American's 5th Anniversary Logo, CHL Mileage Chart, Tulsa Ownership, Brennan & More

- As we head into our 5th season of hockey the Allen Americans are busy with championship cup visits and selling tickets for the upcoming season. I am happy to report season ticket sales are up from last year both in renewals and new accounts and things won't really get going until the schedule is released. With no uncertainties concerning the financial viability of all ten CHL teams for 2013-2014, the draft schedule is already in the hands of the teams. It always takes a few weeks to sort out all of the scheduling issues but the bottom line is schedules should be released in July and everyone interested in half season tickets can choose their games. It is hard to believe the upcoming season is our 5th anniversary year.

-Everyone should get ready for some announcements from the team as things will start happening at a faster pace in the coming two weeks. As other teams have started talking about players already signed I know some of the Allen fans are anxious to start hearing about our team signings. Trust me when I say it will be worth the wait. Allen is such a great place for the players. From the arena, to the ownership, to the area to say nothing of all of that free year around golf. Most importantly Allen has the reputation as a team that treats the players well. It is nice to have all of that going for you when you are recruiting.

- I found this mileage chart on one of the message boards and thought it would be of some interest. Obviously, with no Fort Worth in the league this year the American's bus will get plenty of use. Thanks to MavsFanJoe for putting this together.

- The Tulsa Oilers had a press conference today to formally announce what has been rumored for some time and that is the Wichita Thunder ownership (Steven Brothers) have purchased the Tulsa Oilers. I heard many times last year about money problems with the Oilers. This new ownership should help the Oilers immediately with an infusion of money which should help Bruce Ramsay, who will stay on as coach, in his recruiting efforts.

- Slovakian born Tomas Klempa who played last year for Fort Worth has signed with the Tulsa Oilers. Klempa has played with Wichita and Rio Grande Valley as well. He is a scrappy 5' 8" speedy forward that has scored close to a point a game in his CHL career. I know I heard from several of you hoping he would sign with Allen.

- Speaking of Tulsa their top scoring forward (Ryan Menei - 82 points in 66 games) and top scoring defenseman (Sean Erickson - 37 points in 66 games) from last year have signed to play the Elite league in the Untied Kingdom. Erickson will join Brian McMillin in Coventry and Menei will play for Sheffield.

- The Arizona Sundogs are holding a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday) to announce their new head coach. Rumor has it the coach will be Kevin Colley who is currently the head coach of the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL.

- I think the big showdown in the local summer hockey league is tomorrow night in Plano. There are two teams that the Allen Americans players who stay in town play for in the summer league. I know the Ludwigs are on one team and the other team I refer to as Ed Belfour's team.  I bet there is some trash talking going on before this game. I'll see if I can get the results and report on my next post.

- Talk of the new ownership group of the CHL is probably boring to most fans but I did hear some good news and that is every ownership group in the league will become part of Central Partners, LLC. Every team is doing its due diligence and it is taking some ownership groups longer to sign on but it will get done sooner rather than later.

- I have heard from two different sources that Kip Brennan is looking to play hockey in Europe this upcoming season. This is nothing new for Kip as he has played overseas in the past. He played for HIFK Helsinki in Finland in 2008-2009 and with Chekov Vityaz in Russia in 2011-2012. Maybe he is returning to one of these teams.