AMERKS OPEN TRAINING CAMP: DAY ONE NOTEBOOK
News and notes from the first day of Amerks training camp at Blue Cross Arena
Oct 2, 2023The Rochester Americans took to the ice at The Blue Cross Arena on Monday morning to begin their 2023 training camp with a group of 27 skaters and three goaltenders.
Amerks head coach Seth Appert, who is entering his fourth season, along with first-year assistant coach Nathan Paetsch, put the group through their first official skate of the 2023-24 season.
Feels Like We Never Left
Monday’s practice session brought about mixed feelings for Appert and the returning players from last year’s team as it was exactly four months to the day since seeing their historic run to the Eastern Conference come to an end on the very same sheet of ice.
But while the sting of coming up short last season still lingers, it’s the opportunity to pick up where they left off that this year’s club is focused on.
“It’s great to be back. I wish the summer was even a couple weeks shorter, but it was a good summer to spend with family and recharge,” said Appert following Monday’s practice.
Like any new season, the chance for a fresh start is a welcome one, even for a club who was two wins short of moving on to the Calder Cup Finals, something the team hadn’t done since 2000.
“Every year you have to start over again from fighting for your culture, fighting for your identity and fighting for the things you want to stand for as a group of men. You get so close to winning the championship last year and it can feel really normal to try and start there again, but you’re not there, you got to go all the way back and you got to climb it all over again and it’s a grind. It’s hard and its tedious, but you got to put the work in to fight for your identity, but also to put the work in to build the camaraderie that you need to become a close team.”
Appert also feels the success the returning players were able to experience last season should serve as motivation coming into this year. It’s the “unfinished business” mindset that he hopes instills confidence in order to replicate all the team was able to accomplish a year ago.
“The success we had as a group but also the success they had individually hopefully gives them a lot of confidence in the things that we’re doing every day here, the work that they’re putting in, it matters. It matters to team success, and it matters to individual success. Those things are good affirmation. You always want to know the work you’re putting in does matter, and there’s a potential reward at the end of it for you individually or the group collectively.”
Familiar Faces Return
Of the 30 players on the opening day roster, 13 who appeared in at least one game with the Amerks during the 2022-23 campaign made their way back onto the ice at Blue Cross Arena.
Returning for his fourth season in Rochester, captain Michael Mersch headlines this year’s roster after he posted 28 assists and 45 points in 61 games last season.
He also appeared in 14 Calder Cup Playoff contests during the Amerks’ run to Eastern Conference Finals while totaling six goals and seven assists.
The 10th-year pro has appeared in 531 career AHL games between the Amerks, Texas Stars, Ontario Reign and Manchester Monarchs, totaling 363 points (173+190) while also adding 48 points (22+26) in 63 Calder Cup Playoff games. Additionally, Mersch, a five-time 20-goal scorer in the AHL who won a Calder Cup with Manchester in 2015, has skated in 17 career NHL contests with the Los Angeles Kings, tallying a goal and a pair of assists.
In addition to Mersch, forwards Filip Cederqvist, Tyson Kozak, Aleksandr Kisakov, Mason Jobst, and Linus Weissbach are all familiar with Rochester. Defensemen Ethan Prow, Chris Jandric and Zach Metsa and goaltender Michael Houser all saw time with the Amerks last season.
In his second stint with the Amerks, Jobst had a career-year in which he posted career-highs in goals (14), assists (24) and points (38) in 61 games. He added a team-best 10 assists while matching Mersch for 13 points in 14 games and was a big presence in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
After netting 16 goals and 21 assists in 67 games as rookie in 2021-22, Weissbach was one of the three 20-goal scorers for Rochester in 2022-23. A seventh-round selection (192nd overall) by the Sabres in the 2017 NHL Draft, he recorded 47 points (20+27) before contributing 10 points (3+7) in the postseason.
Prow is entering his third season with the red, white, and blue. The Sauk Rapids, Minn., native tallied 41 points (6+35) in 67 games last season and added eight points (1+7) in 14 playoff games. The veteran blueliner has produced four straight 30-plus point seasons in the AHL going back to the 2018-19 campaign and three of the four have resulted in 30 or more assists.
Metsa and Jandric both enter their first full professional season after joining the blueline late in the 2022-23 campaign slate.
Jandric helped the Amerks to a 5-1 victory against Utica on April 4 as tallied an assist in his pro debut while Metsa was inserted into the Amerks lineup in Game 2 of the North Division Semifinals. The Quinnipiac University product logged one goal and two assists in 13 games during the postseason and was Rochester’s lone rookie defenseman to skate in the playoffs.
In 104 career games in the AHL, all with Rochester, Warren has registered 19 points (11+8) while also totaling 50 points (23+27) in 91 contests with the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL).
Houser spent his first full season in Rochester last season, appearing in 21 games while compiling a 9-8-2 record. He also earned his first shutout in the AHL since the 2014-15 campaign as he stopped all 21 shots he faced on March 25.
Newcomers to Roc
Among the newcomers to this year’s squad includes forwards Justin Richards and Graham Slaggert and goaltender Devin Cooley.
Cooley enters his fourth professional season, having split his time between the AHL and ECHL. He has appeared in 52 AHL games and 22 ECHL regular season games. Cooley signed a one-year deal with the Sabres in July after appearing in 26 games with the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) during the 2022-23 slate. In addition to showing a 15-8-2 mark in the regular season, he went 2-2 in the postseason.
Richards is fresh off a banner season in which he posted career-highs in all offensive categories, including goals (10), assists (29) and points (39) over 61 games with the Cleveland Monsters (AHL). A product of Orlando, Florida, Richards has played in three career NHL games for the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, tallying two assists.
Slaggert comes to Rochester after spending parts of the last two seasons with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) from 2021-23. In 65 career games with Toronto, he totaled six goals and four assists for 10 points during the regular season while also adding a pair of assists in seven postseason contests.
During his first full regular season in the American Hockey League in 2022-23, he finished third and fifth in goals (6) and points (10), respectively, amongst all Marlies first-year players. In seven contests in the Calder Cup Playoffs, he added two assists, which ranked third among team rookies.
Ticker’s back
Veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski, 33, returns to the Sabres after spending last season in the Pittsburgh organization. He had a .910 save percentage in 36 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Tokarski spent two seasons with Buffalo from 2020 to 2022, posting a .901 save percentage in 42 games. He has a career save percentage of .902 in 80 NHL contests with Tampa Bay, Montreal, Anaheim, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.
The veteran has a .912 save percentage in 399 career AHL games, including two with Rochester during the 2020-21 season. He is a two-time Calder Cup champion (with Norfolk in 2011-12 and Charlotte in 2018-19) and was selected to the AHL All-Star Game in 2013-14.
Looking Ahead
Rochester plays its first of two preseason games on Thursday, Oct. 5 when they host the Syracuse Crunch for a 7:05 p.m. face-off at The Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks will conclude their two-game exhibition slate as they face the Utica Comets on Friday, Oct. 6 for a 7 p.m. tilt at Adirondack Bank Center.