We made it to Minnesota yesterday and will leave for North Dakota tomorrow (625 miles) for the pheasant opener on Saturday. As usual I woke up early (3:50 am) so thought I would post one last blog before a week of silence. - Allen was assigned two goalies from Tucson yesterday: Dylan Wells - the 26-year-old 6'2" goalie (catches left) was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 5th round (123rd overall) of the 2016 NHL draft. Here are his seven-year pro career stats: 1 NHL game - 3.00 GAA, .923 save percentage 60 AHL games - 3.20 GAA, .898 save percentage 85 ECHL games - 3.58 GAA, .896 s ..read more

  Tomorrow morning I leave for one of my two pheasant hunting trips (October & December) each season with my best friend and hunting buddy of over 60 years. It is a long trek driving from Allen to Minneapolis (925 miles) to meet my hunting buddy and then another 625 miles to northwest North Dakota to our hunting camp for a week of pheasant hunting. As we both approach 80, we cherish these trips even more. It will be even more special this year since my friend, Dave, has a new family/hunting dog, a black lab named Bear, who he has been training everyday to get him ready for his first h ..read more

    They are back! - After a long off season for the Allen Americans it was nice to see the team back on the ice yesterday for the first time since losing to Idaho in the playoffs on April 28. Lot's of unfamiliar faces on the ice. I have cobbled together this list of names which is a combination of players on the ice yesterday, players that didn't practice for various reasons and players at AHL training camp with Tucson. Players I know for sure are on a SPC (standard player contract) are marked with an asterisk. The league the player primarily played in last season is in ..read more

   After a hiatus since the Allen Americans ended their 2023-24 season on April 28, the team takes the ice this week for training camp to start the 2024-25 season. Here are the key dates: October 3: Players can report to training camp for registration, team meetings, and physicals. October 4: On-ice sessions begin. October 11: Preseason game against Tulsa. October 16: Season-opening rosters are due to the league office by 3 PM ET. October 24: Season opens at Tulsa. October 25: Home opener against Kansas City.   - The Americans training camp will be open to the public. Training ..read more

  It is hard to believe with all that has happened off the ice this summer I can start posting about what is happening on the ice in just one week. Have to admit I am looking forward to focusing more on the team and the season than the other issues. I had a chance to talk to with the B.J Adams and Brett Ferguson this week. Here is what I learned from them. Their recent trip to Los Angles to attend the Kings' Rookie Face-Off Tournament was very productive. Teams participating in the tournament in addition to the Kings and Utah were Colorado, Vegas, Anaheim and San Jose. Utah had 15 forwar ..read 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 ..read more

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 ..read 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/ameri ..read more

  - 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 ..read 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 Zawy ..read more