The Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears are playing at 7:35pm on Friday night, the long time rivals and the two oldest teams in the American Hockey League.  The two teams have played a total of 431 games against each other, the Amerks record against the Bears is 179-199-53.  With such a long history one would think this should be a special occasion, but it’s not considered one this season.  They didn’t play each other in the 06/07 season, and this is only the second of two games scheduled this year.  The Amerks lost the first game this season 3-1 back on October 20.

This season so far hasn’t been fun.  The only thing really interesting about the season has been the way the Amerks stayed out of record books with a win and goal when needed.  Ever since the end of November when all the financial issues really seemed to come to light, everyone stopped caring including fans, players, coaches, front office, and even the Panthers and Sabres.

All of that leads to a great reason that Friday nights game should have been promoted differently.  Maybe if more people knew about the Bears coming to town it could lead to a large crowd, not just an announced large crowd.  Even with all of that known front office issues with Rochester Sports Group, this should be a game that proves Amerks hockey is a special thing and that a lot of people do still care about hockey and history.  Hopefully someone has mentioned the long time rivalry to the players, or maybe they’ll read this, and they’ll come out showing the desire to win a third straight.  Hopefully a third straight win against a long time rival will help boost morale to finish the season in a way where we may forget about the month of December.

All of this and more was mentioned by Ted (and others) on Kevin O’s blog as well as Rochester Sports Fan.  There’ll probably be an article in Friday’s D&C about all of this, but for one game all outlets probably should have tried to sell this game earlier in advance.

So, here are our Top 5 reasons to actually go to the game:

5. There are only 14 home games left this season.  If you enjoy going to games to see possible “future NHL stars,” your chances are winding down with the current roster.

4. Friday night is the Amerks’ Teddy Bear Toss to benefit Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong. The Amerks are encouraging fans to bring teddy bears to throw on the ice during the second-period intermission. The furry friends will then be donated to Golisano Children’s Hospital.  Kids love teddy bears, and it’s always fun throwing things on the ice.

3. Dan Collins is back in the lineup after playing with the Florida Everblades in the ECHL since December 5th.  He showed excellent promise as a possible rookie of the year at the start of the season, more experience at the ECHL level should give our defense an additional boost.

2. The Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears are long time rivals and the two oldest teams in the American Hockey League.  The two teams have played a total of 431 games against each other.  Due to horrible scheduling in the AHL they may not play again for another two years.

1. The Amerks are playing some of there best hockey of the season, they’ve recorded points in five of the last seven games, and are on a two game winning streak.  They seem to have found a way to have fun on the ice together again, that has resulted in being competitive again.

The game will be broadcast live on TWSN Channel 26, live on B2 Networks, and can be listened to on Hot Talk 1280 WHTK.