Amerks look to stay hot as road trip continues this weekend
Feb 22, 2021
By Ryan J. Harr
Believe it or not, the first month of the 2020-21 campaign is in the past and the Rochester Americans’ 32-game shortened-season is cruising along. The team, who dropped a narrow 3-2 decision on opening night, has since responded by coming away with four straight victories. Prior to flipping the calendar to March, though, the Amerks make their first trip of the season to the Adirondack Bank Center on Friday, Feb. 26 to face-off with the Utica Comets before a return back to Syracuse to take on Crunch to begin the following week.
Rookies coming in clutch
This season, the Amerks roster, despite ever so changing, has seen 10 different rookies don the red, white, and blue sweaters. While Griffin Luce and Dawson DiPietro have yet to make their Rochester debuts, they will join a strong first-year class headlined by 19-year-old Jack Quinn.
Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres’ eighth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, made his professional debut against Utica last Wednesday, notching an assist as well as the shootout-clinching goal in the 4-3 win over the Comets. The highly touted prospect is coming off an explosive 52-goal season for the Ottawa 67’s in 2019-20, becoming just the eighth player since 2000-01 to reach the 50-goal mark in his NHL Draft Year.
“We can see the growth in our young players just five games into the season,” Amerks head coach Seth Appert said following Monday’s practice. “With us being a younger team, the rookies have to play. They need to earn the playing time, but they also should have the opportunities for ice time. That is what the American Hockey League is about.”
“They need the time to develop,” Appert continued.
WATCH: SETH APPERT AFTER MONDAY’S PRACTICE
Quinn joined Oskari Laaksonen, Ryan Jones, Mattias Samuelsson, Nicolas Welsh, and Dominic Franco to earn his first professional point through the Amerks first five games this season.
For the second straight week, Jones turned in a multi-point effort as he netted his first pro goal and later added an assist after posting two helpers in Cleveland on Feb. 12. Laaksonen, meanwhile, saw his four-game point streak come to an end during Saturday’s 3-2 win in Syracuse. The Finnish blueliner entered the contest with the Crunch leading the AHL in assists (5) among all defensemen and was tied for second overall for most points (5), trailing only Jamie Drysdale of the San Diego Gulls.
Samuelsson and Welsh each recorded their first pro tallies against the Monsters while Franco picked up the primary helper on Rochester’s initial goal of the season back on Feb. 5.
WATCH: RYAN JONES AFTER MONDAY’S PRACTICE
New guys making immediate impact
Back on Jan. 15 when the Amerks held their first official practice for training camp, the roster had only 16 skaters comprised of 10 forwards, four defensemen and two goaltenders. In the month since, the club has added 12 additional bodies with reassignments from Buffalo, players signing AHL contracts and a handful of tryout agreements.
While forwards Remi Elie and Rasmus Asplund, who is currently on recall with the Buffalo Sabres, and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen have found themselves on the scoresheet prior to this season, several of Rochester’s newcomers are providing highlights of their own.
Through five games, 18 different players have recorded at least one point, 12 have scored one goal, including five with multi-goal outings, seven have multi-point performances and four have delivered the game-winning goals.
WATCH: RYAN SCARFO AFTER MONDAY’S PRACTICE
“It is a credit to the group here,” said newcomer Ryan Scarfo, who capped off the Amerks victory on Saturday with his first goal as an Amerk. “This is my third-year pro and sometimes you have to learn to adjust on the fly.”
It seems to be a different player each game providing the big time moments to help the club enjoy a 4-1-0-0 start, which is tied for seventh-best in the league.
“The team welcomed me with open arms, and it made the transition that much more easier. I can really just play hockey and not worry about where I am and just play my game while having fun.”
Utica and Syracuse, repeat, repeat, repeat
This season as it has been documented before, Rochester will see a lot of the two clubs down the I-90 with 14 games against Utica and 12 versus Syracuse. The Amerks and Comets have never seen each other this many times since Utica joined the league prior to the 2012-13 season.
The Crunch and Amerks rivalry have been going strong Syracuse joined the league. Dating back to the start of the 2004-05 campaign, Rochester has seen their rivals 10 or more times in 13 of the last 16 years. Had last season not been cut short, the two clubs would have lined up across from one another 12 times instead of nine.
“We feel that we are fortunate to be able to play those two teams as many times as we do,” Appert said when mentioning a conservation he had with Sabres Director of Scouting, Jeremiah Crowe. “Those games are very demanding and physical. Both teams are well-coached and have smaller rinks. It can be difficult to score and there are no easy nights. It challenges you while makes you better and more prepared for the NHL games that are like that style.”
Looking ahead
Rochester’s game against the Syracuse Crunch, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, has been rescheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Monday, March 1.
Before that, the Amerks will travel to Utica on Friday, Feb. 26 for a North Division showdown with the Comets at the Adirondack Bank Center.
Both matchups will be carried live on The Sports Leader AM 950/95.7 FM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.