Amerks host St. John's at Buffalo today
April 3, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
Game Notes: The Rochester Americans host the St. John's Maple Leafs today at 5:05 p.m. on the blue ice at HSBC Arena. The contest is the fourth and final regular season game in Buffalo for the Amerks. The game will be broadcast on WHTK 1280-AM and amerks.com.
Head-to-Head: Rochester is 4-0-0-1 against the Leafs this season and leads the all-time series with a record of 23-13-5. The Amerks won the last meeting, 3-2, on February 19th at The Blue Cross Arena.
Division title on the line: The Amerks (48-14-4-6) currently lead the American Hockey League with 106 points and can clinch the North Division regular-season title today. Rochester needs one point to secure its first division championship since 2000-01. The Moose (40-22-3-7) trail the Amerks by 16 points and can still get 106.
Amerks back in Buffalo: The last game featured Ryan Miller's eighth shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Cleveland on March 20th. The victory set a single-season record for team shutouts with nine and extended Miller's single-season mark. The game was the first-ever played on the blue ice. The experiment has the traditional blue lines replaced by orange lines and the red center ice line is dark blue. The faceoff circles are orange, while the end lines and crease lines remain red. Rochester won the first two games in Buffalo, while setting franchise attendance records in both instances. The first game featured an Amerks' 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks on November 5th in front of a franchise-record crowd of 12,126. In the second game, Rochester defeated the Edmonton Road Runners 2-0 on December 28th in front of a new record crowd of 17,898.
Amerks Notes: Rochester has lost its last three games in regulation, which is a first for the team this season. Last night, the Amerks lost to the Albany River Rats, 4-2, at the Pepsi Arena. The loss ended goalie Tom Askey's eight-game winning streak. Goalie Ryan Miller leads the AHL with 38 wins and is second in saves (1656) and minutes played (3435:57). Thomas Vanek is third in points among rookies with 56 (32+24) in 67 games. He is also second in the AHL with 18 power-play goals. Tonight, right wing Norm Milley will play in his 360th game as an Amerk and move into a tie for 13th place on the franchise's games played list with Jim Jackson. Center Chris Taylor is now 10th in team history in points with 322 (103+219). He also ranks eighth in assists and 17th in goals.
Leafs Notes: St. John's (42-26-1-4, 89 points) is just two points away from overtaking Manitoba for second place in the North Division. The Leafs have won their last two games, which includes a 5-4 win last night at Cleveland. St. John's has two players in the Top 5 in scoring in the AHL. Kyle Wellwood (32+46) and David Ling (26+52) are tied for fourth place with 78 points apiece. Joel Kwiatkowski leads all AHL defensemen with 17 goals. The Leafs are 17-17-1-2 on the road this season.
On the Road Again: After the game in Buffalo, the Amerks will play six of their final seven regular season games on the road. Next week, Rochester travels to Binghamton (Friday) and Syracuse (Saturday) before departing for two games at St. John's.
Last Home Game: The lone home game is Saturday, April 16th at 7:35 p.m. against the Syracuse Crunch. The regular season home finale features the team's annual Awards Night. The organization will present the awards for most valuable player, scoring champion, most improved player, game-winning goals and most popular player. The club will also bestow the Fairand/O'Neil Sportsmanship Award, the Rob Zabelny Unsung Hero Award and the McCulloch Community Service Trophy. The Booster Club will also honor its member of the year. In addition, the Amerks will honor five local high school hockey players as the 2004-05 winners of the Thomas M. Nichols scholarship. Nichols was a local attorney at Harris Beach who was instrumental in keeping the Amerks in Rochester during the 1970-71 season. He was also part of the ownership group in the early 1970s. Nichols, who was originally from Boston, was an ardent supporter of youth and high school hockey.
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