***This Week’s Top Storylines***
*The Amerks closed out 2016 on the strength of back-to-back wins and have won five of their last eight overall coming into the New Year. On Friday, the Amerks earned a split of their two-game set with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after Taylor Fedun netted the game-winner 1:39 into overtime as Rochester wrapped up its season-long homestand with a 3-2-0-0 record. The Amerks then traveled to Utica on Saturday, where they prevailed with a convincing 6-3 win over the Utica Comets in a New Year’s Eve matchup, marking the third time this season they won on consecutive nights.
*Cole Schneider took over the team’s scoring lead after piling up six points (3+3) over the weekend, including matching a career-best four points (2+2) in Saturday’s win at Utica. Schneider, whose first four-point effort came back on opening night, currently ranks second in the AHL in scoring with 34 points to go along with a plus-eight rating in 28 games. He’s also tied for sixth in the AHL with 14 goals, seven of which came over the last 14 games, and is 15th in the league with five power-play tallies. Schneider leads the Amerks with 12 multi-point games this season.
*The Amerks ring in the New Year with another stretch of three games in three nights this weekend, all of which are against North Division opponents. Rochester and Syracuse square off for the second time in 11 days on Friday night before heading north of the border for a pair against the Toronto Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum. After dropping five straight to Syracuse earlier this season, the Amerks finally solved the Crunch in the previous get-together between the two teams on Dec. 26 and have all claimed all three meetings against Toronto.
