AMERKS HOPE TO FINISH THE WAR THURSDAY
Rochester stands a win away from advancing to the North Division Finals
Apr 29, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
Some may say the wait between now and Thursday is considered the calm before the storm. The Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch would likely view this window in time as mending over the aftermath.
“It’s a war out there,” said Amerks goaltender Devon Levi following his 35-save shutout performance in Game 2. “It was a 4-0 game, but the score doesn’t really show you what happened out there.”
As the dust settled from a weekend-long battle, Blue Cross Arena felt almost eerie Monday. It was quiet. Too quiet.
Through six periods and two playoff games, the Amerks not only won, but survived the opening two games of their third consecutive North Division Semifinal series against the intrastate rival Crunch. The red, white, and blue rallied from down 2-0 to secure a 3-2 win Friday night, then continued their unanswered run of goals into Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 victory, backstopped by Levi, who pitched a 35-save shutout for the first of his postseason career and eighth overall this season.
The Crunch haven’t scored in 96:31, but that doesn’t mean more damage wasn’t done since.
At the end of Game 1, Tyson Kozak was cross-checked from behind and into the boards. On Sunday, Vsevolod Komarov ended up on the wrong side of a fight during the second period and did not return to the game. Fellow defenseman Jack Rathbone took a nasty hit in the corner moments later, tentatively leaving the game, but would return.
Syracuse wasn’t exempt from punishment, either. Conor Sheary, who led the Crunch during the regular season in scoring, disappeared from the bench in the third period after a hit in open ice during Game 2.
The Amerks’ athletic training staff have acted as combat medics. Less than 96 hours separate the teams from their Game 2 matchup and an impending Game 3 in Syracuse Thursday night. Everyone is banged up and bruised. This is par for the course come playoff time, especially when these intrastate rivals get together.
“That’s just their style,” said defenseman Kale Clague. “They try to lure us into their crap. They’re obviously a big, physical team. It’s their game. We showed that we wouldn’t back down and we will stick up for each other.”
Rochester finished 29th in penalty minutes during the regular season. The Crunch ranked 27th. Through two playoff games, the cross-town foes have combined for 59 penalty minutes.
If this were 1996 when the Amerks and Crunch faced off for the first time ever during the playoffs, that number wouldn’t be worth blinking over. But this is 29 years later. The game of hockey has changed, but the rivalry between Syracuse and Rochester remains alive and well.
“I’ve never coached in a game like that,” said Amerks head coach Michael Leone following Game 2. “Everything we went through during the course of the season prepared us for this moment. The guys willed it out. You could feel it on the bench. Guys have sacrificed a lot.”
And now the Amerks look to will themselves to victory one more time, at least in this series. Rochester is facing Syracuse in the playoffs for the seventh time in franchise history. They have swept them once, dispatching of the Crunch in three games in 1997.
Each of the last two years have seen these teams and their series determined with a decisive Game 5. In 2023, it was the Crunch who were up 2-0 in the best-of-five before Rochester came all the way back to win the next three, the final of which was decided in overtime.
Before Sunday, each of the previous five playoff games between them were one-goal contests. The Amerks depart the Flower City and head for Syracuse, where three of their six regular season meetings were decided in overtime this past season, and each of the last three playoff games at Upstate Medical University Arena have also gone past regulation.
Rochester is close, but the war is not over. Both sides may look to reinforcements on their rosters to see if there is any extra artillery that can be deployed.
They are mending now, but they will be fighting again come Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Syracuse. The only thing that has changed is the location of the battlefield.
A win on Thursday will allow Rochester to plant the red, white, and blue flag of victory in the sands of Syracuse.