It will be a slow week as the Allen Americans take the longest break between games (November 27 to December 5) all season with the exception of the Christmas break (December 18 to December 29). Not sure what will be covered in the blog but hopefully I will find something to hold your interest. I recently noticed the blog will reach a big milestone in the next six to eight weeks when the 2,000,000th unique page view happens. I don't say thanks enough for all of you that make comments on the blog post itself, on Facebook, Twitter, email, text or at the games. Any affirmation is always encouragement to keep the blog going during the tough times.
- With so many days between games I am always reminded of a quote from Steve Martinson years ago when he talked about so many practice days between games, "After three days of practice I get tired of yelling at the players and they get tired of me yelling at them." What Martinson does during these long practice weeks is have a fun scrimmage to start the week where the team is divided in various ways, I have seen the team divided by left shots vs right shots, young guys vs old guys, WHL vs the rest, college guy vs junior guys and Canada vs USA. Couldn't have Canada vs USA this season since the split in players favors Canada 17-7. The teams usually play for lunch or more importantly bragging rights.
- Steve Martinson tells the story of how much bragging rights makes for competition in these fun games. When he was playing in Hershey in 1985-86 he led the team with 432 PIMS and the team total was 2849. In 1986-87 the Bears set the record for most team penalty minutes in a single season (2872), a record that still stands today. In one of these "fun" games for bragging rights, Martinson had a fight with future Hall of Fame goalie Ron Hextall, who played in Hershey before starting his NHL career with Philadelphia.
- Later in the week there might be an optional skate or a short practice but don't be fooled, there will be some tough practices and to quote Martinson, "We have plenty to work on to improve team defense, cut down on turnovers and get better on special teams."
- I was reading some comments about San Jose Barracuda coach Roy Sommer on Patrick William's Twitter feed. Patrick covers the AHL for NHLcom and TheAHLcom. The comments reminded me of the similarities between Sommer and Steve Martinson. They are the same age, worked hard to make it to the NHL (Martinson 48 games, Sommer 3 games) and played most of their pro careers in several different leagues in the minors. They were both tough guys and they both have had long successful coaching careers. Sommer has been coaching since 1987-88 and became a head coach in 1991-92. Most of his career has been in the AHL, he has been with the San Jose organization for 16 years. Sommer's only pro championship was in the ECHL with the Richmond Renegades in 1994-95. Martinson was never an assistant coach and won the first of his 10 championships in 1995-96 as a first year coach with the San Diego Gulls in the WCHL.
- I had a chance to meet Sommer when he visited Allen for a few games when the Americans were affiliated with San Jose. The similarities in their coaching styles were apparent in the brief time I spent listening to them talk hockey in Martinson's office after a game. They even reminisced about the fight they had back in the day.
- That is a long way of saying when I saw the remarks about Sommer from Patrick Williams it made me think they could apply to Martinson. Do you agree?
"Roy Sommer rules the roost with the Barracuda."
"He could care less who you are -- NHL Star or a PTO hanging on by a thread."
"He is also in that great stage of life where he doesn't have to take anything off anyone."
"What I am saying is that there isn't going to be much that he hasn't seen or that will faze him after almost 50 years in hockey.
- The latest from coach Martinson on the roster is all of the players that have been out on COVID protocol have been cleared. The injured players (Bibeau, Combs, Dudek) have doctor appointments this week so their status will be determined after they see the doctor.
- Here is the Americans Weekly which revisits the road trip to Idaho and previews the week ahead: https://allenamericans.com/media/news-americans-weekly/
- It is still a ways off but a date to remember is February 15, 2022. That is the date players must return from overseas and still be eligible to play in the ECHL.
- Defenseman Kris Myllari leads the Americans in game winning goals with two. Spencer Asuchak and Gavin Gould have the other two game winning goals. Allen's fifth win was in a shootout and game winning goals aren't credited but Chad Costello scored the only goal in the shootout to win the game.
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