AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks host Syracuse on awards night

April 16, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Game Notes: The Rochester Americans play their final regular season home game tonight at 7:35 p.m. against the Syracuse Crunch. The first 10,000 fans will receive a team photo courtesy of Wendy's. The game is sponsored by IKON Office Solutions. The contest will be televised LIVE on WB16 and broadcast on WHTK 1280-AM and amerks.com.

Head-to-Head: Rochester is 6-3-0-2 against the Crunch this season and leads the all-time series with a 63-45-15 record.

Award Night: The 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. American Hockey League President David Andrews will also present Rochester with its individual and team awards.

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.

Last Night: The Rochester Americans set a franchise record for points in season, following a 5-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday night at Copps Coliseum. Thomas Vanek led Rochester with two goals and one assist, moving him one goal away from becoming the first Amerk rookie since Donald Audette to hit 40 in a season (1989-90). Rookie Mike Iggulden (Cornell) also scored his first professional goal. With the victory, the Amerks (51-17-4-6, 112 points) broke the franchise's single-season points record established by the 1998-99 Rochester team. The Amerks can now tie the mark for wins in a season with one in their final two games -- also set in 1998-99. Rochester also moved within one point of winning the American Hockey League's Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the regular season points champion.

Amerks Notes: Earlier this week, the AHL named Randy Cunneyworth the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the league's outstanding coach for the 2004-05 season, as voted by members of the media in each of the league's 28 cities. Amerks goalie Ryan Miller was named the 2004-05 recipient of the Aldege "Baz" Bastien award as the American Hockey League's Outstanding Goalie. The East Lansing, Mich., native was the second Amerk to win the award, as Martin Biron was selected in 1998-99. A 2004-05 First Team AHL All-Star, Miller has a 41-17-4 record, a 2.45 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He currently leads the AHL in wins (41) and saves (1,814), and is second in minutes played (3740:57). He is also tied for second in the league with eight shutouts. Thomas Vanek is second in rookie scoring with 65 points (39+26) in 73 games. Chris Taylor (1+8) and Derek Roy (2+10) both have eight-game point streaks. Roy returned to the lineup last night after missing the last nine games with an injury.

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