

***

Kyle Criscuolo

Looking back on this team, “I think starting at the beginning of the year we were excited about the group that we had. Our goal was to sort of bring Rochester back into contention for a Calder Cup and I think we did a good job getting off to a good start and getting into the playoffs. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way but I think we can be proud of the year that we had for sure and build on it moving forward. There’s a lot more to gain and we’re going to continue building as a group and increase our run next season.”

On how the culture developed as the year went on, “I think it was just the way that this team was designed from the start. The people they brought in and the guys are around and the coaching staff and the way we went about the season every day. It allowed us to be a really close team and hold each other accountable and it didn’t matter what day it was. I don’t think we had to change anything, it was right from the hop we came together as a team and build and hold each other accountable and work hard every day.”

On the impression he has on this organization and the desire to win, “I think they’re doing everything they can to win. I think that’s apparent to me and guys that are working hard to do the right thing are getting rewarded. I think that they’re bringing in guys to make sure that this becomes a winning culture and that everybody here is going to be here for one reason and that’s to win hockey games. I’m glad I’m here and I’m excited to be here next year.”

On the internal competition, “Internal competition is very important but more than just everybody wanted to get better is just as important as internal competition. When you’re on a team and you want to win and that’s the goal. When you see your teammates trying to get better every day it pushes you to get better. I wouldn’t say it’s as much competition as it is you want to continue to grow everyday as a player and continue to get better. When teammates are pushing themselves as hard as they can it’s easy for you to do the same.”

His takeaway from time in Buffalo, “It’s definitely a little bit of a grind. There’s a different schedule up there than there is here. There aren’t as many weekends, more of an every other night and you really need to take care of your body and be ready for whatever they throw at you. It was a great experience for me and obviously a dream come true to play in the NHL this year but there’s still a lot more me to learn and grow on. I just want to keep getting better everyday and throughout the summer.”

On the teams challenge all season of needing to play 60 minutes, “There was definitely ups and downs. I think having different lineups every night had definitely plays a little bit of a factor but at the end of the day I think we need to continue to grow as a team and understand what it takes to win down the stretch. It’s a different animal with the second half of the year and heading into the playoffs. I think it’s good that we got some playoff experience and there’s going to be a lot of guys back that had it this season. I think we need to take from what it what we can and then forget about it and move forward. It’s definitely important to have a good second half and peak at the right time.”

Asked if the spot in the standings allowed anyone to get too comfortable, “I wouldn’t say anyone got too comfortable. Different parts of the season brings different obstacles and there’s a lot guys on this team that are good players. You sort of have to find your niche and find your role and do it well. I think we definitely we were a tight group and our division was a tough one. Even the teams at the bottom were difficult to play against. I don’t think we got comfortable, I think it was just the way the pro hockey goes. There’s good parity within our league and that shows.”

Asked about doing anything different at the start of next season, “I think if we do things the same way at the beginning of the season and continue to harp on the fact that we need to keep building and keep getting better and not a lull happen. I think one of the important things of winning is not losing more than one game in a row and making sure that home ice your advantage. At the beginning of the year we didn’t do a great job of protecting home ice and I think that’ll be something we harp on. In terms of showing up and preparing for the beginning of the season I think we did a good job and we’ll do that again and hopefully in the middle of the year try to keep it rolling.”

A takeaway of the season, “We have a good team here. The guys here are good and they’re doing a great job rebuilding and it’s exciting. The future is bright.”

***

Kevin Porter

On what was said at the start of the season, “We wanted to change the culture around here and it’s been said all year. Past years the team hasn’t done so well and we wanted to change that. We wanted to make the playoffs and we did that. Obviously didn’t go as far as we wanted to but still a pretty good season and step in the right direction.”

On his individual season, “I always think I can play better. I thought it was ok, not a horrible season but not bad either.”

Looking forward to next season and anything to bring different, “I think we need to be more consistent, me personally. I need to be more consistent. There’s times throughout the season the team had some ups and downs and same for me as well. There’s a lot of games but you have to be ready for all of them.”

On individual success following team success, “I told everyone right from the beginning that if the team does well it’s going to be good for everyone individually. If you go far in the playoffs there’s a lot of people watching. If you make the playoffs there’s a lot of people watching. It would’ve been nice to a little bit farther but the guys got a taste of it and realized that if the team is doing well guys are getting called up. If the team is doing well individuals are usually playing well. I think that’s the mindset we had and had a great group of guys and we’re looking forward to next year.”

Having pride playing in the AHL, “This is still a good league. It’s not the NHL but this is a good league and it’s hard to play in. You have to respect the league and the other teams and we started to learn that a little bit.”

***

Zach Redmond

Looking back at the season, “I think you can call this year a success even though we didn’t go quite as far as we wanted in the playoffs but making the playoffs is a big deal and it was something that the team didn’t do last year or years prior. For us we took a step in the right direction, we didn’t win a cup but we did take a step in the right direction so all in all pretty good.”

On being a leader and if that’s who he’s always been, “I think you keep playing and I’m getting to be one of the more experienced guys now so I think that is just naturally how things progress. You have answers to questions to some of the younger guys have it’s just inherited I guess.”

On consistency issues this season and how it can be fixed, “That’s just something teams strive for in general and it’s just holding yourself accountable to a man in the room. It’s really all that is, you have to want to win and bring that same effort to the rink every day.”

On if he thought he should have been given more of a look this season in the NHL, “I think it would have been nice but they have their plans but maybe I would have been a little more bitter at the beginning of my career but it’s my job to work for them. However they want to use me is how they want to use me so I just try and do the best that I can.”

On the pride the team appeared to have playing in Rochester, “We saw how special the city is. The fans how they came out Wednesday and showed up all year. It’s a special place to play and you can tell that the team has been here for a long time. It has some deep roots around here and it’s a good spot.”

Personal highlight of the season, “Truthfully getting traded here. The beginning of the year was kind of tough. Things weren’t going well in Montreal. It was time for a fresh start and you just never know if you’re going to get traded and where. For me to get the call that I’m headed here, I knew a few people and heard enough about it to be comfortable right away and it just couldn’t have been a better situation.”

***

Chris Taylor

On remembering this team, “The character is huge for me. I thought our leadership group was unbelievable bringing our team together. It was remarkable and pretty sad seeing guys pack up and leave. The biggest thing I’m going to take out is that we were family and it’s tough for a team to break up like that.”

On the emotion after the game 3 loss and what it says, “It speaks volumes and speaks volumes for the people we brought in here. I thought they did a great job not just on the ice but off the ice in the community. They did everything for the city and they got rewarded by the fans coming out to support them on Wednesday night.”

On the message to Linus as he looks forward, “He has to have a really big summer to make a difference for Buffalo. He has to make a statement at training camp. He still has to earn his sport there. Refocus, go home. He had a long year, was up and down, injured a little bit. A lot of games and a lot of minutes. There’s a reason players voted him MVP, he did a great job for us all year and got us to the playoffs. I’m excited for his future.”

Pride of being a Rochester American, “I think the guys really embraced it. They embraced the community. They did more than what they needed to do in the community and that means going to hospitals on their own time all the time. Doing a lot of stuff in the community. They wanted to change the culture and they did change the culture around here. They made me proud, each and every player that wore the uniform they did a great job with it and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys and this team.”

On the young guys carrying the culture forward, “That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to create good job people, how to work and how to be a pro everyday. If this organization is going to change it has to start from here in Rochester where the young guys are going up to play in the NHL and they take that culture change up with them. There’s still a lot of work to do and we know that. We’re trying to build a better team every day.

On if they found a recipe moving forward, “We don’t want to break up the team and that’s the hard part. It’s a sad day for me, it’s tough. I’ve met a lot of great people the first year as a head coach. These guys worked hard for me everyday and they lead on the ice. The veterans did a great job, our young guys grew. It’s hard but we want those players that are good people first and foremost and a person that comes to work and is a pro every day. Other than that we can teach them anything else on the ice. We’re more than willing to do that. We just want really good people for our community and our team.”

On what he learned as a first year head coach, “The biggest thing for me is communication. There’s never enough of it. You always have to communicate with the guys and understand where they’re at. If you don’t ask you don’t know. I believe communication is big especially in this day and age the kids want feedback all the time. I learned that you have to ask questions to them and keep on them. My philosophy is to be honest and sometimes I was a little too honest and sometimes they didn’t like that but I think that’s the best way and I think I got some respect for being honest to them. You just learn everyday is a new day and you’re learning a lot. I’ve learned a lot from other coaches in this league. I’ve learned from Gord, Toby and Randy. I’ve learned from you guys the media what to say and what not to say, how to talk and not to say things when I’m not supposed to say things.”

On being different behind closed doors, “I say a lot of things to those guys behind closed doors because I feel like it’s for me it’s the right thing to do. It’s not for anyone else to hear. I’m hard on guys and I think guys respect that because they know where they’re at and it makes them better. I also like to have fun and laugh with these guys. It works both ways.”

On looking forward to next season already, “At the exit meetings guys said how much they loved coming to the rink everyday. That speaks volumes of what we changed here. First and foremost they love coming to the rink which means they’re going to play harder and do a good job. I miss it already. I wish we were playing tonight. I can’t even imagine what the crowd would have been like and that sucks. I think playing against Syracuse opened up a lot eyes for our young guys and older guys. It’s tough, it’s tough to win in this league. They’re a good team and good organization and that’s where we want to be.”

On what has to be added, “I think we have to add more toughness. A little more gritty. We have some playoff experience and they’ve already had playoff experience. They knew when to score the big goal, they knew how to respond after a goal against and come right back at us with a goal. That’s just the experience of playing in the playoffs and now we have some of that. A team like Syracuse never stops, they’re relentless on us. They’re a good hockey team and I believe they’re going to go pretty far.”

Talking more about that grit, “I think we expected them to be playing so tough. Because we didn’t have enough playoff experience we didn’t expect them to come as hard as they did and it’s a different level. We don’t have to bring in anybody, we just have to bring the grit out of us. Some points we had it in the game and sometimes we didn’t.”

On being more consistent next season, “We just teach them the same things and another year of experience. They understand where I’m coming from now. It’s nice to have stability in your coaching staff and that you’re not changing each year. We’re not building a different program. Most of the guys that were here this year will be back next year or in Buffalo so everyone knows what we expect and how expect things done. We already have a head start already next year.”

“Can I come back?” That’s what Taylor asked in response to a question about Gord Dineen and Toby Peterson returning as coaches, which they are expected to.

On the play of Justin Bailey, “He performed. He stepped for us and I thought he took huge steps in these playoffs. It’s good to see and that’s what you want to see, you want to see young guys come out and do things like he did. I thought he grew as a person this year and I think he grew as a player as well. He’s maturing and hopefully he’s ready for that next step. He has to have a big summer. All of these guys have to have big summers to work on things for next year at training camp. Everyone has a chance in Buffalo.”

Asked if those things were discussed with him, “We discussed it with him all the time, we discuss it with every player. You have to use your size and physicality. He’s a great athlete. He can skate, went into hard areas and he used his linemates very well. At the start of the year he was trying to do too much and hang on to the puck too much. He’s growing and maturing. It’s his third year now so it’s good to see him finally understand what he needs to do and when he does it he’s dominate. He can be a dominate player.”

There hasn’t been any update on Justin Bailey.

Asked about whether lingering injuries played a role in the playoffs, “No. We had depth and I’m not going to use that excuse for why we lost. It had nothing to do with it, was just Syracuse outplaying us.”

Personal highlight of the season, “Making the playoffs. I thought with all of the man game losses this year with injuries and call ups I feel that Randy did a great job getting a lot of depth for us. We didn’t have to go looking anyplace or with different teams. We called up within. Just making the playoffs. The best thing I had these the last two days was how everyone came into my office and said how happy they were to come to the rink and the atmosphere and the culture and how much they loved the city and everyone wants to come back. To me that means the world to me that they want to come back to Rochester to play.”

Talking about Randy Sexton and the partnership they have, “He’s a partnership for sure. Randy did a great job communicating everyday with what he wanted and what he expects from us. He created the culture too. He brought these guys in, he brought in good people. He’s visible around here which was nice, he gave us direction. We knew what we had to do and we focused on that. We focused on not only developing but focused on winning and creating a place where everybody wanted to come. I think we did that and he supplied all that stuff for us. The partnership that we have is great. He’s a guy I trust with everything. I know he trusts me and we have a good working relationship. I just can’t say enough good things about Randy and what he’s done for this organization, it’s great. He started it all off for us. When I say he’s visible he’s always around for the players. The players can ask him any questions for situations like why am I not getting a chance in Buffalo or why am I not playing and he’s there to answer all the tough questions. He’s not hiding. He’s around for fans if they need him and he’s been great with the media.”

On what Alexander Nylander needs to do for next season, “I thought he grew as a player. Again everyone’s going to probably say to me it’s his second year, how much more growing can he do, he’s 20 now. He’s young. What I like about him is that he’s improving everyday and he’s maturing everyday. He’s learning from the right people in the dressing room. He’s learning how to be a pro. He battled injury at the start of the year and he came back from that. He had to learn how to come back from the injury he’s never had before. Those are the things, intangibles people don’t understand. People just want the product on the ice to be go out there and do it. There’s a lot of things that are involved with that and I think he’s making huge steps.”

On learning from the playoff loss, “The biggest thing is that they all felt bad they let us down. I told them they didn’t let us down, they worked their butts off. I thought they gave everything they had and that’s all you can ask for. I thought our whole team competed every night. I don’t know if the scores really dictated how close the games really were. I thought we were in every game. I thought they were exciting and could have went either way at some points. We missed three breakaways in the first game. We didn’t score on a 5 on 3 in the other games. Those are the differences, small differences that we learned from now after we got eliminated that we have to bury those chances. That’s how small the difference in a game can be.”

Rochester Comments from Sexton and Botterill at the Draft

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The 2018 NHL Draft is in the history books and everyone knows what Buffalo did so here’s some Rochester related comments. Jason Botterill and Randy Sexton met with the media after the draft and here’s what they had to say with direct relation to Rochester.

The two interviews below are worth watching in their entirety for anyone who’s clicked here at this point. These are a couple of sound bites from both Botterill and Sexton that relate to Rochester since this site is focused on the Amerks.

Talking about not taking a junior player from the CHL …

“In a scenario where you have a more extended period period of four years in most situations for Europeans or players going to college. Just allows you more opportunity for them to develop.”

This is important because it provides a lot more flexibility for development and growth.

Botterill talking about drafting defenseman …

“As much as we’re excited about Brendan Guhle, we want to make sure there’s more Brandan Guhle’s coming and that was a point of emphasis for us the last couple of days.”

On where they are as an organization with scoring …

“We’ve brought in players such as CJ Smith. We look at a player such as Baptiste and Bailey that have scored at different levels that we want to continue to help them out.”

He didn’t really add much but emphasized these three players and continuing to help them improve. CJ Smith would have been a likely AHL Rookie of the Year candidate if he didn’t get injured. Justin Bailey had a tremendous end to the regular season and was one of the best offensive players in the playoffs. Nick Baptiste appeared to find his role within the organization and was determined more than ever to solidify his role.

In terms of goaltending for both Buffalo and Rochester …

“You look throughout our organization it’s something we have to add in our mind, we feel we have to add two goalies for sure.”

Asking about Victor Antipin he said they’ve been upfront with Lehner and added …

“For the rest of our qualifying offers we’ll make a statement on Monday.”

Randy Sexton had a laugh with the media when asked about Lawrence Pilut …

“I thought you were going to ask me if Dahlin needed a year in Rochester, I was going to say absolutely maybe two.”

“Lawrence Pilut fits the mold that we have. He’s a mobile puck moving defenseman. He’s not necessarily the biggest guy but you don’t need to be big to play anymore particularly on the back end. You need to be smart. You need to have vision and read the play well and need to be able to identify your options quickly and execute wth precision. That’s what he does.”

“We do believe because of his high hockey IQ it won’t take him long to get adjusted.”

In other words, he’ll likely start in Rochester with a lot of opportunity to move up. We can likely expect Pilut to start in Rochester and if things go well for him he’ll get a look in Buffalo, much like Guhle did during the 2017/2018 season.

“We’re in great shape on the back end for Rochester. We have a little bit of work to do up front. And we certainly have work to do organizationally in net, that certainly will be a focus for us.”

On what else is needed in Rochester to get to an elite level …

“If you want to compete with the elite teams and go deep in the playoffs you need your veterans but you need a very good core of talented young players and we’re not quite there yet to be candid. So we have to do that. Number two we have to learn to win consistently. It’s easier said than done.”

He went on to praise the development and coaching staff.

Sexton on his message to Nylander …

“Probably the most important off season of training in his young life.”

“The American League is a very good league and it’s a very difficult league to play in for young players. It’s not unusual for them to struggle a little bit and Alex is no different. He’s in Buffalo now and has been doing his training a little bit. Big summer for him but continue to have high expectations, high hopes for Alex.”

Randy Sexton on Colin Blackwell …

“I’ve had some ongoing discussions with Colin’s agent. We would like to have him back. Just trying to find the right mechanism to make things work for both parties.”

Again, if you’ve made it this far set aside 20 minutes and watch both of these.

First Road Trip, Unacceptable Price Habits and Lawrence Pilut

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The Amerks are on the road for the first time this season with back to back afternoon road games in Bridgeport. The attitude and mindset towards bus trips will change later on in the season but it’s good to get one out of the way early on.

“Road trips really help you bond a lot and I think it will be exciting to get on the road,” CJ Smith said after practice this week. “With training camp, living in hotels and people trying to find places to live everybody is so scrambled we really haven’t had too much time away from the rink as a team. It’ll be nice for everyone to be in the same spot and get that team bonding.”

Lawrence Pilut had the same thoughts saying, “It’s always fun to get on the road with all the guys and everything. Will be a fun experience and a lot of them this year, i’m looking forward to it.”

There’s already bonding off the ice with guys playing video games together online – mainly Fortnite. Lawrence Pilut said he’s a player, Victor Olofsson as well. When I asked who else played the game the response was it’d probably be easier to find out who doesn’t.

Talking about the road trip Chris Taylor said, “The biggest thing is getting a win Wednesday night and everyone happy going on the bus, that makes life a lot easier I’ll tell you that. We want everyone to be happy. The culture on our bus is bigger than in the dressing room. Confined spaces, everyone is talking, watching movies, laughing, enjoying each other and that makes the team a lot closer.”

A five and a half hour bus trip means there’ll be movies on the bus but what those movies are is often a closely guarded secret.

“The young guys control them but i don’t know, last year we didn’t have a great selection so we may have to go a different way,” Chris Taylor said this week. He added with a laugh, “we have a lot of Swedish guys so I don’t know if we’re going to get sub titles or not so we have to make sure we get the right movies.”

After three games there’s a three way lead for leader in points. Lawrence Pilut (2G+2A), Victor Olofsson (1G+3A) and Zach Redmond (1G+3A). Pilut also leads the team with a plus 4 rating. Yes, we know that’s an outdated stat in hockey but this isn’t the NHL with analytics available to break down.

Chris Taylor had this to say about Pilut so far, “He’s played for the world championships so he’s played against a lot of key NHL players. We know what he can bring, what he can add and we want him to get better. Get used to this ice surface, get used to his angles and his timing because it’s a big difference from the bigger surface to this surface. He’s doing a great job with that. On the power play he’s doing a great job just getting pucks through. Defensively he’s got a good stick, he’s kind of like the Nicklas Lidstrom, he doesn’t use his body as much but he’s got a great stick and his positional play is very well.”

***

Roster changes the first two games of the season set the tone that right now there’s competition for playing time. The team has six extra players that have been scratched through the first three games.

“I tried to set the standard right off the bat if you don’t play well,” Taylor said. “The accountability is there, we’ll put someone else in the lineup.”

Being a tough and gritty team to play against is the identity that the team wants to carry with them through the season and through the first three games and following practices they haven’t lived up to it. Taylor stopped practice at one point on Friday telling guys they need to practice the way they want to play which means bumping bodies.

“It’s not just for our defensive habits out there, its for our offensive habits too. If we’re not used to playing against guys that are hitting in practice and then all of a sudden we’re in a game and not used to it. We need to push each other every day. It’s not acceptable that we don’t practice like we play. We make sure we preached that and we want to make sure we’re doing that and it’ll make us that much better.”

The win on Wednesday night was better but everyone knows it was only one game. The first two losses were a result of nerves, being tentative and a lot of poor decisions with the puck.

CJ Smith had a big game with a goal and an assist. He said, “I’d rather have a slow start and pick it up later in the year instead of having a hot start and cooling off towards the playoffs like last year. It was a really good response and I think we’re slowly getting in the right direction we want to play and hopefully keep it rolling into the weekend.”

Kyle Criscuolo also had a goal and an assist on Wednesday night. The assist was on the goal from CJ Smith and the assist CJ Smith had was on the goal that Criscuolo scored.

When Taylor was asked about CJ Smith and Criscuolo he said, “It was chemistry but we made good smart changes and our defense stood up. We made some turnovers against their team. Those are goals we wish we would’ve scored Friday night with the crowd and it would’ve gotten the whole building going. Obviously when you lose the first two you’re not going to have a big crowd supporting you as much and that’s on us. We need to play exciting hockey for fans to come out and watch.”

With three road games before returning home next Friday the team generate some excitement with additional wins to interest fans in coming back.

The puck drops at 1pm Saturday and 3pm Saturday in Bridgeport. You can listen live on ESPN Rochester 95.7 FM/950 AM or watch on AHLTV.

***

For the off ice stuff, here’s some updates on concessions and the AHLTV feed for games out of Blue Cross Arena:

ICYMI, here’s the recap from the win on Wednesday:

 

Olofsson Leads Amerks to Two Comeback Wins

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The Amerks took care of some firsts of the season over the weekend and were rewarded with four points in the standings. Down by two goals on Saturday they came back to win 4-3 with goals from CJ Smith, Alex Nylander and the game winner from Victor Olofsson. Sunday afternoon they were down 2-1 going into the third period and Zach Redmond scored early in the third and Victor Olofsson scored the game winning goal in overtime.

They’re now on a three game winning streak after opening the season with two miserable home ice losses.

For immediate updates on all games make sure to follow @LetsGoAmerks on Twitter!

Recaps below are from Amerks.com

Saturday 10/13/2018

(Bridgeport, CT) … Facing a 3-1 deficit midway through the second period of the first game of the weekend-series with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (1-2-0-0), the Rochester Americans (2-2-0-0) answered with three straight unanswered goals, including one in the final minute from rookie forward Victor Olofsson, to earn a 4-3 come-from-behind win at Webster Bank Arena Saturday afternoon.

For the second consecutive contest, Olofsson (1+1) and veteran defenseman Zach Redmond (0+2) each booked multi-point performances to help the Amerks to their second straight win. Kevin Porter and Alexander Nylander each scored their first goals of the campaign while second-year forward C.J. Smith added his team-leading third tally in Rochester’s first four games. Scott Wedgewood stopped 20 of 23 to record his first official win between the pipes while wearing the red, white and blue.

Travis St. Denis and Connor Jones each netted the first markers of the season for the Sound Tigers while Steve Bernier added his second of the slate in the defeat. Goaltender Christopher Gibson made 24 saves but was handed his second straight loss.

Moments after the Amerks’ sixth man-advantage of the game had expired, Brendan Guhle fired a shot from just inside the Sound Tigers blueline. It appeared that Gibson was likely going to force a whistle, but Smith was able to dig the puck out before the goaltender could glove it and slipped it over the goal-line to trim the Bridgeport lead to 3-2 with 4:30 left.

Guhle and Justin Bailey each were credited with helpers on Smith’s team-leading third goal of the year.

Before the final period of regulation reached the 5:00 mark, the Amerks drew a pair of cross-checking infractions and had a 5-on-3 for 1:22.

WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS


Rochester controlled the puck for much of the first-half of the penalty before Nylander rocketed a cross-ice feed from Olofsson to knot the score at 3-3 with 14:26 left in regulation.

It was the Amerks’ second power-play goal of the game and fifth in the last two contests.

Redmond and Olofsson each picked up their American Hockey League-leading fourth power-play assist on Nylander’s first tally of the season. As for Nylander, the third-year pro shows four points (1+3) over his last three games and is fourth among the team’s skaters with eight shots.

Before the Amerks finished the come-from-behind win they were forced to kill off their own 5-on-3 disadvantage for an entire two minutes inside the final 4:14 of regulation.

Much like the Rochester shorthanded unit had done in the three previous infractions on the afternoon, the Amerks successfully killed off the penalty and seized the momentum.

As an overtime period was looming, Danny O’Regan forced a turnover in the neutral zone that Olofsson flagged down near the offensive zone. Protecting the puck as he entered Bridgeport zone, the Swedish forward sent a backhanded-shot over the left shoulder of the unsuspecting Gibson to give Rochester its first lead of the afternoon with one minute left in the game.

The goal was Olofsson’s fifth point (2+3) in his last two outings, giving him a share of the league’s scoring lead among all AHL first-year skaters.

Despite Bridgeport pulling the goaltender for the final 60 seconds of the matchup, the Amerks held off the attack to earn the 4-3 come-from-behind victory, their second straight comeback win in the last two contests.

With the today’s win, the Amerks have improved to 3-1-1-0 in their last five meetings against the Sound Tigers after going just 1-3-0-0 in the four meetings during the 2016-17 season.

Bridgeport took a 2-1 lead and a 12-8 shot advantage into the first intermission before Rochester outscored the Sound Tigers 3-1 over the final 40 minutes of play. The Amerks registered 20 shots over that same span.

The Amerks and Sound Tigers get right back at it for the second of back-to-back meetings at Webster Bank Arena Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The contest can be heard live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester and viewed on AHLTV.

Goal Scorers

ROC: Porter (1), C. Smith (3), Nylander (1), Olofsson (2 – GWG)|
BRI: Jones (1), St. Denis (1), Bernier (2)

Goaltenders
ROC: Wedgewood– 20/23 (W)
BRI: Gibson – 24/28 (L)

Shots
ROC: 28
BRI: 23

Special Teams

ROC: PP (2/8) | PK (5/5)
BRI: PP (0/5) | PK (6/8)

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Sunday 10/14/2018

(Bridgeport, CT) …After setting up the game-tying goal in the third period to force overtime during Sunday afternoon’s game between the Rochester Americans (3-2-0-0) and Bridgeport Sound Tigers (1-2-1-0), rookie forward Victor Olofsson delivered the game-winning goal just 1:46 into the extra stanza to give Rochester a 3-2 victory at the Webster Bank Arena.

With today’s overtime-victory, the Amerks have improved to 4-1-1-0 in their last six meetings against the Sound Tigers. Additionally, Rochester has won back-to-back games in Bridgeport for the first time in franchise history.

For the third consecutive contest, Olofsson (1+1) tallied a multi-point game to help lead Rochester to its third straight win while second-year defenseman Brendan Guhle added a pair of assists for his first two-point outing of the season. Zach Redmond recorded his second goal of the slate while Eric Cornel also bagged his second of the campaign. Goaltender Adam Wilcox, who made his second start in the last three contests, finished the game with 15 saves to earn his second win of the season. Dating back to the end of the 2017-18 season, Wilcox shows a record of 4-0-1 in his last five appearances.

Travis St. Denis and Mike Sislo each lit the lamp for Bridgeport while netminder Jeremy Smith stopped 29 shots but was given his first overtime loss of the season.

The Sound Tigers tallied a pair of second-period goals and took a 2-1 lead into the final period. However, a late penalty gave the Amerks a full two minutes of power-play time to begin the final 20 minutes of regulation.

WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS


Rochester only needed 48 seconds to even the game as Redmond gave the club its league-leading seventh power-play goal of the season from Olofsson and Lawrence Pilut.

The marker was Redmond’s seventh point of the season, which paces all AHL defensemen, and Olofsson’s fifth assist while on the man-advantage that leads all AHL skaters.

Continuing with the momentum, the Amerks outshot the Sound Tigers 11-2 during the final period but an extra-period was required as the two teams were tied at 2-2.

The two teams traded a shot early in overtime, but Guhle collected the puck out in front of Wilcox and gave it to Olofsson near the center-ice dot. The Swedish forward entered the offensive zone 1-on-3 but he quickly fired a shot that glanced off the inside of left post and past Smith to complete the two-game weekend sweep.

Cornel gave the Amerks a 1-0 lead after the first period as he redirected his second goal of the season past Smith at the 15:11 mark from Guhle and Alexander Nylander.

With his assist, Nylander has five assists over his last four games while Guhle earned a helper for the second straight night after being held without a point in the first three contests of the year.

Bridgeport was able to score a pair of goals in the second before Redmond knotted the score in the first minute of the third that ultimately forced overtime.

The Amerks close out their three-game road swing on Wednesday, Oct. 17 when they face the North Division rival Utica Comets at the Adirondack Bank Center. The 7:00 p.m. contest will be the first of 10 scheduled meetings between the two team this season and can be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Goal Scorers

ROC: Cornel (2), Redmond (2), Olofsson (3 – OT GWG)
BRI: Sislo (1), St. Denis (2)

Goaltenders

ROC: Wilcox– 15/17 (W)
BRI: Smith – 29/32 (OTL)

Shots

ROC: 32
BRI: 17

Special Teams

ROC: PP (1/2) | PK (1/2)
BRI: PP (1/2) | PK (1/2)

Rookie Victor Olofsson is Leading the Amerks in October

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Rookie forward Victor Olofsson of the Rochester Americans has broken a couple of windows at his parents house growing up and when asked about the garage door he said it’s not beautiful. The damage appears to have paid off after this weekend when Olofsson scored two game winning goals with the quick shot he’s known for. He used a wicked back hand shot with 60 seconds left in the game on Saturday followed by blazing through three defenders in overtime on Sunday scoring bar down.

Look back at most reviews of the Sabres draft in 2014 and it’ll focus on Sam Reinhart, Eric Cornel and Jonas Johansson. Olofsson was picked 181st overall in the 7th round out of 210 players in the draft there’ll be a short mention his speed and shooting capabilities but little in depth about projecting him into an NHL lineup. Olofsson wasn’t even at the draft, he found out he was drafted when he received a phone call from his dad while golfing with a friend.

Fast forward to the October 2018 and he’s leading the Amerks in points and is tied in the AHL for the lead in rookie scoring with 8 points (3G+5A). Die hards have known him, now he’s household name for hockey fans in Rochester and Buffalo.

There’s always a questions about players adjusting to the North American game and after five games they’ve all been addressed on the ice, Olofsson has adjusted with ease.

Early season success leading the Amerks to three straight wins has earned Olofsson the CCM / AHL Player of the Week honors and at this rate it won’t be his last.

One of the first things he said that has stood out so far playing in this league is that it’s obviously a lot tighter and you don’t have much time with the puck.

“The game itself is I would say you go more straight forward here,” he said. “Maybe a little but more puck possession than back in Sweden which i’m used to. There’s a little bit more just take the puck straight forward sweep it in, sweep it out.” Compared to Sweden he said, “if you don’t have anything you might take the puck back, regroup and go back up the ice again. That’s probably the biggest difference.”

Asked about the physical style of play in the American league he shrugged it off as just coming with the smaller ice surface and that he’s prepared for it. He hasn’t hesitated skating up the ice, through other players or challenging for pucks along the boards.

Danny O’Regan has skated on a line with Olofsson through each of the five games and when asked if it takes some time to build chemistry he replied with, “There’s always a little bit of a feel out process but i think it’s been pretty quick with both him and Aspy (Rasmus Asplund), they’re very easy to play with. Unselfish players and they’re smart and know the game well. With guys like that it’s pretty easy to mesh with it.”

Chris Taylor talked about what he’s thought of Olofsson so far saying, “I think he’s doing a good job. It’s a totally different league than what he’s used to. He’s finding the net right now but there’s some things he needs to improve on. Some wall play and trying to get inside of players. We’re doing video with him everyday and trying to get him better. We’re trying to get him to a place that he feels a lot more comfortable on the ice.”

“I don’t think anyone has seen his speed as of yet right now because i think he’s still a little hesitant on what he can do,” Taylor added. “That will come with confidence.”

Olofsson said the feedback from the coaches so far has been to just try to take as many pucks as he can to the net along with find some loose pucks and rebounds. “I’m starting to feel pretty good,” he said. The advice he’s been given so far from coaches and management to make the next step in reaching the NHL is to keep working on playing on the inside, get to the net as much as possible and find open ice to shoot.

It’s still early but the last time Rochester saw a player emerge like this as a natural goal scorer with a shot like this was Dixon Ward during the Amerks 1995/1996 Calder Cup winning season. Ward finished the regular season with 38 goals and 56 assists in 71 games. In 19 playoff games Ward had finished with 11 goals and 24 assists.

“He has a great shot obviously but we just don’t want him to just be known as a guy that has a good shot,” Chris Taylor said when I asked about it. “We want him to have all aspects of his game. His skating, drive pucks hard and even his passing. He’s a good passer and those guys with great shots need to learn how to pass the puck even better because now everyone focuses on them and then someone else can be open.”

Passing the puck came natural over the weekend with two assists. A secondary assist sending the puck up the wall to Guhle who setup Redmond along with faking this shot below to setup Alex Nylander with a one timer.

Olofsson was pretty modest when asked about his shot. He said it’s something that has been a little bit of natural ability along with practice. Practice that included broken windows and a beat up garage door as a kid. I asked him if he’d buy his parents a new garage door with his first NHL paycheck and he laughed saying maybe.

Sniping a puck with a back handed shot isn’t easy but Olofsson made it look easy on Saturday afternoon.

Olofsson scored this shot bar down after skating through three Sound Tigers players in overtime on Sunday.

Second year forward CJ Smith had some excitement when asked what he thought of Olofsson shooting the puck. He said, “I don’t even know how to describe his release, it’s incredible. I don’t know how you shoot the puck like that. He’ll learn how to find some time and space and when he does I think he’s going to be a pretty lethal scorer out there.”

Line mate Danny O’Regan said, “If i see him open in the slot i’m definitely going to pass it to him.”

Teams scout the opposition and after back to back game winning goals, three straight games with a goal and three straight multiple point games it’s safe to say that Victor Olofsson has moved right to the top of players to watch for in the American league.

Olofsson has been through five development camps with the Sabres and even though those are in Buffalo he feels familiar with the region. Off the ice Olofsson said that it’s not much different than what he’s used to. Work hard in the gym, a lot of time playing Fortnite with friends and teammates, music (rap and country) and in terms of favorite hockey movie the choice is Youngblood. He’s only been in Rochester for a short time but wasn’t familiar with what a garbage plate is. Like most new people to Rochester there was little interest after having it described.

For anyone reading that isn’t familiar with the Rochester delicacy known as a garbage plate it’s a plate with the most common ingredients being home fries, macaroni salad, two cheeseburgers and topped with a unique meat hot sauce, mustard and onions.

Linus Ullmark lived in Rochester for three years and never ate one. We won’t blame Olofsson if he doesn’t either.


The Last Five (Games 1-5)

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Welcome to a new series I have planned through the rest of the season in which I’ll highlight the last five games (the last segment will be six games) showing off the stats, standings, highlights, transactions and whatever else took place prior to the next five games. The goal is to post these the day of the next game of a five game set. There’ll be an evolution to all of this especially in the way stats are presented. A little different than a weekly format to give us a better snapshot of trends as the season goes.

After starting the season with two depressing losses the Amerks are on a three game winning streak, the last two wins were third period comebacks. Victor Olofsson was named the AHL/CCM Hockey Player of the Week for his outstanding performance with 3G+5A including two game winning goals. The team was all over the place in the first two games and since then has played as a team and it’s showing by the results.

Articles (that aren’t game recaps) in case you missed them

Wins and Losses – Games 1-5

  • L 10/5 Game 1: Charlotte (6) vs Rochester (2) [ Recap ]
  • L 10/6 Game 2: Charlotte (4) vs Rochester (2) [ Recap ]
  • W 10/10 Game 3: Syracuse (3) vs Rochester (6) [ Recap ]
  • W 10/13 Game 4: Rochester (4) at Bridgeport (3) [ Recap ]
  • OTW 10/14 Game 5: Rochester (3) at Bridgeport (2) [ Recap ]

Leaders in the last five

  • Victor Olofsson (3G+5A)
  • Lawrence Pilut (2G+5A)
  • Zach Redmond (2G+5A)
  • Alex Nylander (1G+4A)
  • CJ Smith (3G+1A)

More than Just Points

Victor Olofsson had been hyped as a player with a wicked shot and in the last three games he has delivered. He also showed off a quick pass to Alex Nylander for a five on three power play goal.

Lawrence Pilut started the first period of the first game of the season all over the ice, not in a good way, but ever since then he’s showed off why he was the best defenseman last season in the SHL over in Sweden. Chris Taylor compared him to Nicklas Lidstrom the way he can use his stick to make plays and isn’t relying on a physical game with body on body.

Adam Wilcox has two of the three team wins with Scott Wedgewood getting an unfair deal having ten goals scored against (he didn’t have much help) in the two losses. The two goalies have played well and received help the last three games compared to the first two.

Andrew MacWilliam returned to the lineup after sitting out the first two games with a carry over suspension from the 2017/2018 season. The team seems to play a better defensive game when he’s in the lineup compared to when he isn’t.

Alex Nylander has looked like an improved hockey player through only five games. He’s made mistakes (so has everyone else) but he’s also making plays and winning puck battles that he would have backed away from the last two seasons. He’s a third year player who should just be entering his rookie season in the league.

Goals and Shots

Pretty simple. Score more than the other team in the third period and you’ll probably win hockey games. That’s what the Amerks did in the last three games and they earned their first three wins of the season.

There’s one thing that stands out by shot counts by period and that’s the third period of game two vs Charlotte when they had 20 shots in the third period. In that period they only allowed six shots as well. There wasn’t anything positive one could really say about the first game of the season but by the third period of game two they were looking like a different hockey team and it carried over into the next three games.

Again, I’ll figure out a better way to present these stats and also make it easier to know by line which game the stat is from.

Special Teams

Power play is ranked 4th in the league at 31.8%

Penalty kill is ranked 24th overall in the league at 72.7%

Lawrence Pilut and Zach Redmond have two power play goals each. CJ Smith scored a short handed goal.

Syracuse had eight power play chances in game three and the Amerks were successful when they needed it in the second and third periods. One of the many things that has fueled this team in three straight wins has been timely power play goals when they needed them and then successful penalty kills at crucial parts of a game. Late in the third period in the fourth game against Bridgeport they were able to kill off a five on three when the game was tied 3-3.

PP and PK in games 1-5 by period:

Standings

Heading into the sixth game of the season the Amerks are in a four way tie for first place along with Binghamton, Utica and Cleveland. Just a reminder that Syracuse started last season near the bottom of the league before coming on strong and finishing second in the division.

Highlight Goal

Rochester was down 2-1 going into the third period on Sunday October 14 at Bridgeport. Zach Redmond scored 60 seconds into the third period. Victor Olofsson skated through three Sound Tigers players to win the game in overtime. It was his second game winning goal in as many games.

The Next Five – Games 6-10

The defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies are off to a rough start with only one win in five games. Their only win was a 7-3 game vs Utica to start the season. Since then they’ve had losses to Binghamton, Cleveland and back to back games vs Utica. Since opening night Utica has only lost one other game and that was a one goal game vs a quality Charlotte Checkers team. With 10 points on the line versus divisional opponents in the next five games there’s a lot on the line early in the season. These games will be a great indicator on how teams match up within the division.

  • Wednesday 10/17/2018 at Utica Comets 7:00pm
  • Friday 10/19/2018 vs Toronto Marlies 7:05pm
  • Saturday 10/20/2018 at Belleville 7:00pm
  • Friday 10/26/2018 vs Utica Comets 7:05pm
  • Saturday 10/27/2018 vs Laval Rocket 7:05pm

Injuries

  • Myles Powell – Unknown – day to day
  • Andrew Oglevie – Unknown – day to day – Only played the first period on 10/13, didn’t play on 10/14.
  • Jack Dougherty – Lower body – day to day – Believed to have blocked a shot on Wednesday October 10 vs Syracuse.
  • Sean Malone – Knee – six weeks (late October) – Occurred late in the second period of the Sabres preseason game vs Columbus on Sept 17. Expected to return at the end of October.

Transactions

  • Matt Tennyson was assigned to Rochester on 10/15/2018

Highlight Videos

This series will be a work in progress as the season goes on and I manage to prevent stats in a better way. For now it’s a simple glimpse into the last five games and we’ll use it as comparisons going forward.

Amerks Top Marlies in Shootout for Fifth Straight Win

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Courtesy of Amerks.com from October 19, 2018

(Rochester, NY) … Despite seeing their two-goal lead slip away, the Rochester Americans (5-2-0-0) went a perfect 3-for-3 in the shootout to come away with a 5-4 win over the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies (1-4-0-1) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena. Tonight’s victory give the Amerks five straight, marking their longest stretch since winning the first five games of April during the 2013-14 campaign.

Danny O’Regan tallied his second multi-point game as he netted his second and third goals of the season while Zach Redmond notched a pair of assists in the victory, pushing his point streak to six games. Alexander Nylander also extended his point streak to a career-best six games as he notched his third goal of the slate while Brendan Guhlerecorded his first marker of the campaign to push his point streak to four straight outings. Nylander shows eight points (3+5) in his last six outings while Guhle has posted a goal and four helpers during his streak. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood earned his third consecutive win after starting the season winless in his first two appearances for Rochester.

WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Despite being led by Sam Gagner, Carl Grundstrom and Dmytro Timashov, all of whom posted a goal and an assist, Toronto lost its fifth straight game on the young season. Veteran netminder Jeff Glass stopped 36 shots but was handed a shootout loss to drop his season record to 0-2-1 in four appearances.

With the Amerks ahead and clinging to a one-goal lead late in the final period of play, the Marlies pulled Glass for the extra-skater in the game’s last 90 seconds. Gagner scored on a one-time feed with 10 seconds left to force overtime.

Neither of the two clubs scored in the extra-frame despite Rochester drawing a power-play and the shootout was required as they were tied at 4-4.

WATCH: CHRIS TAYLOR POST-GAME

Victor OlofssonC.J. Smith and Wayne Simpson all scored for the Amerks, who elected to shoot first, while Wedgewood stopped both Gagner and Pierre Engvall’s attempts to give the Amerks a 5-4 victory.

“It was a good game,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor after the win. “I am happy to get two points against a good team, but I wasn’t exactly happy with how we started or finished the game. Saying that, I am glad to come away with the win, though.”

The two North Division rivals traded goals to begin the contest before Nylander gave the Amerks a 2-1 lead with a late first-period goal.

On Nylander’s goal, rookie defenseman Will Borgen picked up his first-career professional point.

WATCH: BRENDAN GUHLE POST-GAME

“Toronto is a fast team,” said Guhle. “We knew they were going to come in the first period and we were forced to change some things during the intermission. It was a big goal by ‘Nyls’ to give us a lead despite how we played in the first.”

After O’Regan doubled Rochester’s lead 2:20 into the middle period, the Marlies cut into the lead as Timashov made it a 3-2 score with a power-play goal.

Nearly four minutes after the Marlies marker, Guhle joined an odd-man rush and slipped the puck in-between Glass’ pads off a nifty set-up from C.J. Smith with 9:11 remaining in the second to regain the Amerks two-goal cushion. Smith and Justin Bailey were awarded the assists on the goal.

WATCH: DANNY O’REGAN POST-GAME

Similar to its first goal, Toronto used a cross-crease pass to make it a one-goal game yet again with 5:11 left in the second stanza.

The two clubs accounted for 56 shots through 40 minutes but Rochester carried a 4-3 lead into the final period of regulation.

In a back-and-forth close-knit third period, Toronto evened the game late in the frame to force overtime before the Amerks won in the shootout.

“It was good to get the win after a late goal by them,” O’Regan said. “It’s always good to get a win against a good team like them, but we still have areas we can improve on.”

WATCH: ZACH REMOND POST-GAME

“It was a good test and getting the win was good, but I don’t think we played our best game,” admitted Redmond. “We have to close out those types of games and we were lucky to get the win tonight.”

With the tonight’s victory, it gives Rochester its fourth straight win over the Marlies dating back to last season. Additionally, in 10 of the last 13 meetings between the two clubs dating back to the 2016-17 campaign, the team who has scored the first goal of the game has gone on to come away with the victory.

The Amerks make their final trip of October and first of the season across the border on Saturday, Oct. 20 to face the Belleville Senators at CAA Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start and can be heard live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester and viewed on AHLTV.

Goal Scorers

ROC: O’Regan (3, 4), Nylander (3), Guhle (1)
TOR: Engvall (3), Timashov (2), Grundstom (2), Gagner (4)

Goaltenders

ROC: Wedgewood– 38/42 (W)
TOR: Glass – 36/40 (SOL)

Shots

ROC: 41
TOR: 42

Special Teams

ROC: PP (0/4) | PK (2/4)
TOR: PP (2/4) | PK (4/4)

Amerks Win a Shorthanded Game

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After the game on Saturday night there should be two teams that aren’t happy with the way things turned out. Laval had 12 power play opportunities and had an advantage of 39-25 in shots but it wasn’t enough to keep the Rochester Americans from winning. An unlikely goal from Yannick Veilleux and another solid performance in net from Scott Wedgewood carried the Amerks to a win. A win is a win but there’s no way a team can be happy giving up 12 power play opportunities.

“I don’t really want to comment on all the penalties but it happens,” Chris Taylor said after the game. “We fought through and got the two points.”

Laval scored a power play goal with 5:43 left in the second period that probably wouldn’t have counted if there was video review. Brett Kulak took a shot from the point as Byron Froese was going across the front of the net. The puck found it’s way into the net and Scott Wedgewood immediately turned to the ref to dispute the call.

“It’s tough without video review, it’s tough in the moment, but sometimes it’s hard for them to make the decision and get yelled at or the other way around,” Scott Wedgewood when asked about the goal. “I understand that but it’s also goals against and situations for us to put us behind the eight ball.”

“I looked at it after the second and he (the ref) told me the contact on my stick was prior to the puck going in. We slowed it down and the puck hadn’t even crossed the hash mark before my stick was in that guys legs.”

Laval controlled the pace of play through the first 40 minutes of the game but with only one goal on the scoreboard it provided Rochester an opportunity to get back into the game.

Chris Taylor didn’t have to say much after the second period, “I thought the guys knew how they were playing and by their self assessment I think you could tell. They came out better in the third and just took obviously too many penalties.” The message from the leadership was simple, bear down for 20 minutes and they did.

A perfect pass from Taylor Fedun to Zach Redmond the game at 8:02 of the third period. CJ Smith followed that up with a short handed goal 75 seconds later to give Rochester a lead and chance in the game.

In a rare moment the Amerks weren’t killing a penalty the fourth line put on the pressure in the offensive zone and Yannick Veilleux capitalized and scored what would turn out to be the game winning goal. Myles Powell didn’t touch the puck but his physical play along the boards allowed Dalton Smith to take a shot and Veilleux buried the rebound.

“I haven’t had any of those bounces in a while so it felt pretty good to get that monkey off my back,” Veilleux said. “Good teams find ways to win and that’s what we did tonight. I think that’s what we’ve been doing since the third game of the year.”

Laval scored again with 2:54 left but it was too little too late. A winning weekend for Rochester thanks to a successful penalty kill.

“We got a lot of guys eating pucks, even on the five on four when Bailey took one in the head and got right back up, it’s a tough job,” Wedgewood said when asked about the work in front of him. He added, “I was just joking with Bailey that now he knows what it feels like when he does it to me in practice.”

Eating pucks had the team banged up after Friday night. Kyle Criscuolo, Matt Tennyson and Tyler Randell are listed as lower body injuries.

“We came out flat and he held us in there,” Kevin Porter said when asked about goalie Scott Wedgewood. “Could’ve been three or four to nothing in the first and we came out zero zero. He’s been awesome.” Ignore the opening weekend of the season and Wedgewood has been perfect winning five straight starts.

Rochester took 29 penalty minutes and had 39 shots against but they still found a way to win.

 

Recap of the Last Five (Games 6-10)

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Welcome to the second part of a 15 part season series highlighting the last five games (the last segment will be six games) showing off the stats, standings, highlights, transactions and whatever else took place prior to the next five games. The goal is to post these the day of the next game of a five game set. There’ll be an evolution to all of this especially in the way stats are presented. A little different than a weekly format to give us a better snapshot of trends as the season goes.

The team finished the last five games with a record of 4-0-1-0 and are heading into the game tonight with an eight game point streak. Not too bad after starting the season with back to back depressing losses on home ice. As it turns out, Charlotte is a pretty good hockey team but so is Rochester right now.

The last five games haven’t been perfect but finding ways to win with a changing lineup will always be celebrated.

Articles (that aren’t game recaps) in case you missed them

Wins and Losses – Games 6-10

  • W 10/17 Game 6: Rochester (6) at Utica (1) [ Recap ]
  • SOW 10/19 Game 7: Toronto (4) vs Rochester (5) [ Recap ]
  • OTL 10/20 Game 8 Rochester (4) at Belleville (5) [ Recap ]
  • W 10/26 Game 9 Utica (0) vs Rochester (4) [ Recap ]
  • W 10/27 Game 10 Laval (2) vs Rochester (3) [ Recap ]

Leaders in just the last five

  • Victor Olofsson (2G+5A)
  • Lawrence Pilut (6A)
  • Zach Redmond (3G+3A)
  • Danny O’Regan (4G)
  • Alex Nylander (3G+1A)

Leading the Season

  • Victor Olofsson (5G+10A)
  • Zach Redmond (6G+8A)
  • Lawrence Pilut (2G+11A)
  • Alex Nylander (4G+5A)
  • Danny O’Regan (5G+2A)
  • CJ Smith (4G+3A)
  • Kevin Porter (2G+5A)

It’s a nice change of pace to look at the league leaders and see three Rochester Americans in the top five with two of those players being defensemen.

The last time a season finished with a top 10 league leading scorer was the 2016/2017 season when Cole Schneider finished with 63 points (24G+39A). Prior to that was the 2004/2005 season when Chris Taylor finished the season with 79 points (21G+58A). Thomas Vanek finished the 2004/2005 season with 42 goals, was good for second in the league behind Mike Cammalleri who had 46. The last time the Amerks had a top 10 goal scorer was 2013/2014 when Luke Adam had 29G.

More than Just Points

It was a surprising move on July 1 when the Sabres announced that they had signed goalie Scott Wedgewood. He wasn’t at the top of lists for available free agent AHL goalies ready to be third in line for an NHL team. He’s had some solid numbers but with limited playing time due to major shoulder surgery there were valid concerns about him stepping in. After seven games played and five wins later it looks like the immediate signing is paying off. By the end of the season the two opening weekend losses shouldn’t make a difference but for now we aren’t even going to count them, let’s just say that Wedgewood is perfect with five wins. Is he an elite AHL goalie ready for NHL action if necessary? That’s an unknown but right now he’s been reliable for the Amerks and the six figure salary is paying off.

Danny O’Regan, featured picture, says don’t forget about me! Zach Redmond and Victor Olofsson are stealing headlines but O’Regan is contributing just as much tied with Olofsson with five goals. O’Regan may not have the high profile power play success but his release is just as fast and lethal. O’Regan has a shoot first mentality but an eye for the game where he isn’t selfish and will feed a pass if someone is open. Someday face off wins will be tracked and when that happens it wouldn’t be surprising to see O’Regan with a winning percentage.

Wayne Simpson will be playing in his 198th consecutive game tonight vs Hershey and is the AHL’s current leader in consecutive games played. The streak started on January 29, 2015 when he was playing with the Portland Pirates. He appeared in all 76 games with the Providence Bruins (2016/2017) and Hershey Bears (2017/2018) over each of the last two seasons prior to joining the Amerks this summer. Through his first 10 games with the Amerks, Simpson has tallied two goals and two assists, including a two-point effort (1+1) at Belleville on Saturday, Oct. 20.

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever see Will Borgen or Andrew MacWilliam win any player of the week or month awards but that doesn’t mean they aren’t big contributors on the ice. These two players are true defensive defensemen that have one task, defend the zone. Sometimes the best defensemen are the ones that you never notice. Blocked shots, clearing the zone, limiting scoring opportunities. It’s always easier to focus on the offense but the next Amerks game you watch take some time to watch #3 Will Borgen and #2 Andrew MacWilliam when they step over the boards.

We had the first beat down of the season when Dalton Smith took on Laval Rocket forward Maxim Lamarche. A key to this season for Rochester this season was adding toughness and this season and Dalton Smith is leading the way.

The team has been a little banged up early in the season and the depth has paid off. The last game winning goal was scored by forward Yannick Veilleux with an assist from Dalton Smith. Myles Powell didn’t earn a point but had a role in the goal by taking out an opposing player along the boards. The team played the last game with three key players on the injured list, Kyle Criscuolo, Andrew Oglevie and Sean Malone yet they still managed to win. Two years ago the team would’ve been relying on ECHL talent to fill the lineup, no offense to ECHL talent. Matt Tennyson and Jack Dougherty have been out of the lineup injured and Nathan Paetsch is still two players away from getting some playing time. It’s only November 2 and depth has paid off.

Sean Malone should be returning to the lineup within the next week and will add a lot of grit and another scoring threat. Malone has been out the last six weeks with a knee injury. Last season he missed the first two games returning from a preseason injury and went on to play the next 74 games and was a big part of the Amerks shutting down other teams. Penalty kill, last minute of a game, whatever it was he was on the ice making plays.

Goals and Shots

Pretty simple. Score more than the other team in the third period and you’ll probably win hockey games. They had their best third period of the season in the last game vs Laval to win 3-2. They’ve been to one shootout this season and they were perfect with goals from Victor Olofsson, CJ Smith and Wayne Simpson.

The last game is easy to see the Amerks first game without scoring a goal in the first two periods but still finding a way to win. Through 30 periods of hockey there’s only been six they haven’t scored a goal, three in the first five games, three in the last five.

There’s a lot of stats that are tracked internally by teams and the league that aren’t shared publicly, one of those being shots blocked. The team has been sacrificing their bodies blocking shots and it’s something that earns the respect of your teammates and your goalie. In the win vs Laval in game 10 there was a shot blocked by Justin Bailey at the end of the second period off the side of his head. Plays like that were a deciding factor in that 3-2 win after being out shot period by period.

Special Teams

Power play is currently 2nd in the league at 29.5% (Previously 4th in the league at 31.8%)

Penalty kill is currently 26th in the league at 75% (Previously 24th in the league at 72.7%)

Olofsson, Redmond and Pilut have been lethal with 26 of their combined 42 points coming on the power play. Redmond leads the league with five power play goals, Olofsson leads the league with eight power play assists. The power play had an explosive night on October 17 vs Utica with four goals on five chances.

The penalty kill has struggled but gotten better. Staying out of the box appears to be the biggest challenge, it’s up for debate if that’s due to the officials or players. The penalty kill had a strong night on October 26 vs Utica killing off a five on three at a vital point in the game when they were only up 2-0. They were really put to the test on October 27 vs Laval when the Amerks had a combined 29 penalty minutes, only one five minute penalty.

CJ Smith has scored both of the teams shorthanded goals this season and is tied for the league lead.

PP and PK in games 6-10 by period:

Standings

Heading into the 11th game of the season the Amerks are in first place in the North Divsion with almost every team having played 10 games. Enjoy it but it’s still early, a lot can change in this league at any time.

 

Highlight Goal

This was enough to be the game winning goal shutting out Utica on 10/26 and shows off the lethal power play. Pilut to Olofsson to Redmond. When you have three players like this all capable of scoring teams aren’t going to know who to cover.

The Next Five – Games 11-15

  • Friday 11/2/2018 vs Hershey Bears 7:05pm
  • Saturday 11/3/2018 at Hershey Bears 7:00pm
  • Wednesday 11/7/2018 vs Cleveland 7:05pm
  • Friday 11/9/2018 vs Syracuse 7:05pm
  • Friday 11/16/2018 at Springfield 7:05pm

Injuries as of 11/2

Sean Malone returned to practicing yesterday, he had been out with a knee injury since September 17. Andrew Oglevie had been out since October 14 and returned to practice this week as well and is expected to play tonight.

  • Tyler Randell – Lower body – Unknown – Banged up in the game vs Utica on 10/26.
  • Matt Tennyson – Lower body – Unknown – Banged up in the game vs Utica on 10/26.
  • Kyle Criscuolo – Lower body – unknown – Blocked a shot in the 2nd period on 10/26 and didn’t return to the game. Out of the game on 10/27.
  • Jack Dougherty – Lower body – week to week – Believed to have blocked a shot on Wednesday October 10 vs Syracuse.

Transactions

  • Myles Powell was assigned to Cincinnati on 10/31

Technically Sean Malone will have to be officially assigned to Rochester before he plays since injured players can’t be transferred.

Highlight Videos

  • W 10/17 Game 6: Rochester (6) at Utica (1) [ Recap ]

  • SOW 10/19 Game 7: Toronto (4) vs Rochester (5) [ Recap ]

  • OTL 10/20 Game 8 Rochester (4) at Belleville (5) [ Recap ]

  • W 10/26 Game 9 Utica (0) vs Rochester (4) [ Recap ]

  • W 10/27 Game 10 Laval (2) vs Rochester (3) [ Recap ]

This series will be a work in progress as the season goes on and I manage to prevent stats in a better way. For now it’s a simple glimpse into the last five games and we’ll use it as comparisons going forward.

Poor First Period Ends the Amerks Point Streak

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It only took five seconds for the game on Friday night to get off to a rough start and it didn’t get any better the rest of the first period. Hershey scored three in the first, Rochester didn’t score until the third period when it was too late and there’s your game summary.

Kevin Porter won the opening face off back to defenseman Lawrence Pilut. Pilut immediately attempted a break out pass up the ice towards CJ Smith but the puck took a different path and went over the glass behind the Bears player bench. A two minute delay of game penalty was called on Zach Redmond. What? How? Redmond didn’t seem to put up much of an argument that he was called.

The bad start goes back to before the game even started. CJ Smith said, “we have to come in and get our mindset a little more focused before the game starts.” He also emphasized it’s not just getting to the rink but it’s the hours and days leading up to a game.

Hershey forward Mike Sgarbossa scored 57 seconds into the first period redirecting a shot from the point.

With 2:16 left in the first period Hershey scored again off a face off to go up 2-0. Chris Taylor wasn’t happy with how the play unfolded. He said, “I thought both guys got pushed to the sides and didn’t push through it enough to help out.” He’s referring to Alex Nylander and Lawrence Pilut. There’s two forwards and a defenseman on the side who are expected to prevent shots like that.

Less than two minutes later Axel Jonsson-Fjallby put the Bears up 3-0 and it was the game winning goal. Cleared the zone, entered the Amerks zone, dangled Borgen and put the puck past Wedgewood.

“I don’t think it was really the penalty, I think it was just our start in general. We weren’t ready to go,” Chris Taylor said after the game when asked about the penalty playing a part in how the game started. “You can’t keep coming back from deficits like that. I thought we played awesome in the second and third. In this league you can’t let a first period go like that.”

As the first period was nearing an end things got chippy and some big fists were thrown. Dalton Smith unloaded a barrage of rights on Liam O’Brien as Yannick Veilleux exchanged punches with Connor Hobbs. Both Veilleux and Hobbs were handed game misconducts for a secondary altercation.

That added energy brought some life to over 6,000 people in the building and once the second period started the Rochester Americans started playing hockey again. Adam Wilcox replaced Scott Wedgewood at the start of the second period. There wasn’t any scoring in the second but it was a start. Rochester had more shots, more chances and Dalton Smith continued to hit everyone he could on the ice.

CJ Smith scored his fifth goal of the season finding an unlikely corner with ease, assists to Lawrence Pilut and Danny O’Regan.

Victor Olofsson ended his four game drought without a goal scoring with 2:42 left in the third period and giving the Amerks hope of tying it up.

Rochester put pressure on Hershey in the final minute of the game but it wasn’t enough, an empty net goal with six seconds left gave Hershey a 4-2 win.

Victor Olofsson on what went wrong, “The first period, we gave up all the goals right there. We kind of fought back, had a good second and third but it wasn’t really enough so we need a better start.”

CJ Smith said, “We need to emphasize getting off to a better start and start doing it.”

Rochester got off to a bad start, Hershey played to protect the lead. Both teams departed immediately following the game to drive to Hershey for a rematch on Saturday night. Rochester plans to get off to a better start and Hershey will be looking to extend their winning streak to four games.

***

Other notes…

CJ Smith had a team high seven shots in the game and was the best forward throughout the game. Constantly challenging for pucks, shooting pucks and finally scoring in the third period. CJ Smith now has two goals in two games, five for the season, after a five game stretch without scoring. Last season he had a seven game drought, nine game drought and a ten game drought without scoring. When he’s on, he’s on and is a factor in games.

Alex Nylander appeared back to old ways on Friday night. His overall play has been better this season but after missing an assignment on the first goal and not having a shot on net he was essentially benched in the third period. He had two shifts totaling less than a minute of ice time with his second shift ending with 15:27 remaining in the third period. There didn’t appear to be anyone else benched in the third period.

The highly talked about power play has suddenly hit a rut. This was the second game in a row that the special teams has been held without a goal. It seems like teams have done their homework to prevent Redmond, Pilut and Olofsson from freely moving the puck around.

Rochester was without Kyle Criscuolo for the second game in a row as he nurses a lower body injury. It’d be easy to say the team missed him on the ice but that’s not an excuse when no one else showed up to play the first 18 minutes of the game.

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