Rochester Jr. Americans

The Rochester Jr. Americans are a Tier II Junior ice hockey team from Rochester, New York. Junior team returned to Rochester with the North American Hockey League accepting the location as an expansion franchise starting in the 2023-24 season.

History
In 1996, the Syracuse Junior Crunch were founded to play Canadian Junior A in the Metro Junior A Hockey League, which was absorbed by the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League in 1998. The team moved to Auburn that year, and was renamed the Auburn Junior Crunch. In 2005 the franchise was sold and renamed the Syracuse Stars, joining the American Tier III Junior A Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL). While they played in Syracuse, they also had a Junior B team in the Empire Junior Hockey League (EmJHL).

On December 9, 2009, Maksymum Hockey LLC, based in Rochester, New York, announced plans to operate the Stars and move them to Rochester beginning with the 2010–11 season. During this time they were called the Rochester Stars and were affiliated with the Tier III Junior B Maksymum Junior Hockey Club in the (EmJHL) and were no longer affiliated with the Junior B Syracuse Stars that continued to play in the EmJHL. The Rochester Stars began playing at the Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex.

In 2013, the EJHL dissolved after several members left to form the United States Premier Hockey League. By the beginning of the 2013–14 season, the Stars joined the USPHL in the Elite and Empire Divisions (with the former EJHL team in Elite and the former EmJHL team in the Empire). Both teams were renamed to the Rochester Jr. Americans.

In 2014, the Jr. Americans promoted their Elite Division Tier III team to the USPHL's Premier Division for the 2014–15 season and began playing against many of the former EJHL members. For the 2015–16 season they switched their team from the Empire Division (recently renamed USP3 Division) to the Elite Division. In 2016, the USPHL removed the Jr. Americans from the league and announced a new organization called the Rochester Jr. Monarchs would take their place in the Elite and youth divisions.

In 2020, Perinton Youth Hockey reached an agreement to form an official partnership with the Rochester Americans and restart the Jr. Americans program. Junior team from various age groups began the next season all under the new banner. For the 2023-24 hockey season, Rochester added a Tier-II club when the North American Hockey League (NAHL) announcement that its Board of Governors has approved the membership application for a team in Rochester, New York owned by Hockey ROCS, LLC, an entity owned and operated by Chris O’Donnell and Colleen Wegman.

Alumni
In addition to those players which have gone on to play for various college teams, a number of former Stars players have gone on to play at the NHL level, including the following:


 * Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lightning
 * Tim Connolly
 * Colby Cohen
 * Jeremy Morin of the Tampa Bay Lightning
 * Matt Murley
 * Rob Schremp
 * Tim Sestito
 * Tom Sestito