The big news out of the American Hockey League (AHL) this week is that the long-time announcer of the Rochester Americans, Don Stevens, will have his swan song this season. It’s one last go for Stevens, whose name and prominent voice go hand-in-hand with the AHL and its history.
Stevens is an icon in the AHL. Even in his later years in the booth (the booth in BlueCross Arena is named after him, nonetheless), he’s still a master at the play-by-play job. Listening to Stevens on TV or the radio is like listening to Luciano Pavarotti at the 2006 Winter Olympics, or Elton John on his final tour, or another artist making one last go at it. It might not be the best version but the artist still has it in them, and Stevens still calls a game with class.
His connection in recent years with Andrew Mossbrooks is something special, as Stevens does the play-by-play while the newcomer does the color. For a hockey fan, it’s comparable to watching a game with your knowledgeable grandfather and intelligent older brother or cousin. Once in a while, Mossbrooks knows Stevens has a great story to tell, and he just prys it out of him.
Stevens leaves big shoes to fill, and Amerks games won’t be the same without him on the call. The AHL, a league where the only thing that stays the same is change, will no longer have a prominent voice in the booth after this season.
Stevens & His Amerks Beginnings
Stevens is synonymous with Rochester and has been for the past 40 years. Its broadcasting career, however, didn’t start in Western New York. Instead, he was in Salt Lake City covering games for the IHL when he got the call in 1986 to join the AHL team. His introduction to the league was a fight where Binghamton Rangers skater Shane Churla went into the Rochester stands to fight the fans.
“What did I get myself into?” Stevens remembered thinking about that night, his welcome ot the AHL moment. The league is filled with wild stories, both on and off the ice, that can parallel the movie Slap Shot, and everyone can recall a crazy moment or two. Stevens began his AHL broadcasting career with a bang, seeing mayhem in his first game, watching the Amerks win the Calder Cup in his first season, and seeing the Rochester faithful greet the team at the airport at 4:00 AM after the victory.
Stevens and his voice go hand-in-hand with the Calder Cup title in 1987 and the 1996 title, the last one the Amerks won. He called the first-ever goalie goal, scored by Darcy Wakaluk on Dec. 5, 1987, three days before Ron Hextall scored the first goalie goal at the NHL level. If there’s a crazy moment, Stevens has seen it and can talk about it fondly.
Stevens Embodies a Success Story in the AHL
There are two types of people at the AHL level. It’s a developmental league, and as a result, it’s a young league. Everyone thinks about the players, and understandably so. The league is where every role is filled by a young and improving person trying to someday make it to the NHL, from the announcers, the PR managers, the referees, the beat writers (hi), the in-arena hosts, and everything in between.
The league is young, and then there are the lifers. The long-time AHLers who are part of the fabric of the league. They are a reminder that the AHL, even with the focus being on development, is a league just like the NHL. The lifers come to the arena every day, do their job, and do it well. Even if they don’t do it at the NHL level, they are just as good and sometimes even better.
Stevens is the epitome of a lifer. This season is his 40th in the booth for the Amerks. He’s been calling games longer than many of the announcers have been alive. When the Americans won the Calder Cup in 1996, John Tortorella was the head coach and had yet to coach an NHL team. For four decades, Stevens has done his job and done it better than anyone else, even in a league where many broadcasters have gone on to have excellent NHL careers; he’s still the one everyone admires.
The Following Act to Stevens
It’s hard to be the successor to Stevens. The good news is that Andrew Mossbrooks has been with the Americans since the 2023-24 season and is set up to kick off the 2026-27 season running. Mossbrooks, like many announcers in the AHL, had plenty of experience in the ECHL beforehand.
Mossbrooks was the one who announced the road games for the Amerks in the past two seasons. It’s how I’ve gotten to know the young and rising star in the hockey world, someone who noted that the AHL travel and craziness is child’s play compared to the ECHL. There are plenty of great broadcasters in the league but his drive stands out and sets him up for success in the Don Stevens Press Box for years to come.
It’s hard for anyone to replace Stevens. Yet, if there’s someone who’s proven they can, it’s Mossbrooks.
