AHL Rochester Americans

Game Day: Amerks Host Monsters in Season Finale at Blue Cross Arena

Published on April 10, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Tonight, the Rochester Americans close out the 2010-11 American Hockey League season as they host the Lake Erie Monsters in their home finale at The Blue Cross Arena. The 5:05 p.m. North Division showdown will be the eighth and final meeting between the two teams this season and will be broadcast live in SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk.

Promotions: The game falls on Fan Appreciation Night! On top of a special guest appearance from the infamous Scooby Doo, the first 5,000 fans through the arena doors will take home an Amerks drawstring backpack. Further, 3,000 lucky fans will receive an Amerks koozie, courtesy of AT&T. It's also the final segment of this year's Mystery Puck promotion. One lucky fan can take home a puck signed by their favorite Amerk. Lastly, the contest falls on Awards Night. Prior to the game, the Amerks will hold their annual end-of-the-season awards ceremony, honoring the outstanding performances and achievements throughout the season.

Quartet Returns From Florida: Re-joining the Amerks this evening for the final time this season will be defenseman Clay Wilson and forwards Tim Kennedy, Patrick Rissmiller and Bill Thomas - all who helped the Florida Panthers bring their 2010-11 campaign to a close last night with a 1-0 win over the Washington Capitals. Thomas scored the lone goal of the contest for the Panthers, which proved to be the eventual game-winner, with help from both Rissmiller and Kennedy.

Head-to-Head: The contest is the final get-together between the divisional foes this season. After coming up short in a 3-2 overtime loss in the previous encounter back on March 25th, the Amerks show a 1-4-2-0 record against the Monsters this season and have dropped the last five engagements with Lake Erie coming into tonight. Rochester also trails with a 10-15-1 all-time record against the Colorado Avalanche's affiliate.

By The Numbers: Rochester is just 15-22-4-2 against North Division opponents this season, but shows a 16-17-1-2 mark against non-divisional rivals. Home ice has not been very welcoming for the Amerks, who are just 14-20-2-3 within the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena. Conversely, Rochester fares somewhat better on the road with a 17-19-3-1 mark

Taylor Passes Sly Tonight: Although there is just one game remaining in the Amerks' season, that's all veteran forward Chris Taylor needs to capture yet another personal milestone. Having skated in 517 career games as an Amerk coming into tonight, the 19-year pro will take the ice for his 518 th appearance in the red, white and blue this evening, passing Darryl Sly's mark of 517 games and moving into fourth on the franchise's al-time games played list.

Duco Keeps Streak Alive: With his team-leading 20th goal of the season in yesterday's 6-5 loss to the Toronto Marlies, Amerks forward Michael Ducosuccessfully managed to keep a 55-year long streak alive in the history of the organization. Since the team's inception in 1956, at least one player from each season has scored 20 or more goals, a streak piloted by Bronco Horvath's 37-goal output in the franchise's inaugural campaign in 1956-57. It's also the first time in his professional career that Duco reached the 20-goal plateau.

Amerks Notes: Rochester (31-39-5-4, 71 points) enters the contest in the midst of a stretch that includes just two wins in its last 17 games and currently on the heels of a four-game losing streak. Despite their recent struggles, however, the Amerks have claimed points in three of their last six games coming into tonight. The team is coming off a 6-5 loss to the Toronto Marlies yesterday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. A night after making his pro debut Friday against Binghamton, newcomer Anthony Luciani, who joined the club on an Amateur Tryout earlier this week, scored the first two goals of his professional career, assisted on another and finished with an impressive plus-three on-ice rating in just his second American Hockey League game. Defenseman T.J. Fast also scored his first goal of the season and helped set up another for the Amerks, who remain in the basement of the AHL's North Division and Western Conference standings.

Special Teams Breakdown: Rochester currently has the ninth best power-play in the league (19.0 percentage), but its penalty kill ranks 28th out of the 30-team AHL with a 77.7 success rate. Rochester's power-play unit has proven to be more effective on the road as its 23.6 efficiency rate is presently second best in the AHL. As a team, the Amerks have also allowed a league-worst 15 shorthanded goals against, nine coming at home and six on the road.

Team and League Leaders: Defenseman Mike Kostka leads the Amerks with 53 points (15+38) and is currently fifth among AHL defensemen in overall scoring. His 15 goals are tied for the most among league rearguards. Ten of his 15 goals this season have been scored on the man-advantage, also the most among any other player at his position in the AHL. The third-year blueliner is also the only Amerk this season to play in all 79 games thus far.

Having already captured new AHL career-highs in both goals (20) and points (31), Duco continues to maintain the team lead with a team-high 20 goals, including 11 on the power play, good enough for 16th in the AHL in that category. Taylor paces the Amerks with 40 assists, including a team-best 23 on the power-play.

First-year forward Eric Selleck, who recently returned from a four-game suspension, ranks third among league rookies and 12th in the league with 212 penalty minutes. Upon surpassing the 200-PIM plateau, he became just the sixth forward in team history to reach the mark in just one season with the Amerks. The others include Bob Kelly (206), Mike Hartman (283), Dave Schultz (248), Jeff Brubaker (253) and most recently, Eric Boulton(276).

Back from his recent NHL stint with the Panthers, goaltender Tyler Planteresumed the starting duties for the Amerks against the B-Sens on Friday night. Plante, who had a career-long streak of starting 15 consecutive games earlier this season, shows a 13-17-2 record with one shutout in 35 appearances. The 23 year-old also boasts a 3.12 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. His 13 victories are already good for a new AHL career-high.

Who's Hot: Coming off his three-assist effort against Toronto Saturday afternoon, Taylor shows five assists in his last two games and eight points (1+7) through his last five outings. Rissmiller, whose bounced back and forth between Florida and Rochester, has collected eight points (2+6) in just seven games with the Amerks since joining the team at the NHL trade deadline. Forward Mike Hedden and Selleck each show a goal and an assist in their last two games.

Lake Erie Notes: Lake Erie (43-28-3-5, 94 points) comes into matchup, like Rochester, playing its third game in as many nights to bring the regular season to a close. With a spot in the 2011 Calder Cup Playoffs already waiting for them, the Monsters have won three of their last four games, including their 3-0 whitewash over the Abbotsford Heat last night on home ice. Lake Erie now shows two shutout victories in that stretch, with the other coming in the form of a 2-0 blanking over Toronto on April 2nd.

The Monsters have been one of the AHL's best teams since the calendar turned to 2011, working their way up the divisional standings, while even serving as the top team in the North for a brief stint earlier this season. The Monsters have proven to be arguably the hottest team in the AHL over the past 38 games, showing an astounding 28-10-0-0 mark since mid-January en route to earning their first-ever postseason berth in franchise history. The club also presently ranks fifth overall on the penalty kill (85.0 percentage), with their efficiency on home ice sitting atop the league (87.9 percentage).

A Season for the Books: Lake Erie has established franchise records for wins in a season (43), road wins in a season (19) and consecutive victories (eight). What is more impressive is that seven of those eight straight wins came when the team was on the road, setting a new franchise-high.

Quite the Streak: Remarkably, Lake Erie has won 19 of its last 25 games and 28 of its last 38 outings. Over their last 38 games, the Monsters have strung together two five-game winning streaks (January 14th-20th and February 6th-18th), a franchise-high seven-game home winning streak (February 6th-March 4th) and a franchise record-setting eight-game home point streak (February 5th-March 4th).

Team and League Leaders: The Monsters come to the Flower City fueled by veteran forward Ben Walter, who paces the Lake Erie offense with a team-high 47 assists and 59 points, placing him inside the AHL's top 10 in assist leaders. Averaging just under a point-per-game, his on-ice rating of plus-27 is also a team-best, ranking him third in the AHL in that category.

With second-year centerman Mark Olver currently on NHL recall, Matthew Ford sits atop the squad's active roster with 25 goals on the season. Patrick Bordeleau leads the Monsters with 125 penalty minutes on the campaign. Rookie Mike Carman has potted six of his nine goals while the team was shorthanded, currently tops in the league in that category.

Veteran netminders John Grahame and Jason Bacashihua have split time between the pipes to this point for the Monsters. The 28-year old Bacashihua (23-16-3) ranks ninth and 14th among league netminders with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage, respectively. Grahame (18-12-2), a former Stanley Cup winner and veteran of over 200 NHL games, ranks 12th with a goals-against average of 2.35.

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from April 10, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central