Rochester Americans Season Schedule Breakdown

The Rochester Americans open the 2015-2016 American Hockey League season on Friday, October 9, just one day after their parent club in Buffalo opens their season. The Amerks open that night hosting the Lake Erie Monsters in Randy Cunneyworth’s debut in his second stint behind the bench.

The 2015-16 season will see the Rochester Americans face 16 teams, including all the teams in both the Atlantic and North divisions. The Amerks won’t face any Pacific Division teams, and will only face two of eight teams in the Central Divison.

That means Amerks fans will have to wait to see new teams like the Bakersfield Condors, Ontario Reign and San Diego Gulls. The Stockton Heat, San Jose Barracuda, San Antonio Rampage and Texas Stars will also have to wait. In addition, Charlotte, Chicago, Iowa, Manitoba, Milwaukee and Rockford won’t face the Amerks this season.

So that leaves the question – what teams will the Rochester Americans be facing this season?

First and foremost: lots and lots of the Syracuse Crunch. In fact, that’s the opponent the Amerks will face most, with ten games between the two clubs (compared to eight last season).

With division realignments come schedule changes. Instead of facing the Toronto Marlies ten times, they’ll face each other only eight times; the same goes for the Utica Comets. In addition, while the Amerks played Hamilton ten times last season, they’ll play St. John’s – the new Montreal farm club – only eight times.

Here’s how the 2015-2016 Rochester Americans schedule breaks down further by team:

Ten games against the Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators.
Eight games against the Utica Comets, St. John’s IceCaps and Toronto Marlies
Six games against the Albany Devils.
Four games against the Lake Erie Monsters, Hartford Wolf Pack and Grand Rapids Griffins.
Two games against the Portland Pirates, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Hershey Bears, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Providence Bruins and Springfield Falcons.

The Amerks didn’t face Albany, St. John’s, Hartford, Lehigh Valley, Wilkes-Barre Scranton, Hershey, Bridgeport, Providence OR Springfield at all last season; that will provide for some new faces, new battles and new challenges.

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In fact, this season will see both Lehigh Valley and St. John visit Rochester for the first time. Bridgeport returns to Rochester for the first time in 14 years; Hartford, the first time in 13 years.

After not facing each other last season – just the second time in 59 years that has occurred – the Bears and Amerks will face each other again this season. It’ll be Hershey’s first appearance in Rochester since March 7, 2014.

In addition, this season continues the record of the Rochester Americans not facing the Charlotte Checkers. The Checkers have been in the AHL since relocating in 2010 and have still never played the Amerks. They were previously known as the Albany River Rats; the last time the franchise played the Amerks? March 12, 2010.

The Calder Cup Champions, formerly known as the Manchester Monarchs, are now the Ontario Reign and miss out on a match with Rochester.

Once again, the Rochester Americans will take the ice at First Niagara Center for a game in Buffalo; this time it’s against the St. John’s IceCaps on Wednesday, December 30th.

As per usual, it’s a weekend-heavy schedule for the Rochester Americans. Sixty-three of the team’s 76 games will be played on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, including 30 of 38 home games. That includes an outstanding 18 home Friday night games, and 20 Saturday road games.

In addition, the Amerks will play just once each on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with 10 additional games on Wednesday nights. The lone Monday game is a President’s Day Matinee; in total, the Amerks have five afternoon (3:05) games throughout the season.

Some other highlights and numbers of the 2015-2016 Rochester Americans season:

Busiest month: January, 14 games (March – 12; Nov/Dec – 11; Feb – 10; Oct/Apr – 9)
All Star Break – January 31 through February 4
50 of 76 games played against North Division opponents
Of 28 Fridays throughout the season (October 9 – April 17), the Amerks play on 24 of those nights.
Just one Saturday between October 9 and April 17 won’t have an Amerks game – November 7.
Longest gap between games: six days (happens twice)

It’ll be a busy season for the Amerks, with nine sets of three-in-three games and overall 34 sets of back-to-back games. That includes twelve instances where the Amerks play at home on Friday and then travel to play on the road on Saturday.

Their longest road trip of the season will last just three games, but that will happen five times throughout the season. Meanwhile, the longest stretch of home games is five, including the game at First Niagara Center, between December 18th and 30th.

The good news: everything is pretty evenly split. The first 38 games of the season see the Rochester Americans play exactly half (19) at home and half (19) on the road; the exact same goes for the second half of the season. There’s no large chunk of home or away games to throw off the balance of things.

Which games are you looking forward to the most?

Next: Who Gets Called Up For Injuries?

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