AMERKS LOOK TO SOLVE CALDER CUP PUZZLE
Apr 25, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
It’s the best time of the year again in downtown Rochester. The sun is finding its way through the clouds more and more. The winter coats are slowly being shoved in the back of closets for the foreseeable future. The Flower City is beginning to see its petals bloom.
Then, there’s playoff hockey.
It’s when the games matter most. A privilege that is earned through six months of hard work and perseverance. It’s never a guarantee, but the 2023-24 Rochester Americans have positioned themselves as one of 23 American Hockey League franchises in contention for a Calder Cup Championship.
“I like where we’re at right now,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “We’ve become a better hockey team. I’d be disappointed with myself if we weren’t a better hockey team at the end of the season than we were in the middle of the year. This is going to be a great test for us. It’s going to be a heck of a battle.”
The Amerks finished second in the uber-competitive North Division. All seven teams in the division finished with above .500 records, yet only five qualify for postseason play. The top three teams (Cleveland, Rochester, Syracuse) finished a combined one point apart from each other. Rochester draws the three seed for its opening round opponent, meaning a rematch from last year with Syracuse is on the horizon. That series saw Lawrence Pilut net the overtime winner in a do-or-die Game 5 to send Rochester to the next round and send Syracuse into the offseason.
“You got to fight for every inch against Syracuse,” said Isak Rosen. “What we can learn from last year is to be ready right away. We lost the first two games of the series last year. We got to be ready game one this year and I think we are.”
Amerks players are reaching for the top shelf to pull down a box, flip it over, and see a bevy of puzzle pieces laying on the ground. Winning a Calder Cup, something the team hasn’t done since 1996, is kind of like trying to piece together one of those puzzles. It’s time intensive. Attention to detail is paramount. Every move matters.
“I think the hockey season’s a riddle and you have to try and solve it,” said Amerks captain Michael Mersch, who previously won a Calder Cup earlier in his career with Manchester (2015). “It’s different every year. My message when we all sat down and spoke as a group is things you’ve done in the past doesn’t mean they’re things you’ll do in the future. It has to be earned again.”
Last year’s group of players wearing the red, white, and blue came six wins shy of bringing the city its first championship in nearly three decades. Like a puzzle, there were just a few missing pieces. Some of the pieces didn’t fit together. A corner piece was missing. The puzzle went unsolved.
This year’s roster has familiar faces, but new ones as well. New pieces that may just fit perfectly into the puzzle the Amerks are trying to solve. Pieces like Devon Levi, who posted the second-best save percentage ever by a Rochester goaltender, could make a massive difference during this run.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons this year that I can take into the postseason,” said Levi. “The best teams are the ones who keep growing and learning together and getting closer in the playoffs. The more I played, the more I saw, the more accustomed I got to this level of pro hockey. It’s been a great season. I learned a lot. Now it’s time to apply everything to the postseason.”
14 wins. That’s what Rochester needs. The team finished with 39 across 72 regular season games. Now they will need 14 more victories over four rounds of playoff hockey.
The regular season lasted six months. Playoffs can go as long as two months. But the Amerks of today are focusing on just that: today. The here and now. Not thinking about four round or 14 wins, just one round and game one.
Rochester is looking to finish its puzzle. Syracuse is aiming for revenge from last year’s North Division Semifinal collapse. The Amerks won three of the last four games against the Crunch, but Syracuse won the overall season series with seven wins across 12 meetings. They’re the lower seed, but the difference is marginal. This is anyone’s series.
“I have a lot of respect for Syracuse and what they’ve done over there,” said Appert. “I know how well coached they are, how physical they are, and how good their hockey players are over there. Nothing prepares you for playing in the playoffs than playing in the North Division. Our division battle tests you for this.”
“I don’t think any team starts the playoffs as a championship-caliber team. I think that needs to grow through what those young men give each other through however long this goes. You gain experience, confidence, and trust in each other, and it just keeps building. Your belief in each other grows through it. Those are the teams that become true championship contending teams. The ones who have the will, the grit, and the ability to grow and get better as the playoffs go forward.
Here we are again. One year later, the puzzle is back on the floor, with scattered pieces sitting, waiting to be pushed together. The Amerks have given themselves a chance to grab that puzzle from the top shelf for a third straight year. Now they need to piece it together.
It starts Friday with game one against Syracuse at Blue Cross Arena.