Last summer at this time we were excited that Steve MacIntyre had been signed over the summer and was going to provide some toughness on the ice.  MacIntyre didn’t even make it through half the practice before we learned that the Edmonton Oilers had claimed him off waivers.  Once he left the two other tough guys on the roster were Ryan James Hand and James DeLory, both were cut.

Everything is different this season.  The latest tough guy to be invited to camp is Trevor Gillies.

If you’re a fan of the rough side of hockey you will not want to miss the Amerks only home preseason game on Sunday September 27th against the Syracuse Crunch at ESL Centre.  The Amerks and Crunch will play again two days later in Syracuse.

Players that can fight who’re expected to be at camp: Trevor Gillies, Mike Sgroi, Thomas Harrison, James DeLory, Mike Duco could possibly be back from the Panthers as well.. oh and Adam Keefe could be sent down as well.

This team has the potential to score a ton of goals, have a strong defense, and a fourth line that could beat up the opposing team.  Oh and Alexander Salak in net, many have said that he will have a very promising career ahead of him.

Did anyone see this coming?  I don’t think to this extent we did.  Jody Gage and Ted Nolan have put together a very promising roster.

It’s probably a safe bet that Jon Mirasty will be in the lineup for the Crunch for both games and we’ll be guaranteed a heavy weight bout.

If you havn’t been paying attention to the Amerks all summer I can guarantee you that this will be a different team than the last two.  You will not want to stay home and watch football instead of going to the game at ESL.

Here’s more from Kevin O’s blog:

The 11th-year veteran left winger is coming on a tryout, but something tells me there are some fairly strong assurances about a job.

That, of course, is assuming Gillies passes his medical exam. He missed the final 3 1/2 months of last season because of a concussion.

“I’ve been cleared and I’ve been training like an absolute animal,” he said.

Whether on the ice — or just the bench — Gillies would give the Amerks the respected heavyweight presence they need.

He’s anxious to do just that.

“I’ve got a job to do and that’s making sure there’s a safe environment, protecting the assets,” Gillies said this evening. “I enjoy doing it for the fans, for my teammates.”

Gillies, 30, is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. In 330 career regular-season AHL games with Providence, Lowell, Springfield, Hartford, Portland and Albany, he has piled up 1,302 penalty minutes. He has 6 goals and 14 assists.

Gillies has been in the Eastern Conference his whole career, but he knows Rochester and the tradition that exists. He’s aware that owner Curt Styres is trying to rebuild it quickly.

A member of the Professional Hockey Players’ Association’s executive committee, he met the Amerks leadership group at the AHL meetings in July.

“I really liked when I sat down and talked to them and listened to what they want to do,” Gillies said.

“Rochester was such a kingpin in the league, maybe even bigger than Hershey. I’d like to be just a little piece of that puzzle. I pay attention, I’ve seen the pieces they’ve already added.”

Nothing has been done to this point because Gillies was holding out hope for a two-way contract. That didn’t happen, so he accepted the invitation to camp from the Amerks.