Phil Fox Moving On - Allen Americans & CHL Weekly Update

- The elephant in the room the past two weeks has been what is delaying the issuance of the CHL schedule. Have been getting a lot of questions as to what is going on at CHL headquarters. Will avoid any further speculation on what is going on and what will be the outcome other than to restate comments from last week that the CHL is dealing with some big, important issues which should be resolved soon.

- Heard from Phil Fox that he has applied for a position at his alma mater, Northern Michigan University (NMU). Phil will hopefully be the Manager of Hockey Operations. This position will assist  head coach Walt Kyle by overseeing all off-ice aspects of the intercollegiate hockey program. Responsibilities include video editing, purchase of equipment & supplies, student staff coordination, report preparation, assist with team travel and logistics, and other off-ice duties assigned by the head coach. Phil also plans on working on his Master's degree at NMU. Phil will be missed but this can be a great first step toward his goal to become a head coach. Best of luck Phil.

Phil Fox interviews for position with Northern Michigan University

- The number of players signed and announced around the CHL is up to 95 from 88 last week. Still a long way to go to have full rosters which is around 180 players. Allen, Missouri, Quad City and Rapid City lead the way with thirteen players announced while Brampton has the fewest players announced with five. A complete list by team is at the end of this post.

- Had a chance to met Mike McCall who was recently hired to be the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Steven Brothers Sports Management. As Mike described his position he works with all three of the hockey franchises (Allen, Tulsa, Wichita) and reports directly to the Steven brothers. He has his office in Allen only because he resided in the area when he was hired.

- You may have seen the recent press release from the Allen Americans inviting fans to help Trevor Ludwig choose a new number to wear for the upcoming season. His #24 has not been kind to him on the injury front. As Trevor put it, "After missing the last two playoff seasons and not being able to celebrate a championship on the ice, I decided this year will be fresh and new. I've picked three numbers (16, 17, 47) as jersey numbers I would wear this season." Trevor then asked the fans to vote by emailing their choice to contest@allenamericans.com. Was wondering how Trevor came up with these three numbers. His dad wore #17 in Montreal but exactly what went into picking #16, #17, & #47. Here is what Trevor had to say:

#16 - This is the number worn by long time NHL player Trevor Linden. I am named after him and our daughter (Lynden) is also named after him.

#17 - Of course this is the number my dad wore all those years he played for the Montreal Canadiens (1982-1990) but it is also the day of my wife's (Holly) birthday (June 17th) and it is also the number I wore in juniors and college.

#47 - This comes from a mixture of numbers. The #4 because our daughter was born on 4-14-14 and the #7 from the #17.

So there you have it. Make sure to email your choice to contest@allenamericans.com. If you select the winning number you will have a chance to win a Trevor Ludwig jersey. Seems like the photo  below when he was just three shows the number he has been wearing the longest. Go #17!

Trevor, left, wearing #17 at age three

- Saw this recap of a recent North American Hockey League (NAHL) coaches meeting that took place in Frisco. Food for thought for anyone involved in coaching:

The meetings began with a presentation from former hockey coach Scott Muscutt. Muscutt, now a motivational speaker with his company, Learn Lead Win, served for 10 years as Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations for the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, a former Central Hockey League team. Over the past decade in the Central Hockey League, Muscutt’s name has become synonymous with two things above all: hard-working dedication and winning performance and attitude. Muscutt brought that energy into the coaches meetings, which energized the group from the beginning of the morning. “I wanted to take something that made a difference in hockey players lives and translate that to the coaching and business world, and make these guys understand how teamwork is supposed to work,” said Muscutt to open the presentation.  “You can’t lead your players by your strengths, you lead them by their strengths.” His examples included some very moving videos and included some of his own personal stories when he was a coach. “Checkers and Chess use the exact same board, but the game is completely different.  The same applies to hockey and how you motivate and utilize your players,” Muscutt said. “The X’s and O’s and drills are just the checker board, but the chess part comes in being able to get the most from your players and it all starts with the manner in which you are able to motivate them.” Muscutt then challenged the coaches to move forward based on three main points: Am I prepared for relationships? Can I change the way I look at things? Can we build mutual trust?

- The Nottingham Panthers (EIHL), where Bruce Graham and Mike Berube are playing this year, had their first preseason game yesterday losing 3-1. They played again today and lost 4-3 with Graham getting one of the goals. Mike Berube did not play in the preseason games.  They are preparing to play in the first European Champions League tournament which brings together 44 teams from eleven different European first tier leagues. The tournament is run similar to the soccer World Cup where the 44 teams are seeded into 11 groups of four teams.  Nottingham will play the other three teams in their group (home and away) with the team with the most points moving on. Their first two champions league games are at home this Friday against a Finnish League team (Lukko) and Saturday against a Swedish League team (Lulea). The fourth team in the group is Hamburg from the top league in Germany (DEL). Jamie Benn played for Hamburg during the 2012-2013 NHL lockout. This tournament will be a tall task for Nottingham as they are one of the lowest seeded teams in the tournament but a great opportunity to participate with the top teams in Europe. 

Bruce Graham's season starts on Friday

- Here is the updated listing of players that have moved on from last year's championship team.

5/30/14 - Bruce Graham signs with Nottingham (England)
6/21/14 - Bryan Pitton signs with KH Sanok (Poland)
7/8/14   - Garrett Klotz signs with Indianapolis Fuel (ECHL)
7/8/14   - Anthony Maiani signs with Rungsted (Denmark)
7/14/14 - Mike Berube signs with Nottingham (England)
7/15/14 - Kale Kerbashian signs with Evansville (ECHL)
7/16/14 - Trevor Hendrikx signs with Cardiff (Wales)
7/17/14 - Dallas Ehrhardt signs with Missouri (CHL)
7/19/14 - Brian McMillin signs with Eindhoven (Netherlands)
7/28/14 - Greger Hanson signs with Cincinnati (ECHL)
7/30/14 - Darryl Bootland signs with ECHL team
7/31/14 - Daniel Tetrault signs with Rapid City (CHL)
8/1/14   - Alex Lavoie signs with Florida Everblades (ECHL)
8/5/14   - Jarret Lukin signs with Evansville IceMen (ECHL)
8/7/14   - Cain Franson signs with University of Calgary
8/15/14 - Steve Tarasuk signs with Kaltern/Caldaro (Italy)
8/18/14 - Phil Fox applies for job as Director, Hockey Operations at Northern Michigan


- Here are the players signed and announced for each CHL team:

(13) Allen Americans: Kevin Young (D), Jamie Schaafsma (F), Tyler Ludwig (D), Jonathan Lessard (F), Trevor Ludwig (D), Travis Ouellette (C), Garrett Clarke (D), Jeremy Beaudry (D), Aaron Gens (D), Sy Nutkevitch (C), Raphael Girard (G), John Ryder (D), Gary Steffes (F),

(9) Arizona Sundogs: Kevin Baker (F), Michael Couch (D), Alex Tuckerman (D), Michael Trebish (F), Berkley Scott (F), Matt White (F), Charles Lavigne (G), Drew Fata (D), TJ Fox (F),

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

(10) Denver Cutthroats: Mike Bayrack (C), Garett Bembridge (F), Kyle Fletcher (F), John Griggs (G), JP Chabot (F), Steve Kaunisto (D), Kyle O’Kane (F), Daniel Barczuk (F), Phil Teseriero (D), Sean Zimmerman (D),

(13) Missouri Mavericks: Andrew Courtney (F), John-Scott Dickson (F),   Scott Langdon (D), TJ Battani (F), Sebastien Thinel (F), Dave Pszenyczny (D), Evan Vossen (F), Ben Power (F), Collin Circelli (C), Dallas Ehrhardt (D), Colten Hayes (D), Josh Unice (G), Kellan Tochkin (F),

(13) Quad City Mallards: Darren McMillan (D), Caylen Walls (D), Joey Holka (F), Mike Monfredo (D), Jeff Lee (F), Justin Fox (F), Evan Mosher (G), Matt Duffy (D), Jannik Christensen (D), Antti Pusa (F), Joe Perry (F), Evan Haney (F), Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel (D), 


(13) Rapid City Rush: Winston Day Chief (F), Justin Sawyer (D/F), Justin Faryna (F), Scott Brannon (F), Sean Erickson (D), Brett Kostolansky (D), Jared Brown (F), Wayne Savage (G), Brandon Martell (D), Reid Campbell (D), Patrick Divjak (F), Daniel Tetrault (D), Bobby Preece (D),

(12) Tulsa Oilers: Jake Obermeyer (D), Nathan Lutz (D), Adam Pleskach (F), Matthew Larke (F), Chapen Leblond (F), Eric Tallent (D), Charles Lachance (F), Ben O’Quinn (F), Kevin Noble (D), Steve Mele (F), Marc-Olivier Phaneuf (F), Mike Zacharias (G),

(7) Wichita Thunder:  Alex Bourret (F), Nikita Kashirsky (F), Ian Lowe (F), Taylor Nelson (G), Jim Jorgensen (D), Andrew Martens (D), Todd Hosmer (F),