Written by Aidan Charde
For the third consecutive season, the Rochester Jr. Americans have clinched a spot in the Robertson Cup Playoffs following last weekend’s win over the Northeast Generals.
It has been a long road for the Jr. Amerks, who struggled early in the season but turned it around en route to yet another postseason appearance. The team opened the season with a 3–1 home win over the Maryland Black Bears, but it was not a below .500 opening month after that. On Oct. 10, the Jr. Amerks fell 7–0 to the Johnstown Tomahawks to drop to 4–6–0, falling to ninth place in the division and suffering the worst loss by goal differential in franchise history.
But as has been the case every year, the loss was a catalyst for a historic turnaround. Following the loss, the Jr. Amerks dominated all game on Saturday, winning 12–3 and setting new franchise records for goals scored and goal differential in a game. The 16-goal swing between games was also a NAHL record.
From there, it was a different team altogether. Since that game, Rochester has gone 30–9–1 and vaulted from the second-worst team in the division to the second-best. It also saw individual performances skyrocket, highlighted by forward Ryan Shaw, who has been the undeniable star of the team.
Prior to Oct. 10, Shaw had four goals and four assists in the opening 10 games. But when the team turned the corner, Shaw was there leading the charge: He now has a franchise-record and NAHL-leading 37 goals, well on his way to hit 40 by the end of the year. He put up a staggering six points on Oct. 11, also a franchise record, and since then has just 10 games without a point.
From Oct. 31 until Jan. 10, the Jr. Amerks won 15 out of 18 games, losing two games by just a single goal and improving in virtually every area of the team. Maybe most impressive during that stretch was Shaw’s scoring prowess making league headlines — he had more hat tricks (three) than games without a point (two) across those 18 games.
It was not just Shaw that burst onto the scene. After playing the first weekend, forward Konner Powell was held out for over a month before returning on Oct. 31. Since then, he has 15 goals, fourth-most on the team.
Powell is joined by forward Colin Dustin as a fellow NAHL rookie who has stunned in his first season. Dustin, who is second on the team with 18 goals, scored in six straight from Oct. 31 until Nov. 15 to cement his status with the team. Both Powell and Dustin are just 18 years old, so they will have plenty of eligibility left after this season.
Dec. 19 marked another major day for the team as a flurry of trades saw them add three new faces to the roster in forward Lukas Bellinger and defensemen Michael Gravina and Sam Schulte. Since the trade, Schulte has 23 points, Gravina has five and Bellinger has seven, with Bellinger scoring his first goal as a Jr. Amerk in Saturday’s playoff-clinching win over the Northeast Generals.
In the net, the team has had consistently good play from both goalies, but are led by a familiar face in Florian Wade, who rejoined the team for his third year in Rochester. Jensen Carlstrom, the hero of last season’s playoff run, started each of the team’s first 11 games before Wade returned from an injury. Carlstrom had an electric start, going 4–2–0 in his first six games, stopping 93.4% of shots and allowing just 1.83 goals per game. Wade’s season has been nothing short of a career year, currently holding career-high marks in goals allowed average (2.39), save percentage (0.915) and wins (17). He also has two shutouts this year, which came in a span of three games in December.
With nine games remaining, the Jr. Amerks are still in a dogfight for seeding. Fortunately, the team controls its own destiny for all but the first seed in the division. They hold an eight point advantage over the Maine Nordiques for the second seed with both teams set to play the same amount of games.
More information on playoff seeding and tickets will be announced on the team’s website and social media channels when available.
