GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS MAKE FINAL VISIT TO BELLEVILLE THIS SEASON
Five things to know as Rochester concludes first half of 2025-26 season against Senators
Jan 16, 2026By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (19-12-3-1) close out the first half of the 2025-26 season with the start of a three-game road trip against the Belleville Senators (15-18-6-0) Friday night at CAA Arena.
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Here are five things to know before the Amerks make their final visit to Belleville, Ontario this season.
LIGHTS OUT LEVI
The Amerks continued their winning ways Wednesday on home ice when goaltender Devon Levi posted a flawless 20-save shutout to help Rochester take a 3-0 win over intrastate rival Syracuse.
Offensively, Zac Jones was leading the charge from the blueline, posting his first career two-goal game, including a power-play conversion in the second period. Jones leads the AHL in power-play points with 22 (1+21). Riley Fiddler-Schultz put the game on ice with an empty-net goal in the final three minutes of the contest to continue his productive ways as the third-year Amerk has 11 points (6+5) in his last 11 games.
By securing the win, the Amerks leapfrogged not only Syracuse, but Toronto as well. Entering Friday, Rochester yields 42 points to occupy second in the North Division standings and are four points back of the first-place Rocket with a game in hand.
Speaking of Laval, though the team pulled out a point on Wednesday, it would be Belleville emerging with a 3-2 victory as Lassi Thomson pulled out the heroics in overtime. The Senators have more games played than any other AHL team (39), yet they remain three points back of playoff positioning within the division.
THE STARS ALIGN
Thursday saw the AHL announce its All-Star rosters for the upcoming All-Star Classic in Rockford, Illinois next month. The Amerks are well represented with a trio of Amerks being named for a second straight season.
Isak Rosén and fellow forward Konsta Helenius will join defenseman Jones to represent the North Division. Rosén becomes the first Amerk in the 21st century to be named to the All-Star Classic for a third straight season and does so at just 22 years of age. His 1.24 points-per-game average is fourth-best amongst AHL players with at least 20 games played.
Jones leads the Amerks and the Eastern Conference in scoring by a defenseman with 34 points (5+29) as he continues to have a career year, while the 19-year-old Helenius is leading Rochester’s forward group in scoring with 30 points (9+21) while remaining as one of the youngest players in the league.
Belleville will also be represented by the league’s leading goal-scorer as Arthur Kaliyev has been named to the midseason classic after posting an astounding 24 goals through 37 contests.
BAD TO THE BONE
Jack Rathbone has found his rhythm after struggling to start the season. The veteran blueliner has gone plus-2 in games this month and has produced eight points (3+5) over the past six games, including two overtime game-winners with this past Sunday in Belleville serving as the second.
The sixth-year defenseman has accumulated 127 points (37+90) over his AHL career and produced his third-highest point totals in his first season with the Amerks last year, clocking in at 23 (6+17) over 63 games. Rathbone, 26, is the lone defenseman on the team to have played in every game so far this season and is one of only two Amerks to do so overall, joining Fiddler-Schultz.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Friday begins a three-game swing through the North Division as the Amerks face-off against Belleville, Utica, and Syracuse to get through the middle of January. After that the red, white, and blue open up a season-long six-game homestand and play the bulk of the second half at Blue Cross Arena as Rochester enters the midway point of the season tied for the second-fewest home games played across the AHL.
Rochester is 15-9-2-0 against the North Division with its best numbers coming against Belleville, whom they own a 4-1-0-0 record against this season. The Amerks are amid a 14-game stretch against opponents within the division, currently displaying a 5-3-1-0 mark over that span.
TAKING BACK SUNDAY
Tonight marks the final visit the Amerks make to CAA Arena, making the Senators the first opponent Rochester finishes its away portion of the schedule against when it comes to North Division adversaries.
The Amerks were just here this past Sunday, surviving a game that at one point appeared well under control. With the score 4-1 in the third, Belleville rallied to ultimately strike four times in the period and get the game to overtime at five apiece before Rathbone quickly ended the contest 13 seconds into three-on-three extra frame for the 6-5 final.
The Amerks have an opportunity to sweep the Sens on their home ice, having won the first three games by outscoring Belleville, 16-7 in the process. Should Rochester win on Friday, it would be the first time since the 2019-20 season that the Amerks win each of their games at CAA Arena.
The Amerks are 11-7-0-1 over the last five seasons in Belleville, earning at least one point in 13 of the last 20 matchups over that span. Conversely, Rochester sports a 7-8-1-2 mark in the Flower City, which includes a 6-4 defeat in the Flower City in November followed by a 3-2 victory last month.