Nancy and I just returned from our almost three week trip to Italy with our good friends from Minnesota, Dave and Lin Carter. Dave, Lin and myself went to high school together (Bloomington, MN High School class of 1965). Dave and I have been hunting together since we were 15 (going on 63 years) and will make it 64 years this fall. I often get asked about our trips so please indulge me with the following which is way too long, but something I wanted to share along with a photo:
We had a wonderful trip starting in Malta, traveling to Sicily and then up the Adriatic Sea on the eastern coast of Italy ending our trip in Venice. It is such a history lesson when you visit Europe and learn about countries that date back to thousands of years BC and visit so many spectacular churches that were built 1000-2000 years ago. While many have been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries, some have not.
Maybe the most impactful to me as veteran when visit European countries is the significant role so many of them played in World War II. That was the case with Malta and Sicily. We visited the Lacaris War Rooms in Valletta, Malta which are an underground complex of tunnels and chambers that housed the War headquarters and where the invasion of Sicily was planned. We heard Malta was the most bombed country in the war if you factor in the size of the country (roughly the size of Rhode Island). Over two years, Malta suffered 3000 bombing raids with 6700 bombs. I found this description of the role Malta and Sicily played in the war, which makes the point.
At
a critical moment in the Second World War, thousands of American,
British and Canadian troops dashed ashore after a massive naval
bombardment of enemy positions.
Hours before, American and British airborne troops had landed by glider and
parachute to seize key locations behind enemy coastal defenses.
Specially-trained units climbed cliffs to knock out artillery batteries.
For months, Allied bombers had pounded strategic targets, disrupting ports and roads.
A deception exercise had kept Hitler uncertain about when and where the Allied blow would fall.
You probably think this is about Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northern France (Normandy) on 6 June 1944.
In fact it’s the story of the start of Operation Husky — the invasion of Sicily and the beginning of the Italian campaign – almost 12 months earlier than the Normandy invasion
D-Day in
Normandy is rightly remembered as a turning point in the war. But it
would have been impossible without the lessons the Allies learned in
Sicily the previous summer.
Operation Husky, which Dwight Eisenhower planned in Malta and included Generals Omar Bradley and George Patton, who are much more known for battles later in the war.
How big was Operation Husky?
On July 10, 1943,
the Allies (American, British, Canadian) launched Operation Husky before sunrise, a massive amphibious
assault on the southern shores of Sicily. For the next three days
it involved more than 3,000 ships landing over 150,000 troops, 7000 vehicles and 300 tanks covered by more than 4,000 aircraft. It took 38 days for the allied troops to take Sicily from the German/Italian troops. There were an estimated 23,000 allied causalities and 6000 killed.
- We had such a good time stopping at many ports as we headed north ending up in Venice. If there is one photo to represent our trip it would have to be a gondola ride on the grand canal in Venice:
- While I was in Italy I was able to keep up with the happenings related to the Allen Americans. I was able to communicate with all involved via text and also read all of the comments (over 200) on the blog. I want to share my thoughts on the many issues that I have seen raised since the end of the season.
Q: What is the financial situation of the team?
A: The team has never been on a more solid footing than right now. Owner Myles Jack has consolidated his ownership, now has the fianl say on everything and no other outside consultants are involved. Despite the Americans having the worst record in the league (16-45-8-3) including the second worst home record in league history (7-24-4-1), average attendance this season was an all time record 4573. Yes, the team provided free tickets to some games for college students, teachers, first responders, etc., but it was nothing like in the past when 1000's of free tickets were given to local retailers to hand out to customers.
If you don't like the attendance numbers comparison, revenue this season was also the highest in team history. The top two revenue producing games in team history happened this season. #1 was Star Wars night and #2 was Wizard night. How has this been possible? There has been much more emphasis the last couple of seasons on group sales and corporate sales where wins and losses are not the driving factor. I saw some figures during the season on group sales and Allen was way ahead of prior years.
Q: What are the plans going forward?
A: If you have heard Myles Jack talk about the upcoming season his singular focus is having a winning team. He will provide the resources to help make that happen. From housing to the locker room, to the front office to the season ticket holder experience, after talking to Myles at length, he will provide more resources to each component. Here is a reminder of what he said to the season ticket holders after the last game of the season:
"Allowing the fans to understand the direction this organization is
going is my first priority. It has been hectic this year with all of the
consultants, but at the end of the day the blame falls on me, not on
the team, and not on the front office or anyone else."
"Me as an
owner, learning and progressing through this experience, my job is to
put the correct people in position and allow them to do their jobs to
the fullest capacity. That is what I am looking forward to doing this
off season."
"The people that have endured this season deserve to
see the good side as well. I am a fan and enjoy coming to the games and
watching the entire arena turn red. Holding up trophies and having fun
is what this is all about."
"This time next year we are talking
playoffs, that is the pressure I am putting on myself. If we achieve
that the credit will all go to the team. I am just putting the right
pieces together to make sure we get to where we need to get."
"In
am little 29 years of life I understand money is a byproduct of doing
good things. It you give people what they want, give them a reason to
come out, you earn it. I played football where you go out there and do
what you are supposed to do and you get paid. All that is to say you
can't get to the "yellow brick road" until you do the work, put all of
the pieces together and allow people to do what they need to do."
"I
feel around here there have been too many hands in the pot. I am
cutting that out and allowing everybody to do their job. My job is to
literally give people resources to be great and let them be great."
Q: What is the latest on hiring a new coach?
A: If you have spoken to or listened to Myles Jack you know he is well aware of the urgency in naming a new coach as soon as possible. Here is my take on the process.
- Myles wanted to and did meet with his finalists for the job in person which took some time.
- As of today nobody has been signed as the coach or assistant/associate coach. Once Myles comes to a verbal agreement it takes some time to put it in writing with all of the legal details, get the contract reviewed and signed. There is always a potential for issues in this process.
- As soon as there is a signed contract I expect there will be an announcement. A formal press conference might come later. There are no specific dates, but the announcement will be soon.
- All the speculation on who will be the next coach is just that, speculation.
- Allen has a big advantage when it comes to recruiting players. Here is a partial list of the recruiting pitch:
- You will play in a great
facility which is surrounded by
shopping and restaurants.
- You will stay in first class housing with new furnishings and televisions (last season).
-
While playing in the
DFW Metroplex you have access to whatever interests you may have
including the Stars, Cowboys, Mavericks and Rangers. Playing where you
have a major international airport makes it easier for you and your
friends and family to travel in and out of DFW and for players to get to AHL cities quickly if called up.
-
You
will live in a place where you can play golf year around. Average high
temperature during the hockey season is 79 in October, 66 in November,
57 in December, 55 in January, 61 in February, 69 in March, 77 in April
and 84 in May. It is a great place to live whether your are single or married.
- If you like to fish, there is great fishing all over the area.
- The winning culture the Allen Americans are noted for will be back no matter who is signed as the new coach. You add that to Myles Jack's experience as a NFL player and his upgrading equipment in the locker room to help with recovery and also upgrading some player equipment. Myles wants to make the locker room more like an NHL locker room which will give the new coach a major recruiting advantage.
- It will be an exciting time in Allen once again and fans should expect an immediate turnaround in 2025-26. The regular season points have declined in each of the last four seasons seasons reaching an all time low of 43 in 2024-25. If Allen earns 80 points next season, an increase of 37 points, it would be the highest point total since 2020-21. A stretch goal for sure, but a realistic one, given the caliber of coach that will be hired.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Kelly Cup playoffs are down to the final eight (Division Finals). Once again the regular season champions (South Carolina) fell victim to the Brabham Cup curse. The Stingrays fell to Orlando 4-3 in the first round, removing what I thought was a big obstacle to a Florida "fourpeat." Florida won its opening round 4-0 vs Jacksonville and is ahead of Orlando 2-0 in the Division Finals.
- Former Allen captain, Colton Hargrove, has scored a goal in four straight games for Florida and leads the team in goals. Hargrove has a shooting percentage of 23.5%.
- Florida goalie Cam Johnson, who has been the Everblade's goalie for their three championships has just tied Riley Gill for the most career playoff wins at 53. Johnson will have a chance to break Riley's record when Florida plays in Orlando tomorrow night.
- Another former Allen American having a great playoff is Grant Hebert, who plays for Norfolk. Grant leads Norfolk in points with nine, averaging 1.29 points per game. Norfolk's #3 in points is yet another former Allen American, Hank Crone who has six points. Norfolk leads the playoffs in average goals allowed (1.57). They are tied 1-1 in the Division Finals against Trois Riviéres.
- The ECHL announced last week that a new franchise will join the ECHL in 2026-27. The franchise will be in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, a northern suburb of Albuquerque. The team will be owned and operated by REV Entertainment who had brief relationship with the Allen Americans along with Zawyer. Rio Rancho was the home of the New Mexico Scorpions from 2006-2009 and they played in the Central Hockey League.They ceased operations in 2009, one season before the Allen franchise joined the CHL in 2009-10. Here is the press release announcing the new franchise: https://echl.com/news/2025/05/expansion-membership-approved-for-new-mexico
- The draft ECHL schedule has been sent out for teams to review. This is an opportunity for teams to try and make changes to the schedule based on what will make the schedule better from a front office perspective and also hockey travel and game related issues. Can't always fix the problems, but can try.
- Allen's home record was 7-29 this season, so the record by jersey was bad no matter which jersey the Americans wore. Last season Allen had the best record when wearing the "Texas" jersey and "Red" jersey with a 7-3 record for both. No surprise the worst record last season was when the team wore a specialty jersey (2-7). This season Allen again had the best record when wearing the "Texas" jersey (1-3) and the worst record when wearing a specialty jersey (1-5).
DID YOU KNOW: Here is my ECHL Stats post about the playoffs:
Some ECHL playoff teams have great offenses and some have great defenses. Some fall in the middle. Which style will win the Kelly Cup? Here are the average goals scored, average goals allowed and goal differential for the eight teams remaining in the playoffs:
Average goals scored
5.50 - Tahoe
4.33 - Fort Wayne
3.67 - Florida
3.60 - Trois Rivières
3.22 - Orlando
3.17 - Norfolk
2.83 - Kansas City
Average goals allowed
1.33 - Norfolk
1.40 - Trois Rivières
1.83 - Kansas City
2.00 - Florida
2.00 - Tahoe
3.22 - Fort Wayne
3.33 - Orlando
3.33 - Toledo
Goal differential (Ave. goals scored minus goals allowed)
+3.50: Tahoe
+2.20: Trois Rivières
+1:84: Norfolk
+1.67: Florida
+1.11: Fort Wayne
+1.00: Kansas City
+1.00: Toledo
-0.11: Orlando
