AMERKS NOVEMBER 2023 REPORT CARD
Nov 29, 2023
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The first full month of the regular season was filled with its challenges for the Rochester Americans, but the team managed to persevere through injuries and call-ups to post a 5-4-1-0 record, continuing to hang around the top of the North Division standings.
It may not be straight A’s for the Amerks like they had in October, but their homework still awards them high marks.
DEPTH: A-
There’s just no way you can discuss the month of November without talking about the cast of players that put a Rochester jersey over their heads to go out and battle for this team. Earlier in the month, no other AHL team had more players appear in a game for them than the Amerks did (35). Over the course of the month, 13 different players from Rochester’s opening night roster were out of the lineup at some point. It’s fair to assume this could have put the Amerks behind the ball in terms of competing within the always challenging North Division. Fortunately, that was not the case.
Rochester relied heavily on its ECHL affiliate in Jacksonville, with the likes of Damien Giroux, Christopher Brown, Riley Fiddler-Schultz, and Dominick Mersch all contributing with points. Chris Jandric and Nicolas Savoie were also recalled and played what Amerks head coach Seth Appert called ‘good, honest minutes.’
The real highlight game for this group came Nov. 10, when the Amerks topped Utica, 4-3, on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. Fiddler-Schultz opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, which was followed-up by Brown three minutes later to make it 2-0 at the time. The younger Mersch assisted on Brown’s goal and finished the night with two-thirds of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick thanks to his first period fight. The third period saw Giroux score the game-winning-goal with just over five minutes remaining.
Without question, the depth of the organization kept things afloat. This was the spot that shined the brightest for Rochester through its 10-game November slate.
Bonus points: Every player for the Amerks has missed at least one game through the team’s first 17 outings.
KULICH/ROSEN: A+
The stars of the month have been the stars of the season. Sabres prospects Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen have been the top point producers for the Amerks to begin the year. Each are among the top 10 in the AHL for points (Rosen, 19), and goals (Kulich, 11). After both second-year Amerks scored game-winning goals in overtime during Thanksgiving week, the dynamic duo was called-up to the Buffalo Sabres, where they made their NHL debuts together on Nov. 25.
“They’re great kids,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “They’re fun to coach and great teammates. “They’ve totally immersed themselves into being Amerks and the work they’ve put in over the last 14-15 months has been impressive with rounding their game out and they’re getting a little bit of a reward for it right now.”
Rosen has points in 12 of 16 games played this season, including a career best four-point (2+2) game on Nov. 18 at Cleveland. Kulich has points in 11 of 16, including three game-winning-goals, all of which having come in overtime, which leads the AHL.
Rosen remains with the Sabres, who announced on Wednesday that the team has promoted Brandon Biro and reassigned Kulich back to Rochester. While it’s great news for Biro and bittersweet for Kulich, the dominant forward can return to the Amerks, continue his torrid pace in the AHL, and hope to find his way back to the Sabres sooner than later. Regardless, it was a step in the right direction for the 19-year-old and a moment he won’t soon forget.
CLOSING OUT GAMES: B-
All things considered, there’s a lot of good to talk about with the Amerks picking up points in six of 10 games this month, especially when you factor in the aforementioned roster carousel. Still, there are areas to keep an eye on moving forward and being a team that can get ahead of opponents and keep them down is a box they’d like to check off.
On Saturday, the Amerks held a 4-3 lead against Lehigh Valley, only for the Phantoms to convert twice in the middle stanza of the third to pull off a win. That was the second game this month where Rochester lost a game in which they led in the third.
“We weren’t great that game,” said Appert referring to Saturday’s 5-4 loss. “We gave up too much. We did enough to give ourselves a chance, but the disappointing thing was we took penalties in the third to allow them to get that victory.”
There were three other instances where the Amerks had a third-period lead and either allowed opponents to tie the game or take the lead at some point in the period. While Rochester would go on to win those games, they subsequently gave points to teams like Syracuse and Laval; teams in their division that will look to compete for playoff positioning with the Amerks as the season rolls along.
Bonus points: 11 of Rochester’s 17 games have been decided by one goal, including each of the three games played last week. Seven of those games have been decided by overtime, with Rochester posting a 5-2 record past regulation.
The Amerks have played more overtime games than any other team in the league (7), and their eight wins in one-goal games leads the AHL. Only Tucson and Providence have played as many one-goal contests as Rochester, with the Roadrunners owning seven wins and the Bruins sitting with four.
Last year’s Amerks played 20 games beyond regulation and saw nearly half of their games decided by one goal (33 of 72). They are currently on pace to surpass those numbers.
GOLD STAR STUDENTS: ZACH METSA
Zach Metsa has been one of the lucky few to have been healthy throughout the season thus far. The rookie blueliner appeared in each of Rochester’s 10 games last month, posting a goal and three assists along with a plus-one rating.
“It’s been rewarding for sure,” said Metsa when asked about his playing time. “But you have to keep building because nothing’s for sure. That’s kind of how I’ve been my whole life. You got to earn it every day, so I just have to keep working and hopefully keep myself in a position to stay in the lineup. It’s still early in the year. There are still things I’ve got to work on and get better at and I’m just focusing on getting one percent better each day.”
DECEMBER SYLLABUS
The final month of 2023 starts largely with the Amerks on the road, playing five of their first six December games outside New York. The team will host five of 12 games in the month and will get an even split of six North and six Atlantic Division opponents.
December 29 will be a day to circle on the calendar when Rochester welcomes Hershey back to Blue Cross Arena in a battle of the AHL’s two oldest franchises for the first time since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.