The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Rochester, New York. They are the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. The Americans are the fourth oldest franchise in the AHL, and have the second longest continuous tenure among AHL teams in their current locations after the Hershey Bears.
Rochester was awarded a new franchise in June 1956, when the Pittsburgh Hornets were forced to suspend operations after their arena, the Duquesne Gardens was razed in an urban renewal project. With the Hornets franchise in limbo until a new arena could be built, there was room in the league for a team in Rochester.
The Americans' team colors are red, white and blue. The logo is a patriotic badge with "Americans" written in cursive script. They have won the Calder Cup six times, and lost in the Cup finals ten times.
History
Before the Amerks Hockey was popular in Rochester, a city known for its cold weather, as far back as the 1920s; the University of Rochester had a collegiate hockey team as early as 1906, and even at that time, East High School had already developed a successful program. Professional hockey arrived in 1935 in the form of the Rochester Cardinals, a member of the International Hockey League. The Cardinals, who played at Edgerton Park Arena, lasted only one season, compiling a 15–29–3 record and a host of financial difficulties.
In the early 1950s, with the Rochester Community War Memorial under construction, Montreal Canadiens manager Frank Selke promised an American Hockey League team to Rochester at some point in the future, with 1956 one target year that was mentioned. Demonstrative of the support for hockey in Rochester, 7,092 fans turned out for a game between the AHL Buffalo Bisons and the NHL Montreal Canadiens on November 21, 1955; the game ended in a 5–5 tie and sold out five days beforehand. When 60-year-old Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh was scheduled for demolition in 1956, it left the Pittsburgh Hornets without an arena and forced them to go idle, freeing up room in the AHL for a Rochester team.
Prior to the AHL franchise, the Arpeako Packers played before thousands at the new Rochester War Memorial. Center Sam Toth and Left Wing Ed House started the original group tasked to bring professional hockey to Rochester. The Central Hockey League was sold on Rochester as its next expansion city. The CHL told Toth and House the CHL was a league that promised more fans than the AHL due to the rougher, more violent product on the ice. Toth and House held out for the AHL and ended up losing out to the group backed by Canadians.
The AHL granted a group which included Rochesterians (and Amerks Hall of Fame members) Sam Toth and Ed House a conditional franchise for Rochester that June. The terms required that the group raise $150,000 of capital, two thirds of which was to be raised by the sale of stock in less than two weeks. When their effort to secure the funds failed to reach its goal, a new group, backed by Selke of the Canadiens and Conn Smythe of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was awarded the franchise. The Leafs and Canadiens each owned 27.5% of the team, with the balance sold to Rochester interests. The team was named the "Americans".
Early years (1956–1967)
Upon entering the league for the 1956–57 season the Americans became a joint affiliate of both the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, though the club was operated by the Canadiens. Under coach Billy Reay, the team finished in third place in the AHL standings and played the defending champion Providence Reds in the opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs. With Bobby Perreault in goal, the Americans defeated Providence and goaltender Johnny Bower in five games. Rochester then was defeated in a five-game final by the Cleveland Barons, who won the Calder Cup.
The Americans reached the playoffs in 1959, losing to the Buffalo Bisons in five games. The 1959 Americans were led by the "WHAM"WHAM is an extension of the first letters of the line's players: Hicke, Aldcorn and Migay; the acronym was an allusion to Rochester's clear-channel AM radio station, WHAM 1180. line of center Rudy Migay, left wing Gary Aldcorn and right wing Billy Hicke. Migay and Hicke were named co-MVP for the AHL that season, and Hicke was chosen as the league's rookie of the year.
In the summer of 1959, the Maple Leafs bought out the Canadiens ownership share of the club, giving them a 55% controlling interest, due to concerns that with Montreal operating the club they were giving their prospects priority over those of the Leafs. They purchased most of the remaining 45% in 1963, boosting their ownership share to 98% by November 1964.
In 1959–60, the Americans became the first team in American Hockey League history to win a playoff series after trailing three-games-to-none. The Amerks' comeback against the Cleveland Barons included the efforts of the veteran Migay, right wing Pat Hannigan and league-leading goaltender Ed Chadwick. A crowd of 7,762 at the War Memorial witnessed a 4–1 triumph in Game 7. Rochester went on to lose the Calder Cup finals in five games to Eddie Shore's Springfield Indians.
Following the 1960–61 season, in which the Americans failed to qualify for the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens transferred their working agreement to the Quebec Aces of the American Hockey League and sent Rochester players Guy Rousseau and Claude Labrosse to Quebec. As the exclusive affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Americans made the playoffs the next two seasons but never contended for the Calder Cup championship. The Pittsburgh Hornets also returned with the opening of the Civic Arena in 1961, but Rochester was allowed to keep the Americans; the Hornets would eventually fold permanently in 1967 when the Pittsburgh Penguins started play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion.
Beginning in 1963–64, former Americans defenseman Joe Crozier became the team's coach and general manager. Under Crozier, the Americans won the Calder Cup in 1965, 1966 and 1968 and were finalists in 1967; they are the only team in AHL history to appear in the Calder Cup finals in four consecutive seasons.
In 1965–66, the Americans played their final 10 regular season and all playoff home games at neutral sites because the 1966 American Bowling Congress tournament occupied the War Memorial. The home games were at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, about from Rochester, except for of one playoff game at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium in the Calder Cup finals. On May 8, 1966, before a crowd of 7,655 at the "Aud" the Americans tied up the series at two games apiece with a 3–1 victory over the Cleveland Barons. Rochester went on to win the next two games and their second consecutive Calder Cup.
Notable players from this era included Bronco Horvath, Gerry Cheevers, Bobby Perreault, Al Arbour, Darryl Sly, Norm "Red" Armstrong, Duane Rupp, Wally Boyer, Dick Gamble, Stan Smrke, Jim Pappin, Don Cherry, Gerry Ehman, Larry Hillman, and Mike Walton. Alex Faulkner, the first person from Newfoundland and Labrador to play in the NHL, also played on the Amerks.
The expansion era (1967–1970s) When the National Hockey League expanded from six to twelve teams for the 1967–68 NHL season the Americans lost several players. Arbour (St. Louis), and Boyer (Oakland), were drafted by the new NHL teams. Ehman was traded to Oakland and Horvath was loaned to Minnesota. Rupp and Walton were both promoted to the Maple Leafs while Smrke retired.
The Americans struggled through the early part of the 1967–68 AHL season. Just before Christmas, and with the team in last place with a record of 12-15-3, Crozier made a deal with the expansion Minnesota North Stars. In exchange for forwards J. P. Parise and Milan Marcetta the Americans received Ted Taylor, Len Lunde, George "Duke" Harris, Murray Hall, Don Johns, Carl Wetzel and the rights to Horvath. The return of Horvath marked his fourth tour of duty with the Amerks since 1956–57. The Americans improved to go 26-10-6 for the balance of the season en route to finish with the best record in the league. The regular-season champion Amerks then defeated the Hershey Bears four games to one in the playoff semi-finals and the Quebec Aces four games to two in the Calder Cup finals. The Amerks won the final game 4–2 before a crowd of 11,711 at the Colisée de Québec.
In July 1966, Maple Leaf Gardens Limited sold the team to a group which included their then general manager Punch Imlach for a reported $400,000. Two years later, the team was sold to the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) minor league for a reported $950,000. Imlach was a part owner of the Canucks at the time. With the majority of the Rochester players transferred to Vancouver, Canucks won the 1968–69 and 1969–70 WHL Lester Patrick Cup championships, while the Amerks finished in last place each year. When Vancouver became the expansion Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, they utilized the Amerks as their farm team.
After Rochester finished at the bottom of the AHL standings for four straight years and with local fan support dwindling, the Vancouver NHL team was prepared to either sell or fold the Rochester club. But the Americans were saved in the summer of 1972 when a group of eight Rochester businessmen, most notably Sam Toth, Richard Altier of Altier's Shoes, and Joe Fox, head of Rochester-based athletic-wear maker Champion Products, bought the Americans franchise from Vancouver and named Amerks defenseman Don Cherry as coach and general manager. Playing the next two seasons independent of any NHL affiliations, the Amerks qualified for the playoffs in 1972–73, losing to the Boston Braves in the first round. The next season, 1973–74, the Amerks went on to become regular season champions, but lost in the first round to New Haven.
The Boston Bruins hired Cherry as their coach in 1974–75 and became the Americans' parent team the same year. During the five seasons with the Bruins, the Amerks made the playoffs the first four years, losing in the Calder Cup finals in 1977 to Nova Scotia.
Prior to the 1979–80 season, the Americans were purchased by the Knox family, owners of the Buffalo Sabres (NHL) and became the Sabres' AHL affiliate. After the Knox brothers died in the 1990s, the Americans and Sabres were split up, with the Sabres going to John Rigas and the Americans being sold to Steve Donner. Despite the sale, the original Buffalo-Rochester partnership became the longest such NHL-AHL affiliation, lasting until the 2007–08 season, and revived for 2011–12. The proximity of the cities of Buffalo and Rochester is a significant advantage in that the Sabres are able to call up and send down players between the two teams with ease, as the two cities are only an hour's drive away from each other; Buffalo is the closest NHL city to Rochester, while Rochester is the closest AHL city to Buffalo. (The Hamilton Bulldogs, which existed as an AHL franchise from 1996 to 2015, were closer geographically to Buffalo than Rochester is, but played on the other side of the U.S.-Canada border)
During the original Sabres affiliation, the Americans won three Calder Cup championships and finished as runners-up another six times. They finished out of the playoffs only five times in 28 years.
1980s–1990s The Americans won the first of their "Sabres era" Calder Cups in 1983 under young coach Mike Keenan, sweeping Maine, 4–0.