AMERKS STARTING TO GET BACK ON TRACK IN TIME FOR MARCH REPORT CARD
Rochester has won three of its last four heading into final month of regular season
Mar 30, 2026By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The 70th season of Rochester Americans hockey is hitting the home stretch. The month of March was not as kind to the Amerks as they would have liked, but as temperatures are slowly beginning to rise with the coming of spring, so too are the Amerks as they look to climb their way into the playoffs for a fifth straight season.
A 4-6-0-1 mark may not seem impressive, but a number of noteworthy happenings jump off the page in this month’s report card.
JONESING FOR HISTORY: A
Defenseman Zac Jones has been leading the league all season long. The fourth-year pro will end the month of March seven points clear of all other defensemen with 56 (10+46) through 52 games. March saw the two-time AHL All-Star accumulate points in eight of his 11 games played, including three multi-point performances.
Jones has recorded an astounding 17 multi-point games this season. His efforts are beginning to garner attention from Rochester’s history books. With his first assist in March’s finale against Syracuse Sunday afternoon, Jones surpassed Michael Kostka for most points by a blueliner with the team over the last 15 years.
Jones’ chase for history will continue into April, ranking four points back of Clay Wilson, who posted 60 (14+46) in 2009-10, the most by any Amerks defenseman in the 21st century.
With 10 games left in the season, Jones is within reach of the team’s all-time single-season assists record for a defenseman, as he needs 12 more to tie Hall of Famer Bob Hess’ 58 helpers from the 1980-81 campaign.
ACADEMIC ADDITIONS: A
School’s out for Chris Douglas and Gavin McCarthy, with the pair of college signings trading textbooks for ice time at the professional level.
Douglas joined the Amerks earlier in the month following the completion of his senior season at the University of British Columbia, where the forward amassed 35 points in 28 games to go with a plus-26 rating. Over four years playing collegiate hockey in Western Canada, Douglas posted 57 goals and 120 points.
The Buffalo Sabres drafted defenseman McCarthy in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft. After a third season at Boston University, this time as team captain, the Sabres inked McCarthy to an entry-level contract, then allowed him to sign an Amateur Tryout with Rochester, where he is expected to remain for the rest of the season. The 20-year-old out of Troy, New York collected 21 points (4+17) in 36 games for the Terriers this past season. Prior to playing collegiately, McCarthy spent two seasons with USHL-Muskegon.
Across the board, the Amerks have dressed 20 different players that have competed at the collegiate level, with 19 of them coming from NCAA schools. Zach Metsa and Matteo Costantini have also won National Championships with Quinnipiac and Western Michigan University, respectively.
FIELD TRIPS: A+
Community engagement was at the forefront of the Amerks’ minds in March leading up to Hometown Heroes Night. Over the course of the month, the Amerks players and front office staff made 15 different stops around the Greater Rochester Area delivering lunch to all local first responders and frontline workers.
Additionally, forward Red Savage and Riley Fiddler-Schultz both went to schools in the area to promote education.
Hometown Heroes Night resulted in nearly 6,000 fans attending the Amerks win over Toronto at Blue Cross Arena on the last Friday of March.
APRIL SYLLABUS
The end is near for the 2025-26 regular season. Only 10 games remain for the Amerks, with six of the final seven games of the season coming away from the Flower City. Before then, Rochester welcomes Charlotte, Belleville, and Providence to town the first week of April.
Following the homestand, the Amerks hit the road all of next week with games in Cleveland, Syracuse, Springfield, and Providence.
Six of Rochester’s remaining 10 games are against clubs from the Atlantic Division, which is where things will wrap up for the regular season. After the team hosts Cleveland on Apr. 17 in the home finale, they then spend their last weekend of the campaign in the Keystone State, facing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday before wrapping up the slate Sunday in Hershey on Apr. 19.