Warren Kozireski
The Rochester Americans are the second oldest franchise in the American Hockey League and one of the most successful with six Calder Cup Championships, 16 Calder Cup Final appearances and 39 postseason appearances. Often referred to as the “seventh NHL team” while winning three titles in four years in the mid-1960’s, this team is cited as the standard other AHL teams compare themselves too.
“Rochester Americans: The First 50 Years” attempts to capture the essence of the long history of this great franchise. Each championship season is summarized and profiles of several of the more recognizable players and coaches are included.
The end of the book will undoubtedly serve as a historical reference to jog your memory or provide material for a trivia stumper with a year-by-year statistical summary and each season’s standings along with the all-time player roster and members of the Amerks Hall of Fame.
From former players and hockey icons like Al Arbour, Bronco Horvath and Gerry Cheevers in the early years to Mike Keenan, and one of the AHL’s all-time greats in Jody Gage along with a chapter from the lighter side on and off the ice, this trip down memory lane will hopefully bring a smile to the face of every hockey fan.
Warren Kozireski has been covering the American Hockey League and the Rochester Americans in various capacities since 1981. From his free-lance work writing for the Amerks Magazine and Western New York Hockey Magazine to producing the Amerks radio broadcasts to an occasional cameo filling in on radio, he has seen first hand much of the history contained inside.
An Instructor of Communication and General Manager of WBSU radio at SUNY Brockport for 19 years, Kozireski also has served as play-by-play broadcaster for Niagara University hockey and the Rochester Red Wings, written for the Columbus Blue Jackets website and covered high school and college sports for Suburban News as well as serve as official scorer for the International League in Rochester for four seasons.
He and his wife, Heidi, of 21+ years reside in Spencerport, New York.
50 seasons, 3,769 regular season games and 387 playoff games after joining the American Hockey League in 1956, the Rochester Americans have been and remain one of the most successful minor league hockey teams in the country.
With six Calder Cup Championships, 16 Calder Cup Final appearances and 39 postseason appearances, the Amerks, often referred to as the “seventh NHL team” while winning three titles in four years in the mid-1960’s, are the standard other AHL teams compare themselves too.
The players, coaches and personalities that have graced the ice surface at the Rochester War Memorial-now Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial are household names among hockey fans everywhere. Don Cherry…Al Arbour…Joe Crozier…Mike Keenan…Sam Pollack…Jim Schoenfeld and Billy Reay headline the 26 head coaches and include two National Hockey League Hall of Famers.
HOFer Gerry Cheevers, Jody Gage, Dick Gamble, Bronco Horvath, Yvon Lambert, Gerry Ehman, Olaf Kolzig, Stan Smrke, Norm Armstrong, Mike Milbury, Duane Rupp, Geordie Robertson, Willie Marshall, HOFer Grant Fuhr, and Scott Metcalfe are among the 727 players to have worn the red, white and blue.
