The Rochester Americans 2015-2016

[tsujimoto74]

As of now, the experiment with merging the Amerks, prospects talk, and the Jackals is over. This thread will now be solely dedicated to discussion of the Amerks.

For all other prospect talk, use the threads created for each prospect, links to which can be found in here: Buffalo Sabres Assets (players, picks). That thread will remain stickied to keep those links easy to find. For now, I simply added them at the bottom of the 1st post, but that will probably be updated/cleaned up some time in August.

Click to read more...

 

[LaxSabre]

I was going to suggest a Rochester Americans/Elmira Jackals 2015-2016 Season Thread (maybe ya can rename this thread that).
All the news about our prospects playing for Rochester and Elmira go in there.
Then have a Prospects - 2015-2016 Season Thread - which all the news about our prospects playing in college, junior hockey and overseas can go in there.
Easier to have all the info in one thread than have what 10 or more individual player threads being bumped up with one or two lines of how they are done.

 

[OcAirlines]

Thank you, good decision imho even though this thread will probably be rather dead until the season starts

 

[billsandsabres]

how many veteran contract spots does rochester have left? did they reach the maximum allowable for this season?

 

[sabrefan27]

I think they're at the max, and an extra vet or two is always a good idea.

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@RSandersonWHTK -
Justin Mercier, who played 16 games (2G+2A) last season for #Amerks, has signed with HC Gherdëina in Sëlva, Italy.

‏@AmerksHockey -
Home Opener Special Offer - #Amerks 60th T-shirt + best available ticket voucher - https://sabres.formstack.com/forms/?2073686-37xiNLwusz

@AmerksHockey - Come to more than one game a season but can’t make them all? Check out our flex pack memberships - http://sth.amerks.com/

‏

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@OceanStateHCKY - Great coverage of @TimScha11er as he gears up for @BuffaloSabres training camp!

@MarkDivver - @FriarsHockey alum Tim Schaller is aiming for a full-time NHL job with Buffalo Sabres this season -

http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150813/SPORTS/150819689/13933/breaking_

‏@RSandersonWHTK - Elmira Jackals acquired rights to D Brad Richard from Alaska in exchange for rights to RW Brodie Reid.
Reid 10 points (6 Goals-4 Assists) in 31 games last year with Amerks.
LaxSabre - Richard could be one of the Amerks who flip-flops between Elmira and Rochester as he played 12 games with Iowa Wild of the AHL last season.
(Credit to the Elmira Jackals press release for that info.)

Amerks Ticket Offer - Got the 2016 Entertainment Book (Buffalo Edition) in the mail today and to my surprise theres a Rochester Americans coupon in the Activites/Attractions Section.
The coupon is for a free 100 Level or 200 Premium Level Ticket when a second 100 Level or 200 Premium Level Ticket or greater value ticket is purchased.
Box Office Redemption Only - Blue Cross Arena - Rochester, NY. Valid for Sunday through Thursday regular season games only.
Coupon expires 12/30/2016 so you don't have to use it during the 2015-2016 season. (Credit to the 2016 Entertainment Book - Buffalo Edition - for the above info.)

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@TheAHL - Wednesday, Aug 12 - With the release of the NBA Schedule tonight, we expect the AHL Schedule to be completed and ready for release in about two weeks.

‏@TheAHL - Thursday, August 13 - Everyone’s favorite topic - The AHL Schedule.
Take a closer look at how it all comes together - http://theahl.com/the-making-of-the-ahl-schedule-is-a-critical-task-p199045

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@AmerksHockey - Broadcasters @DonStevensAmerk & Ric Seiling joined @SabresHotline this week.

Don Stevens - Tuesday, August 25 - http://sabres.nhl.com/v2/ext/2015-16 Season/Hockey Hotline/20150825-hh-stevens.mp3

Don Stevens - the voice of the Rochester Americans - called in to discuss 3-on-3 OT and reducing the number of shootouts.

Ric Seiling - Monday, August 24 - http://sabres.nhl.com/v2/ext/2015-16 Season/Hockey Hotline/20150824-hh-seiling.mp3

Former Sabre Ric Seiling shared the opinion that five pre-season games are needed to be in game-shape for the regular-season.
That's what he needed and believes it's the same for players today.

 

[LaxSabre]

Rob Sanderson ‏@RobSandersonPxP -
Windy City, here I come! Proud and excited to be joining the @USHL's @ChicagoSteel as Broadcaster and Media Relations Coordinator.

Kevin Oklobzija ‏@kevinoDandC -
A huge congrats to Rob Sanderson, who needs a new Twitter handle. He'll be doing do play-by-play and media relations for USHL Chicago Steel.
Rob Sanderson elevated the quality #Amerks pre-/post-game shows past two seasons. Did extensive traveling on his own dime. Loves what he does.
And before he officially became #Amerks radio host for the '2013-2014 season, Rob Sanderson covered the team three prior years. Big loss for fans.

Rochester Americans ‏@AmerksHockey -
Congratulations to our friend and former radio host @RobSandersonPxP on his new position with the @ChicagoSteel!

 

[LaxSabre]

Don Stevens @DonStevensAmerk -
Many Thanks to @RobSandersonPxP for excellent work on #Amerks broadcasts. Best of Luck in future!!!

Rob Sanderson ‏@RobSandersonPxP -
Thank you, @DonStevensAmerk. It's been incredible to broadcast w/you. Learned from the best! See you soon, my friend!

Rochester Americans ‏@AmerksHockey -
Today's the day! Be on the lookout for the full #Amerks 60th schedule around 1:00 pm ET this afternoon. #AHL #ROC

AHL ‏@TheAHL -
Don’t know if you guys heard, but the #AHLSchedule is being released today at 1:00 pm ET. So we’ll see you all then!

 

[LaxSabre]

AHL ‏@TheAHL - You want #AHL games? Here’s 1,120 of them. The #AHLSchedule in all its glory → http://cdn.rapidmanager.com/ahl/files/15_16_sked_day.pdf

The American Hockey League today released the complete schedule of regular-season games for the 2015-2016 season, the league’s 80th year of operation.
The season, comprising 1,120 games, begins on Friday, October 9 and concludes on Sunday, April 17.

All teams will play 76 games each (38 at home, 38 on the road) with the exception of the clubs which joined the AHL in January as part of the creation of a Pacific Division -
Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton - those five teams will play 68 games each (34 home, 34 road).

The opening weekend of the AHL’s 80th season features some matchups between historic cities -
as Lake Erie visits Rochester (October 9), Hershey travels to Springfield (October 10) and Providence hosts Portland (October 11).

http://theahl.com/2015-16-schedule-released-p199272

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Full Amerks schedule: http://www.amerks.com/downloads/2015-2016-SchedulePrint.pdf

Of note is that the 12/30 game vs. St. John's is at FNC.

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@AmerksHockey - It’s here! Check out our 2015-2016 schedule - http://www.amerks.com/downloads/2015-2016-SchedulePrint.pdf - #AHLSchedule #Amerks60th

The Rochester Americans announced today their schedule for the 2015-2016 American Hockey League regular season.
The Amerks will open their 60th AHL season at 7:05 pm ET on Friday, October 9 versus the Lake Erie Monsters at The Blue Cross Arena.

The Amerks, who will move to the AHL’s Eastern Conference this season, will again play a 76-game regular season schedule, including 38 home games and 38 road games.
The Amerks will play 30 of their 38 home games on weekends. Eighteen Friday home games, five Saturday home dates and seven Sunday home outings.
The team will also host seven games on Wednesdays and one Monday game.

All Wednesday and Friday home games will start at 7:05 pm ET this season, with four of the five Saturday games starting at 7:35 pm ET.
(The game on Saturday, December 26 starts at 7:05 pm ET.)
Rochester’s seven Sunday home contests will start at 5:05 pm ET and the lone Monday game will be a 3:05 pm ET matinee on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 18.

The move to the Eastern Conference will bring a different look to Rochester’s slate of opponents this season. The Amerks will play a total of 50 games against their North Division rivals -
Albany Devils - six times (three home, three road) - Binghamton Senators - ten times (five home, five road) - St. John’s IceCaps - eight times (four home, four road) -
Syracuse Crunch - ten times (five home, five road) - Toronto Marlies - eight times (four home, four road) - Utica Comets - eight times (four home, four road).

For the fourth straight year, the Amerks will host a game at Buffalo’s First Niagara Center when they face-off against St. John’s on Wednesday, December 30 at 7:05 pm ET.

(LaxSabre - Yeah, lets just schedule this game in the winter time - on a Wednesday - on a week where the Sabres already have two home games scheduled!
Monday, December 27 vs Washington and Thursday, December 31 vs New York Islanders. Yeah three hockey games in four days at the First Niagara Center.)

http://www.amerks.com/newsX.asp?type=News&aID=1340

 

[LaxSabre]

‏@kevinoDandC - #Amerks schedule features prime home dates, rivals from the past and a heavy dose of East opponents.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com...hedule-heavily-weighted-east-rivals/32480107/

The Rochester Americans will welcome back some once-familiar opponents and say goodbye to others.

Now in the American Hockey League's Eastern Conference, the Amerks' 76-game regular-season schedule is very heavily weighted with East foes.

Thus the Hartford Wolf Pack (affiliate of New York Rangers), Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins), Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals), Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders), Springfield Falcons (Arizona Coyotes) and Portland Pirates (Florida Panthers) will again show up at Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester Community War Memorial.

The Amerks will play 50 games against the North Division, 18 against Atlantic Division foes (the other division in the Eastern Conference) and just 8 games against Western Conference teams - four vs Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings) and four vs the Lake Erie Monsters (Columbus Blue Jackets).

They'll open the season on home ice against Lake Erie at 7:05 pm ET on October 9. They're home again the next night to play the Utica Comets (Vancouver Canucks) at 7:35 pm ET.
They close the season with a pair at the Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) on April 16 (5:00 pm ET) and April 17 (3:00 pm ET).

 

[Jim Bob]

http://theahl.com/2015-16-schedule-released-p199272

All teams will play 76 games each (38 at home, 38 on the road) with the exception of the clubs which joined the AHL in January as part of the creation of a Pacific Division (Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton); those five teams will play 68 games each (34 home, 34 road).

 

[vcv]

http://theahl.com/2015-16-schedule-released-p199272

How the **** does that make any sense?

 

[Jim Bob]

How the **** does that make any sense?

It makes financial sense for those teams, I guess...

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

(LaxSabre - Yeah, lets just schedule this game in the winter time - on a Wednesday - on a week where the Sabres already have two home games scheduled!
Monday, December 27 vs Washington and Thursday, December 31 vs New York Islanders. Yeah three hockey games in four days at the First Niagara Center.)

http://www.amerks.com/newsX.asp?type=News&aID=1340

I think its about scheduling as many home games as possible during a holiday week when people have come back to town to be with family

 

[dotcommunism]

It makes financial sense for those teams, I guess...

That's the world of minor league sports and transportation budgets. In a league where a lot of travel is done by bus, having a group of geographically isolated teams is going to make things messy. In this case the California teams play fewer games because travelling between the coasts isn't really viable on AHL budgets. Abbottsford had to subsidize other teams' travel and ended up being a financial disaster.

As for how it's going to work in a practical sense, that's another matter entirely. The California teams aren't even going to be playing the same number of games as other teams in their own division. How playoff seeding is going to work is difficult to imagine. Is point percentage going to be used rather than points? Or maybe points will be pro-rated such that a win for a California team is worth 2.24 points rather than 2.

This is all a result of the western NHL teams prioritizing having their farm clubs close at hand for call-ups and such over development and having an AHL that makes sense. It all works just fine for the Amerks, though. They're back in the Eastern Conference and will no longer be playing significantly more games against nearby cross-conference teams than against teams they are directly competing with for playoff spots.

 

[Jim Bob]

That's the world of minor league sports and transportation budgets. In a league where a lot of travel is done by bus, having a group of geographically isolated teams is going to make things messy. In this case the California teams play fewer games because travelling between the coasts isn't really viable on AHL budgets. Abbottsford had to subsidize other teams' travel and ended up being a financial disaster.

As for how it's going to work in a practical sense, that's another matter entirely. The California teams aren't even going to be playing the same number of games as other teams in their own division. How playoff seeding is going to work is difficult to imagine. Is point percentage going to be used rather than points? Or maybe points will be pro-rated such that a win for a California team is worth 2.24 points rather than 2.

This is all a result of the western NHL teams prioritizing having their farm clubs close at hand for call-ups and such over development and having an AHL that makes sense. It all works just fine for the Amerks, though. They're back in the Eastern Conference and will no longer be playing significantly more games against nearby cross-conference teams than against teams they are directly competing with for playoff spots.

They are going to use Point% for the Wild Card.

 

[sabrefan27]

I think its about scheduling as many home games as possible during a holiday week when people have come back to town to be with family

I'm just glad they finally figured out not to take a weekend game away from the Rochester fans.

 

[Disengage]

I'm just glad they finally figured out not to take a weekend game away from the Rochester fans.

You mean like last year when it was on a Wednesday?

 

[sabrefan27]

You mean like last year when it was on a Wednesday?

Yes that was my point. 2 years in a row so it seems they've settled on weekday games. 2 years prior were both weekend games I believe.