News and Notes - Roster Update, Spencer Asuchak Returns, AEC Gets a New Name, Former Players Headed to Europe, ECHL Attendance and More

 It is that quiet time of year if you are an Allen Americans hockey fan but it is now less than 100 days until hockey returns. I had a few items of interest so thought with rain getting in the way of the morning bike ride it is time to empty the news and notes bin.

 Here is the Allen Americans playoff roster with an update on the players that have already signed for the 2021-22 season and those whose rights revert back to other teams:

 

Goalies 

#31 - C.J. Motte - signed in Great Britain (England) with Coventry Blaze

#34 - Jake Paterson - signed in Norway (Sparta)

#35 - Frank Marotte

 

Defensemen

#4 - Terrance Amorosa - signed AHL deal with Laval Rocket

#5 - Phil Beaulieu

#7 - Sam Ruopp

#14 - Les Lancaster - signed in Finland to a two year deal with Ilves which means Lynx in Finnish. Lancaster will play the top league in Finland (Liiga) and it is one of the six European leagues that count toward veteran status for the ECHL.

#16 - Darian Skeoch 

#18 - Kris Myllari

#20 - Ben Carroll

#43 - Matt Register - signed in Great Britain with the Cardiff Devils which is in Wales. The league is the EIHL (Elite Ice Hockey League). This league is the most similar to the style of play you see in the ECHL. The EIHL relies heavily on import players with 14 allowed to dress for each game.

Forwards

#8 - Steve Owre - signed in France with Cergy-Pontoise

#9 - Brett Neumann

#11 - Collin Shirley

#15 - Corey Mackin - signed in Sweden (HC Vita Hasten), ECHL rights revert to Reading

#17 - Colby McAuley - rights revert to Idaho

#19 - Chad Butcher - signed in Sweden with HC Vita Hasten

#22 - Tyler Sheehy - signed in Germany's top league (DEL) with Nurnberg Ice Tigers

#26 - Spencer Asuchak - re-signed with the Allen Americans    

#27 - Sam Laberge - rights revert to Adirondack

#40 - Josh Lammon - signed in Great Britain (Wales)

#44 - Zane Franklin 

#71 - Dyson Stevenson  

#77 - Scott Conway

 

- Spencer Asuchak kept up what has become a tradition when he was announced on Saturday as the first player signed for the 2021-22 Allen Americans roster. Asuchak has so many career records there are too many to recap. Most impressive is his longevity. This will be Spencer's ninth season in Allen. Only four players have played more than four seasons with the Americans:

9 - Spencer Asuchak

6 - Gary Steffes

5 - Jarret Lukin

5 - Brian McMillin  

- Asuchak is the all-time leader in regular season games (413) and playoff games (90) and is one of six players that won three championships in Allen. The others are Greger Hanson, Trevor Ludwig, Tyler Ludwig, Brian McMillin, and Jamie Schaafsma.

 

- When I talked to Steve Martinson earlier this week he shared that he has several other players signed for next season that will be announced over time. Some are players returning from last season and some new players. The player announcement next week will be of interest to Allen fans. 

 

- There are more Allen players that have signed in Europe but have not been announced in addition to the nine that have already been announced. Two of the unannounced players have signed with the same team in Great Britain (EIHL).  

 

- There is nothing new regarding an affiliation for next season. Most NHL/AHL teams wait until after the NHL draft to see what their rosters look like before talking about new affiliations. 

 

- Here are some former Allen Americans that will be playing in Europe in 2021-22:

Jack Combs - Germany

Kale Kerbashian - Denmark

Jonathan Lessard - France

Alex Lavoie - Sweden

Josh Atkinson - Hungary

Tanner Eberle - England

Braylon Shmyr - France  

Gabe Gagne - Norway

Alex Breton - Slovakia

 

- In Allen Americans franchise history (since 2009-10) there have been 106 defensemen play at least one game. Just three are in the top 10 all time in games played, goals, assists, points, average points per game. penalty minutes and won championships in Allen. These three all time, all around greats are Aaron Gens, Tyler Ludwig and David Makowski. 

- The City of Allen has sold the naming rights to the Allen Event Center and the AEC will be called the "Credit Union of Texas Arena" starting this fall. The Sponsorship Agreement is for eight years with a total cost of $2,275,000. If you are interested in the details here is a link: https://allen.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=9575&MeetingID=985

 

- The AEC is also undergoing some upgrades with a new sound system and video boards. I heard there will be five video boards in the arena. These upgrades will be completed prior to the start of the hockey season.

- The Dallas Stars extended their affiliation with the Idaho Steelheads for two more years. The Steelheads have served as the ECHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars continuously since 2005-06 as well as during the 2003-04 season. A total of 11 former Idaho Steelheads have played for the Dallas Stars. 

- We recently got home after spending a week in Iowa visiting friends and family. While in Iowa I had a chance to stop by the Iowa Heartlanders front office and get a tour of their new arena. My thanks to David Fine, the Director of Communications and Broadcaster for taking time out of his schedule to visit with me and to Molly Uphoff and Tysen VanDraska for the first class tour of the Xtream Arena. It would be a great road trip for Allen fans when the Americans visit the Heartlanders which will probably be in 2022-23. Everything is located in a 180 acre mixed use development (Iowa River Landing) with hotels, restaurants and shopping all within  walking distance from the arena. 

 

DID YOU KNOW: A breakdown of average ECHL attendance for the COVID restricted 2020-21 season:

 

2 teams averaged over 3000

3493 - Florida

3165 - Jacksonville 

 

5 teams averaged between 2000-3000

2902 - Tulsa

2846 - Fort Wayne

2778 - Rapid City

2464 - Orlando

2443 - South Carolina

 

6 teams averaged between 1000-2000

1971 - Kansas City

1859 - Allen

1837 - Greenville

1791 - Indy

1760 - Utah

1689 - Wichita 

 

1 team averaged under 1000

987 - Wheeling 

 

League wide average was 2275. Average attendance in the shortened 2019-20 season was 4327.

   

 

Allen Roster Update, Protected List, Season Ending List, ECHL Most Playoff Series Won List and More

 I had a chance to check in with Steve Martinson yesterday to get an update on the recruiting process and he is just starting to reach out to players with offers for next season. The season ending roster is due Thursday and the first day to sign players is Friday so this will be a busy week.

 

 Here is the Allen Americans playoff roster with an update on the players that have already signed for the 2021-22 season:

 

Goalies 

#31 - C.J. Motte

#34 - Jake Paterson - signed in Norway

#35 - Frank Marotte

 

Defensemen

#4 - Terrance Amorosa 

#5 - Phil Beaulieu

#7 - Sam Ruopp

#14 - Les Lancaster - signed in Finland to two year deal

#16 - Darian Skeoch 

#18 - Kris Myllari

#20 - Ben Carroll

#43 - Matt Register - signed in Great Britain (Wales)

Forwards

#8 - Steve Owre - signed in France

#9 - Brett Neumann

#11 - Collin Shirley

#15 - Corey Mackin - signed in Sweden, ECHL rights revert to Reading

#17 - Colby McAuley - rights revert to Idaho

#19 - Chad Butcher - signed in Sweden

#22 - Tyler Sheehy

#26 - Spencer Asuchak    

#27 - Sam Laberge - rights revert to Adirondack

#40 - Josh Lammon

#44 - Zane Franklin 

#71 - Dyson Stevenson  

#77 - Scott Conway

 

- Have had a couple of questions about the Allen Americans protected list which is made up of three goalies, 10 defensemen and 14 forwards. Here is the list:

Jake Paterson, C.J. Motte, Frank Marotte, Sam Ruopp, Lester Lancaster, Kris Myllari, Ben Carroll, Terrance Amorosa, Nolan Kneen, Will Lochead, Turner Ottenbreit, Miles Liberati, Collin Shirley, Dyson Stevenson, Zane Franklin, Spencer Asuchak, Josh Lammon, Chad Butcher, Scott Conway, Steve Owre, Darian Skeoch, Alex Lavoie, Mason Bergh, Jacob Doty, Brett Pollock, Jordan Topping, Gabriel Gagne.

Miles Liberati's rights were obtained from Tulsa in a trade that sent goalie Hayden Hawkey to Tulsa. Mason Bergh is a player Martinson claimed off of waivers.

 Players like Beaulieu, Neumann and Sheehy are not on the protected list because they were on AHL deals and assigned to Allen. 

 

- The season ending list/roster that is due on Thursday (3:00 pm EDT) is limited to 20 players and the players on the list must have signed an ECHL contract in 2020-21. That will eliminate Doty, Pollock, Topping  and Gagne. 

 

- Steve Martinson pointed out to me the rookie rule, where salary is capped for players that have played less than 25 games, will be an issue in re-signing players like Sam Ruopp and Collin Shirley. The CBA limits rookie maximum salary to $585 per week. They can do much better by going to Europe.

 

- The urgency will start quickly because Martinson will have until July 23 to sign players from the season ending roster. On the 23rd he can give qualifying offers to up to eight players from the season ending roster which protects their rights. Those that don't get a qualifying offer (and have not been signed) become free agents. 

 

- No news on an affiliation for the 2021-22 season.  Martinson emphasized it is important to get the right affiliation that works for everyone. He is confident he will be able find an affiliate for next season.

    

- I was looking at the final stats from the playoffs and a few stood out to me. Fort Wayne played a total of 64 games this season in winning its first Kelly Cup, 51 regular season and 13 playoff games. In Allen's two Kelly Cups it played 96 games (72+24) in 2015 and 97 games (72+24) in 2016.

 

- Allen had the best shooting percentage in the playoffs (11.4%) and also the best average goals per game (3.57). What was Allen's downfall was not being able to hold on to a lead. The Americans scored first in six of its seven playoff games but only won three of the six. 

 

- For all eight playoff teams the combined record when leading after the second period was 21-4. The Allen Americans record was 2-2. The Americans were almost unbeatable during the regular season with a second period lead (30-2-2-0). Blowing a 4-1 lead at home with 12 minutes left in game two against Fort Wayne will always be seen as the single period that cost Allen its third Kelly Cup.

 

- Even though he only played in seven playoff games, compared to 13 for Fort Wayne and South Carolina, Les Lancaster led all defensemen in goals (3) and was tied for the lead in points (7). 

 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- When Fort Wayne won its first ever Kelly Cup last Friday, there were three former Allen Americans as part of the celebration. Zach Pochiro was Fort Wayne's second leading goal scorer during the regular season (14 goals in 32 games), Nick Boka was the Komet's Defenseman of the Year and goalie Justin Kapelmaster was the goalie of record in Allen's loss to Fort Wayne in game two of its series when the Americans were leading 4-1 in the third period and lost the game 5-4 in overtime. That third period and overtime was Kaplemaster's only appearance in the playoffs. He played 23 minutes and stopped all eight shots he faced. Congrats to Zach, Nick and Justin.

  

 

DID YOU KNOW: Here is yesterday's ECHL stats post that lists ECHL teams with the most playoff series wins since 2015 when the Central Hockey League (CHL) teams joined the ECHL. If you include the two years Steve Martinson coached the Americans in the CHL his series record in Allen is 16-3, to go along with four championships. 

ECHL teams with the most playoff series wins since 2015. Kelly Cup championships in parenthesis: 

 

10 - Allen (2)

10 - South Carolina (0)

8 - Colorado (2)

8 - Toledo (0)

7 - Florida (0)

7 - Fort Wayne (1)

4 - Newfoundland (1)

4 - Manchester (0)

3 - Wheeling (0)

3 - Adirondack (0)