Sports stats



AHL Rochester Americans

Game Day: Amerks Take on Red-Hot Monsters Tonight

March 25, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Tonight, the Rochester Americans look to halt the red-hot Lake Erie Monsters as the North Division rivals complete the second leg of a home-and-home series this evening at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:35 p.m. contest will be the seventh of eight scheduled meetings between the two teams this season and will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk. The game will also be televised live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet Channel 26.

Welcome to the Pros: Newcomer Cory Conacher is expected to make his professional debut tonight after joining the team yesterday on an Amateur Tryout contract. Conacher, 21, joins the Amerks after completing an illustrious four-year career at Canisius College, where he led the team in scoring his last two seasons with the Griffs. The Burlington, Ontario, native is coming off a banner year in 2010-11, finishing first on the team with 42 points (23+19) en route to earning Second All-Team Atlantic Hockey honors, becoming just the second player in the program's history to be selected to the all-conference team on two occasions. Conacher, who earned First-Team Atlantic Hockey honors and was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year last season, scored a career-high 23 goals this season, including a team-best eight power-play tallies. He became the first player in the program's history with two seasons of 40-plus points and 20-plus goals, while his 23 scores are the most in the program's Division I history. He also owns a dozen other single-season and single-game records for Canisius, becoming the school's all-time scoring leader in the process with 147 points (62+85) 129 games.

Promotions: Tonight's game falls on Men's Health Night and the Amerks will wear special light-blue jerseys as part of their new partnership with the Urology Associated of Rochester. The jerseys will be raffled off, in-arena and online, to help raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. The fundraising efforts will also benefit Zero - The Project to end Prostate Cancer and The Lipson Cancer Center at Rochester General Hospital.

The game also falls on the next installment of the "Dollar Dogs 'N' Drinks" promotion, presented by Molson Coors. Tonight, and now during every Friday night home game for the rest of the season, fans can purchase Zweigle's Hot Dogs and select draft products for just $1.00. Starting this season, however, fans will also have the opportunity to enjoy any fountain Pepsi products for $1.00.

Further, the game features the Mark's Family Value Night special, offering fans four tickets, four T-shirts, one large one-topping pizza, two orders of jumbo wings and one two-liter bottle of soda for just $69.00 from any area participating Mark's Pizzeria location. Fans can purchase the package online at ticketmaster.com or in person at The Blue Cross Arena Box Office. For more information, please call the Amerks office at (585) 454-5335 and speak with a ticket sales representative today.

Head-to-Head: The contest is the seventh of eight get-togethers between the divisional foes this season. After coming up short in 2-1 setback to Lake Erie Tuesday night, the Amerks show a 1-4-1-0 record against the Monsters this season and have dropped the last four engagements with Lake Erie coming into tonight. Rochester also trails with a 10-14-1 all-time showing against the Colorado Avalanche's affiliate.

By The Numbers: Rochester is just 14-20-3-1 against North Division opponents this season, but shows a 16-14-0-2 mark against non-divisional rivals. Home ice has not been very welcoming for the Amerks, who are just 13-19-1-3 within the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena. Conversely, Rochester's road dominance is prevalent with a 17-15-2-0 mark.

Milestone Watch: Hugh Jessiman, who recently played in his 400thprofessional game, is just two points away from eclipsing the 200-point plateau and five assists short of 100. Veteran forward Mark Cullen needs just three more games to reach 500 in his AHL career.

Making History or Breaking History: Amerks forward Michael Duco is 10 games away from either making team history or breaking a 55-year long streak as the team enters the final 10 games of the regular season. 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 season in 1956-57. With 18 goals on the campaign coming into this evening, Duco sits two tallies shy of joining an elite group or becoming the first Amerk in franchise history not to reach the single-season 20-goal plateau.

Amerks Notes: Rochester (30-34-3-3, 66 points) enters the contest after dropping a 2-1 decision to Lake Erie in Game 1 of the two-game set Tuesday night in downtown Cleveland. The loss was the Amerks' third straight and the seventh in their last eight games. With 66 points and 10 games to go, the Amerks remain in the basement of the American Hockey League's North Division, 14 points out of fourth place behind Grand Rapids and Toronto.

Special Teams Breakdown: Rochester currently has the fourth best power-play in the league (20.4 percentage), but its penalty kill ranks 27thout of the 30-team AHL with a 79.1 success rate. Rochester's power-play unit has proven to be more effective on the road as its 26.1 percentage is presently tops in the AHL. As a team, the Amerks have also allowed a league-worst 14 shorthanded goals against, nine coming at home and five on the road.

Team and League Leaders: Despite being held scoreless his last three games, defenseman Mike Kostka leads the Amerks with 48 points (13+35) and is tied for fourth among AHL defensemen in overall scoring. Ten of his 13 goals this season have been scored on the man-advantage. He also has eight points (3+5) in as many games in March and is the only Amerk this season to appear in all 70 games thus far. The third-year blueliner also ranks tied for 19th in the league with 35 assists, while his 20 power-play helpers are 13th most among league leaders.

Back from a two-game stint with the Florida Panthers, Duco continues to maintain the team lead with a career-high 18 goals, including a team-high 11 on the power play, good enough for eighth in the AHL in that category. First-year forward Eric Selleck, whose four-game suspension will extend through tonight, ranks third among league rookies and 11th in the league with 191 penalty minutes. Selleck will be eligible to return to the lineup Saturday night against Syracuse.

Back from his first call-up to the Panthers this season, goaltender Tyler Plante is expected to resume his starting duties for the Amerks this weekend. Plante, coming off a career-long streak of starting 15 consecutive games, shows a 13-14-2 record with one shutout in 32 appearances. The 23 year-old also boasts a 3.04 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. His 13 victories are already good for a new AHL career-high.

Given the Amerks recent struggles, however, Marc Cheverie has manned the crease for three of the last five contests and picked up his first AHL win with a 38-save effort on March 13th against Hamilton. Since being recalled from Cincinnati (ECHL), the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native has appeared in six games for Rochester, compiling a 1-3-0 record to go along with a .901 save percentage and a goals-against average of 3.42.

Who's Hot: Kostka enters the week with seven points (3+4) in his last six games, a stretch that includes a pair of three-point outings. Veteran forward Patrick Rissmiller, who also returned to Rochester yesterday after an NHL stint with Florida, is presently riding a five-game point streak (2+5) and has collected a point in every game in an Amerk uniform since he arrived from Lake Erie. Veteran forward Chris Taylor has six assists in his last seven games, while Cullen shows five points (2+3) in as many outings.

Lake Erie Notes: Lake Erie (38-25-3-5, 84 points), playing the first of back-to-back road games this weekend, comes into matchup playing its fifth game in eight days and is one of the AHL's best teams since the calendar turned to 2011. The Monsters have proven to be arguably the hottest team in the AHL over the past 30 games, showing an astounding 23-7-0-0 mark since mid-January en route to making their way to the top of the North Division. Lake Erie is in the midst of a season-long six-game winning streak, with Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Rochester earning the franchise its record-setting sixth straight as the Monsters vaulted themselves into sole possession of first place in the North and into a prime position for postseason contention. The club also presently ranks seventh overall on the penalty kill (84.8 percentage), with their efficiency on home ice sitting atop the league (88.3 percentage).

A Week for the Books: Coming off its 7-2 rout over Grand Rapids on March 18th, Lake Erie has established franchise records for wins in a season (38), road wins in a season (16) and consecutive victories (six). What is more impressive is that five of those six straight wins came when the team was on the road, currently tying a franchise-high. With a win tonight, the Monsters can set a new precedent with their sixth straight road win.

Quite the Streak: Remarkably, Lake Erie has won 14 of its last 17 games and 23 of its last 30 outings. Over their last 30 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 59 points (19+40), placing him inside the AHL's top 15 in both points and assists, respectively. His team-best on-ice rating of plus-22 also ranks tied for seventh with fellow teammate David Van der Gulik. With second-year centerman Mark Olver currently on NHL recall, Matthew Ford sits atop the squad's active roster with 21 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. Grahame (17-10-2), a former Stanley Cup winner and veteran of over 200 NHL games, ranks ninth and 16thin the AHL with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage, respectively. The 28-year old Bacashihua (19-15-3) also follows close behind, boasting a goals-against average of 2.41 and a save percentage of .913 in 37 games.

Next Game: Rochester closes out the weekend on Saturday, March 26th as the Amerks exchange pleasantries with the Syracuse Crunch at the War Memorial at Oncenter for the final time this season. Fans can tune in live for the 7:30 p.m. matchup on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk.

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 25, 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