AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Close Out March Slate This Weekend

March 23, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... After claiming three out of a possible six points to snap a season-long eight-game losing streak this past weekend, the Rochester Americans will close out their March slate with three games in four nights.

Rochester kicks off its busy week on Wednesday, March 25th as the Albany River Rats make their final visit this season to The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 p.m. contest will be the fourth and final meeting of the season between the intra-state rivals and will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK, whtk.com and AHL Live. The Amerks look to even the season series with Albany after suffering a 3-0 whitewash in the previous encounter with the River Rats back on January 24th at the Times Union Center where the Amerks have been held winless this season. Rochester is 1-2-0-0 this season and 45-41-9 all-time against the Carolina Hurricanes' American Hockey League affiliate.

The game falls on the next installment of the Amerks' Winning Wednesdays promotion. If the Amerks WIN, you WIN a FREE ticket voucher to the Amerks home game on Sunday, April 5th against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Amerks remain home on Friday, March 27th as they host the Lake Erie Monsters on Breast Cancer Awareness Night and Hall of Fame Night. The 7:35 p.m. contest will be the final meeting of the season between the North Division rivals and can be heard live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK, whtk.com and AHL Live. Rochester is 3-2-0-0 this season after dropping back-to-back contests to Lake Erie earlier this month as part of a two-game set and is 6-4-1 lifetime against the Monsters.

That night, the Amerks will be hosting their "Pink in the Rink" promotion in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness night with all proceeds raised going to breast cancer research. As part of the festivities, the Amerks players will don special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off throughout the game. The ice surface at The Blue Cross Arena will also be painted pink in honor of the night.

All fans who wear pink to the game are entitled to a $10 ticket. Tickets can be purchased the day of the game only at The Blue Cross Arena Box Office. Prior to the game, all breast cancer awareness supporters, along with their families and friends, can purchase discounted tickets to see a special women's hockey pregame contest.

Friday night will also be the Amerks' annual Hall of Fame Night, as former defenseman Larry Hillman will be inducted as the 45th member of the team's Hall of Fame. Hillman, 72, played in six seasons (1961-62, 1963-68) with the Amerks, scoring 14 goals, 108 assists for a total of 122 points in 169 games played. He still ranks 12th on the team's all-time points list for defensemen. Hillman also helped the Amerks win their first Calder Cup in 1964-65 as the team's captain. In addition, he earned First Team AHL All-Star honors that season.

That championship was the second of 10 he would be a part of in his 24 years in professional hockey, 22 as a player and two as a head coach. To go along with the one Calder Cup, he won six Stanley Cups (1955, 1962-64, 1967 and 1969), two Avco Cups (1977-78) and was part of a third Western Hockey Association title (1979). He also holds two places in Stanley Cup history, as the youngest player to be engraved on the Cup (18 years, two months and nine days) and the first player to win Cups with three different organizations.

On Saturday, March 28th, the Amerks hit the road for their final stop of the season at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena to take on the Binghamton Senators. The 7:35 p.m. non-divisional matchup will be the first of two back-to-back tilts and the seventh of eight meetings between the two teams this season. The Amerks are 0-3-0-0- on the road against the B-Sens this season and currently trail in the season series with a 2-4-0-0 record. Rochester is 21-27-4 lifetime against Binghamton.

Rochester (25-39-0-7, 57 points) enters the final stretch of the regular season after earning three out of a possible six points this past weekend. The Amerks began the week, collecting a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Manitoba Moose Wednesday night at The Blue Cross Arena. Rookie defenseman Michael Caruso scored his first goal as a professional and finished the game with a plus-one rating en route to third star honors. After falling in a 5-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch, the Amerks completed the home-and-home series with their longtime rivals with a 2-1 win last night on home ice to snap a season-long eight-game winless streak. Defenseman Keaton Ellerby and forward Randall Gelech scored Rochester's pair of goals while goaltender Mike Brodeur made 30 saves to grab his 17th win of the season.

First-year forward Michal Repik, who has 23 points (11+12) in his last 26 games, currently paces Rochester's offense with a team-high 18 goals and 42 points. His 42 points presently rank him 15th among AHL rookies in scoring. Garrison has a team-best 26 assists and remains Rochester's top scoring defenseman with 31 points overall, good enough for fourth on the team.

Rookie forward Michael Duco is first on the team with 141 penalty minutes (PIM). Brodeur boasts a 17-12-4 record in 36 games for the Amerks. His 2.40 goals-against average and .922 save percentage currently rank him ninth and fourth among AHL netminders, respectively. Tyler Plante is 5-5-1 since his return to the Amerks and is 5-10-1 on the season with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.

Further, veteran forward Janis Sprukts has assists in back-to-back games since his return to the lineup against Syracuse Friday night after missing nine games with an injury. He enters the week currently riding a six-game assist streak, the longest of the season for the Latvian native.

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