Rapid City Preparation, Valcak Arrives, Outside The Division Record, ECHL Silly Season, Young's Thumb

- With the weekend behind them the Americans are now looking forward to playing Rapid City. They will be back at practice this morning preparing for home games on Thursday and Friday against the Rush. Not much new to report this morning but will attend practice today and check things out. It will be the first practice for Patrik Valcak (val-chaak) who has made the trip from Poland where he and Josef Fojtik were playing when they were signed by the Americans. Should also be a second goalie at practice as Allen will have to sign someone to serve as the back up while Aaron Dell is in Worcester (AHL).

- Kale Kerbashian and Dallas Ehrhardt have been traded to Rapid City since the last time the Rush were in Allen so they will join Daniel Tetrault for a trio of former Allen Americans visiting the Allen Event Center this week.

- After several games this past weekend including three by the Allen Americans the overall record of the Central Division against teams outside the Central Division is now 9-24. Over half of the 24 games involved the last place Brampton Beast who are 3-12 against teams outside the division. Here is how the other teams have fared.
Allen - 1-2
Missouri - 0-3
Quad City - 2-2
Rapid City - 1-1
Tulsa - 1-2
Wichita - 1-2

- The days of "silly season" in the CHL are now long past but if you have been tracking all of the stories about the AHL's migration to the west coast you know "silly season" is in full swing in the ECHL. While nothing has been announced officially it appears both leagues have been dealing with the subject at their Board of Governors meeting in conjunction with their All-Star games. If teams are not going to operate next year in the league they are currently in, it requires a notification to the respective league so these notifications have already taken place. The consensus from the articles that have been written is the AHL will do everything possible to make this happen for the 2015-2016 season but there are many hurdles to still over come. As a reminder here are the moves anticipated.

The Los Angeles Kings move their AHL Manchester Monarchs to Ontario, California. Ontario moves to Manchester as an ECHL team.

The Edmonton Oilers move their AHL affiliate from Oklahoma City to Bakersfield, California. It is possible Oklahoma City moves to the ECHL but it would not be the Bakersfield team.

The San Jose Sharks take their AHL team in Worcester and move them to San Jose where they will play in the same arena (SAP Center) as the Sharks until another suitable place is found. Worcester will become an ECHL city.

The Norfolk Admirals have just reached an agreement to be sold to the Anaheim Ducks and will be moved to San Diego. The ECHL team in Bakersfield that is owned by Edmonton would move to Norfolk and still be owned by Edmonton.

The Calgary Flames move their affiliate (Adirondack Flames) out of Glens Falls, NY to Stockton, CA. The Flames buy the Stockton ECHL franchise and move it to Glens Falls.

The Vancouver Canucks are not part of the AHL migration west as they will maintain their AHL affiliate in Utica, NY. where they have a long term lease.

AHL league president Dave Andrews had this to say on Monday, "It's is a complex undertaking. There are an awful lot of moving parts,'' Andrews said. "We are looking at a complicated group of potential franchise relocations.We're looking at a number of other affiliation discussions within our league right now that are going to change the landscape of the league even further. We are looking at potential relocations of other teams in the league, not necessarily to the Pacific Division. "Our landscape is unsettled as of today. We are still not across the line in terms of the Pacific Division launch for next year. We are making significant progress. But there are still a number of unresolved issues.''



-  Kevin Young posted a picture of his injured thumb on Facebook yesterday and have to admit when Coach Martinson said at a post game press conference Kevin lost part of his nail this wasn't the picture that came to mind. Can't imagine getting stitches through your nail bed is very pleasant. Per Kevin it is not a lot of fun to play with either.

OUCH!

 - Here is some statistical info on Patrik Valcak courtesy of eliteprospects.com:

PATRIK VALCAK

BIRTHYEAR 1984-12-16 BIRTHPLACE Ostrava, CZE AGE 30 NATION Czech Rep. POSITION F SHOOTS L HEIGHT  6'2" WEIGHT  227 lbs NHL DRAFT 2003 round 4 #129 overall by Boston Bruins

CAREER STATISTICS

Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-		Postseas.	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-
1999-00	HC Poruba U18	Czech U18 2	6	2	3	5	0		|
2000-01	HC Poruba U18	Czech U18	34	13	11	24	28	8	|
2001-02	HC Poruba U20	Czech U20	33	4	8	12	32	-5	|	Relegation	12	5	8	13	12	-1
	HC Poruba	Czech3	8	1	2	3	6		|
2002-03	HC Poruba U20	Czech U20	31	10	12	22	100		|	Playoffs	7	4	6	10	31
2003-04	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	35	2	9	11	28	-2	|
	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	22	0	1	1	13	-4	|	Playoffs	11	0	0	0	6	-2
2004-05	HC Poruba U20	Czech U20	5	2	3	5	4	-4	|
	HC Poruba	Czech2	26	1	6	7	32	-6	|	Playoffs	2	0	0	0	2	-2
	HC Havirov	Czech2	2	0	1	1	6	-2	|
	Lincoln Stars	USHL	4	1	2	3	2	0	|
2005-06	HC Vsetin	Czech	3	0	0	0	0	-3	|
	HC Poruba	Czech2	15	1	4	5	4	-5	|
	KLH Jindrichuv Hradec	Czech2	15	2	4	6	20	-3	|
	SK Kadan	Czech2	13	1	2	3	6	2	|
2006-07	TPS	Liiga	2	0	0	0	2	0	|
	Blues	Liiga	8	0	1	1	8	0	|
	Grenoble	France	15	1	4	5	30		|	Playoffs	12	0	10	10	18
2007-08	Grenoble	France	26	10	35	45	59		|	Playoffs	6	1	3	4	16
2008-09	HK Dukla Trencin	Slovakia	45	6	25	31	32	1	|	Playoffs	1	0	0	0	0	0
2009-10	HK Dukla Trencin	Slovakia	24	4	17	21	40	-9	|
	HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas	Slovakia	12	2	4	6	8	-6	|
2010-11	Olofströms IK	Division 1	23	4	15	19	50		|
2011-12	HC Trinec	Czech	8	0	0	0	2	-2	|
	HK Nitra	Slovakia	18	1	7	8	40	-6	|
2012-13	Cracovia Krakow	Poland	38	15	41	56	91	28	|	Playoffs	14	2	8	10	41	5
2013-14	HC Vitkovice	Czech	40	0	11	11	48	-2	|	Playoffs	2	0	0	0	2	0
2014-15	Cracovia Krakow	Poland	32	10	33	43	77	8	|
	Allen Americans	ECHL	-	-	-	-	-		|

DID YOU KNOW: Allen has won ten games in a row at home and has at least one point in eighteen straight games at home. With the exception of a 2-1 shootout loss to Wichita on December 19, Allen has not lost at home since November 9th.