The Buffalo Sabres played in First Niagara Center lately, so why not let their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans take advantage of it?
The Americans are doing just that and on Friday, they will set a new franchise attendance record in their game against the AHL Lake Erie Lake Erie Monsters. As of Thursday afternoon, only one of 19,070 seats was still available for the contest, according to the Buffalo News.
Their previous attendance record was 17,898, set during the last lockout when they similarly decided to play a late December game in Buffalo.
Rochester’s roster has been enhanced due to the work stoppage with Cody Hodgson and Marcus Foligno among those that were expected to play in the NHL this season.
This will mark the second time that Rochester has played in First Niagara Center this season. In the Americans previous contest in Buffalo, they earned a 3-1 victory in the presence of 10,936 fans. At the time, that was Rochester’s largest crowd since the 2004-05 lockout.