It has been a while since I provided an update on all things Allen Americans and I will soon be headed to Africa on vacation so thought I would share what is happening with the roster, the front office, some former players and anything else of interest to those of you that can't wait for the season to get started. Here goes in no particular order.
- Chad Costello and family headed across the pond this week to Iserlohn, Germany to start their European adventure. If I read the team's website in German correctly the first game (preseason) for Chad will be August 12.
- The official Allen roster (players signed & announced) now stands at seven with the announcement this week that Miles Liberati has re-signed. Here is the current roster:
Riley Gill - goalie
Joel Chouinard - defense
Mike Gunn - defense
Eric Roy - defense
Tanner Eberle - forward
Jonathan Lessard - forward
Miles Liberati -defense
- Coach Martinson has other players signed but they may be going through the standard review by the ECHL office or the team may be waiting for the right timing to make an announcement.
- Tomorrow (Monday) the Americans will be announcing their new front office management team and making a "major" player annoucment. Two big steps forward for the Allen Americans. Stay tuned! UPDATE: Casey Pierro-Zabotel will be returning to Allen after winning the Kelly Cup in Colorado. Matt Canavan is returning as the President of the Allen Americans.
- If you are a regular reader of the blog you will remember what I posted at the beginning of July about Allen players from the past that fans talk about hoping they return. Here is what I said at the time.
Every season Allen fans talk about players from the past
returning to the team. Jamie Schaafsma, Alex Lavoie, Jonathan Lessard, Jack
Combs, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Vincent Arseneau and Rylan Schwartz are some of
the names I hear most frequently mentioned and I am sure Chad Costello and
Spencer Asuchak will now be added to that list. In case you were wondering
everyone mentioned has already signed for next season with the exception of
Pierro-Zabotel, Arseneau and Lessard who can sign with any team as they are free agents. It would be great if coach Martinson was able
to recruit one or two of these unsigned players back to Allen!
It is now the end of July and Lessard has signed with Allen. As of this morning according to the website Elite Prospects neither Pierro-Zabotel or Vincent Arseneau have been signed by any team for the 2017-18 season. So there is still hope for Allen fans coach Martinson can work his magic on one of both of these players.
- Came across this story about a player named Zach Pochiro that was published in a blog out of Las Vegas (vegashockey.net) on July 21st. Sounds like this player is coming to Allen but no official word from the Allen Americans. https://vegashockey.net//?s=zach&search=Go
- My reporting indicates coach Martinson may be recruiting two brothers to play for Allen next season. Everyone remembers the Ludwig brothers (Tyler & Trevor) who were a big part of Allen's first three championships. But do you remember the Howes brothers (Scott & Andrew) were in camp with Allen back in 2012-13? The Daniels brothers (Drew & Justin) were also with the Americans during the 2012-13 season.
- Rick Pinkston and Danny Federico, who were part of Allen's Kelly Cup championship in 2015-16, signed contracts in the last week. Pinkston signed an AHL deal with the Milwaukee Admirals and Federico re-signed with the South Carolina Stingrays.
- The Americans only have nine home games the first two months of the season (October & November). This is by design to avoid too many conflicts with Texas high school football games. However, the nine home games will give Allen fans the chance to take a look at five different teams. Here are the October & November home games.
October 21 & 22 - Orlando Solar Bears
October 29 - Tulsa Oilers
November 1 - Utah Grizzlies
November 4 - Wichita Thunder
November 5 - Tulsa Oilers
November 10 & 11 - Idaho Steelheads
November 12 - Tulsa Oilers
DID YOU KNOW: How hard is it for ECHL coaches to re-sign their top scorers each season? If you look at the top 20 point scorers in the ECHL last season here is a status of the group. It is almost August and only one player has re-signed to return to his team from last season. It is pretty simple, with so much turnover of top players, if you want to be a top team you have to be a top recruiter. A big reason Steve Martinson has won 10 championship in 21 seasons as a coach. Here is the status of the top 20 ECHL scorers from last season.
10 - have signed to play in Europe next season
7 - have not yet signed a contract for next season
2 - have signed AHL deals
1 - has re-signed with his ECHL team
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