Amerks hit the road for 3-in-3 weekend

The Rochester Americans are 1-0-0 on the season after picking up an overtime victory on home ice Friday night in their season opener against the Syracuse Crunch.
Rochester will hit the road for a three-game trip this weekend, starting Friday night in Springfield.

Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1. Tage Thompson | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | | Rasmus Asplund | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Zach Redmond | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | 4. Andrew Oglevie | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Scott Wilson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

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Goaltending leaders

| Player | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Andrew Hammond | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.87 | .931 |

Thompson willing to accept the challenge

Check out this written feature on Amerks.com, which you can read in full here:
Tage Thompson began the season with the Rochester Americans with the perfect mindset.
"I think you still have to earn it, and nothing is given. It's nice knowing you're going to get some opportunities, but with that being said, you have to take advantage of that and make sure that you're working for those opportunities."
In just nine regular-season games in an Amerks uniform, the third-year forward has proved that the opportunities he's worked for are ones that he has earned in more ways than one.
Last year, Thompson spent a large majority of the season with the Buffalo Sabres in his second full season in professional hockey, making his debut with the organization on Oct. 4 of last season. In 65 games with the big club, Thompson notched an NHL career high in goals with seven while also appearing in his 100th NHL appearance nearly a month after debuting with his new organization.
At just 21 years old, Thompson was accomplishing what some can only dream of doing and he was thriving at a level that allowed him to play with the best in the show.
Fast forward to five months after Thompson's Buffalo debut, and he's reassigned to the American Hockey League to star in the final eight games of the Amerks' regular season.
For the first time since his stint with the St. Louis Blues organization, Thompson was back to a level of play he hadn't seen in over a year. At a time like this in any athlete's career it would be easy for someone like Thompson to get easily discouraged and to cash it in for what little was left of Rochester's season.
Instead, though, Thompson came ready to go for every single game in the red, white and blue and continues to do so just one game into Rochester's 64th AHL season.
Following the home opener at Blue Cross Arena just last Friday night, Amerks interim head coach Gord Dineen emphasized the challenges that Thompson has been faced with when being placed with the Amerks to start out the year.
"He was challenged when he came here to play a game that translates to consistent time in the NHL and certainly his ability is NHL caliber. It's just playing a game that's going to consistently get him in a lineup up there and play key roles up there and he's certainly done that with us."
The full story is here.

Game recap

Oct. 4: Crunch 2 - Amerks 3 (OT)
Watch: Youtube Video
On the strength of a pair of goals from forward Tage Thompson, including the game-winner with 43 seconds left in overtime, the Rochester Americans (1-0-0-0) opened their 64th season in the American Hockey League with a 3-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch (0-0-1-0) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
Along with Thompson, who has 11 points (8+3) in his last nine AHL games dating back to last season, Rasmus Asplund and Zach Redmond each added two assists.
Watch: Youtube Video
Watch: Youtube Video
Second-year forward Andrew Oglevie completed the scoring for Rochester while goaltender Andrew Hammond earned the victory as he made 27 saves in his Amerks debut. Jarrett Burton, Curtis Lazar, Jean-Sebastien Dea all wore the Rochester jersey for the first game while Jacob Bryson dressed in his first professional contest.
Watch: Youtube Video
"That was a big goal for us," said Gord Dineen, who earned his first win as Rochester's interim head coach. "It got us going and it was a heck of a shot. Their goaltender did not have much of a chance on the shot."
"Hammond was our best player tonight, especially early in the game," continued Dineen. "He made some big saves tonight to keep us in it. One of the best things I like about him is his compete level. He competes for every puck and that makes it easy on the defensemen. His play with puck was impressive."

Murray signs one-year deal

On Thursday, the team announced that it had signed forward Brett Murray to a one-year American Hockey League contract for the 2019-20 season.
Murray, 21, joins the Amerks out of training camp following a career-year with the Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) in 2018-19. In 62 contests in Youngstown, the Bolton, Ontario native led all USHL skaters with a personal-best 41 goals while finishing second in the league with 76 points. For his accolades last season, he was named to the USHL First All-Star Team.

Coming up

The Amerks embark on a three-game trek through New England beginning on Friday, Oct. 11 against the Springfield Thunderbirds at the MassMutual Center.
After the 7:05 p.m. tilt with the Thunderbirds, the Amerks will then face the Providence Bruins on Saturday night at 7:05 before concluding the weekend with a 3 p.m. matinee versus the Harford Wolf Pack.
All of the action will be carried live on The Sports Leader AM 950/95.7 FM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.