FOUR FORMER AMERKS WIN MEDALS AT 2023 IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
May 29, 2023Four former Rochester Americans, including three former teammates, earned medals at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, which concluded on Sunday with Canada defeating Germany in the gold medal game and Latvia outlasting the United States in overtime to win the bronze.
Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs were among the Canadians that defeated JJ Peterka and the Germans as Canada earned its 28th gold medal. Former Amerks defenseman Alexander Sulzer, who had a brief 10-game stint in Rochester during two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, is currently an assistant coach with the German national team.
With the first-place finish, the Canadians have medaled for the fourth straight year at the annual event and for the 53rd time dating back to 1920. Canada has also won gold four times since 2015 and has finished second or better in seven of eight years over that span.
Krebs tallied two assists in the gold medal game, the latter of which set up Lawson Crouse for the game-tying goal during the second period. Germany never led again as Canada scored three times in the third, including a Scott Laughton goal assisted by Quinn. Krebs finished with five points (1+4) in 10 games.
Krebs, a former first-round pick (17th overall) of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019, recorded 15 points (4+11) in 18 games with the Amerks in 2021-22. He also appeared in 48 games with the Buffalo Sabres before returning to Rochester for the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs, when he added 11 assists in 10 postseason appearances.
Quinn, the AHL’s most outstanding rookie for the 2021-22 season, had seven points (2+5), including the game-tying goal in Canada's semifinal win over Latvia.
Quinn, who along with Peterka was named to the 2021-22 AHL All-Rookie Team, was elevated to the Buffalo Sabres ahead of the 2022-23 season following one of the most impressive and dynamic seasons by an Amerks first-year player. After his 2020-21 season was cut short by injury, Quinn emerged as one of the top young prospects in the AHL in 2021-22. In 45 games with Rochester, Quinn has registered 26 goals and 35 assists, ranking first among rookies and third in the league overall averaging 1.34 points per game while not going more than two consecutive games without a point all season. He earned AHL Rookie of the Month honors in October, and compiled 19 multiple-point games, including a four-goal performance on Jan. 15 vs. Belleville.
Selected eighth overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, Quinn scored 10 power-play goals, a shorthanded marker and six game-winners during the season for the Amerks. Since then, the 21-year-old native of Ottawa, Ont., has gone on to appear in 77 NHL games with the Sabres.
Peterka was named the top forward in the tournament after tying for second in scoring with 12 points (6+6), including the opening goal less than eight minutes into the gold medal game against Canada on Sunday. Germany won its first silver medal at the World Championship since 1953.
Germany was 0-3 to start the tournament but earned six straight wins to advance to the gold medal game, including a come-from-behind semifinal victory over the United States in which Peterka tallied an assist.
Buffalo’s second-round choice (34th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, Peterka led all AHL rookies with 28 goals and 68 points in 70 games for Rochester during the 2021-22 season. Peterka also ranked first among rookies and fifth overall with 223 shots on goal.
Peterka was held scoreless just 19 times since Dec. 19 and hadn’t gone more than two games without recording a point during that same span.
Peterka’s 68 points were the most by an AHL player in his U20 season since Guy Chouinard had 80 points as a 19-year-old with Nova Scotia in 1975-76. He was also the first Amerks rookie to reach the 60-point mark since Thomas Vanek had 68 points (42+26) in 74 games during the 2004-05 season.
The native of Munich, Germany, has 32 points in 79 career NHL games with the Sabres, including 77 games this past season.
"I think we can be so proud of what we did here as Germans, after coming in here, losing the first three games," Peterka told IIHF.com. "And then with our backs to the wall, having a do-or-die game every game and coming together like that. Coming back late in the third against the U.S. just showed how much how much we wanted it. And today we wanted to [do it again], but sometimes it doesn't happen."
The 2021-22 marked the first time in nearly 30 years the Amerks have had multiple rookies record more than 50 points in the same season since 1992-93 when the club had five: Todd Simon (93), Scott Thomas (59), Doug MacDonald (58), Jozef Cierny (54) and Mike McLaughin (54).
Peterka and Quinn were the first pair of Amerks rookies taken from the same Draft class (2020) to record 50 or more points in the same season since Scott Thomas and Doug MacDonald (1989) did so in 1992-93. The duo also became the first two Amerks rookies in franchise history to record 60 or more points in the same season, reaching the mark in Rochester’s 2021-22 regular-season finale.