The Rochester Americans announced their schedule for the 2019-20 American Hockey League regular season, presented exclusively by Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino. The Amerks will open their 64th AHL season – and 38th as the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres – on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:05 p.m. against Syracuse Crunch at The Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks, who remain in the North Division of the Eastern Conference, will again play a 76-game regular-season schedule (38 home games and 38 road games) against 15 of the AHL’s 31 teams. Third-year head coach Chris Taylor and the Amerks will play 26 of their 38 home games on weekends, with 21 Friday home games, four Saturday home dates and only one Sunday home outing. The team will also host 12 games on Wednesdays, one more than last season.
For the fourth straight year, the Amerks will play all 76 of their games solely against Eastern Conference opponents this season, with 54 coming against their North Division rivals and 22 versus teams from the Atlantic Division. The North Division will remain at eight teams for the 2019-20 season and will again feature the Cleveland Monsters, the top developmental team of the Columbus Blue Jackets who shifted to the North prior to last season, as well as the Belleville Senators, Binghamton Devils, Laval Rocket, Syracuse Crunch, Toronto Marlies and Utica Comets.
As was the case last season, Rochester will face Syracuse more than any other team during its 64th AHL campaign as the Amerks and Crunch are set to meet 12 times (six home, six road). The Amerks will play intrastate rivals Binghamton and Utica 10 times each (five home, five road) and will see Cleveland eight times (four home, four road) for the second straight year. Rochester’s remaining Divisional matchups also include six (three home, three road) each against Toronto and Belleville, and a total of four meetings (two home, two road) with Laval.
The Amerks will again play the entire Atlantic Division this coming season with four matchups (two home, two road) each against the Charlotte Checkers, who joined the Eastern Conference prior to the 2017-18 campaign, and Springfield Thunderbirds. The Checkers make their only appearance in Rochester on back-to-back nights in December, while the Thunderbirds are also scheduled to be at The Blue Cross Arena on consecutive nights in March.
Similar to last season, the Amerks will also face the Providence Bruins and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins twice (one home, one road), while also seeing the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms for a pair of meetings (one home, one road) as well.
All home games will start at 7:05 p.m. this season except for Rochester’s lone Sunday contest on Feb. 16 against Utica, which will begin at 3:05 p.m.
While the Amerks will not play a game at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center for the first time since the 2011-12 season, Rochester is slated to make an appearance in an NHL venue when they face off against the Marlies on Tuesday, March 17 for a midday matchup at Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Amerks’ busiest month of the season comes in February when the team will play a total of 14 times, evenly split with seven games at home and on the road, including a busy stretch of five games over a nine-day span to open the month. Rochester’s longest string of road games this coming season precedes its longest homestand, both of which also fall within February. A pair of Divisional matchups bookend a midweek trip to Charlotte over a seven-day span for the Amerks, who will then be home for a season-long six straight games between Feb. 16 and Feb. 28 to conclude the month. Rochester will host North Division opponents in five of the six matchups during its homestand, excluding Lehigh Valley, which will make its lone visit to The Blue Cross Arena on Friday, Feb. 21.
Rochester spends the most time on home ice in December and February with seven games each within the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena during the month. The Amerks open December with four straight matchups at home – highlighted by a back-to-back set with the defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers on Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7 – before enjoying another three-game homestand leading into the annual Christmas break. Conversely, January and February have the Amerks playing the most road games in any month with seven each, including four separate trips to Syracuse in that time.
Rochester has only two “three-in-three” situations on the docket, down from five from last season. The Amerks will be in action three straight nights as early as the second week of the season when they embark on their annual weekend trek through the Atlantic Division with stops in Springfield on Friday, Oct. 11, Providence on Saturday, Oct. 12 and Hartford on Sunday, Oct. 13. The team’s only other three-in-three stretch comes in January, beginning with a home matchup against Cleveland followed by back-to-back road games in Pennsylvania against Lehigh Valley and Hershey.
Information on promotional and annual theme nights will be announced at later dates.
For a limited time only, the Amerks are offering a special discounted ticket package for any two home games at a bundled rate. Tickets range in price from $20 to $38 depending on seat location and can be purchased by clicking here.
