UTICA, N.Y. – Seth Appert’s navy two-piece suit was still partially wet from the cold beer the Rochester Americans’ scratches dumped on teammates and coaches as they reached the tunnel toward their dressing room late Thursday night.
“A lot of hugs,” the Amerks’ coach joked, cracking a grin before speaking to reporters inside Adirondack Bank Center.
Appert had just addressed a dressing room full players, coaches and support staff following their latest remarkable comeback. This one stood above the rest.
The fifth-seeded Amerks scored three consecutive goals in an elimination game on the road, in front of a sellout crowd, against one of the top teams in the American Hockey League to advance to the third round of the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004.
And instead of delivering a speech laced with details from a grueling five-game series against the Utica Comets, he spoke about the bond that was evident on the ice since the postseason began.
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“I just told them I love them,” Appert, 47, said. “I love coaching this team.”
Remarkably, the postseason rollercoaster is also new to Appert. The American Hockey League didn’t hold the playoffs during the abbreviated 2020-21 season, his first as the Amerks’ coach. But he showed savviness behind the bench while Rochester won series against two bench bosses who are regarded as among the AHL’s best: Troy Mann of Belleville and Kevin Dineen of Utica.
Equipped with lessons from his first year of coaching professional hockey and aided by a staff that includes retired NHLers Michael Peca and Mike Weber, Appert has the Buffalo Sabres’ AHL affiliate one step closer to a Calder Cup. And he has them in the best-of-five North Division final, where they’ll face Laval for Game 1 in Place Bell on Sunday night, despite tumult and a litany of injuries.
“I can’t say enough about him as a coach and a person,” said Amerks center Sean Malone, a West Seneca native who scored the series-deciding goal Thursday. “He really makes an effort to develop relationships with us. It makes it easier to have those tougher conversations. If you’re not playing well, and he grabs you to the side and you get to talk about things, what you can do to help elevate your game and help the team win.
“Having that relationship with him makes it a ton easier on the players and mentally as well.”
Appert’s success goes beyond the rapid development of Sabres top prospects Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka, who were Rochester’s first duo selected to the league’s all-rookie team since Mika Noronen and Dmitri Kalinin in 2000. Quinn, 20, was named the AHL rookie of the year and Peterka, 20, led all rookies in scoring with 68 points in 70 games.
Forwards Brandon Biro and Linus Weissbach also took steps in their development, while defensemen Casey Fitzgerald and Mattias Samuelsson became fixtures on the Sabres’ blue line. Their progress shouldn’t surprise anyone given Appert’s background.
He was hired in the summer of 2020 because of his track record with young players, most notably during his three years at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. But his success as a tactician behind the bench was probably overlooked. Appert had ample experience at the NCAA level, spending nine seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Denver and 11 as head coach at RPI.
He and his staff found a way to help the Amerks earn points on nights when their lineup resembled that of an ECHL team. They were forced to run practices with emergency backup goalies and players on amateur tryouts. Rochester used 47 players this season, including five goalies. Injuries, recalls to Buffalo and a Covid-19 outbreak jeopardized a season in which the Sabres organization finally had the opportunity to execute Kevyn Adams’ plan to develop prospects in Rochester.
“Winning is part of development,” Appert said. “What great experiences that all of our guys are going through but especially from an organizational standpoint, the young prospects. To play in big-pressure moments, to play in sold-out buildings against the best team in the American Hockey League, to go through their own individual struggles with how hard playoff hockey is and then have to respond to that. It’s an incredible growth opportunity for our prospects.”
Veteran players who don’t necessarily have a future with the Sabres contributed when Quinn was out with a lower-body injury and mononucleosis, and Samuelsson and Fitzgerald were in Buffalo.
Michael Mersch, an accomplished 29-year-old winger who hasn’t reached the NHL because of his skating, scored 26 goals while captaining Rochester for a second consecutive season. He’s credited with helping build a culture that mirrors the one we saw in Buffalo during the final months of 2021-22.
Malone, Ethan Prow, Ryan MacInnis, Mark Jankowski and Jimmy Schuldt were also key contributors while playing on NHL contracts. Arttu Ruotsalainen rejoined the team in December and learned how to succeed on the smaller ice sheet in North America. His eight playoff goals lead in the AHL.
Even with key players absent for a long stretch of the season, the Amerks found a way. For example, of the 20 players who dressed for Rochester in a 5-3 win over Providence on Dec. 29, only two were in the lineup for Game 5 against Utica. Thirteen didn’t play at all in the series and eight are no longer with the team. Each point proved crucial when the Amerks made the postseason on the final day of the regular season.
“Through injuries and adversity, we were able to build out of tough times,” said winger Brett Murray. “I think we’re using that experience to propel us in games like this where we’re down 2-1. It’s not something we haven’t seen in the regular season.”
Rochester finished the regular season with a 37-29-10 record, ranking third in goals scored and 30th in goals against. Its power play was good for third in the AHL. Their strengths in the regular season have been the same in the playoffs. The forward group is deep, even with Mersch and Weissbach out due to injury. Nick Boka, a defenseman, filled in on the wing Thursday and made a play that led to the tying goal. Ben Holmstrom, a 35-year-old player who joined Rochester from an ECHL team, won faceoffs late in regulation.
Appert also made the bold decision to sit prospect defenseman Oskari Laaksonen, who struggled in his own zone during the regular season. It's difficult to argue with the results on the ice, given how well the power play and defense have fared. Laaksonen, 22, is still receiving beneficial practice time, but it's fair to wonder where he fits in the organization's plans long-term after he was selected to the AHL all-star game in 2020-21.
Appert reconfigured his defense pairs before the series-deciding Game 5 and changed his lines when the Amerks were trailing 2-1 at the second intermission. In the third period, the new combinations shut down Utica and helped produce three goals. Rochester’s players have learned to thrive in difficult situations.
Twenty of the Amerks’ last 53 games have gone to overtime or shootout, including four in the postseason. Reinforcements might arrive soon with Samuelsson and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen continuing to "inch closer" to returning from injury, Appert said.
Appert doesn’t want the work of his veteran and role players to be overlooked. After all, they’ve made all this possible. Prospects don’t play in big games without help. Appert and Jason Karmanos, the Sabres’ associate general manager, deserve credit for their additions on that front.
Long-term, though, this postseason run will be remembered for how it helped prospects such as Quinn, Peterka, Fitzgerald and Krebs prepare for NHL careers.
“We’ve said it before, but there’s a reason Tampa’s having so much success,” said Appert. “Most of those guys grew up in Norfolk together before they went to Syracuse. They grew up winning, yes, but also struggling and going through those things together. Kevyn’s given such a clear vision for us of what he wants us to produce down here, what he wants us to be about, how we want to go about our business. And then he has the patience.
“It would have been really easy to put Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka in the NHL all season long. Buffalo probably wasn’t going to make the playoffs, all those other things. But I think the patience and the vision he has for our organization has allowed this to happen.”
