Skip to main content

Rochester Americans (AHL: 1972-73)

1972-73 Regular Season:
Americans vs. Providence Reds

      The Rochester Americans are one of the oldest minor-professional hockey teams still in their original city, having been in Rochester since the 1956-57 season. 1972-73 was the Americans' sixteenth season of operation in the AHL, and played their home games at the 7,010-seat Rochester War Memorial Arena (now called Blue Cross Arena, which seats 10,662).

     The Americans operated as an independent franchise after two forgettable seasons as the farm club of the Vancouver Canucks. Former Americans defenseman (and future Coach's Corner host) Don Cherry was Head Coach and General Manager, after serving as player/coach for the end of the 1971-72 season. 

     Cherry's Americans finished tied for third place in the AHL's Eastern Division, with a 33-31-12 record. Their 78 points were a 16-point improvement on last season and tied with Providence on points. Rochester was also a comfortable 26 points ahead of fifth-place New Haven, but 23 behind first-place Nova Scotia. In response to the improved product on the ice, Rochester averaged 5,188 per game, third place in the AHL, at a 74% capacity. The average was an improvement of 1,533 per game from last year.

     The Americans scored the second-fewest goals in the AHL, netting 239. Barry Merrell was the top scorer, with 32 goals and 72 points in 74 games. Former Port Huron Flag Bob "Battleship" Kelly was next with 27 goals and 62 points in 70 games. Kelly would go on to play six years in the NHL with St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Chicago. 

     On defense, Grapes' team was seventh in the league, allowing 276 goals. Lynn Zimmerman was the top net minder that season, playing 58 games with a 3.54 GAA and two shutouts. Former Port Huron Flag Gaye Cooley made it into 24 games, sporting a 3.67 GAA. Pat Flaherty appeared in two games, allowing four goals in 20 minutes of action for a 9.00 GAA. Zimmerman and Cooley would both see action in the postseason.

     Grapes is legendary for loving "Rock 'em, Sock 'em Hockey" and his '72-73 Americans were tough, leading the AHL with 1,289 penalty minutes. Kelly was tops on the team with 206 penalty minutes (with a nickname like "Battleship", how couldn't he?), followed by John Bednarski with 205. Rod Fogal and Bob Malcom were the other players with over 100 PIM that year.  Even goaltender Zimmerman got into the act, piling up 50 PIM!

     The Rochester Americans qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time since winning the Calder Cup in 1967-68. Their opening round opponent would be the Boston Braves, the top farm club of the Boston Bruins. Boston finished just three points ahead of Rochester, in second place with a 34-29-13 record. The Americans stretched the series to six games, but eventually fell to the Braves, outscored 27-24 in the process. Boston would then be annihilated by the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in four straight in Round Two. The Cincinnati Swords would win the Calder Cup over Nova Scotia in five games. 

     First of all, let's talk about the cover of this program. This is probably my favorite program cover in my collection. It's pretty much a Rochester Americans version of Superman,  bursting through the Americans shield logo. The program itself is 54 pages long, mostly in black-and-white. This program is from the December 1, 1972 game between the Americans and the Providence Reds. Rochester won, 5-1, to improve to 13-7-4 on the year. Articles previewing that week as well as a review of the previous week are included in this program. A profile on the returning Red Armstrong is on page 24. Armstrong was a long-time American, first joining the team in 1962-63. Red would score 4 goals and 9 points in 45 games, to go along with 22 PIM in his final season. There are some great action pictures as well.

     Local advertisements include Vanderstyne Ford, Key's Super Drug Stores, the Rochester Red Wings baseball team, DLK Radio and Electronics Mart, and Sweet's Party House.


Aftermath: Don Cherry would coach one more season in Rochester before becoming head coach of the Boston Bruins in 1974. 


References:

American Hockey League Statistics: 1972-73, from hockeydb.com


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Port Huron Hockey: Flags/Wings (1962-81)

Now, on to Port Huron.      Port Huron has had a long, yet checkered, history of pro hockey. The most successful franchise, by far, was the Port Huron Flags (also called Wings for a few years) of the IHL. The Flags were, for the most part, a competitve team on the ice, making the Turner Cup Finals seven times and winning the Cup on three occasions. For three years, (1971-74), the franchise was a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and sent numerous players on to the NHL in it's existence. However, the team had problems drawing big enough crowds. While the Flags lasted for nearly 20 years, former GM Morris Snider later admitted that the franchise could have folded three years before it actually did, due to declining attendance. I've found some Flags/Wings programs online over the years, and here's what I have. 1963-64 Regular Season--Flags vs. Windsor       1963-64 was the second year of existence for the Flags. After missing the playoffs in their inaugural cam
Post a Comment
Read more

Flint Generals yearbook (IHL, 1973-74)

     I recently bought two yearbooks from the Flint Generals of the IHL. This one is from the 1973-74 season. It's a 40-page book, all in black-and-white, and on glossy paper. Each player for that season has a full page photo and a short bio. The statistics and a team photo for each Generals season are included. Stats for every player that wore the "blue and gold" are listed in the back of the yearbook. Flint Journal sportswriter Len Hoyes added an article previewing the remainder of the 1973-74 campaign.       One thing that Hoyes noted in his article was about attendance: "With all of their problems, the Generals were still attracting fans at a rate of 3,950 per game. Attendance was down slightly, but Flint's percentage rate of almost 100 percent remained the envy of minor league hockey." (Hoyes, 1974)      The original Generals were a popular team for most of their existence, and attendance only bottomed out when the region's economy tanked
Post a Comment
Read more

Fort Wayne Komets (1967-68, IHL)

1967-68 Regular Season--Komets vs. Des Moines Oak Leafs      1967-68 was the sixteenth season of Fort Wayne Komets hockey, all in the IHL. The team was coached by Ken Ullyot, who had been with the franchise since 1958. The Komets played      Having lost to Toledo in the 1967 Turner Cup Finals, the Komets slipped to fourth place in '67-68. While Muskegon ran away with first place, the battle for the second-fifth slots was hotly contested. Fort Wayne finished 30-29-13, their 73 points one ahead of Toledo and just five behind second place Dayton.      The Komets were also in fourth place in offense, scoring 282 times that year. Fort Wayne legend Len Thornson led the team with 38 goals and 97 points. Three others, Bob Baird, Randy Gates and Merv Dubchak, joined Thornson in the 30+ goal club. Three others scored at least 20 goals.      The Komets had the second-best defense in the IHL that season, allowing just 272 goals. Fort Wayne used three different goaltenders that year. Rob
Post a Comment
Read more