- It is possible that Dyson Stevenson and Riley Gill will be skating today and if all goes well could be back in the lineup by the weekend. I will have an update tomorrow.
- It was announced yesterday that Alexis Loiseau, who leads the Thunder in scoring and was selected for the ECHL All-Star team has left Wichita and signed to play in Germany. If you recall, when Vincent Arseneau signed in Wichita this season rather than returning to Allen he said it was because he wanted to play with Loiseau as they are good friends who grew up together.
ALL-STAR CLASSIC
- There hasn't been a lot of publicity surrounding the ECHL All-Star game which takes place tonight (7:00 PM CST). For the first time the game will be carried live on the NHL Network. If you are not a hockey purist and don't mind the gimmickry of the game, tuning in tonight should be entertaining and an opportunity to become familiar with some of the best players in the ECHL. Chad Costello and trainer Jaime Garcia are representing Allen.
- The game will be played in a non-traditional format and could best be described as an exhibition rather than a game. The format will be the host team (Adirondack) taking on the All-Stars selected from the other ECHL teams. There are some unique rules.
-The first portion of the event will be a 25-minute half, played entirely as 5-on-5 hockey between the All-Stars and the Thunder. Following the completion of the first half of play, the scores will carry over into the Skills Competition, which will be played during the intermission.
- The Skills Competition will feature three events: Fastest Skater,
Hardest Shot and Skills Relay. Each Skills Competition event will
feature competitors from both the All-Stars and the Thunder and the
winning team in each event will receive one goal (point) towards their
overall score, with a total of three goals (points) available from the
Skills Competition.
- The second half will again feature a 25-minute stanza, but will
incorporate some of the new situations typically featured
during ECHL overtime. The half will begin with 10 minutes of 5-on-5 play
but the first whistle after the 15-minute mark will see the teams
switch to 4-on-4. At the first whistle following the 10-minute mark, the
teams will switch again, this time to a 3-on-3 format, which will be
carried out through the remainder of the game. At the end of the second
half, the team with the most goals (points) from the first half, skills
competition and second half combined will be the winner of the 2017 All-Star Classic. In the event that the
score is tied, a sudden death, five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period will
be played to determine the winner. If the event is still tied, a
three-player shootout will commence to determine the winner.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Congratulations to Darryl and Sarah Bootland who welcomed their new daughter, Loxley Belle, into the world yesterday. Loxley joins sister Havyn, who was born when the Bootland's played in Allen, and older brother Trace to make up the Bootland clan. One of the first in depth player profiles I ever wrote was about Darryl "Booter" Bootland. If you have never read it here is the link. Booter talks about how he and Sarah (a Texan) met, how his toughness started at an early age and how he came to Allen in pursuit of his first professional championship. Bootland was part of two championships with the Americans in addition to being the most popular player. Here is the link: http://allenamericansblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/darryl-bootland-player-profile.html
- Wanted to give everyone a heads up to look for another edition of Tommy Daniels' Allen Americans Inside Hockey which will be recorded and played this week. I heard from several of you that you missed the program because you didn't hear about it. I will keep you posted when it will air.
FREE TICKETS
- I periodically have free tickets available and am never sure the best way to give them away. It is fun for me to ask some obscure question that requires research into the Allen Americans archives but many fans don't have the time, knowledge or interest in that. A simpler way is to just have a drawing for tickets but that typically takes more time than a contest that says the first person to respond gets the tickets. I would be interested in any ideas you have for distributing free tickets through the blog. For today you can enter a drawing for free tickets or win tickets by being the first to answer a question. Feel free to participate in both. Here are the details:
- I have four loge (second level) tickets for the game this Friday, January 20th at 7:05 PM. I will have a drawing for the tickets tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, notify the winners and leave the tickets at will call. If you are interested let me know via Twitter, Facebook, the Blog, text, in person or by email (janssenfamily@msn.com). All I need is your name and if you want two or four tickets. The tickets are in the end of the rink where the Zamboni enters the ice, close by where the players that aren't playing sit. I will list the winner or winners in the blog Friday morning. Good luck!
- I also have two tickets in the fifth row off the ice on the aisle in section 100. The tickets are at the end of the rink where the Americans are on offense twice. These tickets are for those that like to do research into the past. The first person that emails me at janssenfamily@msn.com the correct answer to the following question gets the tickets. Name the player that scored and the date of the first goal in Allen Americans history, the player and date of the first hat trick in Allen history and the goalie and date of the second Allen shutout in history. Your answer must have three names and three dates. Good Luck!
DID YOU KNOW: I saw this on social media and thought it was interesting. Professional hockey's current active career penalty minute leader is Darryl "Booter" Bootland at 3100 and counting. I looked his totals up on eliteprospects.com and he now has 3199 penalty minutes. According to the website dropyourgloves.com Booter has had 267 hockey fights going all the way back to 1998-1999 when he played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Congratulations to Darryl and Sarah Bootland who welcomed their new daughter, Loxley Belle, into the world yesterday. Loxley joins sister Havyn, who was born when the Bootland's played in Allen, and older brother Trace to make up the Bootland clan. One of the first in depth player profiles I ever wrote was about Darryl "Booter" Bootland. If you have never read it here is the link. Booter talks about how he and Sarah (a Texan) met, how his toughness started at an early age and how he came to Allen in pursuit of his first professional championship. Bootland was part of two championships with the Americans in addition to being the most popular player. Here is the link: http://allenamericansblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/darryl-bootland-player-profile.html
- Wanted to give everyone a heads up to look for another edition of Tommy Daniels' Allen Americans Inside Hockey which will be recorded and played this week. I heard from several of you that you missed the program because you didn't hear about it. I will keep you posted when it will air.
FREE TICKETS
- I periodically have free tickets available and am never sure the best way to give them away. It is fun for me to ask some obscure question that requires research into the Allen Americans archives but many fans don't have the time, knowledge or interest in that. A simpler way is to just have a drawing for tickets but that typically takes more time than a contest that says the first person to respond gets the tickets. I would be interested in any ideas you have for distributing free tickets through the blog. For today you can enter a drawing for free tickets or win tickets by being the first to answer a question. Feel free to participate in both. Here are the details:
- I have four loge (second level) tickets for the game this Friday, January 20th at 7:05 PM. I will have a drawing for the tickets tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, notify the winners and leave the tickets at will call. If you are interested let me know via Twitter, Facebook, the Blog, text, in person or by email (janssenfamily@msn.com). All I need is your name and if you want two or four tickets. The tickets are in the end of the rink where the Zamboni enters the ice, close by where the players that aren't playing sit. I will list the winner or winners in the blog Friday morning. Good luck!
- I also have two tickets in the fifth row off the ice on the aisle in section 100. The tickets are at the end of the rink where the Americans are on offense twice. These tickets are for those that like to do research into the past. The first person that emails me at janssenfamily@msn.com the correct answer to the following question gets the tickets. Name the player that scored and the date of the first goal in Allen Americans history, the player and date of the first hat trick in Allen history and the goalie and date of the second Allen shutout in history. Your answer must have three names and three dates. Good Luck!
DID YOU KNOW: I saw this on social media and thought it was interesting. Professional hockey's current active career penalty minute leader is Darryl "Booter" Bootland at 3100 and counting. I looked his totals up on eliteprospects.com and he now has 3199 penalty minutes. According to the website dropyourgloves.com Booter has had 267 hockey fights going all the way back to 1998-1999 when he played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League.
I always want to enter for free tickets but only ever need just 1 ticket. Good luck to those playing to win tickets!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the All Star game tonight, hoping for some entertainment and fun!
All-Star games aren't what they used to be but this sounds like an interesting format. I'll have to see if I can catch it tonight. And of course, free tickets are always appreciated!
ReplyDelete