Tagged: Rochester Americans

17Dec

Drew MacIntyre(31) Rochester Americans

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drew-macintyre

9th year Rochester Americans‘ goaltender Drew MacIntyre(31) keeps an eye on the play in front of his net.

He was originally picked by Detroit Red Wings in the 4th round of the 2001 draft (#121 overall) and spent the first three years of his pro career with their AHL and ECHL affiliates before getting a short chance in the NHL with Vancouver Canucks, where he made a couple of appearances.

From there he bounced around in the minors signing one-year deals with Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal Canadiens before inking another one-year two-way contract with Buffalo Sabres for the 2011/2012 season, ultimately ending up in Rochester.

He has played in 250 AHL games.

 

14Dec

Paul Szczechura (38)

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5th year, undrafted center Paul Szczechura(33) is making a strong argument for himself to stay with Buffalo Sabres in the NHL for the remainder of the season.

He was signed by the team before the start of the 2011/2012 season to a one-year, two-way deal and has already been recalled from Rochester Americans three times.

In 5 games, he’s already notched one goal and had three helpers.

He spent most of the last four years in the Tampa Bay Lightning system playing 83 games (9 goals, 7 assists), but failed to get called-up last season, even though he had his most productive year with AHL affiliate Norfolk Admirals (79 games, 22 goals and 30 assists).

Not exactly the biggest guy out there (5’11” 190 lbs.) he’s accountable every shift on the ice.

He easily has one of the hardest looking names in all of pro hockey to pronounce, but it’s actually pretty easy: Shea-hura.

12Dec

Colin Stuart(10) Rochester Americans

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8th year wing Colin Stuart(10) played Friday night in Rochester, where he is team captain of the Amerks. On Saturday he received his first NHL 2011/2012 season call-up and played in Buffalo Sabres‘ home game. Then on Sunday he was back in the AHL playing up in Hamilton playing against the Bulldogs.

He was original picked in the 5th round of the 2001 draft (#135 overall) by Atlanta Thrashers and was in their system for the first four years of his pro career.

He’s been signed with Buffalo for the last couple of seasons and has responded to this season’s leadership role with a point production that puts him second on the team.

24Nov

T.J. Brennan(3) Buffalo Sabres

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In his 1st NHL game, Buffalo Sabres‘ 2007 2nd round draft pick (#31) overall, defenseman T.J. Brennan(3) gets a goal on Tim Thomas in the team’s 4-3 shootout loss vs. the Cup Champs’ Boston Bruins. It was one of those fortuitous bounces that landed right on his stick for him to bury.

He wears number 33 for the Sabres, doubling the number 3 on his AHL Rochester Americans‘ sweater.

Last season in 74 games with the Portland Pirates, the former Buffalo affiliate he connected for 15 goals and 24 assists.

 

 

09Nov

Corey Tropp(14) Buffalo Sabres

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Had to think it wasn’t going to be long before hard-nosed wing Corey Tropp(14) would get an invite to play with Buffalo Sabres, the team that drafted him in the 3rd round of 2007 (#89 overall).

On November 8, he also put in his first NHL goal in just his third game up.

He did have an excellent rookie season with the Sabres then AHL affiliate Portland Pirates (10 goals, 30 assists in 76 games) and early in 2011/2012, he already is showing improvement on those numbers. In just 10 games with Rochester Americans he has 4 goals and 3 assists.

Another asset to his playing, he never turns down a dancing partner when it comes to fisticuffs.

08Nov

Cory Conacher(89) Norfolk Admirals

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cory-conacher-1

Cory Conacher is small (5’8″ 175 lbs.), undrafted and has flown under the radar for the most part.

He signed an AHL contract with Norfolk very soon after the summer free agency period began.

Tampa Bay Lightning was smart and invited him to training camp, where he scored an NHL preseason goal in his first game and impressed the management folks in St. Petersburg.

In 12 games with the Admirals, he’s already put up 4 goals and 10 assists in 12 games.

Straight out of college last year, he joined three teams on ato’s (Rochester, Cincinnati of the ECHL and Milwaukee) and lit the lamp mightily registering 13 points (9 goals, 4 assists) in 10 games.

On a side note, the 21-year old pro also plays and lives with Type 1 diabetes.

Great story about that here.

15Oct

Dennis McCauley(28) Reading Royals

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3rd year undrafted forward Dennis McCauley(28) turned down Buffalo Sabres‘ qualifying offer to rejoin the team (very likely in Rochester) after a career year with Portland Pirates in ’10/’11, where in 73 games he put up 12 goals and 21 assists. He was considered a contract hold out for the entire summer.

Just before the start of the 2011/2012 season in a surprising move, he signed with the ECHL Reading Royals. In his first game with the team (a 4-3 OT loss) he scored his first goal of the year.

It’s a no brainer that he is the first guy to get  signed to a pto by an AHL team that’s looking for a power forward that can fight and get on the score sheet. Last year was probably no fluke for the 6’3″ 225 pounder.

03Oct

Mark Voakes(27) Rochester Americans

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Heading into his third pro season, winger Mark Voakes(27) signs himself an AHL contract for the 2011/2012 season with Rochester Americans after signing a pto late last year with Portland Pirates, the now former affiliate of Buffalo Sabres, and posting some impressive numbers (6 goals, 5 assists in 18 games and 3 goalsand 5 assists in 10 playoff games). He spent the entire early season in the ECHL with Greenville Road Warriors putting up good totals there too (60 games, 17 goals and 37 assists).

AHL News carried a good story about his pro career and him being a bit of a late bloomer.

One thing is for certain, in the games he skated that I was in attendance for, this guy’s got some skills. If he does get sent down again, it would be to Gwinnett Gladiators, where 2008 draft pick Corey Fienhage will likely start the year with a contract.

22Sep

David Marshall(42) San Antonio Rampage

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After seeing playing time last season with three AHL teams (Worcester, Wilkes-Barre, Rochester for a combined 43 games, scoring 5 goals, 4 assists and another 11 playoff games with WBS Penguins), undrafted 3rd year pro signs a contract with San Antonio Rampage for the 2011/2012 season. No official word, but it’s believed to be a one-way deal.

He’s had stints in the ECHL with Wheeling and Charlotte over the course of the last couple seasons.

Playing for one team, I expect him to be at least a 20-point guy for the Rampage.