AHL Rochester Americans

Game Night: Amerks Host Griffins At Blue Cross Arena

March 14, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Tonight, the Rochester Americans close out the weekend with their third game in three nights as the Grand Rapids Griffins return to the Flower City for the second time in as many weeks. The 3:00 p.m. matinee will be the fourth of six get-togethers this season between the North Division rivals and can be heard live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk. The game will also be shown live on Time Warner cable SportsNet Channel 26 and will be featured on the NHL Network as the AHL game of the week

Promotions:

The game features the second installment of the Seneca Gaming Amerks Legends Series. Former Amerk fan favorites Scott Metcalfe, Rob Ray and Kevin Kerr will be on hand to sign autographs from approximately 1:40 to 2:40 p.m. After the game, fans can head down to The Distillery, located at 1142 Mt. Hope Ave, for the official postgame party and meet Amerks players Clay Wilson, Jimmy Bonneau, Andrew Sweetland, Alexander Salak and newcomer Mathieu Roy.

Taffe Returns; Calla Reassigned to Rochester: Rejoining the Amerks tonight will be forwards Jeff Taffe and Brady Calla after the pair was assigned to Rochester earlier this morning by the Florida Panthers. Taffe, who earned his sixth promotion to the National Hockey League on Friday, returns after a brief one-day stint with the Panthers, serving as a healthy scratch in Florida's 3-2 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks last night at HP Pavilion. Taffe, who has one assist in 18 NHL contests with the Panthers, is tied for the team lead with 23 goals and is third overall with 47 points for the Amerks. Calla rejoins Rochester from the ECHL's Florida Everblades, where he has two points (1+1) and 11 penalty minutes in 11 games. Calla was assigned to Florida (ECHL) on February 8th after scoring six points (1+5) in 32 games American Hockey League games for the Amerks.

Taylor Passes Ehman, Nears Garwasiuk:

Veteran forward Chris Taylor recently surpassed Gerry Ehman for third on the all-time assist list with 283 career helpers as an Amerk. The only two ahead of him are Bronco Horvath and Jody Gage. Further, the 18-year pro sits just a mere three goals away from moving ahead of Ron Garwasiuk for 13th on the all-time goals list.

Road Warriors:

After taking a 3-0-0-0 sweep last weekend on the road, and coming off its 5-3 win over the Syracuse Crunch last night at the War Memorial at Oncenter, Rochester has now won a season-high four straight on the road, the longest streak since winning three from January 15th to January 30th ( at Hamilton, Syracuse and Toronto). Prior to winning four straight on the road, the Amerks were just 4-7-0-0 in their last 11 contests away from the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena.

Head-to-Head: The matchup will be the fourth of six scheduled meetings between the two teams and the final clash at The Blue Cross Arena. Rochester will travel to Grand Rapids on back-to-back Wednesdays in the final weeks of the campaign to complete the season series with the Griffins. Rochester is 2-1-0-0 this season, including a 1-1-0-0 mark at home, and is 19-21-3 all-time against the Detroit Red Wings' affiliate.

Amerks Notes: Rochester (38-27-2-0, 78 points) enters the contest in a second-place tie in the North Division with the Abbotsford Heat after earning a 5-3 win over the Syracuse Crunch last night at the War Memorial at Oncenter. With the win, Rochester improved to a perfect 9-0-0-0 record this season against the Crunch and is now 7-3-0-0 in its last 10 games.

Seventh-year pro Jamie Johnson, who shows 11 points (4+7) in his last 15 games, has a team-high 39 assists and 62 points, while his 23 goals are equal to that of forward Jeff Taffe for the team lead. Averaging just under a point per game, Johnson is tied for seventh in the AHL in overall point production and is tied for 11th with 39 assists. Further, the duo is tied for 15th among the AHL's top goal scorers. Taffe shows 12 points (6+6) in his last 11 games and notched his 300th AHL point with his game-winning goal last Sunday against Portland.

Veteran defenseman Clay Wilson, who enters the contest in the midst of a three-game point streak (1+2) and eight points (2+6) in as many games, has a team-best 21 assists on the power-play this season, good enough for fourth in the AHL in that category. Wilson continues to be Rochester's top scoring defenseman with 49 points (12+37) and is second in scoring among league blueliners.Additionally, Wilson is 14th in the AHL with 37 assists.

Rookie goaltender Alexander Salak, who has started five of the last eight games for Rochester and carries a five-game winning streak into the game, boasts a 28-12-0 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and a.914 save percentage in 42 games. His 28 wins presently rank second among league netminders. His counterpart, third-year goaltender Tyler Plante, is coming off three straight starts for the first time this season, a stretch that included back-to-back wins and a 40-save shutout last weekend against Toronto. Plante is 7-9-0 with a 2.91 goals-against average and a.904 save percentage in 18 games of service.

Veteran forward Mike York, coming off a season-long five-game point streak, has collected 14 points (5+9) in 11 games since returning to the lineup on February 19th. He sits five points away from 100 AHL points. Amerks captain Rory Fitzpatrick is three points from 200 as a pro, while 2010 AHL All-Star forward Graham Mink is just two goals shy from 200 pro goals.

Grand Rapids Notes:

Grand Rapids (27-34-3-3, 60 points), currently in the middle of its season-high six-game road swing, comes into the matchup after splitting a two-game set with the North Division-leading Hamilton Bulldogs the past two nights at Copps Coliseum. The Griffins are just 2-3-2-1 in their last eight, with a pair of victories over Manitoba and Hamilton being the only wins in the stretch.

Fifth-year pro Jeremy Williams has a team-high 23 goals and 49 points and is just one of two Griffins skaters to reach the 20-goal plateau this season. Williams, whose 23 tallies rank him tied for 15th in the AHL, also paces the team with 11 power-play goals, good enough for seventh in the league.

Veteran forward and 2010 AHL All-Star Patrick Rissmiller, who began the 2009-10 campaign with the Hartford Wolf Pack, leads the Griffins offense with 27 assists and has appeared in a team-high 68 games this season for Grand Rapids. Forward Paul Crosty leads the team with 143 penalty minutes.

Second-year netminder Daniel Larsson has seen the majority of time in net thus far for the Griffins, sporting a 19-21-1 record with a 2.85 goals-against average and a.904 save percentage in 44 games.

Forward Brad May and defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen have officially made their Grand Rapids debuts after the pair were reassigned to Grand Rapids in early March. May, a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games, has one assist in 40 games with Red Wings and has notched two more in just five games with the Griffins. Tollefsen, who is scoreless in eight outings with Grand Rapids, competed for the Norwegian Men's Team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Next Game:

Rochester travels to Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena to take on the Binghamton Senators in an interstate battle on Friday, March 19th. The 7:05 p.m. will be broadcast live in SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk.

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics



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