News You Can Use - An Allen Americans & CHL Signing Update - 7/9/2014

Erik Adams with son Henrik

Want to start out this morning by adding my congratulations to Erik and Jennifer Adams on the birth of their second child yesterday.  Henrik Finn Adams was born yesterday at 7:59 am weighing 7lb 6oz and was 20 inches long. For those that don't know Erik he is a true utility guy that has done everything for the Allen Americans. He has had so many titles over the years it is hard to keep them straight. He started out as a player where he was a standout defenseman for the Americans from 2009-2011 which included time as captain of the team. After the 2010-2011 season he started working in the front office but was asked to come back and play which he did for 13 games that season.  His titles have included game operations, community relations, hockey operations, and player personnel just to name a few. Need some one to talk to your fan club call Erik, need some tickets for a charity event, call Erik, need something signed by a player call Erik, need help with practice because the coach is out of town, call Erik, need a player to attend a sponsor function, call Erik. Whether it is promotional events in the community, delivering teddy bears to hospitals, being President of the Allen Americans Youth Hockey Association, slingshoting fans between periods in human bowling ball, creating and editing highlight videos, teaching Hockey 101, coordinating Hockey in Heels, visiting schools or helping with practice Erik is always there to help in any way he can. Whether it is on the ice, behind the bench or in the front office Erik always gives everything he has got. There has got to something good in his future.



- Signings have picked up around the CHL this week. Allen and Rapid City now have six players under contract and announced while Quad City still has not announced any player signings. Here is the current list of player signings by team:

(6)Allen Americans: Kevin Young (D), Jamie Schaafsma (F), Tyler Ludwig (D), Jonathan Lessard (F), Darryl Bootland (F), Trevor Ludwig (D)

(4)Arizona Sundogs: Kevin Baker (F), Michael Couch (D), Micheal Trebish (F), Alex Tuckerman (D)

(4)Brampton Beast: Calin Wild (C), Andrew Darrigo (D), Mike MacIsaac (F), Josh McQuade (F)

(3)Denver Cutthroats: Mike Bayrack (C), Kyle Fletcher (F), John Griggs (G)

(5)Missouri Mavericks: Andrew Courtney (F), John-Scott Dickson (F), Scott Langdon (D), T.J. Battani (F), Sebastien Thinel (F)

(0)Quad City Mallards: 

(6)Rapid City Rush: Winston Day Chief (F), Justin Sawyer (D/F), Scott Brannon (F), Justin Faryna (F),  Sean Erickson (D), Brett Kostolansky (D)

(2)Tulsa Oilers: Jake Obermeyer (D), Nathan Lutz (D)

(2)Wichita Thunder:  Alex Bourret (F), Nikita Kashirsky (F)



- The Americans have certainly lost some talent from last years championship team with the departure of Bruce Graham (England), Bryan Pitton (Poland), Anthony Maiani (Denmark), Daniel Tetrault (Retirement), Garrett Klotz (Indianapolis Fuel) already announced and rumors Kale Kerbashian has signed elsewhere. Throw in the possibility Spencer Asuchak and Alex Lavoie get AHL deals and there are definitely holes to fill.

- Losing great players is a way of life in the CHL and it is not unique to the Americans. Here is just a partial list of players from around the CHL that won't be returning at the start of the season because of signing elsewhere or retirement. Todd Robinson, Jesse Dudas, David Brown, Gabriel Levesque, Eric Castonguay, Mathieu Gagnon, Thomas Heemskerk, Andrew Engelage, Steve Ward, Kyle Bochek, Matt Larke, Shane Madalora, Henrik Odegaard, David Rutherford, Scott Howes, Scott Wray, Konrad Reeder and Matt Stephenson.

- The CHL final schedule is in the hands of the teams for review before being released to the public. It should be out with in the next week. As a reminder, Allen's home opener will be Friday, October 24th and the final game of the season will be Friday, April 3rd. Both of these dates are about a week later than last year because the CHL made the decision to delay the start of the season by one week.

- The CHL summer meeting takes place a week from Monday (July 21) in Arizona. Look for some changes that have been discussed (playoffs, veterans, two referees) to be voted on at the meeting but also some ideas that come out of the meeting sessions to be voted on as well. It should be interesting and it will be covered by our friends from  Minor League Hockey Report so hopefully we will get some real time information.


DID YOU KNOW: I got this from Tommy Daniels recently and found it interesting. Geico is a corporate sponsor of the Allen Americans but only sponsors two minor league teams, though they are very active in the NHL. The Allen Americans (CHL) and Alaska Aces (ECHL) are the only double AA hockey teams Geico sponsors.