Written by Aidan Charde
Preview: April 17 and 18 vs. Northeast Generals
WHERE: Rochester Ice Center | Fairport, NY
WHEN: April 17 at 7 p.m. | April 18 at 7 p.m.
WATCH: NAHL.tv
FOLLOW: @JrAmerksNAHL
History
The Jr. Amerks have matched up with the Northeast Generals 20 times, including Rochester’s first-ever playoff series back in its inaugural season. All-time, the Jr. Amerks are 15–5–0 against the Massachusetts rival, although three of those five losses came this season.
Stat of the Series
The Generals and Jr. Amerks ended the 2023-24 season with four straight games against each other between the final weekend of the regular season and the first round of the NAHL playoffs. Rochester had the upper hand, losing the first of the four games before winning the next three, sweeping the best-of-three playoff series and advancing to the division semifinals.
Historic seasons all around
It was a year to remember in Rochester. The story of the season was Ryan Shaw’s dominance, shattering the team’s goals record with 38 — seven more than any other player had scored — while adding 39 assists to tally the second-most points in team history. Adam Gionta put up 42 points, becoming the first player to cross 40 points in three seasons and extending his career points, goals and assists records, while Owen King became the first player to hit 50 points twice. Colin Dustin’s 20 goals and 40 points are both rookie records and despite playing just 21 games in the red, white and blue, Sam Schulte had the fifth-most goals and points by a defenseman with four and 25, respectively. Schulte also set the team’s defense record for most consecutive games with a point following a Rochester debut with seven and became the second-fastest Jr. Amerk to reach 10 points, doing so in four games.
Ending the season high
Injuries and an early lock into seeding put a damper on the final weeks of Rochester’s season, but the team managed to power to one of its better wins all year in the final game of the season, where Jensen Carlstrom earned his first regular season shutout of his career in a 2–0 win. Maxim St. Pierre became the second Jr. Amerk defenseman to score twice in a game, carrying the offense to victory. This was the second time in three years that the Jr. Amerks won their final game of the season, also doing so in 2023-24.
Welcome to Playoff Rowdy Town
The Jr. Amerks are hosting games in the playoffs for the third straight year and are looking for the crowd to play a big part. Rochester has dominant home-ice advantage in the postseason: The squad is 8-1-0 across two seasons at home, compared with 3-3-3 in away games, including neutral sites. Additionally, Rochester is 4–1–0 in the opening game of a series all-time, the only loss coming against the Maine Nordiques last year in the East Division Finals — a series Rochester won 3–1. The Rochester Ice Center will play host to games one and two this weekend before the teams travel to Massachusetts for game three and, if necessary, game four next week. In the case of a tie, Rochester would host game five on Monday, April 26.
Scouting Northeast
The Generals enter the series on the tails of a hard-fought opening round win over the collapsing Maine Nordiques and have won eight of their last nine. In the first game of the playoffs, Northeast fell behind 4–1 in the second period, and despite managing to tie the game in the third 4–4, the Nordiques scored once more to take the game. The Generals, however, proceeded to outscore the Nordiques 11–3 in the next two games to clinch a trip to Rochester. The Generals have plenty of scoring ability, tallying the third-most goals in the division this year, but were mediocre defensively, allowing 177 goals, smack in the middle of the NAHL.
