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. 

   

 

Allen Americans Weekly Update - Ty Farmer Returns, Some This N' That, Schedule Change, Neck Protection Mandate, 2024-25 Expectations and More

 

Before I get started on the weekly update I wanted to thank everyone for all the dialogue in the comment section of the blog recently. As I have stated many times over the years the readers of the blog should feel free to share their opinion no matter what side of an issue they are on. I don't believe in deleting comments unless they are personal attacks. It is always best if you include the rationale and facts in your comments. There are a few factual inaccuracies in some of the recent comments I want to correct:

• Zawyer doesn't own controlling interest in the Allen Americans. The Zawyer organization owns and operates three ECHL franchises, the Jacksonville Icemen, Tahoe Knight Monsters and the Savannah Ghost Pirates. Additionally, Zawyer only operates the Allen Americans and Atlanta Gladiators. The Jack's own controlling interest in the Americans and have hired Zawyer to operate the franchise, but could end that agreement if they wanted to operate the team on their own. Obviously, being new to hockey, they have relied heavily on the Zawyer expertise.
• Zawyer is not trying to set the Americans up so they can move the franchise because they don't own the franchise. Only the Jack's could make that decision and they are unequivocally not doing that.

 

- The Allen Americans announced their eighth returning player yesterday and 12th overall for the 2024-25 season. Defenseman Ty Farmer will return to Allen for a third season. Farmer played 10 games for the Americans after finishing his collegiate career at the University of North Dakota in 2022-23. He played 48 games for Allen last season after starting the season on injured reserve and missing the first 24 games of the season. In 48 games last season, Farmer totaled 10 points (5G, 5A). It took him 39 games into his pro career in Allen to score a goal, but he then scored five goals in 13 games. Here is the Allen Americans press release announcing Farmer's return with quotes from coach Adams and Ty: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/08/americans-strengthen-blueline

 

- Here is the updated roster with each skaters 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

- 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. FYI, here are the stats for some of the players that will not return to Allen in 2024-25, as a comparison:

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

- Here are a few items I have noted since last week's update. I am sure most of you have seen these but want to include just in case:

• Preseason game moved to NYTEX and the game on October 30th against Wichita start time moved from 10:30 am to 7:10 pm: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/08/americans-announce-changes-for-the-preseason-game-and-october-30th-game
• The AHL is mandating the use of neck protection for 2024-25. I haven't seen anything official from the ECHL, but have been told neck protection is also now mandatory. Here is an article with some of the background that precipitated many leagues at all levels of hockey to mandate neck protection. The NHL, however, is not one of those leagues: https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40965318/ahl-mandating-neck-protection-starting-2024-25 
• Staff writer William Douglas of NHL.com has written a blog (The Color of Hockey) since 2012. His latest story is about Myles and LaSonjia Jack's ownership of the Allen Americans: https://www.nhl.com/news/myles-jack-owned-echl-team-utah-hockey-club-affiliate  
• Received this video from a fan with this note, "This is why scheduling Friday night home hockey games that conflict with Allen football is not a good idea. There is only one regular season Friday night conflict (Americans home opener on October 25) but the football playoffs could create several more:

 

- I was reminded today that one of the ECHL rule changes for 2024-25 is having an impact on Mountain Division rosters. Teams will be able to dress one more skater next season increasing from 17 to 18. It wasn't that long ago (2022-23) that the league increased the number of skaters from 16 to 17. I got this text from a player, "The league changing the rules to allow 12 forwards to be dressed is really opening the door for fighters to sign everywhere now. The Mountain Division is going to be crazy."

 

- The 2024-25 roster is only half complete at this point and it is impossible to know how the team will perform. I decided to take a look back at the regular season results since Allen joined the ECHL to see how they fared. Here is the regular season rank with points in parenthesis. Allen missed the playoffs just once and won two championships. It is fair to say the expectation based on past history is the 2024-25 team should make the playoffs and to call the season a success advance past the first round. It is a tall order but as B.J. Adams said at his introduction press conference, "I understand the history of this team and I am excited to take it to the next level."

• 2023-24: 18th (70 points)**
• 2022-23: 12th (77 points)**
  
• 2021-22: 9th (79 points)**
  
• 2020-21: 1st (94 points)**
  
• 2019-20: 3rd (92 points) (no playoffs)
  
• 2018-19: 26th (56 points)
  
• 2017-18: 13th (78 points)**
• 2016-17: 2nd (104 points)**
  
• *2015-16: 5th (89 points)**
• *2014-15: 2nd (106 points)**
  

*Won championship

**Playoff teams

  

DID YOU KNOW: Six ECHL teams had 90 or more points in 2023-24. Who doesn’t reach the 90 point mark in 2024-25?

 

114: KC

105: TOL

100: IDH

97: ADK

93: GVL

91: JAX

 

Seven teams had fewer than 69 points in 2023-24 and all missed the playoffs. Will any make the playoffs in 2024-25?

 

68: SAV

67: UTA

66: REA

64: RC

64: WIC

62: IA

50: ATL

 

- FYI, Norfolk was last in points in 2022-23 with 47 points and improved to 89 points in 2023-24.

 

- Cincinnati went in the opposite direction. The Cyclones had 103 points in 2022-23, but dropped to 69 points and missed the playoffs in 2023-24. With a new affiliation agreement with Toronto and the likelihood of having 10-15 NHL/AHL contracted players assigned in 2024-25, look for Cincinnati to be much improved.

 

Allen Americans Update - Roster Reaches 11 Players, Assistant Coach Brett Ferguson, Former Players, Mountain Division PIMS and More

 

We just returned from Washington DC and a long overdue visit with our only grandchild who is 20 months old. Needless to say it was a very special visit. I envy those of you that have children, grandchildren and family living close by. With that said here is an update since my last blog post.

 

- The Allen Americans roster for 2024-25 season has increased to 11 players with the announcement of forward Liam Gorman yesterday. Here is the press release: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/08/americans-sign-former-penguins-draft-pick   

- Here is the updated roster with the number of professional games (ECHL & AHL) played by each player:

Goalies

• Marco Costantini - 25 ECHL games
   

Defensemen

• Nolan Orzeck - 124 ECHL games
  
• Ryan Gagnon - 120 ECHL games
  
• Justin Allen - 48 ECHL games
  
• Mike Van Unen - 11 ECHL games
  

Forwards

• Brayden Watts - 226 ECHL games, 1 AHL game
  
• Easton Brodzinski - 107 ECHL games, 1 AHL game
  
• James Hardie - 63 ECHL games
  
• Chaz Smedsrud - 9 ECHL games
  
• Rylan Van Unen - 0 ECHL games
  
• Liam Gorman - 0 ECHL games

-  The roster is only half announced at this point, but does not have a lot of pro experience. Coach Adams will have to add some more experienced players going forward.

• Watts has played three seasons.
• Gagnon, Orzeck and Brodzinski have played two seasons.
  
• *Hardie, *Allen and Costantini have played one season.
  
• *Smedsrud, *M.Van Unen, R. Van Unen, Gorman are rookies starting their first full season.
• The oldest player on the team is Ryan Gagnon (28).
  
• The entire roster has just two AHL games played. Last season the roster had over 500 games of AHL experience.

*In addition to above the these players played a few pro games the same season they finished their college/junior careers.

-  The Allen Americans formally announced assistant coach Brett Ferguson this morning. Here is the press release: "We are pleased to announce that Brett Ferguson has joined the Americans as our new Assistant Coach. Prior to this role, Coach Ferguson was a valued member of the Anaheim Ducks organization, starting in 2015. During his tenure, he served as the Video Coach for both the Ducks and San Diego Gulls and as the Assistant Coach for the Gulls in the 2018-2019 AHL season. Please join us in welcoming Coach Ferguson to Allen."

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Tarun Fizer spent most of the 2023-24 season in Belleville, but averaged a point a game in the 10 games he played in Allen. There was an expectation and hope he would be assigned to the Americans for the playoffs, however it never happened. Fizer has signed an AHL deal for 2024-25 with the Springfield Thunderbirds which means if he gets sent to the ECHL he will join Colton Hargrove and  Kris Myllari with the Florida Everblades. 

 

- Goalie Tomas Sholl who was the ECHL Goalie of the Year playing for Idaho in 2019-20 has signed with the Steelheads for 2024-25. Sholl has been playing in Europe the last few seasons. Idaho has only announced seven players for next season, but the seven players include the ECHL 2020 Goalie on the Year (Sholl), the 2023 Rookie of the Year and MVP (Hank Crone), the 2024 Defenseman of the Year (Patrick Kudla) and the 2024 Sportsmanship Award winner (A.J. White). Idaho is the only team in the ECHL that  totaled 100+ points the last two seasons and looks poised to do it again in 2024-25.

 

- Jack Comb's younger brother, Charlie, played in Scotland last season with Dyson Stevenson and averaged a point per game. He just signed in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays. Charlie is listed as the shortest player in the ECHL at 5'6".  

 

- Kansas City took just 688 penalty minutes last season, only one other ECHL team had fewer. It is clear the Mavericks want to have more toughness this season. They have signed Daniel Amesbury who averaged 4.00 penalty minutes per game in a short stint with Fort Wayne last season. Today it was announced Kansas City has signed former Allen defenseman Josh Thrower. In 2017-18 Thrower led the Americans with 10 fighting majors. Allen led the Mountain Division in penalty minutes last season with 1211. The other teams in the division ranged from 885-688 PIMS. If Kansas City is an indicator, look for the Mountain Division to return to its history of toughness in 2024-25.

 

- When Allen and Colorado won four straight Kelly Cups from 2015-2018 the Mountain Division was the toughest in the ECHL. That is not the case anymore. Here are the number of ECHL teams in each division that had 900 or more penalty minutes in 2023-24:

• 1 of 7 - Mountain Division
• 3 of 7 - South Division
  
• 4 of 7 - Central Division
• 5 of 6 - North Division
  

 

-  I came across this old meme while I was researching something for my ECHL Stats page while visiting my young granddaughter in DC and it made me smile. Hopefully it will also make you smile:

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: In the last two seasons just five ECHL players combined for 60 or more goals. Here is their status for the 2024-25 season:

79 goals - Brandon Hawkins, (re-signed with Toledo)

66 goals - Hank Crone, Allen (signed with Idaho)

66 goals - Zack Andrusiak, Cincinnati & Fort Worth (signed in Europe - Slovakia)

63 goals - Michal Stinil, Wichita (remains unsigned)

61 goals - Alex Aleardi, Rapid City (signed with Fort Worth)

Allen Americans Weekly Update - Hardie Returns, Roster Grows to Seven, Housing Upgrade, Affiliation Thoughts, Season Ticket Prices and Big Red Flashback

 The Allen Americans announced their seventh player for the 2024-25 season yesterday. Forward James Hardie will return after finishing last season with the Americans. Hardie was acquired from Rapid City late in the season (March 24) for future considerations which turned out to be Ty Fournier. Here is the Allen Americans press release announcing Hardie's re-signing. https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/08/americans-add-scoring-depth-up-front

 

- Here is a Hardie stat you won't see anywhere else. He played in 12 regular season games and five playoff games after joining Allen and led the team in goals with six (tied with Liam Finlay). He also led the team in plus/minus in the playoffs at +3. He is a skilled forward who can put the puck in the net. If he gets top six minutes and power play time he could be a 30 goal scorer. He had 41 goals and 38 goals in his last two seasons in juniors.

 

- The Americans will have to pick up the pace in announcing players, especially new players. Six of the seven announced thus far have been returning players, with Brayden Watts the one exception. There are eight Tuesdays remaining before the start of training camp. Allen will have to start announcing more than one player per week, they need to average at least two per week going forward.

 

- Here is the current roster with stats from last season:

Goalies

• Marco Costantini - 24 games, 3.19 GAA, .913 save percentage
   

Defensemen

• Ryan Gagnon - 48 games, 8 points (0G, 8A), 52 PIMS, +5
• Justin Allen - 38 games, 10 points (2G, 8A), 16 PIMS, -2
• Nolan Orzeck - 51 games, 27 points (5G, 22A), 10 PIMS +8  (Allen games only)
  

Forwards

• Easton Brodzinski - 62 games, 39 points (22G, 17A), 91 PIMS, 0 plus/minus
• Brayden Watts - 62 games, 58 points (14G, 44A) 29 PIMS, -34 
• James Hardie - 12 games, 10 points (4G, 6A) 12 PIMS, -1 (Allen games only)

 

- How does Allen rank in the number of players announced thus far. The Americans are in the middle of the pack in the Mountain Division but rank #20 among all ECHL teams. Player announcements range from a high of 20 to a low of one. Here are the numbers for the Mountain Division according to elite prospects:

• 14 - Wichita
• 11 - Kansas City
• 9 - Tahoe
• 7 - Allen
• 7 - Utah
  
• 6 - Rapid City
• 3 - Idaho
• 3 - Tulsa

 

- Kameron Kielly was productive in the brief time he spent in Allen last season. He had four points (3G, 1A) in four regular season games and two points (1G, 1A) in his lone playoff game. Kielly just signed in Europe (EIHL) with the Dundee Stars. 

 

-  I know from first hand conversations with players and coaches, something that came up at exit interviews the last two seasons was related to housing. Some of the housing wasn't the best and furnishings were always an issue. There is good news for 2024-25 as the players will be staying in upgraded apartments on the west side of Highway 75 near Pinstack in Allen. Owners LaSonjia and Myles Jack have purchased all new furniture for the apartments. The Allen players will now have one of the best living situations in the league.

 

- I haven't heard much about Allen's new affiliation since the announcement was made last week. It is kind of a head-scratcher when you think the owner of the Arizona Coyotes, Alex Meruelo, lost his team to Utah but still owns the AHL team in Tuscon (Roadrunners). It makes you wonder how the relationship between Utah and Tuscon will work and how that might impact Allen. The rumors are Tuscon will move after the 2024-25 season and remember, Allen's affiliation agreement is just one year. The good news is Allen's affiliation agreement is with Utah and things are on the upswing with the Utah Hockey Club. Hopefully the Utah management will see to it Allen gets players assigned. The more you read about the Utah Hockey Club owner, Ryan Smith, the more optimistic you become. You just hope all of the enthusiasm has a little trickle down to the Allen Americans. If you haven't seen this article about Ryan Smith, it gives you a great insight of what he is like as an owner. https://thehockeywriters.com/ryan-smith-building-something-special-in-utah/  

 

- I had a long time Allen Americans season ticket holder contact me last week to tell me he had checked out the ticket prices for Allen's AHL affiliate, Tuscon Roadrunners, who finished second in the 10 team Pacific Division last season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. His center ice tickets in Tuscon (same location) would cost $1152. In Allen the same location costs a minimum of $1224. Both teams play 36 home games. While some might say the size of the market, Tuscon (1,000,000) and DFW (8,000,000) justifies the higher ticket price, but others disagree. The AHL is full of future and former NHL stars and plays a much higher quality of hockey. They argue ECHL ticket prices should not be higher than AHL prices. I looked up the AHL Texas Stars roster since 2019-20 and it tells the story. Here are a few examples of the players the Texas Stars season ticket holders saw the last few season.

• Jason Robertson
• Jake Oettinger
• Ben Bishop
  
• Joel Kiviranta
• Thomas Harley
• Ty Dellandrea
• Logan Stankhoven 
• Mavrik Bourque (2024 AHL MVP)

 FYI, according to the team websites, Allen's season ticket prices for full season tickets (36 games) range from $828 to $1994. Tuscon's range is $504 to $2160. What is your opinion on ticket prices in Allen vs Tuscon?

 

- You may have seen the recent story about a minor league baseball team from Sioux City, Iowa having their chartered bus catch on fire on the way to games in Chicago. The team made it off the bus safely, although several players lost their gloves when the overhead bins melted. Here is a article about the incident: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2024/08/05/787094.htm

 

- When I heard about the baseball team's bus fire it reminded me of a similar, though much less serious fire, the Allen Americans encountered in 2012.  

 

- For those of you that have followed the Allen Americans for a long time you will remember the early years when the team owned its own bus, affectionately called "Big Red" which was loved despite all of its warts. Here is a little background from a blog post in 2017 when Jack Gulati bought the Americans.

If you attended the press conference last February when Jack Gulati was announced as the new owner of the Allen Americans you may recall the loudest cheer of the entire event was when Jack informed everyone that Big Red was not part of the deal. The Americans owned the team bus which was bought used out of Nashville when the franchise started in 2009. The bus is 22 years old and I was told by long time bus driver Scott Alexander, who passed away in 2014, that Big Red had close to 2,000,000 miles on it.

Big Red

- As much as Big Red was the subject of ridicule the fact of the matter was the players and coaches really liked the set up on the bus. The problem was Big Red became more and more unreliable as the years went by, with mechanical breakdowns ranging from engine issues to brake problems to no air conditioning. There were water leaks and gas fumes at times.

- You could write a book about Big Red with its breakdowns, getting stuck in the Rocky Mountains, trips to Canada and driving all over the USA in search of the Kelly Cup. Because the team owned the bus they never flew, even on long trips. 

 

- One Big Red incident was captured on video in 2012, thanks to Jarret Lukin who was the American's first captain and is fourth on the all-time games played list (238).  Whether you have seen this video many times or watching it for the first time it shows the humor it what could have been a serious situation.

  

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The number of hat tricks and shutouts in the ECHL each season is surprisingly close. Not sure why but here are the stats the last three seasons. The numbers for the Allen Americans are in parenthesis:

2023-24

82 - Hat tricks (3)

89 - Shutouts (1)

 

2022-23

81 - Hat tricks (8)

85 - Shutouts (1)

 

2021-22

102 - Hat tricks (6)

98 - Shutouts (1)