Four Former Amerks Still in the Hunt for Calder Cup
Published on May 12, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY)... Despite the 2010-11 season coming to an early end for the Rochester Americans this year, four former Amerks among the league's final four teams remain in contention for the 2011 Calder Cup as the American Hockey League's Conference Finals are set to begin this week.
The Eastern Conference Finals kickoff tonight as Jacob Micflikier and the first-year Charlotte Checkers host Mike Brodeur and the Binghamton Senators for the right to represent the East in the Calder Cup Finals.
Charlotte, who finished third in the East Division in the regular season (44-27-2-7, 97 points), enters the third round after eliminating arguably the AHL's top two teams in dispatching the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, each in six games. After taking care of the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, Charlotte erupted in similar fashion as it finished off the 2010-11 regular-season champion Penguins on the strength of a Game 6 comeback that saw the Checkers score four times in 9:18 during the third period to erase a 3-0 deficit.
The Bears and Penguins were just one of three teams to reach the 100-point plateau in the regular season, including Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's league-leading 117 points (58 wins, .731 winning percentage).
Micflikier, who skated with the Amerks for half of the 2008-09 season, is coming off a banner year in 2010-11 with the Checkers. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native finished third on the team in overall scoring, collecting career-highs in all offensive categories along the way in goals (29), assists (32), points (61) and games played (78). He also led Charlotte with a team-best plus-15 on-ice rating. The fourth-year pro also shows three assists in 11 playoff games with the Checkers. During his time in Rochester, Micflikier scored four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 39 games for the Amerks.
Brodeur and the Senators are enjoying their postseason run for the first time in five years. The Senators finished fifth in the East Division during the regular season and earned the cross-over berth from the Atlantic Division, where they eliminated Manchester and Portland. Binghamton's triumph over the Pirates in the Division Finals was punctuated by Robin Lehner 's 36-save shutout in the Game 6 clincher that sent the Senators to the Conference Finals for the first time since 2003. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the postseason, Binghamton was New York State's best team in the regular season and proved to be very worthy of their first playoff appearance in some years.
In nine games with the B-Sens this season, Brodeur compiled a 3-5-0 record with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage in only nine games. Calling Rochester his home in 2008-09, the 25-year-old netminder finished his service in the Flower City among the league's elite goaltenders, compiling an 18-13-4 record in 38 games. His 2.45 goals-against average and .921 save percentage were 11th and seventh best, respectively, at the conclusion of the regular season.
Former Amerks Head Coach Randy Cunneyworth leads Jimmy Bonneau and his Hamilton Bulldogs into the Western Conference Finals on Friday night as they take on the Houston Aeros in the best-of-seven series.
The Western Conference Finals were set after the Hamilton Bulldogs outlasted the Manitoba Moose in the longest Game 7 in AHL history earlier this week on Monday evening at Copps Coliseum. Hamilton's Dustin Boyd scored the game-winning goal just six seconds into triple overtime, setting up a seven-game series with the Houston Aeros, who eventually ousted the Milwaukee Admirals with a Game 7 overtime win of their own. The contest was one for the AHL record books as no seventh game in league history had ever extended to a second OT period, let alone a third. Hamilton has now reached the conference finals for the fifth time in the last 10 seasons, and will be looking for the franchise's fourth trip to the Calder Cup Finals (1997, 2003, 2007).
Cunneyworth, the Amerks' bench boss from 2000-08, currently stands as Rochester's longest continuously tenured head coach in the 55-year history of the franchise, having posted a 306-273-61 record in his eight seasons behind the bench. Cunneyworth started his 20-year professional playing career in Rochester in 1980-81. Cunneyworth, a 2010 Amerks Hall of Fame inductee, played parts of seven seasons with the Amerks, earning 239 points (101+138). The native of Etobicoke, Ontario, was a member of the Amerks' 1982-83 Calder Cup winning team, before moving to the National Hockey League in 1985-86. After his playing career was over he became the 26th head coach in Amerks history in 2000. His 640 games place him second to only Van Boxmeer and his 306 wins are also second on the Amerks' all-time list.
Bonneau, a sixth-year pro, played the 2009-10 campaign with the Amerks, where he captured pro career-highs in goals (4) and penalty minutes (187). This season with the Bulldogs, the Baie-Comeau, Quebec, native notched three points (1+2) and a team-high 180 penalty minutes in 77 appearances.
American Hockey League Stories from May 12, 2011
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- Sirius XM's NHL Home Ice to Carry Live American Hockey League Playoff Action - AHL
- Four Former Amerks Still in the Hunt for Calder Cup - Rochester Americans
- AHL Morning Skate - AHL
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