Amerks Open Season Series with Crunch Tonight
Feb 10, 2021AMERKS OPEN SEASON SERIES WITH CRUNCH TONIGHT
TONIGHT’S GAME OVERVIEW
• The Rochester Americans (0-1-0-0) close out their two-game homestand tonight when they welcome the North Division rival Syracuse Crunch (1-0-0-0) at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will be the first of 12 scheduled meetings between the two teams this season. The game will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.
WATCH: GAME PREVIEW
LAST TIME OUT
• For the first time in nearly 11 months, the Amerks made their long awaited return to the ice Friday at The Blue Cross Arena, where they nearly erased a two-goal deficit before ultimately coming up short in a 3-2 loss to the Utica Comets to open their 65th season in the AHL. After signing a tryout earlier in the week, Patrick McGrath opened the scoring for Rochester late in the first period before newcomer Arttu Ruotsalainen netted a power-play goal in the third to bring the Amerks within one. He and fellow Finn Oskari Laaksonen both made their North Americans debuts after the beginning the season with their respective teams in Finland’s Liiga. Friday’s season-opening loss to Utica also featured the professional debuts of six Amerks rookies, including forward Dominc Franco and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, both of whom recorded their first pro points with assists on Rochester’s first goal of the season. Veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski, a two-time Calder Cup winner and former AHL All-Star, made 31 saves in his Amerks debut. The loss dropped the Amerks to 39-20-6 all-time in home-opening games dating back to Rochester’s inaugural season in 1956. Additionally, the Amerks are now 33-25-7- all-time in season-opening games over the past 65 years.
WATCH: SETH APPERT AFTER MORNING SKATE
AMERKS USHER IN NEW ERA UNDER APPERT
• Leading the Amerks into their 65th anniversary season is first-year head coach Seth Appert. Named the 33rd head coach in franchise history, Appert spent the last three years alternating the head coaching duties between the Under-18 and Under-17 teams at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Spent 20 years in the NCAA Division I collegiate coaching ranks, including 11 seasons as head coach of the men’s program at Renselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y. Served as an assistant coach for nine seasons at the University of Denver, where he helped the Pioneers to a pair of NCAA National Championships over a three-year span as well as three WCHA playoff championships and two WCHA regular-season titles. Three-time medal winner with Team USA at both the junior and senior level.
WATCH: ANDREW OGLEVIE AFTER MORNING SKATE
RETURNERS READY TO ROC
• Rochester returns four of its top six point-getters from last season, including forwards Jean-Sebastien Dea, who returned from the Buffalo Sabres taxi squad yesterday, and Andrew Oglevie, both of whom tied for the lead with 15 goals in 2019-20. Dea also led the team with 24 assists while Oglevie tied for fifth in the AHL with a team-best six game-winning goals. Reigning Amerks Rookie of the Year Jacob Bryson returns for his second season in Rochester after leading all Amerks first-year players and ranking tied for fifth in overall scoring with 27 points (4+23) in 61 games. He finished the season with 16 points (4+12) over his final 21 games, including all four of his goals. His 27 points also tied for seventh-most among all AHL rookie defensemen in 2019-20. Goaltender Jonas Johansson, currently with the Buffalo Sabres taxi squad, is coming off his best season in 2019-20. The first goaltender to earn team MVP honors since Linus Ullmark in 2017-18, Johansson posted a 14-4-3 record in 22 games wih the Amerks, which included a season and career-long nine-game win streak from Nov. 13 to Jan. 3. He allowed just two goals or less in six straight games over that span, including a pair of shutouts in the month if February. He finished sixth among all AHL netminders with a 2.28 goals-against average and seventh with a .921 save percentage. Made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres, going 1-3-1 over a five-game stint.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Rochester’s roster features 12 incoming rookies ready to make a splash in their first season in the American Hockey League, most of whom are products of the NCAA in forwards Brandon Biro (Penn State), Dawson DiPietro (Western Michigan), Dominic Franco (Army West Point) and Patrick Polino (R.P.I.); defensemen Ryan Jones (Nebraska-Omaha), Nick Welsh (St. Mary’s) Griffin Luce (Michigan) and Mattias Samuelsson (Western Michigan). Buffalo’s second-round selection (32nd overall) in 2018, Samuelsson played the 2017-18 season under Amerks head coach Seth Appert while playing for the U-18 national team. He served as captain of the U-18 team that won silver at the 2018 IIHF U-18 World Championship before leading the Americans to another second-place finish at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship the following year. Jack Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, rounds out this year’s rookie class for Rochester. He’s coming off an explosive 52-goal season for the Ottawa 67’s in 2019-20, becoming just the seventh player in league history to reach the 50-goal mark in his NHL Draft year.
FINN-ISHING TOUCH
• Perhaps the most significant addition to the Amerks lineup this season comes by way of Finland following the highly anticipated arrival of forward Arttu Ruotsalainen, defenseman Oskari Laaksonen and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. While Luukkonen split last season between Rochester and Cincinnati, Ruotsalainen and Laaksonen are set to make their North American debuts with the Amerks after beginning this season with their respective SM-liiga teams in Finland. Ruotsalainen began the season by scoring a league-high 16 goals and adding 11 asissts for 27 points as the top scorer in Finland in just 19 games for Ilves. He was on pace to surpass his 21-goal season from the 2018-19 campaign, a mark he reached over 59 appearances. Laaksonen, meanwhile, recorded 12 points (4+8) in 20 games with Pelicans to begin the season.
SERIES NOTABLES
• The Amerks scored a power-play goal in five of the eight games against Syracuse last season, going 7-for-31 (22.5%) with the man-advantage over that span. Amerks goaltender Dustin Tokarski and defenseman Dylan Blujus both spent time with the Crunch after being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Blujus played his first three seasons in Syracuse. After going 4-5-1-0 against the Crunch during the 2017-18 campaign, the Amerks are 12-7-1-1 in their last 21 contests against Syracuse.