Rochester Americans

The Rochester Americans lost to the Syracuse Crunch Saturday night by a sad final score of 6-1.  This, of course, is better than last year on the Crunch’s “Pink Out” night when the Amerks were creamed, 9-2.

Riley Emmerson made his AHL debut tonight and did a good job.  But, more on that later.

The first period started out with a quick epic fail when Starkov scored for the Crunch only 17 seconds into the game.  That was only the tip of the iceberg that was to come.

The Amerks went on the power play when Vigalante went to the box for tripping at 3:18.  That chance was short lived, as Ellerby decided to get a penalty of his own at 4:02.  To add insult to injury, Drew Larman took yet another penalty, giving the Crunch a 4-on-3 power play.  The outcome of that situation is easy to imagine.  The Crunch scored their second goal of the night easily.

For the next ten minutes, the Amerks fought off a few more penalty killing problems.  But it wouldn’t last forever.  Wilson tallied his second goal of the night at 14:15 to put another nail in the coffin before the end of the first period.

The second period wasn’t any better, except for one moment.  Before the good, of course, had to come the bad…the Crunch scored their fourth goal of the night only 3:57 into the period (once again on the power play).

But, then came something Rochester fans could get on board with.  Mike Duco dropped the mitts at center ice with Ryan Garlock.  Duco dropped Garlock with one swift punch to the jaw.  A job well done by the “rat.”

Speaking of rats…only a few minutes later, Jon Mirasty was on the ice with Emmerson and the moment we had all been waiting for began.  Emmerson dropped the gloves and tangled with Mirasty.  He held his own.  He got a few punches on the top of Mirasty’s head (seeing as he towers over him by about 25 feet), but Mirasty got a few in on his chin.  Mirasty then pulled Emmerson down and wrapped his legs around his back.  Round one over.

Amerks fans couldn’t celebrate much longer. The Amerks were shorthanded once again when Tanner Glass wanted to get a good fight in but couldn’t find anyone to drop the gloves with him.  Instead he got a roughing penalty, leading to another power play goal by the Crunch.

It wasn’t long until Tanner was out of the box and trying to fight with someone else.  Andrey Plekhanov was more than willing to fight, but he is just an idiot.  He was thrown out of the game for giving Tanner the finger.  Way to be, guy.

The second period ended with the Crunch ahead 5-0.  At this point, the Amerks’ fans in attendance were just hoping not to get shutout.

The third period started and I started to drift off to sleep.  Glass once again tried to take on someone…this time looking to Syracuse’s captain Smith.  Smith wouldn’t fight him because he has a hand injury so they just both took unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties.

Not long after getting out of the box for not fighting Glass, Smith thought it would be cute to hold on to MacDonald’s stick for a while.  Off to the penalty box again for the mighty Crunch captain.

Karl Stewart scored his third goal of the season on the power play.  Assists went to Repik and Matthias.

Vigilante (Best name in the AHL?  Possibly.) thought he would throw the last nail in the coffin when he scored the Crunch’s sixth goal of the evening shortly after Stewart made the Amerks look less like fools.

Just as I was about to take a cat nap, Emmerson and Mirasty were ready for round two.  Emmerson looked more ready this time, knowing what to expect from “nasty.”  He stayed in the fight much longer and got a few good hits in on Mirasty’s face.  The fight still went to Mirasty.

I would say Emmerson is going to do just fine for himself in this league.  This was his first game in this league and he had to take on the fighter with the worst reputation.  And he did it twice.  He was more than willing and probably wanted to have one more go at him.  He said “Mirasty is a tough little guy.”

I want to see more of Emmerson.

Oh yeah…did I mention Billy Baldwin was at the game tonight?  Cause he was…

The Americans clearly missed the presence of their best defenseman (Garrison), their veteran defenseman (Fitzpatrick), their fearless leader (Sprukts), and the boy who should be their top goal-scorer for the year (Meyer).  I mostly just miss Meyer.

Every season, the Rochester Americans’ players go out on the town to many different places for fans to meet them and strike up a conversation or two.  I always enjoyed bringing my son to these events, he loves the events and always thinks it’s a great time to get to talk to his favorite hockey players.

The events for this year are getting underway tonight in a few ways:

First there is the best program that the Amerks offer the community (in my opinion), the “Reading PowerPlay” program.  A player and the Moose go to an area library and reads the children there a book.  Then, the player gives a demonstration of all the hockey equipment that the players have to wear during every game.  A child gets to go up and try it all on, which is always a funny site.  They then have a signing where the kids can each get up close with the player and the Moose.

Tonight, Rory FitzPatrick will be the player visiting the West Irondequoit Library at 7:00pm.  Don’t forget that the Reading Power Play is a way to get your Mooseketeer some points.

Don’t miss out on a chance to get your kids really interested in reading at a young age.  Last year, when my son was three, we took him to as many library appearances as our schedules would allow.  He fell in love with the book they read (Z is for Zamboni).  When he got it for Christmas, it was his favorite present.  He still has me read it to him at least once a week.

Also tonight, a few Amerks’ players make their first trip over to the Charbroil House for dinner.  This is a part of their “Pucks and Plates” promotion.  This is the second year the Amerks and the Charbroil House are coming together to do this.

Tonight Brady Calla and Michael Caruso will be at the Charbroil House at 6:00pm.  They will be signing autographs and will be raffling off an autographed team stick.

I thought this would have been a little better last season if the players didn’t make themselves a bit unapproachable.  Hopefully this season they will make the players not stick to themselves so much.  We will find out tonight!

Lastly, tonight Drew Larman will be at Lakeshore Ice Rink walking around talking to hockey players, parents and fans.  I am not sure the time that he will be there because no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find it.  I am going to have to assume it will be around 6:00 or 7:00pm because that is when the Amerks do most of their apperances.

If you can’t make it out tonight there will be plenty of times when you can see them throughout the season.  We’ll have a calendar up shortly!

The Rochester Americans lost two straight games this weekend against the Manitoba Moose and are now the only winless team in the American Hockey League.  It’s only five games into the season, morale amongst fans has already dropped, and we’re repeating the same story lines as last season.  It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The Moose won on Saturday night 4-1, Tanner Glass scored the Amerks only goal at 10:40 of the first period.  It was assisted by Kenndal McArdle and Luke Beaverson.  It was the second goal of the season for Glass.  Chris Beckford-Tseu stopped 37 of 41 shots.

The previous night the Moose won 3-1, David Brine scored the Amerks only goal that night at 7:07 of the third.  It was assisted by Franklin MacDonald and Jason Garrison.  Tyler Plante stopped 28 of 30 shots.

The game on Friday night was tied 1-1 until the Amerks tried to clear it from deep within their own zone and Raymond Sawada kept the puck from crossing the blue line and two passes later Cullen slipped the puck under a diving Tyler Plante for the goal.

A bad mistake late in a game that was tied.  Like I said, familiar story lines.

Rory Fitzpatrick was hit from behind in the first period of Saturday nights game and did not return.  No further details available yet on his injury.

It was yet another game where the highly anticipated Shawn Matthias recorded only one shot and was a -2 on the night.

Our veterans in Drew Larman and Janis Sprukts also failed to record any points.

Stefan Meyer is still out injured.  The same for defensemen Keaton Ellerby and Jordan Henry.  Maybe it’s those three players that are the missing links to making this team a success?

The goaltending isn’t much different than last year.  Although it’s not fair to just blame the goaltending, appears as if the defense needs some work as well as they allowed the Moose to shoot the puck 41 times on Saturday night alone.

It’s now been a week since we were told an “enforcer” was in the works.  It’s also been reported that Jody Gage is on a scouting trip in the ECHL.  I can’t imagine many other AHL or NHL teams are knocking down the doors for those players, what’s taking so long?  At this point though, stop looking for an enforcer and get someone to score some goals.  When other teams expect to beat us they’ll give more players opportunities to go out and make our bodies hit the ice.

Dear Florida Panthers and Jody Gage: Please explain to us why we shouldn’t already have our morale lowered in expecting this to be another long season.  I know it’s only been five games, and in another two weeks we may look back and say we were too quick to think this way, but after last season I think we’re all justified.

We’ll try and have updates from practices this week.

10/17/2008 - AHL Game Summary
10/18/2008 - AHL Game Summary

 I thought the Amerks were starting off strong when Karl Stewart scored only 4:46 into the first period.

Tyler Plante got a short debut in goal tonight for the Rochester Americans tonight.  He played nearly all of the first period, but was pulled in favor of Beckford-Tseu after goals from Mayorov, Filatov and Sestito slipped past Plante.

This was in no way helped by the fact that the Amerks were on the penalty kill for eight minutes in the first period.  Beaverson and Duco spent 2 minutes each in the box for hooking and Sprukts went in for tripping which led to the Crunch’s powerplay goal at the end of the first period (even though the last second of the penalty before that had just ticked off the clock as the Crunch scored their third goal).

It is currently the first intermission and I am upset for two reasons.  First, because I paid $6 to AHL Live and am only LISTENING to the game.  I can not make the video work to save my life (if there even is video on here).  I could have just turned my radio on for free.  Secondly, I feel like I am being sucked in a blackhole back to last season listening to this game.

Let’s hope the second period can be a bit more productive on the Amerks’ end.

Something wonderful happened at the beginning of the second period…the video started working.  I like the new AHL Live more than the B2 Network.  I can choose to listen to the feed I want to.  So, I don’t have to listen to the horrible Crunch announcer.

Maybe I shouldn’t be watching.  Kelly just scored again for the Crunch who are now ahead of the Amerks 5-1.  Sestito now has a goal and two assists.  A good night for him…not so good for our boys in red, white and blue.

The second period hasn’t been quite as bad as the first.  With only one goal against and four minutes left in the period, it’s a huge improvement over the first.  Less penalty minutes is very helpful there.

Make that two goals in the second period.  At least a linesman go knocked down, that’s always funny.

Duco is in the box again. Cross-checking call at 19:27.  Thank god that period ended.

The third period was very uneventful except when 9:23 was left on the clock.  McArdle and Mirasty started having words from the bench.  They decided that wasn’t good enough and started throwing punches at each other over the thin glass that seperates the two teams.  McArdle, Mirasty, Mike Duco and Sestito were all given game misconducts for their actions.

Shortly after that Caruso was boarded by Mayorov after a play ended.

It is becoming pretty clear that the Amerks are going to HAVE to sign a goon to get through this season with the Crunch.  There is nothing the Crunch love more than acting like a trashy goon team.  Their fans love it and they love it.  It’s time for the Amerks to get on board and get someone to shut that meathead Mirasty up.  He needs a few teeth knocked out.

The Amerks have told our main man Kevin O of the D&C that they have a fighter in mind and want to get him signed a.s.a.p.  So, let’s hope that happens sooner rather than in a week to ten days.

After this game I still have complete faith in this team and solving the problems we seem to be having on the ice these first two games.  The Panthers have shown that they are willing to change the team and have said they will throughout the season if need be.  And Curt Styres is CLEARLY more than ready to spend money to get this team to where it needs to be.

Before we all jump into angry mob mode we need to remember that this team is just learning to be with each other and there are plenty of guys who are playing their first couple of professional games.

Benoit will work on the problems we are having with real coaching.  He is a man I can put my faith in to get the young guys where they need to be.

Garrison looked good again tonight.  He is going to be very solid for the Amerks.  A question I have though…WHERE is Peter Aston?  He should be on the ice where he belongs.  He better be injured or I don’t understand.  He is a solid defenseman!

I’ll end this on a happy note.  We may have lost our first two games, but…two games…120 minutes of hard fought hockey from the Amerks.

It may sound like a familiar story, the Rochester Americans lose to the Syracuse Crunch, but what sets this one apart from last season is that the team put in a solid effort.  The Crunch had a few lucky bounces, and the Amerks appeared to have scored a goal but the light never went on.  The final score was 4-3.

Maybe someone can help out on that one.  I believe it was in the second period, a shot appeared to have went into the net and bounced right back out.  The goal light did not go on, and very few people seemed to have noticed.

The team put in a solid effort, never gave up.  There was one point in the second period where it seemed like the game was going south, but they picked up the slack.  The guys did well against a more talented and faster Crunch.  The team is still new (7 rookies, 2 second year players among 18 players), once they get a few games together and have more game play experience we’ll hope for better results.

It was impressive seeing Benoit Groulx and Jason Cipolla working hard behind the bench.  Benoit was constantly yelling from behind the bench, even animated at one point from a bad penalty that was called.  Again, something we rarely saw last year.

Neil Clark and Jon Mirasty started things early when they dropped the gloves at 2:44 into the first period.  Wasn’t much of a fight.  Mirasty got one solid punch in, and then did a great job at trying to throw jabs while holding back Clark where he couldn’t connect with anything.

At the start of the second period Mirasty tripped up Tanner Glass as they were both heading to the bench, Mirasty got off the ice after that.  We didn’t see much of him for the rest of the game.

Jason Garrison had an outstanding game with a goal and an assist.  If they can keep feeding him the puck at the point his shot should be able to handle the rest getting into the net.

Shawn Matthias is expected to be a big offensive threat, let’s just hope tonight was an off night.  He was virtually invisible on the ice.  We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he had a long day of travel yesterday and only had one practice with the team before tonights game.  Although at one point he was wide open on the left hand side of Crunch goaltender LaCosta but no one was able to get the puck to him.

Tanner Glass and Drew Larman were both very impressive.  Working hard, going after the puck.  Neither had any points, but they had a presence on the ice.

Janis Sprukts was solid with a goal and an assist, just as expected.

Rory Fitzpatrick was great on defense, he did his job.  With three other rookie defensemen on the team hopefully he’ll be a big presence in boosting our D.

Michal Repik also had a goal.  He’s going to be very good for us this year, assuming the Panthers stay healthy I’d like to make sure he sticks around.

Stefan Meyer is going to be out for what we’d expect is at least with a few games with an injured groin.

Chris Beckford-Tseu made 23 saves in the game.

Dan Collins, Keaton Ellerby, and Peter Aston were scratched tonight.  Ellerby is still injured, assuming the other two were healthy scratches.

We’d also like to thank Aaron Rome of the Syracuse Crunch for missing so many shots from the blue line.

The pre-game festivities were a good time as well.  It was impressive to see the effort that had gone into the event.  The music was good, although few people seemed to really pay attention to them.  All of the Mooses’ friends were there, food and drinks were available, the team store was open, bouncy house for the kids, as well as a few current and old players available signing autographs.

Amerks.com writeup:

(Rochester, October 10)… The Rochester Americans fell to the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 tonight at The Blue Cross Arena in their season opener despite great efforts from their rookies. Scoring for the Amerks in their professional debut were Jason Garrison and Michal Repik. Garrison’s two point (1+1) night earned him first star honors. Scoring the third goal for the Amerks was Janis Sprukts who got second star honors with his two point (1+1) performance. The Crunch was led by Derek MacKenzie with two points (1+1) earning him third star awards.

The Crunch got on the board first when Brian McGurik knocked in a rebound from the slot off a Trevor Frischmon shot at the 14:13 mark of the first. Also collecting an assist on the play was Clay Wilson.

At the 16:54 mark of the first period, the Amerks tied the game at one when Garrison netted his first professional goal off an one-timer from an nice pass by Doug O’Brien. The power play goal was also assisted by Sprukts.

The Crunch retook the lead at the 2:12 mark of the second when Nikita Filatov beat Amerks goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu stick-side. Assisting on Filatov’s first goal of the season was Adam Pineault and MacKenzie. On the power play, the Crunch extended their lead to two when MacKenzie scored to record his second point (1+1) of the night at the 9:52 mark of the second. Assisting on MacKenzie’s first goal of the season were Pineault and Andrey Plekhanov.

The Amerks cut the lead in half when Repik netted a wrist shot past Crunch goalie Dan LaCosta at the 16:05 mark of the second on the power play. Helping out on the play was Garrison who got his second point (1+1) of the night and Rory Fitzpatrick in his first game back in an Amerks uniform.

The Chunch regained their two-goal lead 12 seconds into the third when Mike Yoke netted his first goal of the season with the assists from Tom Sestito and Steve Kelly.

The Amerks pulled within one at the 10:27 mark of the third when Sprukts put in a Franklin MacDonald rebound past LaCosta. Sprukts’ second point (1+1) of the night was also assisted by Stefan Meyer.

The start of the 2008/09 Rochester Americans season is finally upon us!!  The organization has new ownership, a new sole affiliation, new players, new fans, new web site.. let’s play some hockey.  Here’s some additional notes for opening night, along with events at the arena.

When asked about Fridays opener after practice on Thursday morning, head coach Benoit Groulx commented, “Yes, I’m very excited.  We have a good group.  The kids are working really hard.  We’ll see tomorrow if it’s paying off.”

Keaton Ellerby has an “upper body injury,” but whatever that injury may be, it doesn’t impact his skating one bit.  After practice on Thursday morning he was doing sprints for about 15-20 minutes with Cipolla.  On the way off the ice Keaton jokingly commented to a 4yr old watching, “don’t play hockey, never play hockey.”  We still think Cipolla could suit up for the team if needed.  He replied, “yea, behind the bench.”

As of Thursday afternoon Shawn Matthias was on his way to Rochester to join the team.  Matthias made headlines last season when the Panthers called him up from juniors and he had an immediate impact on the team.  He should be exciting to watch.  We’re guessing that unless he’s putting the puck in the net nightly he’ll be sticking around for a while.  I can’t imagine the Panthers wanting him to get a case of the Anthony Stewart or Clarke MaCarthur illness (get a taste of the show and hit a slump back in the AHL due to thinking you’re above it).

Tanner Glass has been named as an alternate captain.  He’s also sporting #15 this season, ditching #33 that he wore last season commenting, “[33] is the worst number ever.  It’s a goalie number.”

Can’t really comment on what the lines will be, they were all over the place.  A good guess at the starting lineup would be Janis Sprukts, Stefan Meyer, Michal Repik, Rory Fitzpatrick, Peter Aston, and Chris Beckford-Tseu.

Not that we ever need a reason to beat the Syracuse Crunch, but they are currently on a 15 game regular season winning streak.  The Crunch needs 3 straight wins to get a new spot in the record books, a solid win, and spoiling that effort would be excellent.

If you can’t make it to the game, sign up to receive text message updates!  The only updates you’ll get are links to new Lets Go Amerks articles along with scores from every home game.

The puck drops at the typical 7:35pm start time, but make sure to get to the arena early.

Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. On Opening Night, fans will enjoy one of the most exciting openers in the history of the franchise, as the organization provides pregame entertainment, LIVE music, free autographs, kids’ events and the largest bobblehead giveaway in team history.

Opening Night will start with a bang as Shane Yellowbird and The Skycoasters perform FREE concerts outside the arena to kick off the Block Party.

The Skycoasters will play from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and will be followed by country music recording artist Shane Yellowbird from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.

As part of the Block Party, kids and adults will also get to meet area mascots, face painters, clowns and famous Amerks alumni as Jody Gage, Dick Gamble, Doug Gibson, Stan Jonathan and Geordie Robertson to name a few. Further, fans will be able to jump around in the bounce house and get their first look at the Amerks’ dance team, “The American Spirit”.

Upon entering the arena, the first 10,000 people will take home a Rory Fitzpatrick bobblehead. There are also chances to ride around in bumper boats during the second intermission and to take part in all of the exciting promotions throughout the game.

The roster for the Rochester Americans season opener is pretty much set.  It appears as if we won’t have that goon / enforcer / muscle that we had all hoped for, but it’s time to move beyond that (for now).  Assuming the team can put in a solid effort for 60 minutes, the team should will be successful.  We have an excellent new head coach, improved goal tending, and a commitment to success.  One thing is for certain, if the season starts out slow we’ve been told that we will see changes.  With Shawn Matthias still in Florida we are still short on someone at center for opening night.

Rory Fitzpatrick will be wearing the “C” on his jersey this season.  Still no news on who will wear the “A,” but two excellent choices would be Stefan Meyer and Janis Sprukts.  Both are consistent players that continue to play strong every night and have shown leadership on and off the ice.

Keys to a win (pretty obvious): A full 60 minutes of effort, and play physical.  The Syracuse Crunch are a physical team, the Amerks need to set the tone showing they won’t back down.  Even if the gloves aren’t going to be dropped, if a full game is played we’ll be able to score.  Chris Beckford-Tseu is someone that players will be able to rely on in goal.

According to Amerks.com, here’s the current lineup heading into Thursday (continue reading below for additional notes):

2	Michael Caruso	D	L	6-2	191	Jul 5, 1988	Mississauga Ont
3	Jason Garrison	D	L	6-0	205	Nov 13, 1984	White Rock BC
4	Rory Fitzpatrick	D	R	6-2	208	Jan 11, 1975	Rochester NY
5	Janis Sprukts	C	L	6-3	235	Jan 31, 1982	Riga Lat
7	Drew Larman	C	R	6-3	197	May 15, 1985	Buffalo NY
8	Keaton Ellerby	D	L	6-4	186	Nov 5, 1988	Strathmore AB
10	Stefan Meyer	LW	L	6-2	200	Jul 20, 1985	Fox Valley, SK
11	Brady Calla	RW	R	6-1	205	Mar 14, 1988	Kelowna BC
12	Peter Aston	D	R	6-1	205	Feb 24, 1986	Toronto Ont
14	Mike Duco	RW	R	5-10	194	Jul 8, 1987	Toronto Ont
15	Tanner Glass	LW	L	6-1	210	Nov 29, 1983	Craven SK
17	Dan Collins	RW	R	6-2	195	Feb 26, 1987	Syracuse NY
18	Andrew Sweetland	LW	L	6-2	204	Oct 21, 1986	Bonavista Nfd
19	Karl Stewart	LW	L	5-11	185	Jun 30, 1983	Scarborough Ont
20	Luke Beaverson	D	L	6-4	220	Dec 11, 1984	St. Paul MN
22	Kenndal McArdle	LW	L	5-11	205	Jan 4, 1987	Toronto Ont
25	Jordan Henry	D	L	6-2	198	Feb 11, 1986	Milo AB
26	Michal Repik	RW	R	5-10	180	Dec 31, 1988	Vlasim Cze
27	Doug O’Brien	D	L	6-1	200	Feb 16, 1984	St. John’s Nfd
28	Neil Clark	LW	L	6-2	203	Jul 25, 1981	Burnaby BC
30	Chris Beckford-Tseu	G	L	6-0	201	Jun 22, 1984	Toronto, ON
32	Franklin MacDonald	D	L	6-0	198	Apr 8, 1985	Sydney NS
34	David Brine	C	L	6-1	201	Jan 6, 1985	Truro NS
35	Tyler Plante	G	L	6-4	191	Apr 16, 1987	Milwaukee WI

With that roster, we’re currently short on someone at center.  The 4th spot is expected to go to Shawn Matthias, but he’s still with the Florida Panthers.  We may not know until Friday what the deal is.  Hopefully more information will surface on Thursday.  Would be great to have him at the opener, expectations are high for him.

Expect Janis Sprukts, Stefan Meyer, and Michal Repik to be the top line.  We’re hoping to get further details on the other three lines.

Chris Beckford-Tseu had an impressive pre-season and will be starting in goal.

Starting defensemen will probably be Rory Fitzpatrick, Jason Garrison, Michael Caruso, Peter Aston, Luke Beaverson, and Doug O’Brien.  Keaton Ellerby has been nursing an ‘upper body injury.’  With an abundance of defensemen I can’t imagine him starting the season playing injured.  That also leaves Franklin MacDonald as an extra.  I wouldn’t be too suprised if he was reassigned to the Florida Everblades.

Jordan Henry will be out at least another week with a knee injury.

Kevin O noted — James DeLory came out of junior as a defenseman but the Panthers will be converting him to a right winger.  He’ll be learning the new position with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades.

Sounds like Marc-Andre Gragnani of last season, absolutely horrible on defense, but once he moved up his play improved immensely.  He ended the season as one of the best on the ice.

Overall the lineup may not be one that is considered “stacked,” but it is what it is.  Openingh night is less than 48 hours away.  It’s a new day for a Rochester tradition.  At this point many will be pessimistic, I’ve become optimistic.  The Florida Panthers and new Amerks ownership are under pressure to put a successful team on the ice.  If that doesn’t happen I think all are aware a mutiny may occur.

For more on each player you can check out the Democrat and Chronicles “Meet the 2008 Rochester Americans” article.

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Today, the Amerks held their first Fun Fest at Blue Cross Arena.  My husband and I brought our son down to see what was going on.  It was a great time for all of us.

At 1:00 when the doors opened, there were plenty of kids getting their skates on who were very excited to skate with the players.  They had to wait a little while longer because the team was going to be announced at center ice.

The whole team came out one by one to fans cheering for them.  Stefan Meyer and Drew Larman got the loudest cheers from kids and adults alike. 

Then Lewis Staats came out to tell the fans how much he appreciates them, and how proud he is to be the owner of the Rochester Americans.  After that, Benoit Groulx came out to introduce himself and say how he is more than happy to be coaching the Amerks this year. 

Last but not least, Rory Fitzpatrick came to the mic to speak on behalf of the players.

Then the doors were opened, and all the kids and adults (big kids) were let onto the ice.  All the players had their own signing pads to give people proper autographs.  They all have a nice picture with the Amerks' logo, and also the logo of the Panthers if the player is property of Florida. 

It’s great to see the team having a really nice way to get people autographs who aren’t card collectors and would like something more than just a piece of paper.  I will scan a few of them later tonight so everyone can see what they look like.

The Amerks had a team picture taken after their first practice on Tuesday.  Those were available at the Amerks tent/booth that was set up in the attrium.  They were very nice pictures for a preseason photo shoot.

We signed our son up for the Mooseketeers Kids Club, which seems like just another great addition to the Amerks this season.  For those of you who have children, you get a lot for your money when you sign them up for this club.  Just in the welcome package alone you get a Mooseketeer Certificate, I.D. with lanyard, t-shirt, antlers, song lyrics, a 32-oz. cup, a schedule with special events, the Amerks’ schedule roster, a team photo, and a letter from the Amerks’ team.  That doesn’t even include the discounts you get throughout the year.  All of this is only $20.

Yhe main entrance had a big blow up maze for the kids, and a dunking booth where members of the Amerks’ staff were being dunked.  That was a good time.  There were also clowns making balloon animals and face painters.

After that, we headed up to the atrium to once again meet the players, who were all walking around talking to the fans.  Unlike last season, the boys were all very open to talking to everyone.  They didn’t huddle around in groups talking to each other closed off to what was going on around them.  They all seemed to be having a good time too—which is always nice to see at an event like the Fun Fest, seeing as it was supposed to be fun.

There was a professional photographer taking pictures of fans with players and the new dance team in front of an Amerks’ backdrop.  The pictures were instantly printed out.  They were good quality and nice to have signed by whoever was in the picture with you immediately.

There were a lot of great things about today’s Fun Fest, and I personally hope this turns into a yearly tradition.  All the fans seemed to be having a good time, and I hope the players did too.  They should know they made a lot of kids very happy today.

First reported by TSN, the new coach of the Rochester Americans is going to be Benoit Groulx (pronounded Groo, the L and X are silent, I believe).  We appear to have been thrown a curve ball at our meeting with Steve Donner when he said it’d be someone not yet mentioned, or unexpected.  This is a great coaching choice, and he must see some chances at winning for him to have left his current position.

Here’s the report from the National Post

Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Benoit Groulx is reportedly out as head coach of the Canadian world junior hockey team.

The 40-year-old has accepted a job to take over as head coach of the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans, meaning he won’t be available to the junior team when it takes to the ice this December in Ottawa for the IIHF world junior hockey championship.

TSN reported Wednesday night that Groulx will not be behind the bench for Canada when it attempts to win a fifth straight tournament.

Groulx will replace Randy Cunneyworth as coach in Rochester. Cunneyworth accepted a job as assistant coach of the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers last month. Rochester finished last in the AHL’s North Division last season with a record of 24-46-6-4.

Groulx has also led the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques to three Memorial Cup appearances in the last six years, including this past season’s tournament in Kitchener, Ont.

He was named head coach of the Canadian junior squad just two months ago as a replacement for Craig Hartsburg, who had accepted the head coaching post with the Ottawa Senators.

Canada starts the world junior tournament on Dec. 26 when it faces the Czech Republic in Ottawa.