SPORTS

Home, sweet home, for Randy Cunneyworth behind Amerks bench

Kevin Oklobzija @kevinoDandC
Randy Cunneyworth is back as coach of the Rochester Americans. He spent eight years as their coach from 2000-01 through 2007-08.
  • Randy Cunneyworth has won 350 games and 3 division titles as an AHL coach
  • In 2004-05 Cunneyworth guided the Amerks to the best record in the AHL
  • Cunneyworth said the mandate from Sabres GM Tim Murray is clear: win

In many ways, Randy Cunneyworth is coming home.

Even though, in reality, he never truly left what has been his home for 31 years.

Seven years after he parted ways with the Amerks to pursue his first NHL coaching opportunity, Cunneyworth is back as head coach of the American Hockey League franchise in his adopted hometown.

He met the media on Wednesday morning, a day after Buffalo Sabres general manager Tim Murray announced his hiring. A day after he was flooded with messages of congratulations.

“I’m just excited to be back,” he said. “All the emails, and texts, and well-wishes, it’s great; overwhelming, really,” Cunneyworth said. “I think we all want the same thing — and that’s winning.”

Cunneyworth did a lot of that during his first stint as Amerks coach, an eight-year run that began in 2000-01 and ended after the 2007-08 season. His teams twice won division titles, they surpassed the 40-win barrier three times and, in 2004-05, posted the best record in the AHL (51-23-6), when he was named AHL coach of the year.

He also coached the Hamilton Bulldogs to a division title in 2010-11. His 350 career victories, 306 with the Amerks, are eighth-most in AHL history.

Amerks head coach Randy Cunneyworth addresses the team after their scrimmage at the ESL Sports Centre in Brighton in 2005.

But guess what? He’ll be expected to add handsomely to that total, otherwise he won’t be doing his job.

“Tim has made it very clear what the mandate is and it involves a lot of winning,” said Cunneyworth., a 54-year-old native of Etobicoke, Ontario.

There is, of course, a need to develop prospects, too. They go hand-in-hand, Cunneyworth believes.

“We’re here to make sure we give them (the Sabres) the type of players they need to win hockey games,” he said. “You’re getting paid now. It’s a responsibility to each and every individual to be committed to putting on a show and helping the team win.”

The Amerks haven’t won enough recently. They missed the playoffs this year after going 29-41-5-1. The 14th-place finish in the 15-team Western Conference ultimately cost Chadd Cassidy his job. There has been just one 40-win season since 2009-10, and the franchise hasn’t won a playoff series since 2004-05.

Randy Cunneyworth at a Maple Leafs game in 2001.

Murray has repeatedly said that winning does matter in the AHL. This also is the Amerks’ 60th anniversary season. The team intends to trumpet its past — the storied history, the six Calder Cup championships, the legendary players.

“Terry (Pegula, the owner of the Sabres and Amerks) believes in the heritage of the Buffalo Sabres and the Rochester Americans,” Cunneyworth said.

Cunneyworth is very much a part of that heritage. He skated in an Amerks sweater for six seasons, four in the 1980s when he was breaking into pro hockey and then two to close out his 19-year playing career. He entered the Amerks Hall of Fame in 2010.

At the time, he was in his second season as assistant coach with the Atlanta Thrashers. The next year, 2010-11, he coached Hamilton and then, for the final 50 games of the 2011-12 season, was interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

He spent the past three years away from in-game coaching. He scouted and then worked in a player development role with the Sabres, gauging the progress of, and providing guidance to, Buffalo prospects.

He said he liked the job. Still, he knew at some point he wanted to coach again.

“I spent some time in some coaches’ offices traveling through the leagues, here also, and you always want to help (but) you don’t want to step on toes,” he said.

He quietly observed. Maybe too quietly this summer. He had planned to let Murray know about his coaching interest in early June but, because of priorities and schedules, they never broached the subject until development camp earlier this month.

“We had a good discussion that intrigued each other’s interest,” Cunneyworth said. Thus, here he is, back home behind the bench.

KEVINO@DemocratandChronicle.com