New Ownership Announced, Player Announcement Today, Belleville and Allen Training Camps and More

I am in Minnesota and will make the long drive (625 miles) to northwest North Dakota tomorrow morning for the opening of pheasant season on Saturday, so wanted to share what I have been able to gather from afar on the latest Allen Americans news.

 

- The new ownership of the Allen Americans was made official yesterday as the ECHL announced the Board of Governors have approved the transfer of controlling interest of the team to former NFL linebacker Myles Jack and his mother, LaSonjia Jack. If you didn't get a chance to attend the press conference announcing the new ownership, the Americans will be posting it for everyone to watch, hopefully sometime this afternoon. 

- While the Jacks and their company (Amsomia Sports) will be the majority owners of the team, other owners include Zawyer Sports and Entertainment and REV Entertainment, who will operate and manage the team. They will oversee the day to day operations of the club, including all marketing, brand, sales, and strategy. Zawyer Sports owns, manages, and operates several sports franchises including the ECHL Jacksonville Icemen, Savannah Ghost Pirates and the new franchise in Lake Tahoe. REV Entertainment, the official events partner of the Texas Rangers, is a full-service entertainment company specializing in a variety of fields including booking venues, operating sports franchises, and venue management. The Americans will gain some experienced partners with this new ownership group. 

- One of the comments I heard was said at the press conference is the new ownership group wants to provide more resources and bring more championships to the Allen Americans.

- Other comments from the press conference included Myles Jack saying he can't wait to get started and become a resource for the players. His mom (LJ) said she wants to be big in the Allen community and grow the game. She also mentioned they are likely to get a house in the area soon and be at as many games as they can.

- If you look at the business model in Jacksonville and Savannah where Jacks is a minority owner, I expect you will see other minority owners added to the initial group in Allen.

- Four players are attending training camp with Allen's AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Defensemen Ryan Gagnon and Eric William are joined by forwards Grant Hebert and Mikael Robidoux at the Belleville camp with an opportunity to show the Ottawa organization what they can do if they are loaned during the season. The plan is for all four of the players to get playing time in one of Belleville's two preseason games. Belleville plays Toronto on Friday and Laval on Sunday. These four players will miss the start of Allen's training camp but will be back for the Americans preseason games against Tulsa on October 13th and 14th.

- There will be some tryout players on the ice when training camp begins with captain practices tomorrow. The last I heard there will be four PTO players joining the rest of the group. 

- The top forward I have talked about the last few updates will be announced this afternoon and will be on the ice tomorrow. He was under AHL contract last season, was a leading scorer on his ECHL team last season and is great signing by coach Costello.  

- I have not seen anything issued by the Americans but assume all of the training camp practices will be open to fans to attend. If you are interested in attending, I would contact the team and inquire if you don't see anything posted about training camp today. 

DID YOU KNOW: There are two Allen Americans at the top of the list of my ECHL Stats post today. Lots of firepower returning to Allen this season. Don't forget that Allen holds the ECHL rights to Hank Crone who signed an AHL deal with the Chicago Wolves for 2023-24. Everyone hopes Hank will stay in Chicago, but if he does get sent to Allen this team will be stacked.

Just seven players on 2023-24 ECHL rosters have career points per game average of more than 1.00 (minimum 50 games played).

1.33 - Colton Hargrove, Allen

1.30 - Liam Finlay, Allen

1.08 - Orrin Centazzo, Toledo

1.08 - Brett Kemp, Greenville

1.07 - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo

1.06 - Louie Caporusso, Cincinnati

1.03 - Aaron Luchak, Orlando