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.