AMERKS APRIL 2024 REPORT CARD

A look back at some of the memorable moments and individual performances from the last month of the regular season

Apr 24, 2024

With eight games and a 6-1-1-0 record, the Rochester Americans completed the final month of their regular season and closed out the 68^th season in franchise history on a high note, finishing with 39 wins and one of the best records in the last decade for the franchise.

Hockey is a team sport, and several key pieces came together to have the Amerks ready for a push towards their first championship since 1996.

You have to get in to have a chance, right? The Amerks did just that on April 12, securing a playoff berth for a third straight season and fifth consecutive barring the pandemic-impacted seasons (2019-20, 2020-21).

“To do what you want to do eventually, you’ve got to get in (the playoffs),” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “That’s not a given in this division. This division has been amazing. That’s something that you’re proud of and now we just have to keep moving forward.”

To Appert’s point, the North Division was a gauntlet to get through for the 2023-24 Amerks. It’s the only division in the AHL (or North American professional hockey for that matter) where every team had a points percentage above .500.

After clinching a playoff berth, Rochester continued to push ahead, finishing the season with 88 points and a 39-23-7-3 record to secure second place and home ice advantage for the North Division Semifinals against Syracuse.

A pair of Buffalo Sabres’ prospects made their AHL debuts for Rochester in April, as Swedish duo Anton Wahlberg and Noah Ostlund arrived in the Flower City.

Wahlberg made his debut at the start of the month against Cleveland on April 3. Later that week, the 18-year-old drove the net in Providence, scoring a game-tying goal that eventually helped the Amerks win in overtime against the Bruins.

“He’s been excellent,” said Appert earlier in April. “As a coach, I’m not afraid to put him on the ice in big moments. That’s rare as an 18-year-old. That’s a credit to him.”

Wahlberg was plucked in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft. A year prior, Ostlund was taken with one of Buffalo’s three first-round selections, going 16^th overall in the 2022 draft.

Ostlund skated in the final two games of the regular season for the Amerks, posting his first…