Allen and Tuscon Training Camps, New ECHL Coaches, Blog Comments Feedback, ECHL Roster Limits and Rule Changes

 

 After a hiatus since the Allen Americans ended their 2023-24 season on April 28, the team takes the ice this week for training camp to start the 2024-25 season. Here are the key dates:

• October 3: Players can report to training camp for registration, team meetings, and physicals.
• October 4: On-ice sessions begin.
• October 11: Preseason game against Tulsa.
  
• October 16: Season-opening rosters are due to the league office by 3 PM ET.
• October 24: Season opens at Tulsa.
• October 25: Home opener against Kansas City.

 

- The Americans training camp will be open to the public. Training camp will take place in the community rink. Details on dates, times and how you can get in the rink along with the training camp roster will be issued later in the week. I would expect there might be a player announcement or two before Friday, but that remains to be seen.

 

- I haven't heard an exact number of training camp participants but based on history you can expect the roster to be about 30 players. This includes players signed to SPCs (standard players contract) and PTOs (player tryout contract). 

 

- Some players will be missing the first few days of training camp because they are attending training camp with Allen's AHL affiliate, Tuscon Roadrunners. Three players were announced on Friday, but a fourth has been added. Coaches Adams and Ferguson are also in Tuscon for a couple of days. Here is the list of players attending Tuscon's training camp;

• Mark Duarte, forward
  
• Riley Ginnell, forward
  
• Nolan Orzeck, defenseman
  
• Hudson Wilson, defenseman

 

- Tucson's training camp opens tomorrow (11:00 am) at Tucson Arena as they will hit the ice in Southern Arizona for the first time to kickoff their ninth season that features the team’s home opening regular season weekend on October 19 and 20 when they will host Texas. The initial camp roster should be available later today. Unlike Allen, the Roadrunners practices are closed to the public. Tuscon has preseason games on Friday and Saturday in Henderson, NV against the Silver Knights. In the past, Allen Americans players that attend AHL training camps have usually been given the opportunity to play in a preseason game so we will see if that happens this weekend.  

- Here are the number of players announced by every ECHL team according to elite prospects:

• 28 - Fort Wayne
• 25 - Kalamazoo
• 22 - Wichita
• 21 - Idaho, Maine
• 20 - Worcester
• 19 - Allen, Atlanta, Florida, Iowa, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Orlando, Toledo
• 18 - Adirondack, Bloomington, Greenville, Tulsa
  
• 17 - Indy, South Carolina, Trois Riviéres, Utah
• 16 - Rapid City, Tahoe
• 15 - Reading
• 14 -Wheeling
• 13 - Kansas City, Savannah
• 12 - Cincinnati  

It makes you wonder if  some of the teams at the bottom of this list already know they will be getting a lot of players assigned from their NHL/AHL affiliates. For example, last season Newfoundland had at least 15 players assigned at some point in the season from Toronto. Cincinnati is now affiliated with Toronto. Kansas City had 11 players assigned from their affiliate (Seattle/Coachella Valley) who played over 400 games with the Mavericks. As a reminder, last season Allen had a total of 61 games played by players assigned by its affiliate and just 19 games were by skaters, with 42 by goalies.

 

OTHER COMMENTS

 

-  Not sure if this is a complete list but here are some new coaches named for the 2024-25 ECHL season including the last position they held before being named head coach:

• Allen Americans: B.J. Adams - head coach for Erie Otters (OHL) in 2022-23.
  
• Bloomington Bison: Phillip Barski - was associate coach for Barrie Colts (OHL). 
• Greenville Swamp Rabbits: Kyle Mountain - was assistant coach in Greenville.
  
• Jacksonville Icemen: Brandon Mishinter - was assistant coach in Jacksonville.
• Reading Royals: Jason Binkley - was assistant coach/interim coach in Reading.
• Savannah Ghost Pirates: Jared Staal - was assistant coach in Charlotte (AHL).
  
• South Carolina Stingrays: Jared Nightengale - was an assistant coach in Rockford (AHL).
  
• Tahoe Knight Monsters: Alex Loh - was assistant coach/interim coach in Savannah.   
• Worcester Railers: Bob Deraney - was assistant coach in Worcester.
  

  

- The comments keep coning on the blogs posts, setting an all time record of 225 and counting after the recent blog about Zawyer and Allen parting ways. I enjoy all of the dialogue and as I have stated many times I don't believe in deleting comments with few exceptions. Personal attacks on players and staff are uncalled for and will be removed if they cross that line. I know defining what is a personal attack is a slippery slope so I delete comments sparingly.

I will also delete comments that I know 100% are factually incorrect and cross over to personal attacks. An example of this is coach Adams was the fourth choice for the coaching job in Allen. That is just not true. 

I would estimate I have deleted fewer that 15 comments during this entire off-season. I would ask everyone to refrain from personal attacks. If your comment is deleted and you take issue with my deletion feel free to email me (janssenfamily@msn.com) and we can discuss. 

With that said there have been many constructive criticisms and suggestions in the comments section that bear discussion:

• Fan Club: This is a nonstarter. As several of you have noted, there has been issues with the fan club in the past and there will not be a fan club under present ownership, period.
  
• Providing Feedback: There has been a lot of comments about the best way to provide feedback to the front office. Should it be a representative group or or does individual feedback work best. I have participated in both over the years as a member of a season ticket holders advisory group and providing feedback on a one-on-one basis. I prefer the later because it is generally more timely and is more directly responsive to my issue. I had a conversation with team president, Jonny Mydra about this and he is willing to answer any questions you have. He is extremely busy right now dealing with the Zawyer transition and the loss of the Chief Operation Officer. He is basically doing three jobs right now so I ask you to be judicious. Jonny is very responsive to emails so if you have a question/feedback and can't get the answer from your ticket representative or don't have a ticket representative send Johnny an email at jm@allenamericans.com. 
• Communication to STMs: I discussed this issue with Jonny and your point is well taken. If you are a STM you can look for increased communication coming from the Allen Americans. I will try and keep track to see how this goes. 
• Interview with team owner LaSonjia Jack. If those of you that want this to happen can work together to come up with a series of questions I will do an interview. The only caveat is don't ask questions a reasonable person knows an owner can't or won't answer. 

Thanks again to each and everyone of you that posts comments on my blog. I can assure you they are read by me and the Americans front office. 

DID YOU KNOW: Here are a couple of posts from my ECHL Stats page you might find interesting related to the 2024-25 season:

 

- What is the ECHL roster limit? 

ECHL teams can carry a maximum of 20 players (21 for the first 30 days of the regular season) on their active roster (not counting two players maximum on regular reserve and unlimited number of players on 14 day injured reserve).

 

2024-25 Weekly Salary Cap (covers active roster)

$15,130 - 1st 30 days ($720 average per player)

$14,600 - Balance of Season ($730 average per player)

 

 

- With the start of ECHL training camps just a few days away a reminder of the two rule changes approved by the Board of Governors for the 2024-25 season:

 

Game lineups increased to 18 skaters:

Beginning with the 2024-25 Season, the Board of Governors approved increasing game lineups to 18 skaters and two goaltenders from the previous limit of 17 skaters and two goaltenders, which had been utilized since the 2022-23 season.

 

Increase in games for two-referee system:

The Board of Governors approved utilizing a two-referee system for 50 percent of all League regular-season games during the 2024-25 Season, an increase from the 25 percent which was utilized the previous two seasons. Each team will play 18 home games where the two-referee system is used.

 

Allen Americans Weekly Update - Affiliation News, Roster with Jersey Numbers, Former Player Update, ECHL Playoff Series Wins and More

 

It is hard to believe with all that has happened off the ice this summer I can start posting about what is happening on the ice in just one week. Have to admit I am looking forward to focusing more on the team and the season than the other issues. I had a chance to talk to with the B.J Adams and Brett Ferguson this week. Here is what I learned from them.

• Their recent trip to Los Angles to attend the Kings' Rookie Face-Off Tournament was very productive. Teams participating in the tournament in addition to the Kings and Utah were Colorado, Vegas, Anaheim and San Jose. Utah had 15 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies at the tournament so a great opportunity for the coaches to become familiar with the young prospects in the Utah system. Just as important was the opportunity for B.J. and Brett to meet and network with many of the coaches and scouts that were in attendance.
• Next week Adams and Ferguson will be spending a couple of days at the Tuscon Roadrunners training camp. This is invaluable for the coaches to see the players, talk to the coaches, learn the systems used and get an idea of who may be assigned to Allen. Coaches attending AHL training camp has not always happened with past affiliates and its value cannot be overstated. This is a great start in the relationship with the Utah/Tuscon affiliation. The proof in the pudding will be how much help Allen gets in players being assigned and what opportunities Allen players will have to get loaned to Tuscon. 
• Training camp planning is well under way. The team apartments are set up with new furniture and players will be arriving almost daily next week. Players don't have to report until next Thursday (October 3) and the first day on the ice will be on Friday, October 4.
  

 - Here is Allen's updated roster with assigned jersey numbers:

Goalies

• #33 Marco Costantini
   

Defensemen

• #3 Ryan Gagnon
• #21 Mike Van Unen
• #23 Justin Allen
• #44 Nolan Orzeck
• #57 Ty Farmer
  
• #?? Hudson Wilson
  

Forwards

• #8 Mark Duarte
  
• #11 Rylan Van Unen
  
• #14 Brayden Guy
  
• #17 Riley Ginnell
• #22 Easton Brodzinski
  
• #26 Spencer Asuchak
• #28 Chaz Smedsrud
  
• #42 Robbie Baillargeon
  
• #84 Liam Gorman 
• #86 James Hardie
  
• #92 Brayden Watts
  

- If you compare Allen's current roster, which will grow in the next week, here is how the Americans rank compared to rosters for the other ECHL teams:

• Allen is ranked #14 of 29 in games of ECHL experience with 1445 games. Five players have more than 100 games of ECHL experience led by Spencer Asuchak (448) and Brayden Watts (226).
• Only one team in the league has an average height taller then Allen's average of 6'1". The ECHL range is 5'11" to 6'2".
• Allen's average weight is 190 pounds which is ranked #14. The ECHL range is 196 pounds (Rapid City & Kansas City) to 183 pounds (Toledo & Savannah). 
  
• Allen's average age is 25.16 which makes the Americans one of the youngest teams in the league. Four teams have an average age lower than Allen's. The range is from 28.00 (Tahoe) to 24.16 (Iowa). 

OTHER COMMENTS

-  I am sure many of you have noticed the Americans did not announce a player yesterday as I had indicated on social media. I try to give everyone a heads up when I hear about announcements but have missed the mark a couple of times recently. All I can say is plans change and I don't always hear about the change. I will make sure to use a hedge word or two in the future when posting about announcements. With that said I think, maybe, probably, it is planned, if nothing changes, I hopefully expect there will not be a player announcement today, but we should hear about player/players going to AHL camps.

- I was looking through a list of former Allen players that are playing elsewhere in 2024-25 and was surprised by the numbers. There are 109 skaters and 13 goalies on the list. Here are a few of the old timers still playing:

• Aaron Dell - Aaron was the goalie for Allen's first championship in 2013. The 35 year old has played in 130 NHL games and 145 AHL games. Aaron just signed an AHL-ECHL two way deal with the San Jose Barracuda.
• Kale Kerbashian - Kale was on both of Allen's CHL championships (2013 & 2014). In his pro career he has played in the AHL, ECHL and CHL in North America. Overseas he has played from Australia to Europe (Slovakia, Germany, Denmark). The 34 year old signed with a team in Slovenia for 2024-25 and has as goal and two assists in his first two games.
• Olivier Archambault - A dynamic player that first signed to played in Allen in 2017-18. In 19 games he tallied 31 points (13G, 18A) for a 1.63 points per game average. He spent most of the season on loan to AHL teams which led to a contract with the Syracuse Crunch. The 31 year old is playing in the Czech Republic this season.
• Alex Lavoie - Alex was another player on Allen's 2014 CHL championship team. As a rookie he was Allen's leading scorer and won the CHL Rookie of the Year award. Except for a short stint in Allen in 2020-21, Alex has played in Europe since 2016-18. The 31 year old is playing in Slovenia this season on the same team as Kale Kerbashian. 
• Vincent Arseneau - After two ECHL Championships playing for Allen, the hard hitting, tough as nails forward has spent the last eight seasons in the AHL. The 32 year old is with a new team this season, Laval Rocket. 
   

- There are 30 former Allen players that will be playing for other ECHL teams in 2024-25. Here are just a few that have signed with some of the league's top teams:

• Idaho - Matt Register, Hank Crone, Stanislav Demin
• Florida - Colton Hargrove, Kris Myllari
• Kansas City - Josh Thrower
• Adirondack - Darian Skeoch
  

 

- It's last call if you are interested in obtaining free tickets to Allen's lone preseason game against Tulsa on October 11. The game will take place at NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills. I will be having a drawing later this week for four free tickets to the game. If interested, all you have to do is send me an email (janssenfamily@msn.com) with your name and phone number. 

 

DID YOU KNOW: ECHL teams with the most playoff series won in the last decade (since 2014-15). Number of Kelly Cups won since 2014-15 is in parenthesis:

 

19 - Florida (3)

15 - Toledo (0)

11 - Allen (2)

10 - South Carolina (0)

9 - Fort Wayne (1)

8 - Colorado (2)

8 - Newfoundland (1)

 

 

Four teams have been in the ECHL 10+ years but have no playoff series wins in the last decade. The number of times the team made the playoffs and lost in the first round (since 2014-15) is in parenthesis:

 

Atlanta (2)

Indy (3)

Kalamazoo (5)

Wichita (2)

  

 

Weekly Update - Zawyer Sports and Allen Americans to Depart Ways, Roster News, 20% FloSports Rebate, Preseason Game Ticket Giveaway and More

 

- Before the weekly roster update I wanted to share my thoughts on all of the discussion going on about Zawyer Sports and the Allen Americans. First a reminder of the entities that makeup Zawyer Sports. This is from the press release after Zawyer recently purchased controlling interest in the AHL Charlotte Checkers. "The Checkers are the latest addition to Zawyer Sports & Entertainment’s family of teams. The organization owns and operates three ECHL franchises: The Jacksonville Icemen, Tahoe Knight Monsters and the Checkers’ newest affiliate, the Savannah Ghost Pirates. It also owns and operates the Gastonia Baseball Club, Community First Igloo in Jacksonville and 32 Degrees Marketing, a full-service agency. Additionally, Zawyer operates the ECHL’s Allen Americans and Atlanta Gladiators as well as Ghost Pirates Ice in Savannah."

 

-  Zawyer's business model includes having numerous minority owners for its ECHL teams but retaining the majority interest in Charlotte, Jacksonville, Savannah and Tahoe. Allen, however, has always been an exception in that the Jacks own the majority interest with Zawyer and many others having different percentages of minority ownership. It is also true that the Jacks own a minority interest in Jacksonville, Savannah, Tahoe and Charlotte.

 

 - Here is my reporting after talking to numerous sources around the country. It is clear that Zawyer Sports has already sold its minority interest in the Allen Americans and will not be operating/consulting with the team in the future. Here is what is on the Zawyer Sports website today:

"Join Zawyer Sports & Entertainment on our journey of advancing teams, facilities and brands to their fullest potential. Zawyer Sports owns, manages, and operates the Jacksonville Icemen, Savannah Ghost Pirates, 32 Degrees Marketing, Community First Igloo, Charlotte Checkers, and Gastonia Baseball Club. Zawyer Sports consults on operations for the Atlanta Gladiators, Tahoe Knight Monsters, and Ghost Pirates Ice."

The Allen Americans have already been scrubbed from the Zawyer website and Tahoe is described differently from the first press release above.

 

-  My understanding is Zawyer is not interested in consulting with teams is which they are not the final decision maker/governor. Zawyer is not the governor in Allen, Atlanta or Tahoe. While Allen is the first team Zawyer will no longer be consulting with, you could see changes with the other teams in the future.

 

- While it is clear Allen's relationship with Zawyer is coming to an end there are many unanswered questions. Who did Zawyer sell its minority shares to? Was it the Jacks? When will Allen go on its own. This will not be an easy transition because the last year has been spent adapting all of Allen's processes to the way Zawyer is running all of its team. There are 100's of questions that need to be answered. Everything from payroll systems, financial systems, budgeting systems, reporting systems, health care and hockey operations procedures just to name a few will have to be worked out and transitioned to the way Allen is going to run the team. To make matters worse, one of the two executives in Allen, Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Sikes-Gilbert, has just taken a job with the Detroit Red Wings.

- The bottom line is this transition is going to take some time. The good news is it hasn't been that long (one year) since Allen did everything in house. LaSonjia Jack, Myles Jack and team President Jonny Mydra will have lots of decisions to make and implement before Zawyer departs. I assume that will take months not weeks.

- Zawyer consults with Allen on business operations and hockey operations and the two won't necessarily be on the same time line when it comes to Allen taking sole control. Allen's head coach and general manager B.J. Adams and assistant coach Brett Ferguson have a ton of hockey experience but neither have coached in the ECHL. I could see the Jacks asking for help on the hockey operations side for a longer period of time than on the business operations side. 

 

    

ROSTER UPDATE

- I have been told there will be a player announcement today but it will come later this afternoon. The Americans did add a forward to the roster since the last update. Riley Ginnell is a 21 year old, left shot forward who is 6'4" and 205 pounds. He joins a long list of players Allen has signed over the years from the Western Hockey League (WHL). His grandfather (Pat Ginnell) is a coaching legend in the WHL and his dad and brother both played in the WHL. His uncle (Dan Ginnell) has been a scout for the St. Louis Blues for 20 years.

Riley was a rookie last season and played for the Rapid City Rush. In 45 games he had seven points (3G, 4A) and 25 penalty minutes. Riley joins James Hardie and Mark Duarte on Allen's roster of players that played in Rapid City last season.  

Here is an interesting fact about Riley Ginnell. Even though he played for three different WHL teams in his last year of junior hockey in 2022-23 he ended up with the Regina Pats where he played in 36 games. One of his teammates in Regina was Conner Bedard who was also playing his last season as a junior. FYI, Bedard played in 68 games that season and had 143 points (71G, 72A). Here is what Ginnell had to say about playing with Bedard, "It has been a thrill playing with the superstar, he is selling out buildings on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I was fortunate to be on his line here and there. I just give him the puck and head to the net. You just know when he has the puck he is going to do something special." 

Here is a video of Grinnell from 2023 as he wrapped up his junior career in Regina:

 

 Here is a highlight video of Grinnell from his junior days:

 

 - Here is Allen's updated roster with each skater's average points per game and plus/minus for the team or teams they played for last season:

Goalies

• Marco Costantini
   

Defensemen

• Nolan Orzeck:  .47 PPG, +6
• Justin Allen: .26 PPG, -2
• Ty Farmer: .21 PPG, +9
• Mike Van Unen: PPG .18, -4
  
• Ryan Gagnon: .17 PPG, +5
  

Forwards

• Brayden Watts: .94 PPG, -34
  
• Easton Brodzinski: .63 PPG, +/-0
• Chaz Smedsrud: .63 PPG, -7
• James Hardie: .58 PPG,  -13
• Mark Duarte: .47 PPG, -2
• Spencer Asuchak: .33 PPG -28
• Rylan Van Unen: .30 PPG, -5
• Brayden Guy: .26 PPG, -9
• Riley Ginnell: .16 PPG -10
  
• Liam Gorman: .14 PPG, +2

 

- With just over two weeks to go before the start of training camp Allen needs to sign some more players unless Utah plans to send a bunch of players. All but two players announced thus far (Asuchak & Watts) have two or fewer years of ECHL experience. Allen is one of four ECHL teams with an average age under 25. Adding an experienced left shot defenseman has to be at the top of the list for coach Adams.  

OTHER COMMENTS

- I have seen several comments about the change of venue for Allen's lone preseason game against Tulsa on October 11. My understanding is the game was changed from the Allen Community rink to NYTEX Sports Center in North Richland Hills because of a scheduling conflict out of Allen's control. If you have never been to NYTEX it is a great place to watch a hockey game. My favorite spot is the second level which is at one end of the rink. From the first row of that level you are literally right above the goalie. With the Americans not opening at home until October 25th, taking in the preseason game will scratch that hockey itch and get you familiar with the 2024-25 roster. I will be giving away four free tickets to the preseason game. All you have to do is send me an email (janssenfamily@msn.com) with your name and phone number. If you are only interested in two tickets let me know that as well. Deadline for the drawing will be October 1st. 

- I noticed last week Rapid City told its season ticket holders if they purchase an annual hockey subscription from FloSports before October 15th they will receive a 20% rebate. I checked with the Allen Americans and they have already sent out an email to all season ticket holders providing the details on how they can get the 20% rebate. If you are a season ticket holder and didn't get the email contact your ticket rep or call the office (972-912-1000) for details.

 

- I stopped by the rink on Monday and you can feel the pace quickening as training camp approaches. There were a bunch of guys skating on the community rink. They consisted of Allen players that live locally, players from past seasons, players who live in the area but play elsewhere and a few random guys.

There is a lot of activity in the locker room as trainer Jordan Dutton gets prepared for training camp. His trainer's room is full of boxes of supplies he has ordered that came in recently. Jordan also has a new piece of equipment to get used to thanks to team owner Myles Jack. It is called a "chilly goat cold tub" and is a spa that automatically regulates its own temperature in a cold setting. It is what a lot of NHL and NFL teams use. No more throwing ice into a tub of water for Jordan. 

Equipment manager Matt Miletich has been working for weeks preparing for the upcoming season. So many details have to be worked out before players arrive for training camp. If you want to know more about the varied duties of an equipment manager and how important they are to team success, check out this story from the way back machine in 2013. http://allenamericansblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/meet-kacee-coberly-equipment-manager.html

Another activity that is taking place this week is setting up the apartments where the team will be staying this season. Ownership bought new furniture so all of the old hand me downs from the past are gone. It is going to me a nice set up for the players with nice apartments, nice furniture and close proximity to the rink. 

 

- ECHL rosters aren't even completely determined yet but it it starting to look like the Mountain Division could be very similar in 2024-25 to 2023-24. As a reminder, last season Kansas City and Idaho were head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in the division with points percentages of .792 (KC) and .694 (IDH). The other five teams in the division all finished with point percentages below .500 ranging from .444 to .486. This season you could see a repeat, with Kansas City and Idaho at the top and the other six teams (Tahoe added) fighting for two playoff spots.  

DID YOU KNOW: Despite having a points percentage below .500 last season (.486) the Allen Americans were one of the best teams in the league in one goals games. Here is the ECHL Stats post from today:

Playing well in one goal games is one key to success. Here are the ECHL teams with the fewest regulation losses in one goal games in 2023-24:

 

25-3-4-1: Greenville

19-3-7-4: Adirondack

16-3-4-2: Kansas City

13-4-5-3: Worcester*

16-5-3-1: Allen

16-5-2-2: Idaho

 

*missed playoffs

 

FYI, Kelly Cup champion Florida’s record in one goal games was 11-7-7-2.

 

Meet Allen Americans Assistant Coach Brett Ferguson

Brett Ferguson

I had a chance to sit down with Allen's recently selected assistant coach, Brett Ferguson, last week and have swapped messages with him several times while putting together this story. He is a very busy guy between moving his family from California to Texas and jumping into recruiting and planning for the upcoming hockey season. When I texted him yesterday he was at the airport as he and  head coach B.J. Adams were headed to Salt Lake City to attend Utah's rookie camp. A great opportunity for the coaches to see the young players in the Utah/Tuscon organizations and network with the Utah and Tuscon coaches and scouts. FYI, Allen forward James Hardie is attending the Utah rookie camp and forward Mark Duarte is attending rookie/prospect camp with Ottawa.
 

Brett Ferguson's path to the Allen Americans assistant coach is a long and interesting one. When you grow up in a hockey family like the Ferguson family you are almost predestined for a career in hockey. Brett's grandfather, Lorne Ferguson, had an eight year NHL career in the 1950's and played for three of the six original teams (Boston, Detroit, Chicago). His dad, Bob Ferguson, has spent his entire working life in hockey. He was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1974. After bouncing around the minor leagues for a few years, Bob Ferguson switched from player to coach. At the age of 27 he was offered a head coaching position in the USHL. He spent his first 14 years as a head coach in the USHL splitting time in Sioux City and Des Moines Iowa. He won five championships and was selected as the USHL Coach of the Year five times. In 1995 he moved on to professional hockey which included head coaching positions for two ECHL teams (Augusta and Florida). He was the back to back ECHL Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000 with the Florida Everblades. In 2011-12 Ferguson moved from coaching to a front office job as an assistant general and then general manager in the Anaheim Ducks organization. He has been with the San Diego Gulls since 2015-16.

 

- Brett was born in Sioux City, Iowa and spent his early years in West Des Moines, Iowa. Being the son of a hockey coach he spent a lot of time in hockey rinks growing up, but baseball was also a favorite sport. There were many stops along the way as his dad switched jobs. While Brett has never worked in the ECHL he knows about life in the ECHL because he used to go on road trips with his dad when he was coaching in the ECHL.

 

- Brett won three Iowa state championships in high school (two in hockey and one in baseball) including being the winning pitcher in the state baseball championship game as a senior. After high school Brett played a year of junior hockey (USHL) in Des Moines before switching to baseball. A right handed pitcher, he played a year at a junior college and then played at the University of South Carolina (Aiken) where he earned his degree. After graduating he had the opportunity to go back to his USHL team in Des Moines as an assistant coach which started his career in hockey. He has spent the last 14 years in the Anaheim Ducks organization with their AHL affiliates in Syracuse (2010-2012), Norfolk (2012-2015) and San Diego (2015-2019). He was then promoted to the NHL team and has been Anaheim's video coach since the 2019-20 season. 

 

-  What makes Brett want to leave the NHL lifestyle after five years as the Anaheim Ducks video coach? It is his desire to be a bench coach. He had the opportunity to do that in San Diego for a couple of seasons when Dallas Eakins was the Gulls head coach. When Eakins was promoted to the Anaheim Ducks head coach position he brought Brett along but he returned to only doing video coaching. When his contract was up after last season he made the decision he was done being a full time video coach. He started applying for coaching jobs and when he saw Allen had an assistant coaching job vacancy and the team was operated by Zawyer Sports he called Zawyer. He didn't know Joe Ernst, but Joe knew Brett's dad from his days in the ECHL when Ernst was a referee. In his own words Brett shared, "I talked to a couple of different teams and B.J. interviewed me and we really hit it off. We share the same vision and style of play which includes being a younger, faster team that is hard to play against."

 

- What will Brett's duties include? He will work with the forwards and be responsible for the power play. He ran the power play in the AHL and is comfortable with that. He said, "We will have a younger team so development will be a focus for both B.J. and myself. It was a big part of his role as an OHL coach and it was a primary focus for me to develop young forwards in the AHL." 

 

- Brett will still be involved as a video coach and will be using the same software as he used in the NHL. It will be new for the Allen Americans. Zawyer is buying it for all of their teams. It is called Catapult and is the industry standard. Ferguson and Adams will use Catapult for development and pre-scout video in team meetings and individual player meetings. 

 

- We had an interesting discussion about the number of skaters that dress for each game increasing from 17 to 18. With this increase ECHL teams are signing more tough guys for the upcoming season. Brett's take is that the 12th forward will not contribute much offensively, but every team will have to have one of those guys that can answer the bell if needed. 

 

-With the ECHL 10 fight rule it won't be like it used to be, but it seems like most teams, especially in the Mountain Division, will have a fighting specialist on the roster. As Steve Martinson used to say, it's better to have a pack of wolves than one lion. The ECHL may have wolves and lions on the rosters this season. Major penalties have fallen dramatically since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014-15. In its first ECHL season Allen won the Kelly Cup and has 65 major penalties. Those number have fallen over time to an all-time low of 25 major penalties last season. With an extra player dressing for games this season you will likely see the long downward trend in major penalties reverse in 2024-25.               

- Brett and his wife Amanda have three young sons; Caleb (8), Aiden (5) and Reid (2). Brett and Amanda met while he was working in Syracuse (she is from Syracuse) and they have moved to Norfolk, San Diego, Anaheim (Irvine) and now Allen (Melissa). Like a lot of hockey players, Brett married "up" as he said to me, "Amanda is the athlete in the family (she played lacrosse for Cornell University) and the brains in our family."  The kids are already signed up for Allen Youth Hockey, fall baseball and yes they will play lacrosse. I found this quote from Brett that describes him as a hockey dad when his oldest son started playing hockey, "I’ve played in hundreds of games and have coached in hundreds more. State championships, national tournaments, AHL playoffs, and I have never been as nervous as I was for my four year old son’s first hockey practice."

 

- What does Brett like to do away from the rink other than all of the youth sports with the kids? "We spend our summers up in the Thousand Islands on Lake Ontario. We do a lot of stuff on the water; boat, fish and jet ski. With the kids we are big into card collecting (baseball and hockey). I golf when I can but haven't done much of that. The cheapest you could find in Southern California for a round of golf was $110 so, hopefully I can find some cheaper prices in the DFW area." (Maybe some of you golfers can hook the coaches up).

- I asked Brett about some of the favorites in his card collection figuring he has some gems given his family history. He didn't disappoint:

"We love to collect my grandfather's cards. His rookie card is in the famed 1951-52 Parkhurst set. It is the first post-war hockey set. Gordie Howe's rookie card is in the set along with other Hall of Famers. It makes my grandpa's card sought after because of the popularity and scarcity of the set. The 1954-55 Topps set, which he is featured in, is the first Topps produced hockey card set. It is also a very sought after set for hockey set builders. Then he is also in the 1957-58 and 1958-59 Topps set. He is also featured in the Beehive set which was from the Beehive Corn Syrup Company in Canada. They had a redemption program where you would receive a player photo after sending in proof of purchases. I also like to build o-pee-chee (Canadian version of Topps) baseball sets. They started producing cards in 1965 and have about 10% of the print run of Topps, so it makes a nice chase for some of the older sets."   

 

DID YOU KNOW: Brett Ferguson's dad never made it to the NHL and his hockey career was cut short because of injury. However, he played during the time when the WHA was conducting a draft and Bob Ferguson was one of the players that was drafted by both the NHL and WHA. In 1974 he was drafted by the NHL New York Islanders and the WHA Winnipeg Jets.  

Allen Weekly Update - Americans Add Two Forwards, McAuley Signs in Germany, Attendance Stats, AHL Experience and More

 

- The Allen Americans have announced their 14th and 15th players for the 2024-25 season since last week's update. Forward Brayden Guy was announced last Thursday and forward Mark Duarte was announced today. Both players were signed to AHL deals in 2023-24, but spent the majority of the time in the ECHL. Duarte played 36 games for the Rapid City Rush and 15 games for the Calgary Wranglers (AHL). Guy played seven games in Orlando, 33 in Reading and two games for the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL). Here are the press releases:

Brayden Guy: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/09/americans-add-young-skilled-forward-with-some-ahl-experience

As mentioned in the press release Brayden was captain of two OHL teams in one season. Here is a video of him talking about being named captain in Guelph right after being traded from Sarnia where is was also the captain. 

 

 

Mark Duarte: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/09/americans-add-top-six-forward-to-the-lineup 

Here is a video from a few years ago that will give you some background on Duarte.   

 

 

- Guy and Duarte are two young pros (21 & 23) coming off AHL deals that could play important roles in Allen in 2024-25. 

 

 - Here is Allen's updated roster with each skater's average points per game and plus/minus for the team or teams they played for last season:

Goalies

• Marco Costantini
   

Defensemen

• Nolan Orzeck:  .47 PPG, +6
• Justin Allen: .26 PPG, -2
• Ty Farmer: .21 PPG, +9
• Mike Van Unen: PPG .18, -4
  
• Ryan Gagnon: .17 PPG, +5
  

Forwards

• Brayden Watts: .94 PPG, -34
  
• Easton Brodzinski: .63 PPG, +/-0
• Chaz Smedsrud: .63 PPG, -7
• James Hardie: .58 PPG,  -13
• Mark Duarte: .47 PPG, -2
• Spencer Asuchak: .33 PPG -28
• Rylan Van Unen: .30 PPG, -5
• Brayden Guy: .26 PPG, -9
  
• Liam Gorman: .14 PPG, +2

- Colby McAuley has signed to play in Germany (DEL 2) for ESV Kaufbeuren. His team finished fifth in the 14 team league last season and lost in the second round of the playoffs. Colby was Allen's leading scorer last year and closes the books on top players returning to Allen. The final tally is Allen's #1, #2, #3, #4, #6 and #7 leading scorers from last season will not return for 2024-25. 

 

- Solag Bakich, the Dallas native who played 33 games with Allen last season has signed with the Tulsa Oilers. Allen plays Tulsa 12 times (7 at home) in 2024-25 so Americans fans will see plenty of him and it seems like former Allen players always do well playing against their old team.

- Here is one of the ECHL Stats posts from this week about attendance. FYI, here is Allen's attendance the last three years:

• 2023-24: 4349
• 2022-23: 3516
• 2021-22: 3220 

ECHL average attendance in 2023-24 was 4981, an increase of 352 per game over 2022-23 and the highest average attendance since 1997-98. The breakdown:

 

Over 8000: JAX, FW

7000-8000: *TOL, TUL

6000-7000: SAV, ORL, CIN, *FLA, UTA

5000-6000: IDH

4000-5000: SC, IND, WIC, MNE, ALN, *ADK, NOR, ATL, GVL

3000-4000: KAL, *KC, WOR, RC, REA

UNDER 3000: WHL,TR, IA

 

*2024 Kelly Cup final four teams

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about AHL experience. Allen now has five players with AHL experience for a total of 85 games. 64 of the of the 85 AHL games are from Spencer Asuchak.

Based on current ECHL rosters here are the teams with the most AHL experience. In parenthesis is the number of players on the roster with AHL experience:

FLA: 565 games (7)
TOL: 468 games (9)
WOR: 355 games (8)
FW: 335 games (11)
RC: 303 games (3)
KAL: 280 games (3)
SC: 185 games (5)
SAV: 181 games (3)
JAX: 178 games (7)
IDH: 164 games (9)
 

 

Allen Americans Weekly Update - Asuchak Returns, Roster Reaches 13, Style of Play, Division Championship Contenders and Fun Facts

 

- The Allen Americans announced their ninth returning player yesterday and 13th overall for the 2024-25 season. Spencer Asuchak will return to Allen for his 12th season. Asuchak has played more games for the Allen Americans than the rest of the roster combined. In his 13 year pro career he has played in 610 games (regular season & playoffs) at the AA level (CHL & ECHL), 607 of those games with Allen. In 2011-12 he played three games with the Ontario Reign (ECHL) after he completed his junior career. Asuchak has played in 64 AHL games over the years, the rest of the Allen roster has a combined five AHL games played. Spencer's AHL career is highlighted by a hat trick on December 2, 2015 playing for the Chicago Wolves. FYI, his line mate that night was another former Allen American, Jacob Doty, who assisted on two of the goals. Pretty special to have an AHL hat trick on your resume. Not many career ECHL players can say that. 

 

- In addition to winning three championships with the Americans (2014, 2015, 2016) Asuchak has been the captain of the team and is the all-time leader in many categories. While he may have lost a step after 12 years of getting pounded in front of Allen's net and working through injuries his experience is something the Americans need. Allen missed his net front presence when he left for Europe at the end of last season and he is still one of the best faceoff players in the league. Here is the press release announcing Asuchak's return. https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/09/longest-tenured-player-returns   

 

 - Here is Allen's updated roster with each skater's average points per game and plus/minus for the team or teams they played for last season:

Goalies

• Marco Costantini
   

Defensemen

• Nolan Orzeck:  .47 PPG, +6
• Justin Allen: .26 PPG, -2
• Ty Farmer: .21 PPG, +9
• Mike Van Unen: PPG .18, -4
  
• Ryan Gagnon: .17 PPG, +5
  

Forwards

• Brayden Watts: .94 PPG, -34
  
• Easton Brodzinski: .63 PPG, +/-0
• Chaz Smedsrud: .63 PPG, -7
• James Hardie: .58 PPG,  -13
  
• Rylan Van Unen: .30 PPG, -5
  
• Liam Gorman: .14 PPG, +2
• Spencer Asuchak: .33 PPG -28
  

- It is clear from the stats above the Americans will need to add more firepower to the roster through a combination of signing players and having NHL/AHL contracted players assigned by Utah/Tuscon. Here are the stats I shared last week that shows the offense Allen has lost from last season.

Defenseman 

• Kris Myllari: .67 PPG, -17
• Eric Williams: .44 PPG, -16 

Forwards

• Colton Hargrove: 1.33 PPG, -2 (2022-23 stats)
  
• Hank Crone: 1.30 PPG, -7
• Colby McAuley: .93 PPG, -18
• Blake Murray: .87 PPG, +10
• Liam Finlay: .73 PPG, -4
  
• Bennett MacArthur: .58 PPG, +3

 

- One thing to keep in mind is the style of play coach Adams could implement may be different. You could see a style of play that calls for less offense and more defense. After all Allen was ranked #26 in the ECHL last season in goals allowed (3.83 goals per game) and last in shots allowed (39.90 shots per game). If you compare that to the #1 ranked teams last season there is quite a difference. Kelly Cup champion Florida was #1 in goals allowed at 2.58 per game. South Carolina was #1 in shots allowed at 26.49 per game. 

 

- The final four teams in the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs were ranked #1, #3, #8 and #9 in goals allowed and ranked #3, #7, #8 and #11 in shots allowed. Allen still needs a high powered offense, but better team defense will be a necessity to be successful in 2024-25.  

 

- If you follow the hockey data bases you may have seen another Allen player announcement yesterday. Dakota Seaman has signed a tryout agreement (PTO) and will be attending training camp with the Americans. In the past there have been a handful of these tryout players attend training camp, but rarely do any of them make the roster. Seaman is a third year pro that has never played above the FPHL which is two leagues below the ECHL. (NHL, AHL, ECHL, SPHL, FPHL). Last season playing for the Watertown Wolves (FPHL), in 39 games he had seven points (1G, 6A) and 211 penalty minutes. According to his profile he can play both forward and defense. His 5.14 average penalty minutes per game would have ranked #2 in the entire ECHL. He is clearly coming to training camp as a tryout for the enforcer role. You don't see many players make the jump from the FPHL to the ECHL, but remember with teams getting an extra player for each game you will see 12 forwards in the lineup, so you might expect more fighters on the bench as the 12th forward in 2024-25. Here is the press release from his FPHL team about his PTO with Allen: https://www.watertownwolves.net/news/pair-of-wolves-get-the-call  

 

- I posted this on my ECHL Stats page the other day that includes my take on how the ECHL division champions from last season might fare in 2024-25. Would be interested in your thoughts.

Which 2023-24 ECHL division champion will most likely repeat in 2024-25? Here are the champions with 2023-24 points:

 

119 points - Kansas City (Mountain)

105 points - Toledo (Central)

97 points - Adirondack (North)

93 points - Greenville (South)

 

Thoughts: 

 

Mountain Division - Idaho has signed the 2023 league MVP (Hank Crone), the 2020 Goalie of the Year (Tomas Sholl) to join the 2024 Defenseman of the Year (Patrick Kudla) and will battle Kansas City for the championship.

 

Central Division - Cincinnati could go from worst to first after affiliating with Toronto who will assign a team full of NHL/AHL contracted players to the Cyclones. They should battle Toledo for the championship.

 

North Division - This division was the closest from top to bottom in the league. Adirondack traded its leading scorer, its assist leader went to Europe and its 2nd leading scorer is unsigned and expected to retire. This division is wide open.

 

South Division - Florida has added three forwards, each with over 100 AHL games played (488 total) plus a top defenseman. Look for the Everblades to be at the top of the division for the first time since 2021-22 as they try for a Kelly Cup four-peat.

 

DID YOU KNOW: Some fun facts on ECHL players announced thus far for the 2024-25 season.  Courtesy of Elite Prospects:

 

Oldest: 36, John Muse (Worcester)

Youngest: 20, Jackson Stewart (Bloomington)

Tallest: 6’9’ Joshua Karlsson (Greenville)

Shortest: 5’6” Charlie Combs (South Carolina)

Heaviest: 234 lbs. Tristan Trudel (Fort Wayne)

Lightest: 146 lbs. Griffin Loughran (Worcester)

 

 

Here are these "fun facts" for Allen's current roster. Some of these will definitely change as more players are added to the roster.

 

Oldest: 32 - Spencer Asuchak

Youngest: 22 - Marco Costantini and James Hardie

Tallest: 6'6" - Spencer Asuchak

Shortest: 5'11" - Ty Farmer, Nolan Orzeck, James Hardie, Brayden Watts

Heaviest: 231 lbs - Spencer Asuchak

Lightest: 172 lbs - Brayden Watts

 

FYI, the roster as of today averages 25.43 years old, 6'1" and 190 pounds.