Need Help With TuneIn, Mystery Solved, The Ironmen, Howes Honored

- I wanted to start today with a couple of follow ups from my post from yesterday. The first has to do with getting the Americans broadcast on TuneIn radio so you can listen on a smart phone and other devices. Yesterday afternoon I heard back from the Hot 107.3 radio station Market Manager who had this to say, "Please excuse the delay in responding. Getting back in the swing of things after the holidays and all. I think I can also speak for Tommy Daniels when I say we both share your frustration. This is a TuneIn issue and not associated with Hot 107.3 or the Allen Americans. TuneIn searches for these broadcasts and puts them on their application. Both myself and especially Tommy has sent numerous requests to TuneIn to add the Americans to the radio player. My suggestion is for you to contact TuneIn as well and hopefully after time they will add the broadcast. Tommy and myself will both continue to do so as well."
Sounds like the next step for those of us who would like to be able to listen to games on our smart phones is to contact TuneIn and let our wishes be known. Please go to the tunein.com "help center" which is at the bottom of the home page. At the bottom of the "Help Center" page it says, "Still need help? Contact Us." When you click on "Contact Us" you will be able to send an email. If just a few of us send an inquiry we might get this accomplished.

- The second followup has to do with finding the Allen fan who took a picture with Rapid City captain, Scott Wray, expressing her following of a blog that Scott's wife, Shanna, writes called "Wraysing Boys" (wraysingboys.wordpress.com). Shanna's affectionate term for Scott in her blog is Mr. Sometimes.  Mystery solved, as I received a message from Angelia Blair that she was the fan and she had forwarded the picture to Shanna Wray. Also got a nice message from Shanna thanking us for the help.

Allen Americans fan Angelia Blair with Scott Wray aka Mr. Sometimes

- I was listening to a Dallas Stars broadcast recently and they were talking about a special teams statistic that combined power play percentage and penalty kill percentage with the goal for good performance to be over 100. I decided to look at the CHL teams and how they fare in this special teams stat. Here are the current CHL standings with the combined power play & penalty kill percentage.
1. Rapid City:  92.65
2. Missouri:     104.67
3. Allen            103.31
4. Denver         105.45
5. Quad City    95.46
6. Brampton     106.12
7. Tulsa            93.38
8. Wichita        100.80
9. Arizona        98.34
10. St. Charles  97.93
Hard to draw many conclusions from this statistic with the top team in the league having the lowest combined score. Maybe it points out what many have said, that Rapid City is the best team in the league by far when operating at even strength. 

- As we approach the half way point of the season (Saturday night will be half way) there are only six players that have played in every game (Asuchak, Berube, Kerbashian, Lavoie, Tyler Ludwig, & Tetrault). There is great value with the way the rosters are in the CHL to have the guys that never miss a game and play thorough the bumps and bruises. Here are the players that never missed a game by season. The "Ironmen" of the  Allen Americans.
2009-2010: Bruce Graham & Christain Gaudet
2010-2011: Colton Yellow Horn & David Strathman
2011-2012: Jason Deitsch
2012-2013: Jason Deitsch & Jamie Schaafsma

- Here is what the CHL had to say about the Americans in their "Shots From The Point" press release:
Americans Keep Rolling- The Allen Americans (19-10-2) are the hottest team in the CHL with wins in five straight games including back-to-back triumphs this past weekend over the league’s top team, the Rapid City Rush.  The wins for Allen ended the Rush’s CHL record 12-game road winning streak.  After a 7-0-1 start to the season, the Americans struggled to the tune of a 5-8-1 mark between Nov. 3 and Dec. 13.  However, since Mid-December the defending champs have been nearly unbeatable winning seven of their last nine games.  Defenseman Tyler Ludwig has picked up his game with six goals over his last four contests and Kale Kerbashian has two goals and three assists over his last four games.  In goal, Bryan Pitton has been hot winning six of his last seven starts while not allowing a team to score more than three goals over that stretch.  Allen will look for their sixth straight win on Friday night when they host Denver (16-9-6). 

- Scott Howes was named CHL player of the week this past week and got a nice write up in his hometown (Brampton Guardian) newspaper as well. Here is part of the newspaper article which was titled "Scott Shows Howes to Do It"  and interestingly used an Allen Americans head shot of Scott.

Brampton Guardian

BRAMPTON- When coach Mark DeSantis of the Brampton Beast signed Scott Howes he was hoping the Central Hockey League veteran would give his team some scoring punch.

And has he ever. On Saturday Howes led the Beast to its second consecutive road win at the Missouri Mavericks. He had a team record of four goals and a total of five points in the Beast’s 7-4 victory before an announced attendance of 4,944. The seven goals are also the most the Beast have scored in its inaugural season.

Howes, who had 35 points, including 21 goals in just 22 games with the Allen Americans last season, has already got eight goals and six assists in seven games since joining the Beast. The back-to-back road victories against the second-place Mavericks allowed the Beast to move up to a sixth-place tie with the Tulsa Oilers, each team has 34 points but Brampton has three games in hand.

- Don't normally make predictions but the CHL rookie scoring race is now Alex Lavoie and everyone else. 

- Will stop by practice today and see what is happening.



DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans won the Governor's Cup (most regular season points) last year with 87 points which was the first time the Governor's Cup had been won by a team scoring fewer than 90 points.

Team Statistical Leaders & Rankings, Weekend Matchups & More

- Today starts the routine that has happened a lot recently with games only on the weekend and then practice all week. There will probably be some guys take a day or two off from practice to heal and treat sore ankles, knees, shoulders and other miscellaneous ailments but they should be ready to go for the weekend against Denver. Jarret Lukin, who was skating at practice last week, may be back in the line up this weekend as well. Lukin has been out of the line up since hurting himself in Arizona the end of November.

- Americans Top Three Statistical Leaders In Each Category:

Goals: Lavoie (15), Bootland & Lessard (13)
Assists: Lavoie (28), Kerbashian (17), Asuchak, Bootland & Trevor Ludwig (13)
Points: Lavoie (43), Kerbashian (29), Bootland (25)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Ludwig (+6), Schaafsma, Berube & Hendrikx (+5)
Penalty Minutes: Klotz (100), Bootland (88), Tetrault (56)
Power Play Goals: Lavoie & Tyler Ludwig (5), Kerbashian & Lessard (4)
Power Play Assists: Lavoie (11), Kerbashian (8), Trevor Ludwig (6)
Short Handed Goals: Asuchak (2), Lavoie, Fox, Trevor Ludwig & Lukin (1)
Game Winning Goals: Kerbashian (4), Lavoie (3), Bootland, Lessard, Tyler Ludwig & Tetrault (2)
Shots On Goal: Lessard (99), Lavoie (94), Bootland (87)
Shooting Percentage: Fox (19.6%), Lavoie (16%), Bootland (14.9%)
Goals Against Average: Pitton (2.58), Guggenberger (3.46)
Save Percentage: Pitton (.918), Guggenberger (.890)


- Team Rankings in the CHL:

Points: #3 (40)
Win Percentage: #4 (.645)
Goals For: #2 (111)
Goals Against: #5 (97)
Penalty Minutes: #3 (732)
Power Play: #4 (18.02%)
Penalty Kill: #2 (85.29%)
Short Handed Goals: #1 (6)

- Each week I provide input to the Minor League Hockey Report's Power Ranking and one of the stats considered is weekly record. Here are the current CHL standings with this past week's record in parentheses: 
1. Rapid City (1-2)
2. Missouri (1-2)
3. Allen (3-0)
4. Denver (3-0)
5. Quad City (2-1)
6. Brampton (2-1)
7. Tulsa (0-3)
8. Wichita (0-3)
9. Arizona (2-1)
10. St. Charles (1-2)

- This weekend will see a couple of great match ups as #1 Rapid City and #2 Missouri play twice in Missouri while #3 Allen and #4 Denver face off twice in Allen.

- If you look at the number of goals scored by the Allen Americans in each of their first four seasons the numbers are very close with the exceptions of 2010-2011 when Allen had its best offensive ever with three 30 goals scorers. Coach Martinson has said many times, "we are scoring enough goals, we just need to lower the number of goals scored against us." If the Americans continue to score at the same pace for the rest of the year they will finish with the second most goals in team history. Here is the comparison:
2009-2010: 210
2010-2011: 271
2011-2012: 212
2012-2013: 210
2013-2014: 236 (based on current pace)

- I have talked about Shanna Wray, wife of Rapid City captain Scott Wray, several times since I found her blog a few years ago. She has written a lot about hockey and being a hockey wife and I find her writing to be from a perspective of someone on the inside but with a great sense of humor. While she continues to write about hockey the emphasis on her blog in the recent past has been on her role as a parent. Her web site is at wraysingboys.com. Since I first came across her blog she has referred to her husband as "Mr. Sometimes" and over the weekend one of the Allen fans took a picture with Scott Wray with a sign that said something like "Good luck Mr. Sometimes." If you are that fan or know who it is please let me know as Shanna would like to get a copy of that picture. Thanks.

- I get asked periodically why you can't listen to the Allen Americans on TuneIn Radio like was possible last year. It was a great application that allowed you to listen to the live stream broadcast on a smart phone. I have asked several times about when this will be available and can't get a specific answer though I am told it is being worked on. I sent an email to the Market Manager for 107.3, who is the radio sponsor this year, and did not receive a reply. Too bad we are half way through the season and this can't be resolved. You would think both the Americans and the radio station would want to get these additional smart phone listeners. Come On, Man!


DID YOU KNOW: The 97 points scored by Allen in 2010-2011 was the second highest point total in the CHL in the last 11 years. The Americans won the Governor's Cup (most points in regular season) by 13 points.

Martinson Post Game Comments, Ludwig Update, CHL Attendance Down, Stats & More

The old sports adage says in order to be the best you have to beat the best. The Allen Americans took a step in the right direction this weekend handing Rapid City their first two road losses of the season. Last night it was a 4-3 victory before a crowd of 4352 at the Allen Event Center. Goals by Alex Lavoie, Phil Fox, Tyler Ludwig and the game winner by Kale Kerbashian led the way. The Americans two wins over the Rush combined with two losses by Missouri at the hands of the Brampton Beast has tightened up the CHL standings. Allen is now just four points behind Rapid City who has two games in hand and only one point behind Missouri who has one game in hand.  The Americans have a few days to heal what appeared to be some pretty banged up bodies before taking on the Denver Cutthroats next Friday & Saturday.

MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

Coach Martinson is pleased with five game win streak - photo by SceneByKimberly

- To sum up that game, we had a really good first period, a really bad second period, and a nice strong third period. Getting 20 shots in the first period was a great start and their goalie I thought played well. They replaced their goalie in the second period and we got a power play right away to try and go up 4-1. Rather than trying what has been working for us with one timers from Tyler Ludwig when we were 5 on 3 we tried to force the puck in the middle, it gets turned over and Rapid ends up with a penalty shot. Once they killed off that 5 on 3 Rapid City got a ton of momentum.

- Rapid is the best team we have played all year down low. They give our defense fits on their cycling. They have great foot speed and are tough to beat. You have to be on your "A" game to beat them so getting two victories this weekend was very satisfying.

- Some different guys have stepped up to help us win two games this weekend. And I am not done as my daughter has a game in the morning at 7:30 and my son has a game at 9:20.

- We won't know for sure about Trevor Ludwig until he is seen by a specialist and has surgery to repair the tendons. I looked it up and recovery time could be several months to six months as it depends on the situation. There is a chance he could be back for the playoffs but we won't know until he sees the specialist.  They had to stitch him up because the cut was so bad but they will have to open it back up and do surgery to repair the inside.

- We are trying to play smarter and take fewer penalties and we are doing better. The check by Hendrikx for which he was penalized was a beautiful hit. With seven minutes to go I was saying no big hits because you don't know how the referee will call them. It was a shoulder right to the chest and you know it is a questionable call when they called it roughing.

- On any power play you can't control what the other team does. What we have to do is read and react. If they collapse we need to get pucks to the point and get guys in front of the net. That is what has been working and we need to continue to do that. Saucer passes into the middle won't work because Rapid collapses. When you try and force the play rather than read and react you end up with turnovers and in the case tonight a penalty shot.

- I watch a lot of NHL games and when you see what they try to do on 5 on 3 you would think they had not worked on it. I say to myself the NHL coach has to deal with the same issues I have to deal with. That is why you practice over and over again so players make the right decision in the game.

- I see Scott Howes had the first four goals tonight in Brampton's win over Missouri. If he keeps going like that I guarantee he will be in the AHL. I like Scott to do well, just not against us. He is a great guy on and off the ice and we really like him. Let's just hope he stays healthy.

- Rapid City did not do anything different tactically in the second period when they took control, it was all hard work and hustle.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- Going into the series with Rapid City, Allen had an advantage on special teams and that proved to be the difference in both wins. For the weekend the Allen penalty kill held the Rush scoreless in all five opportunities. The power play scored both nights and was 3-8 in the two games. With the 3-8 this weekend Allen's power play has moved to second place in the league (behind Brampton) at 85.29 %.

- Kale Kerbashian's game winning goal last night was his fourth game winning goal of the season which leads the team.

- Tyler Ludwig had 10 shots on goal, he scored a power play goal and now has goals in four straight games. He has a total of six goals in the last four games and leads all CHL defensmen with nine goals for the season.

- Alex Lavoie with a goal and an assist last night has extended his rookie points lead again. Here are the top four rookie point scorers in the CHL.
1. Alex Lavoie -        43
2. Adam Pleskach -   31
3. Thomas Frazee -    22
4. Spencer Asuchak - 19

- Mike Berube had two assists last night and now has 12 points (3 goals 9 assists). He is on pace to have the best offensive stats of his four years in Allen. Here is a comparison:
2013-2014: 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists)
2012-2013:  9 points (0 goals, 9 assists)
2011-2012: 12 points (3 goals 9 assists)
2010-2011: 16 points (0 goals, 16 assists)

- The three stars of the game were #1 Kale Kerbashian, #2 Tyler Ludwig, #3 Phil Fox.

- In looking at the CHL results for the past week the winners were Allen and Denver as they were the only 3-0 teams this week. At the other end of the spectrum were Tulsa and Wichita who both went 0-3 for the week.

- As the CHL approaches the half way point in the season attendance continues to lag from last year. Average attendance this year is 3421 which lags last year by 285 per game. Only three teams are averaging more than last year as Tulsa is up 531 per game, Quad City 296 per game and Allen 8 per game. The two biggest losers in average attendance are Denver who is down 1619 and Wichita who is down 1160. Denver's average attendance (1371) is at historical low levels for the CHL.

- For those of you that live in the Allen area you are invited to join us Tuesday (January 7th) from 6:00 - 7:00 pm in the Heritage Ranch Clubhouse for a discussion with a couple of players to get to know them better personally and professionally. It hasn't been confirmed yet so the names could change but we are hoping to have Phil Fox and Greger Hanson join us along with Greger's wife, Andrea. It should be fun and as usual there will be a drawing for free tickets/prizes.


DID YOU KNOW: In 2005-2006 the average attendance in the CHL was 4663, all 15 teams averaged over 3000, six averaged over 5000, and Oklahoma City led the league in attendance with an average of 8609.

Trevor Ludwig Out Indefinitely & Martinson Post Game Comments

The good news is the Allen Americans stopped the Rapid City Rush 12 game road win streak with a 2-1 hard earned victory before a disappointing crowd of 3422 at the Allen Event Center (AEC) last night. The bad news is they have lost Trevor Ludwig indefinitely, possibly the rest of the season, to a bad cut on his arm which severed a couple of tendons according to coach Martinson. A tough break for Trevor who epitomizes the saying, "if I didn't have bad luck I would have no luck at all." He has had three major injuries in the last three years with knee surgery (2011-2012) where he lost the last three months of the season, of course last year when he broke his jaw in the playoff finals, and this year with the arm cut. I know he has a positive attitude and always says, he will be okay as injuries are part of hockey, but it has to be difficult. Let's hope we see him back in time for playoffs!

If you remember from the comparison statistics yesterday two big keys to the game were to not let Rapid City get an early lead and take advantage of the Rush poor penalty killing. The Americans delivered on both counts as Rapid City never had a lead in the game and the Americans scored both of their goals (Tyler Ludwig & Daniel Tetrault) on the power play. If Allen can find a way to duplicate this effort tonight and get a weekend sweep they will be right back in the race for first place in the CHL.

MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

- A good start to the weekend. A lot of positives again tonight as we got a couple of power play goals and killed Rapid's three power play opportunities including that 5 on 3 at the end of the game. The one goal we did allow was four on four which has been a problem as I wish we could decline four on four hockey.

-  Trevor Ludwig is probably out for the season. He got his arm sliced pretty bad and I guess it cut a couple of tendons. It is a nasty one and it is not good. I've learned in this business what is done is done and you have to move on and figure out what you are going to do from here. Losing Trevor is a tough loss but hopefully he can get back for the playoffs. I just know it is a nasty, long recovery injury.

- Ross Rouleau is eligible to come off injured reserve so he should be able to be in the line up tomorrow. 

- The penalty against Brian McMillin that gave them the 5 on 3 I will have to look at again but that was a strange call. I will clip that and send it to the league to have them take a look at it. It is always easier to complain when you win the game.

- We are getting guys in front of the net on the power play. It was a nice one timer again on Tyler's goal. He is pretty hot (five goals in last three games) so we need to get him more shots.

- We did a great job on the 5 on 3 penalty kill.  Pitton was outstanding on that penalty kill as well as the whole night. He will be in goal again tomorrow night.

- We did a good job tonight keeping their shots to the outside and not giving up point blank shots right in front of the goalie. We kept most of their shots at a good angle.

- I told Pitton it is okay to go out of the net when the puck gets shot into our zone but stop playing the cycle. He tries to go in as the third defenseman when they are cycling the puck.

- The goalie position is not going to be our problem going forward. Pitton has been outstanding and Guggenberger was the second best goalie in the ECHL last year and was the best goalie in the CHL they year before. We have hung him out to dry many times when he has played. We need to get a little more foot speed on defense so we have asked some guys to cut a couple of pounds and see if we can get a little quicker on the back line.

- I thought tonight we needed to do a better job jumping in the holes when the defense broke up the puck. Rapid is a hard working team that doesn't give you much time so when the defense knocks down the puck or stops the play we have to jump quicker. I thought we were a little hesitant but I am reluctant to say too much until I review the tape and take a closer look.

- We were better defensively tonight and we have to be better defensively if we want to be the top team in the league. We have to cut our goals against down and we have to stay out of the penalty box. I didn't think we were as physical as we could have been but we didn't take bad penalties.

- We will continue to play McMillin against the other teams top line. I try to play Kerbashian & Bootland against the other teams most physical line and Lovoie against the other teams least experienced line if they have one. I will look at the match ups when I review the game to see if I like them.

- Lukin has been skating and practicing with the team and unless he suffers some set back should be available next weekend.

 - From our standpoint this game felt like if we were going to get back in the race we needed to to it now and against this team. We have a lot of pride, we are the champions from last year and we are not where we think we should be right now. We wanted to be the team that stopped the streak. It was a good win for us to stop their streak. They have had a fabulous start to the season.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- Jamie Schaafsma continued his hot streak with assists on both goals last night. He has scored in six of the last seven games with ten points (4 goals 6 assists).

- Tyler Ludwig has a four game scoring streak with six points (5 goals 1 assist) and is a +6 in these four games.

- Thought Bryan Pitton deserved one the the three stars last night based on his GAA of 1.00 and save percentage of .965 as he stopped 28 of 29 shots.

- It was nice for a change to gain some ground on the teams ahead of Allen in the standings. Not only did the Americans beat Rapid City, Missouri lost to Brampton.

- Have to say the attendance last night was very disappointing (3422).  The defending champion Americans are playing great hockey with a three game win streak, you have the top team in the league in town, with a 12-0-0 road record, a weekend series and plenty of time to market the game. If it wasn't for Denver who was playing in Aspen in an arena with a capacity if 450, Allen would have  had the smallest crowd in the league last night. The good news is the crowd for the game tonight will be bigger.

-It has been a tough few weeks for the Ludwig family with Trevor getting hurt last night. Younger brother (CJ) who plays college hockey for Northern Michigan University and is captain of the team, suffered a season ending knee injury the last day of November.

- St Charles beat Quad City last night 4-3 as Jim McKenzie scored the first goal for Quad City and John Snowden got the tying goal for St. Charles in the third period.


DID YOU KNOW: Cherry Picker:  A player who stays at center ice and does not help their team on defense.  They hope to pick up a break out pass with no defenders in their way.

Game Preview, Aspen Hockey, Reciprocal Agreement With ECHL

Seems like the tests keep coming for the Allen Americans and tonight will be a good opportunity to see how they stack up against the best team in the league. It is hard to believe the Rapid City Rush have not lost on the road the entire season, quite an accomplishment as their road record is 12-0-0. If there is a silver lining in looking at recent play both teams are 3-2 in their last five games and Allen has won three games in a row. Here is a look at some comparison statistics:

COMPARISONS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  Allen Americans            Rapid City        
RESULT OF LAST GAME               WIN  5-3 vs WIC            WIN  4-3 vs STC   
GAMES PLAYED                      29                         27                
RECORD                            17-10-2                    22-5-0            
POINTS                            36                         44                
HOME RECORD                       7-5-2                      10-5-0            
AWAY RECORD                       10-5-0                     12-0-0            
SHOOT OUT RECORD                  3-2                        3-0               
LAST 10 GAMES                     5-4-1                      7-3-0             
LAST 5 GAMES                      3-2-0                      3-2-0             
OCTOBER                           5-0-1                      5-0-0             
NOVEMBER                          7-6-0                      9-2-0             
DECEMBER                          5-4-1                      8-3-0                          
SCORING FIRST                     10-3-1                     15-2-0            
LEADING AFTER 1ST                 8-3-0                      13-0-0            
LEADING AFTER 2ND                 11-1-1                     14-0-0            
TIED AFTER 1ST                    5-2-1                      5-2-0             
TIED AFTER 2ND                    6-0-1                      6-3-0             
TRAILING AFTER 1ST                4-5-1                      4-3-0             
TRAILING AFTER 2ND                0-9-0                      2-2-0             
WHEN OUTSHOOTING OPPONENT         9-6-1                      14-4-0            
1 - GOAL GAMES                    7-2-2                      11-3-0            
GOALS FOR PER GAME                3.62                       3.78              
GOALS AGAINST PER GAME            3.21                       2.37              
SHOTS FOR PER GAME                34.52                      34.96             
SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME            31.41                      30.59             
POWER PLAY RECORD                 28 - 164   17.1%           22 - 129   17.1%  
PENALTY KILLING RECORD            25 - 165   84.8%           26 - 114   77.2%  
SH GOALS FOR                      6                          4                 
SH GOALS AGAINST                  6                          1                 
PIM AVERAGE                       24.34                      16.26             


SCORING BY PERIODS    1ST  2ND  3RD  OT  TOTAL  
Allen                 26   41   35   3   105    
Opponents             26   33   32   2   93     
                      
Rapid City            31   30   37   4   102    
Opponents             20   22   22   0   64     

 - A couple of things stand out when looking at the comparison stats. Don't let the Rush get the lead as they are 13-0-0 when leading after one period. Avoid a shoot out as they are 3-0 and have only had to take 10 shots to win the three shoot outs. They have made seven of the ten shots.

- If you want a great predictor of the outcome of the game look at the score after the second period as Rapid City is 14-0-0 when leading after the second period and Allen is 0-9-0 when losing after the second period. Allen better be tied or ahead after the second period.

- If Rapid City has a weakness it is on special teams as their power play is rated #6 in the league (17.1%) and their penalty kill is dead last in the league at 77.2%. It will be important for Allen to capitalize on this special teams advantage if they are going to win.

- These two teams have only met twice thus far this year and both games were in Allen (December 6 & 7). Rapid City won both games by a score of 3-2 (one was a shoot out).

- A player to keep an eye on this weekend is #7 Winston Day Chief  who has had the hot hand since spending a month on injured reserve and returning to the line up December 20. In the last six games he has twelve points (7 goals, 5 assists).

- Here is how the CHL described the Allen vs Rapid City series this weekend;
Powers Clash in Texas- The Rapid City Rush (22-5-0) remain unbeaten on the road winning all 12 of their away games so far but that streak will be put to a test this weekend when they battle the Allen Americans (17-10-2) on Friday and Saturday.  The Rush’s 12-game road win streak is a CHL record and they are coming off an impressive comeback win in St. Charles.  Winston Day Chief had a natural hat trick and has been on fire with seven goals and five assists in six games since returning from the injured reserve.  Allen has won three straight games and five of their last seven.  Tyler Ludwig has been on fire with four goals and an assist along with a +6 plus/minus rating in his last three contests.  The Rush and Americans met back in 2010 for the CHL title with Rapid City winning in six games.  Rapid City’s Scott Wray, Riley Weselowski and Gio Flamminio are the only holdovers from that Championship team and Jarret Lukin is the lone Allen player remaining from that 2010 series.
 
- The Denver Cutthroats play the Tulsa Oilers this weekend in Aspen as their arena is tied up most of the month with the National Western Stock Show. The Lewis Ice Arena in Aspen shows a capacity of 450. Maybe Denver will get a sell out for the first time this year.

- Noticed a web site in Canada devoted to good looking women found the Ice Angels and featured them on their site.  Here is what they had to say, "Allen Americans play in the CHL and have the hottest Ice Angels Ice Crew in the world. Every Single One is a smoke."

- Coach Martinson has talked many times about the risk of trading for players in the CHL because of a lack of a reciprocal agreement with the ECHL means players can move to the ECHL if they don't like the trade. Saw an interesting article where this just happened in the ECHL. Seems like both leagues would benefit from a reciprocal agreement. Here is part of the article that talks about this issue:
Despite being traded to Fort Wayne (ECHL) from Orlando (ECHL) for Mickey Lang over the weekend, forward David Rutherford says he's not coming to Fort Wayne. Rutherford said Monday afternoon he's going to sign with Arizona in the Central Hockey League. Because the ECHL and CHL do not have reciprocal agreements, the Komets are stuck with the trade for Mickey Lang. According to General Manager David Franke, the Komets were not allowed to talk to Rutherford before the trade was made.  Franke also took the blame for not including a clause in the trade agreement that nullified the deal if a player chose not to report. He said he usually does that with every trade, but has not included such a clause since the Komets joined the ECHL two years ago. He said the Komets have tried over the last two years to convince the ECHL of a need for a reciprocal agreement with the CHL but have been rebuffed. The same thing happened last year in Evansville with star center Todd Robinson when he left the team to sign with the Allen Americans.

DID YOU KNOW:  Rink, is a Scottish word meaning 'course', was used as the name of a place where curling was played. The name has been retained for the construction of ice areas for other sports and uses.

Players, Wives, Coaches Share New Year's Resolutions & A Blog Milestone

The blog today is going to be about New Year's Resolutions but ironically a milestone was reached during the Winter Classic yesterday that I wanted to mention. The blog reached 150,000 page views. I want to thank everyone from around the CHL, the United States, Canada and the rest of the world who have an interest in the Allen Americans and all of the teams in the Central Hockey League. It has been quite a journey in the last 14 months.

Speaking of the Winter Classic, what a hockey game (Maple Leafs 3, Red Wings 2) and more importantly what a day for hockey. Get 105,000 people to watch a hockey game played on the University of Michigan football field, add some snow and temps of 12 degrees, and take the game to a shoot out and you have as Red Wing coach Mike Babcock said, "For me today was a home run for hockey."  And there is an Allen Americans connection as Tyler Bozak, who scored a key third period goal and the game winning shoot out goal for Toronto is good friends with former American, Anthony Maiani. They went to college together (University of Denver) and have lived and trained together in the summer.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUITONS:

Thought I had a great idea last week to share the resolutions of some of the players, their wives, coaches and staff of the Allen Americans. After all, revelry and resolutions have been essential to ringing in the New Year since 2000 B.C. when Babylonians held semi-annual festivals around the spring and autumn equinoxes. It wasn't until 46 BC when Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar that the New Year was celebrated on January first.

Here are some other fun facts about NYE:

- The Time Square New Year's Eve Ball came about as a result of a ban on fireworks. The first ball, in 1907, was an illuminated 700-pound iron and wood ball adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs. Today the round ball designed by Waterford Crystal, weighs 11,875-pounds, is 12 feet in diameter and is bedazzled with 2,668 Waterford crystals.

- In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year's Day as a symbol of good luck for the upcoming year.

- Spain and Peru: These countries have similar traditions, in that they eat 12 grapes to bring good luck in the 12 months ahead. However, in Peru they eat a 13th grape to insure their good luck.

- Greece and Norway: Also having similar traditions, in Greece they bake a bread with a coin inside, and if the third slice has the coin, it is said that spring will be early that year. Similarly, Norwegians make rice pudding with one whole almond, and whoever’s serving holds the almond is guaranteed wealth that year.

- Tradition says that the more leafy greens a person eats, the more prosperity he or she will experience (what an incentive for staying healthy!). Tradition also says that legumes bring prosperity because beans and peas look like coins. No wonder why so many people eat black eyed peas on January 1st.

- More vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day than any other holiday.

More vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day than any other holiday throughout the year. (So does that mean thieves are having their last fling before changing their ways or are they trying for a big score to start the New Year?) - See more at: http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/2013/01/03/10-facts-about-new-years/#sthash.3T9c01Nd.dpuf

More vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day than any other holiday throughout the year. (So does that mean thieves are having their last fling before changing their ways or are they trying for a big score to start the New Year?) - See more at: http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/2013/01/03/10-facts-about-new-years/#sthash.3T9c01Nd.dpuf

- Auld Lang Syne is sung at midnight to toast in the New Year. The song was composed by Robert Burns sometimes in the 1700's. The term means "old long ago" or "the good old days."

And we always need some stats:

Percent of Americans who usually make New Year’s Resolutions	45%
Percent of Americans who infrequently make New Year’s Resolutions	17%
Percent of Americans who absolutlely never make New Year’s Resolutions	38%
Percent of people who are successful in achieving their resolution	8%
Percent who have infrequent success	49%
Percent who never succeed and fail on their resolution each year	24%
People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions

Resolution maintained through first week	75%
Past two weeks	71%
Past one month	64%
Past six months	46%

Armed with all of these facts and traditions I started my quest to gather some resolutions from players, their wives and some of the American's staff. I found out very quickly most folks do not make NYE resolutions. However, I would linger long enough that they felt obligated to give me something or said they would get back to me (nobody did). It was a fun excercise and here are a few of the responses.

Taylor Ludwig: To be more positive, to not be so angry at Tyler's schedule and hockey life.

Tyler Ludwig: To not eat so much fast food.

Daniel Tetrault: Be a better husband.

Chantal Berube: To give up junk food, especially pizza.

Andrea Hanson: I want to try and be a better vegan, avoid milk and dairy and also be more disciplined in school. (Andrea is attending law school at Wake Forest)

Greger Hanson: Be more productive with my spare time.

Jamie Schaafsma: Eat less chocolate.

Sarah Bootland: To work out more and spend more one on one time with my children and make them feel extra special.

Tommy Daniels: To not get engaged on NYE as I am 0-2 on NYE engagements. Done it twice and neither one worked out.

Steve Martinson: More cardio for me (stationary bike) and longer practices for the team. Win more games because that reduces stress so I eat less.

Richard Matvichuk: I'm like Marty, I want to ride the bike more but mine includes a motor.

Ice Angel Brooklyn: My first one is to always put the shopping cart back at the grocery store. My second one is to go out on a date.

Wendy McMillin: I want to improve my nutritional habits this year. That was a problem when we were in England.

Cassie Colvin (Trevor Hendrikx's girlfriend): I have wanted to act for years and I am going to sign up for acting classes.

Robert Fatta (Director, Ticket Operations): Do more travel other than going to hockey tournaments with my kids.

Erik Adams: Play more golf and teach Brooklyn to skate better than Jen.

Jarret Lukin: Ran into Jarrett and his girlfriend (Dara) in the elevator and asked about resolutions. This was a group effort and maybe was even Dara's resolutions for Jarrett but they both seemed to agree. Do more charity work and spend less time playing video games especially Candy Crush.

Barry Janssen: Figured I better share my own resolutions after asking everyone else. I don't normally make them but doing this story made me think about it. I'm on the band wagon for eating better this year. I have proven to myself in the past you can't out train bad eating habits. But as a reminder for when I fail and it causes stress, remember stressed spelled backwards is desserts!
Experts say if you publicly state your resolution you will more likely succeed so I am publicly stating I will finish the story I have been working on for over two months about Mike Berube.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!


DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans have never lost a NYE game. They are 5-0 and have outscored their opponents 25-6 on NYE.

Martinson & McMillin Post Game Comments, Stats & More

Was trying to come up with a catchy beginning for the blog this morning given it is the start of a new year and the Americans won last night. Thought about "it was a banner year," since Allen did raise a nice one,  thought about "one streak ends, one streak begins," since the Americans stopped Wichita's four game win streak and have their first three game win streak since the beginning of  November,  thought about a Texas Trifecta to start 2014:
Allen Americans 5-3
Texas Stars 6-5
Dallas Stars 3-2

In the end it is just one victory as Allen scored the only two goals in the third period and the final three goals of the game to win against a much improved Wichita Thunder team before 4904 fans at the Allen Event Center. The final score was 5-3 as the Americans out shot the Thunder in all three periods and 45-33 for the game. There seems to be a different energy and confidence surrounding this team. They will get to test this new found energy and confidence this weekend as they take on league leading Rapid City who won last night to extend their CHL record for consecutive wins on the road. Their road record now stands at 12-0-0.

Coach Martinson brought along Brian McMillin to the post game press conference. Here are their comments:

COACH MARTINSON:

- The theme of the game tonight was we had a lot of puck possession however, we turned the puck over a lot in the neutral zone, turned the puck over between the blue line and the top of the circles in their zone trying to make plays that weren't working. As coaches we were trying to say make a strong play and get the puck in deep.

- Wichita plays strictly a man to man defense, they don't play any zone defense, so if you beat a guy one on one you need to go to the net. A good example of this was the Kerbashian goal where he beat his man one on one and went to the net and there was nobody there because they were all man on man.

- As a coach you are trying to get the players to focus on getting the puck in deep but part of the fun of playing hockey is carrying the puck and making plays. The plays we were trying to make weren't bad plays however they weren't working. As a player it is more fun to make plays than play dump and chase hockey. It is a little frustrating as they want to make plays but I was saying bear down, bear down, dump the puck.

- We had much more puck possession than Wichita. So even though the score was close we said if we could stay out of the penalty box in the third period we will win the game. We had a good third period against Tulsa on Saturday and that was what the guys were talking about in the locker room. Stay out of the box, get the puck in deep, make sure we have a guy high, you could hear the players talking about this between themselves.

- We played really strong in the third period, great puck possession in the zone and when you have that much puck possession I am a big believer in the percentages and the percentages were in our favor.

- We have been getting a lot of shots like tonight (45) in games where we have kept our penalties down. What has kept our shots down in some games has been our penalties. You have heard it from me for two years now that you can be physical and also stay out of the penalty box. We play teams so many times in the CHL if a guy gets the better of you on one shift don't retaliate, we try to instill in the players to get the number and take care of the issue later.

- I think the guys are having fun winning again. When you have fun success breeds success. We were finding ways to lose games as even though we were getting shots we were taking bad penalties and giving up too many 5 on 3 opportunities. Hopefully we have turned the corner on that. We have a huge weekend coming up against Rapid City to prove to everyone that we want to be the top team in the league at some point.

BRIAN MCMILLLIN:

- It is good to be back in Texas and get a couple of wins.

- For me to be effective and get the ice time, doing well on face offs is important especially late in the game in our zone. It is something you have to work on and you hope you are the guy they want to put out there at the end of the game.

- I have played all forward positions in my career and you have to be comfortable in playing any position. When I play right wing I can be a little more offensive because you are starting ahead a little bit and don't have as much responsibility in the defensive zone. Playing center is something I have always done so it really doesn't matter where I play. Tonight I played with Fox and Asuchak and we played mostly against the Booras line and we not only shut them down we managed to score a goal so that was good.

- On the penalty kill it depends on the situation in the game. Sometimes only two groups kill the penalty if it is an important kill or late in the game but other times three groups will kill the penalty. Brian shared with Tommy Daniels in an interview recently that he learned early in his collegiate hockey career that if he wanted ice time he would have to be a good penalty killer. His first shift ever in college was a five on three penalty kill.

- Having to play on the big ice in Europe there is a lot more puck possession and skating. My style of play has always been more of a get the puck in, grind it out and get to the net. It is harder to play that style of hockey in the league I was in because of the size of the ice and also guys don't like to play that type of hockey. It forced me to skate more with the puck and that should help me now that I am back in the CHL.


OTHER COMMENTS:

- The three stars of the game were #1 Kale Kerbashian (1 goal, 2 assists, +2),  #2 Phil Fox (2 goals, 1 assist, +3), #3 Greger Hanson (2 assist, +2).

Kerbashian was games #1 star and is now 2nd in scoring for the Americans - SceneByKimberly.com

- Phil Fox has become the king of the empty net goals. The team has five on the year and he has three of them. (Tyler Ludwig & Jonathan Lessard have the others).

- The power play continues to struggle going 0-4 last night. The Americans have one power play goal in the last five games going 1-30 (3.33%). After leading the league early in the season with a power play percentage over 25% Allen has dropped to #5 and is now at 17.07%.

- The penalty kill was excellent last night holding the top power play unit in the CHL scoreless in three attempts. The Allen penalty kill is ranked #3 in the league at 84.85%.

- Alex Lavoie (40 points) has stretched his rookie point lead over Tulsa's Adam Pleskach (30 points) to ten points. Pleskach has not scored in his last five games.

- With Allen, Rapid City, and Missouri all winning last night the points race at the top of the CHL has not changed. Rapid leads with 44 points followed by Missouri with 41 points and Allen with 36 points. A sweep of Rapid City this weekend is a tall order but it would put Allen right back in the conversation for top team in the league.


DID YOU KNOW: On New Year's Eve in 2010 at the Allen Event Center the Americans defeated Tulsa 10-1 and set records for most goals scored and largest margin of victory. The franchise record for most points in a game was set by two players as both Dave Bonk (3 goals 3 assists) and Judd Blackwater (1 goal 5 assists)  both had six points in the game.