It’s a Friday afternoon and there’s a few different Amerks related news items that were either posted this week or were out there but not posted here. Anyways, in case you missed it here’s a way to catch up on Rochester Americans related news items from this past week or so. This covers everything from the teams long tenured trainer, assistant coaches, salary stashing and some videos.
Kent Weisbeck
After 26 years a Rochester Americans Hall of Famer and someone many players consider one of the best trainers was advised he would be without a job heading into the coming season. A tough situation.
This is very much a case of life not being fair. The Sabres actually were being fair in one regard: to the people they hired to work for them in Portland. It would not have been right to kick to the curb the Pirates’ medical guy, Robert Frost, or the Pirates’ equipment manager, Rochester native Ben Laing. They were members of the Sabres organization; they deserved just treatment.
But it’s very unfair to someone who for 26 years was loyal to the Amerks. All those games. All those practices. All those bus rides. All those ice packs. All those cuts. All those ailing backs. All those knee rehabs.
Amerks equipment manager Peter Bureaux was also advised he would not be hired by the Sabres, he has moved on and will work with the Abbotsford Heat.
Assistance Coachs
Darcy Regier met with the media in Buffalo this week and said that he expects to make an announcement early next week regarding assistant coaches for Rochester. Former US National Team development head coach Ron Rolston was hired as the Amerks’ new bench boss on July 27. (from Sabres.com)
It’s anyones guess as to who will be picked. In the history of the Rochester Americans there has typically been someone behind the bench with some previous ties to the organization. There’s certainly a lot of candidates out there that could fill the role, assuming they would work well with Ron Rolston and the Sabres philosophy.
“Stashing Salaries”
The common thought out there is that with the Buffalo Sabres well over the salary cap that they would likely send Ales Kotalik and Shaone Morrisonn down to the Amerks to have their salaries not count against the cap. They’re players that would be great assetts to the Amerks roster and also solve salary cap issues. That’s something that never would have happened under the Golisano era in Buffalo.
“Hopefully that’s not the case,” Regier said of putting players in the minor leagues. “Hopefully we’re able to make some moves to address that prior to the start of the season.”
But it sounds like Regier is trying to avoid “stashing salaries.” Even though it helps the salary cap issue it’s still a lot of money being spent (even if Pegula has deep pockets). Regier has said all along that they’ll be looking at making trades to solve cap issues along with fill the needs of the Amerks roster. (source: BuffaloNews.com)
Chances are the rest of the month will be quiet in terms of any trades or moves but that’ll likely change as training camps near and teams evaluate their rosters.
Schedule
The American Hockey League released the schedule for all 30 teams and the Rochester Americans will have their home opener on Thursday Otober 13th against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Another notable date is March 24th when the Amerks will be on the road in Syracuse where the Crunch are hoping to have the game played at the Carrier Dome.
Here’s more about the schedule.
Chat with Ted Black
Kevin O will host a chat with Ted Black on Monday at 11am, book mark his blog to tune in and chat.
1983, 1987, 1996 Amerks Calder Cup Seasons
In case you also missed it, I had posted videos highlighting the Rochester Americans Calder Cup seasons in 1983, 1987 and you can watch all of game 7 from 1996 as well.
1996 Season: Watch game 7 here or check out the highlights video here.
1987 Season: The Amerks won their 5th Calder Cup in 1987 and this is a great video called “The Strive for Five” about that season.
1983 Season: Another classic from 1983 when the Amerks won their fourth Calder Cup. Some great similarities in this video to how things are currently. It’s amazing how much scoring there was that season. Watch the video here.
