Shocker - Trevor Ludwig Traded To Missouri, Allen Loses To Wichita 7-2 & More

- In a move that caught many by surprise the Allen Americans traded Trevor Ludwig yesterday to the Missouri Mavericks for forward Tristan King. With the trade the four players that were in Allen for all three championships (Brian McMillin, Jamie Schaafsma, Trevor & Tyler Ludwig) are now gone. It has to be disappointing for Trevor and his family to leave the DFW area. Here is part of what Trevor had to say just a couple of weeks ago at the Q & A announcing his re-signing with Allen.  "This is my home as most of you know. I have lived here for a long time and have been on the team for a long time. Allen was always my first choice as to where I wanted to play in 2015-16. It is a great area, the fans are unbelievable, and the team has been a great team to play for with three straight championships. Not only is this our home but we have lots of family here, and our little girl has grandparents she can visit. I am super thrilled to be back and look forward to making another run this year."  But what turned out to be prophetic Trevor also said, "I know that in professional sports there is no job security and it is a business."

- If there is any good news in being traded you would have to assume Missouri was at the top of the list as to where Trevor would like to play. Missouri coach Richard Matvichuk is a close family friend since he played with Trevor's dad for many years in the NHL. Trevor has known Richard since he was ten years old. Matvichuk, who played defense as a player, coached Trevor during the first two championship seasons when he was the assistant coach in Allen. Ludwig will be playing with his younger brother C.J. who was recently assigned to Missouri by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL). Finally, Missouri is a great organization that will be much improved this season after missing the playoffs last season.

- Why did Allen make the trade? There were too many defensemen in training camp especially after San Jose assigned two AHL contracted defensemen to Allen. Trading a defenseman for a forward was anticipated by everyone looking at the roster. My guess is Allen was not trying to trade Trevor Ludwig rather they were trying to trade a defenseman for a forward and Missouri was interested in Ludwig. Tristan King is a good player and the type of player that Allen needed so the deal was done. King played great against Allen last year when he was in Ontario. Between the regular season and playoffs he played against Allen eight times and had points in seven of the eight games.

- The Ludwig trade ended up overshadowing the preseason game with Wichita which ended up being a good thing as the Thunder scored four first period goals and coasted to a 7-2 win over the Americans. The Allen goals were scored by David Makowski and Garrett Clarke. Steve Martinson's only comment after the game was, "We played poorly in all phases of the game." The fact that seven key players didn't make the trip to Wichita was not an excuse for poor play according to Martinson as Wichita also sat out some key players.

- The players have the day off today and then will be back at it on Monday. With the final roster due on Wednesday look for some players to get released today or tomorrow.

- With the Ludwig trade Allen now only has three veterans (Costello, Steffes, Pierro-Zabotel) under contract. There can be four veterans on the active roster. It is always nice to have a vacant veteran slot as players with AHL experience become available as NHL & AHL rosters shake out or players in Europe decide they want to return to North America.


OTHER ITEMS

- Colton Yellow Horn continues his torrid pace playing in the Austrian league. He leads the league in scoring with 15 points in eight games (7 goals 8 assists) and his team is in first place in the 12 team league with a record of 7-1.

- It was an Allen Americans reunion of sorts when two big rivals from the CHL days played back to back preseason games the last two nights. Dallas Ehrhardt, Kale Kerbashain and Nolan Descoteaux play for Rapid City and Darryl Bootland is with Colorado. Colorado won both games. They won on Friday night in Colorado by a score of 3-0 and Darryl Bootland started the season in style with his first fight just 18 seconds into the game. Last night they played in Rapid City and Colorado prevailed again by a score of 5-3.

- Brian McMillin scored a goal and was named "man of the match" for his team yesterday as the Dijon Ducs lost to Bordeaux 4-2. Brian has six points (3 goals 3 assists) in eight games for Dijon.

- Tommy Daniels used his contacts with the Texas Rangers so that several players could get tickets to watch their beloved Toronto Blue Jays try to avoid elimination tonight. Forward Mike Colavecchia told Tommy he would be proudly wearing his Blue Jay gear at the game.

- The Allen Ice Angels head back to Texas today after completing their calendar shoot in Mexico. Based on some of the early pictures shared on social media it should be another great calendar.

Ice Angels Mexico calendar shoot

DID YOU KNOW: The NHL's first Ice Girls squad appeared in 2001-02 with the New York Islanders. The Dallas Stars launched their Ice Girls squad the very next season. Originally the Dallas Ice Girl squad's sole responsibility was to maintain the ice during timeouts. It wasn't until the 2006-07 season that live choreographed dance was added.