A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER FOR THE AMERKS
Jan 3, 2022By Suzie Cool
When we look back at the month of December for the Rochester Americans, there’s a lot to unpack.
Like…a lot.
Even though it feels like a year ago at this point, the Amerks kicked off the month with their first two games being postponed and both head coach Seth Appert and assistant coach Mike Weber being sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols.
Then as the Amerks were allowed to be back in action, they established a season-high, five-game win streak. As Rochester defeated the Utica Comets on Wednesday, Dec. 8 for the second time this season, they’d go on to beat the Laval Rocket that following Friday 5-3.
The catch?
Appert and Weber were still in protocols, meaning assistant coach Michael Peca had to take the reins and director of player development Adam Mair found himself back behind the bench in Rochester for the interim. Peca was more than excited to help guide his team to five-straight wins, however, he felt the absence of Appert and Weber and was certainly happy they were only a FaceTime away.
“They were cheering more than they really had anything to say,” stated Peca after his final game manning the Amerks to their fifth-straight victory. “I think it was a combination of it being another great, gutty win and next time we play they’re going to be back behind the bench and that excites me, too. As a team we’ve missed them around the rink. They’re not just great coaches, they’re great and positive people to have around the rink.”
Following that Friday night win over Laval on Dec. 10, Appert and Weber were out of quarantine and able to rejoin the team on their second four-game road swing of the season. From Dec. 13 to Dec. 29, the team was on the road taking on the Charlotte Checkers, Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Hershey Bears.
As the team arrived in Charlotte with excitement and anticipation to have everyone pretty much back, reality would set in during the first game against the defending Calder Cup champions on Tuesday, Dec. 14. In Rochester’s first of the two-game set they fell 11-1 to Charlotte and Appert knew prior to the matchup that things weren’t going to end in the Amerks favor.
“Winning streaks can mask some deficiencies. You’re rolling, you’re scoring a lot of goals and our goaltending was strong,” explained Appert when talking about the team’s first game of the road trip. “We saw as a staff a little bit of a slip in our defensive detail and our commitment, and I think some of that may be due to lack of practice because practice brings structure and games are more chaotic.”
The very next night, the Amerks and Checkers were back at it, and it was a much closer affair. Unfortunately, Rochester still took a 4-2 loss, but they’d end the road trip with back-to-back wins against the Phantoms and Bears as they made their way up to Pennsylvania.
“I was confident, and I told our team, ‘I know we’re going to respond to the loss, but we need to clean up some of these details’,” stated Appert when asked how he righted the ship by the end of the road swing. “We talked and we threw some analytics at the guys the next morning to show that this wasn’t a reaction to just one poor performance. These are numbers and a trend of us being too leaky defensively.”
Not to forget, while the team had an off night in Lehigh Valley on Friday, Dec. 17, it gave the coaching staff and players ample time to take in the Buffalo Sabres game as they faced the Pittsburgh Penguins. Why was this so important?
Because defenseman Casey Fitzgerald was making his NHL debut and Appert wanted to give his full attention to a player that might not have thought he’d ever make it there.
“It’s hard to describe how proud our staff was,” Appert explained as he began to talk about Fitzgerald’s NHL debut. “When we got hired here Casey Fitzgerald, Brett Murray, those guys were not thought of as guys that were likely heading to the National Hockey League. The work that they put in to earn that, you’re just a little more excited and a little more proud because it wasn’t maybe a given.”
Fitzgerald went on to be a goal-shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick in his NHL debut, ending the night with an assist and getting into a fight. Fitzgerald’s parents were at the game to support him, while his team and coaches in the Flower City cheered him on from afar.
“It’s great because they’ve helped me a lot, especially to get to this point, over the last two years,” commented Fitzgerald when asked about the support he felt from the coaching staff in Rochester during his NHL debut. “These last two years I feel like Seth and ‘Webby’ have helped me take those little strides into becoming the player that I want to be. I think they were just excited for me, and I thank them and I’m glad they could watch it.
Both Fitzgerald and the Amerks would return the Flower City following the road trip, fully expecting to play that Wednesday night before the holiday break would hit. However, with COVID hitting the month of December hard, not just in Rochester but across the entire American Hockey League, the Amerks found themselves with two more postponements on their schedule and another 10-day layoff with the holiday break in between. Fully expecting to get back in action this past Monday, Dec. 27 against the Comets, the Amerks saw their final postponement of the calendar year.
Now, this is where things got really interesting.
Over the holiday break, the implementation of the taxi squad was back in place for NHL teams. This time the taxi squad is optional, which is great for the Amerks considering they’re just an hour away from Buffalo, however, it doesn’t mean they can’t be impacted when the team is on the road, COVID hits or injuries occur.
And that’s exactly what happened.
In a two-day span, the Amerks saw five players summoned by Buffalo, four players recalled from Cincinnati, four players signed to professional tryouts (PTO), five players found themselves in COVID protocols, goaltender Aaron Dell was out due to his wife being in labor and an emergency backup goaltender had to be called an hour and a half before Rochester’s game against the Providence Bruins last Wednesday night.
Luckily, Appert had little experience with roster fluctuation due to the truncated 2020-21 campaign. The Amerks bench boss was more than prepared to piece together a lineup no matter who was on his roster thanks to the culture he’s worked so hard to build on and off the ice.
“Last year was about having a year, preparing prospects for the opportunity to get to Buffalo, and then from a new staff perspective, building the identity on the ice and the culture off the ice that we wanted to create here. Credit to our players that they really bought into that and they thrived in it and we created an environment allowing players to thrive, individually and collectively, and we’ve created an environment that is very competitive in nature but also very inclusive in nature.
Despite the depleted roster, multiple players making their AHL debuts and half the team not getting there until the day of Wednesday’s matchup, the Amerks still pulled off an impressive 5-3 victory over the Bruins.
Something that Appert isn’t surprised with in the slightest.
“The game tonight embodies what we’ve been trying to be about since we got hired,” commented Appert after the Amerks Wednesday night win. “When you’re trying to build a culture, when you’re trying to help an organization make a turn in the right direction, you have to start with winning human beings and competitors. You then have to raise the competitive level and the daily standard that we live by.”
As the Amerks were in action on Wednesday, so were the Sabres as they took on the New Jersey Devils. The Sabres, unfortunatrely, would come away with a 4-3 loss, but we certainly can’t lose sight of the fact that multiple Rochester players either made their Sabres or NHL debuts.
Amerks forward Peyton Krebs made his Sabres debut, while forward JJ Peterka and defenseman Ethan Prow made their NHL debuts. At 29-years-old, Prow has waited for this moment for a long time and it showed as he scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot in the third period of his first game in the best league in the world.
“We’re really happy for our guys,” commented Appert when asked if he kept up with the Sabres game while coaching his own team on Wednesday night. “That’s our goal here is to build a winning culture and a winning environment to give us a chance to win in Rochester and move players on to the National Hockey League.”
In conclusion, December saw two 10-day layoffs, four game postponements, a four-game road trip, three NHL debuts, a plethora of roster moves and somehow Appert and his team managed to keep their cool through the month’s entirety. Additionally, the Amerks ended December going 5-2-0-0, helping boost their overall record to 16-8-0-0 and still sitting at second in the North Division.
Finishing the year well over .500, exactly where Appert wants his team to be.
“This month has been a real credit to the group,” Appert expressed when looking back on the final month of the calendar year.
“Whoever is in the lineup, no matter the situation, they’ve continued to play the right way. There’s a standard that the guys have set, not that we’ve set, that started last year with how many depleted lineups we had. When you put that jersey on, no matter who you are, no matter if you’re a regular player for the Amerks or not, there’s a standard by putting that jersey on and how hard you have to play for each other.”