Amerks Schedule to be Released at 3pm Today

Posted on August 17, 2012Keith Wozniak
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The American Hockey League has placed all of their magnets on the wall boards and worked around the NBA schedule to complete the 2012-2013 AHL schedule and it’s scheduled to be released at 3pm pending approval by the board of governors.  Is there any reason they wouldn’t approve it?  Not that I can think of.

So, what can be expected?  I haven’t seen the schedule or been given any inside information on it but it’s probably safe to assume that not much has changed from previous seasons.  There’ll be a lot of games against a number of familiar teams and a lack of games against teams that they haven’t played against in years.  Teams have usually announced a list of opponents by now but they did not do that this season.

The Amerks are still in the Western Conference and the only change is that the Grand Rapids Griffins are no longer in the North Division and in their place is the Abbotsford Heat.  The North Division has Rochester, Cleveland, Hamilton, Toronto and Abbotsford which is just under 3,000 miles away.  There’s a lot of people that would love to see the Amerks move into the Eastern Conference but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon unless a team shuts down or moves west.

The NHL seems to be headed towards a lockout which means a lot of people will be craving hockey especially in the early parts of the season.  If anyone reading this hasn’t followed The AHL too closely I can tell you that trips to Toronto, Hamilton, Cleveland, Syracuse and Binghamton are all very easy drives for Amerks road games and worth the tank of gas.

Here’s my guess at how a majority of the games will be broken down in the Amerks schedule:

  • Toronto (5 home/5 away)
  • Hamilton (5 home/5 away)
  • Syracuse (5 home/5 away)
  • Binghamton (4 home/4 away)
  • Lake Erie (3 home/3 away)
  • Abbotsford (3 home/3 away)
  • Adirondack (2 home/2 away)
  • Albany (2 home/2 away)
That list equals 58 games.  There’ll also be a set of home and away games against the Hershey Bears and Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins for another four games to bring the total to 62.  That leaves another 14 games which is where the change could come into play.  Will the Amerks play against the Mid-West Division (Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Peoria and Rockford) this season?  Some random games against other Eastern Conference teams?  The Eastern Conference has a lock down on the scheduling and those teams typically have a bigger say in who they play against which means Rochester does not fit into their plans.
There will also be a long stretch where the teams is on the road and also a month with more home games than anyone will know what to do with.

I could of course be completely wrong with everything but given the past six seasons I doubt much will change.  We do know one thing which is that the Amerks will play their home opener on Friday October 12th!

Stay tuned to Amerks.com and TheAHL.com around 3pm for the release!

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About the author... I started LetsGoAmerks.com in 2007 - now called LGA585.com - when there was a hole in the media universe regarding coverage of the Rochester Americans (there still is). The team has provided media access which allows us to obtain information and interviews. You won't find coverage about the team like this anywhere else! Click the icons to the side and follow along on Twitter as well.