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| division = Mountain
| division = Mountain
| founded = 2009 (in the [[Central Hockey League|CHL]])
| founded = 2009 (in the [[Central Hockey League|CHL]])
| arena = [[Allen Event Center]]
| arena = [[]]
| colors = Red, white, navy<br />{{Color box|#c01829}} {{Color box|White}} {{Color box|#000d37}}
| colors = Red, white, navy<br />{{Color box|#c01829}} {{Color box|White}} {{Color box|#000d37}}
| owner = Allen Hockey Team, LLC.
| owner = Allen Hockey Team, LLC.

Revision as of 22:45, 21 January 2022

Allen Americans
CityAllen, Texas
LeagueECHL
ConferenceWestern
DivisionMountain
Founded2009 (in the CHL)
Home arena[[]]
ColorsRed, white, navy
     
Owner(s)Allen Hockey Team, LLC.
General managerSteve Martinson
Head coachSteve Martinson
MediaAllen American-Star
AffiliatesSeattle Kraken (NHL)
Charlotte Checkers (AHL)
Franchise history
2009–presentAllen Americans
Championships
Regular season titles2 (2010–11, 2012–13)
Division titles3 (2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15)
Conference titles5 (2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16)
Ray Miron President's Cup2 (2012–13, 2013–14)
Kelly Cups2 (2014–15, 2015–16)
Current season

The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. The team was founded in 2009 in the Central Hockey League (CHL) where they played for five seasons, winning the Ray Miron President's Cup twice. The CHL folded in 2014 and the ECHL accepted the remaining CHL teams as members for the 2014–15 season. In their first two seasons in the ECHL, Allen advanced to the Kelly Cup finals, winning the championship in both years.

History

Expansion and the CHL years

On April 15, 2009, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team for Allen, to begin play in the 2009–10 season.[1] The new team was owned by Top Shelf, LLC, a group consisting of EXCO Resources chairman Douglas H. Miller and former NHL defenseman Steve Duchesne. That same day, the team announced an affiliation with the NHL's Dallas Stars. Through this affiliation, they also affiliated with the Austin-based AHL Texas Stars.

On April 27, 2009, the ownership group unveiled the team's name, logo, and colors. On May 12, 2009, the Americans announced Dwight Mullins as their inaugural head coach, along with Bill MacDonald as assistant coach and head of hockey operations.[2]

The Fort Worth Brahmas vs. the Americans at the Allen Event Center on January 11, 2013.

As construction on the Allen Event Center would not be completed in time for the beginning of the CHL season, Allen began the season with a seven-game road streak, winning five, including their first ever game against the Arizona Sundogs 1–0, on a first period Christian Gaudet power play goal.[3] The first game on home ice was not until November 7, 2009, a 4–1 loss to the Corpus Christi IceRays in front of a sellout crowd of 5808 people.[4]

Allen advanced to the playoffs as the number two seed in the Southern Conference in their first season, defeating both the Laredo Bucks and number one seed Odessa Jackalopes in seven games. In the Ray Miron President's Cup finals, they took a 2–1 series lead over the Rapid City Rush, but lost 3 straight games, losing the series 4–2.

Allen also qualified for the playoffs in the following two seasons, winning the Bud Poile Governors’ Cup regular season title in only their second season in the league. They lost in the conference finals to eventual champions, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, in 2011, and had a disappointing first round exit to bitter rivals the Texas Brahmas in 2012.

Prior to the Americans third season, on September 1, 2011, it was announced that the Americans signed a one-year affiliation deal with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and by extension the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. This agreement officially made the Americans affiliates of the Avalanche after having a working relationship with the Monsters over the previous two years. This affiliation is no longer in place as Colorado and Lake Erie moved their affiliation to the now defunct Denver Cutthroats organization.[5][6]

On May 4, 2012, the Allen Americans announced that former Dallas Stars Mike Modano, Craig Ludwig, and Ed Belfour partnered up to become minority owners of Top Shelf, LLC. Shortly after, the Allen Americans announced that they would not retain GM and head coach Dwight Mullins, along with associate coach Bill McDonald.[7] Richard Matvichuk was then announced as the assistant general manager and defensive coach.[8] A month later, the Americans announced Steve Martinson as their new head coach.[9]

After winning their second Bud Poile Governor's Cup regular season title, the Allen Americans went on to win the Ray Miron President's Cup for the first time on May 11, 2013, in front of a sold out crowd. After falling behind 2-0 in the first two periods of game seven against the Wichita Thunder, Allen scored two third period goals to tie the game. In overtime, Todd Robinson scored the winner to give Allen their first championship win.[10]

On May 10, 2014, the Allen Americans became only the third CHL team to win back-to-back Ray Miron President's Cup championships, and the first since the Memphis RiverKings achieved the feat in 2003. Allen scored four second period goals to defeat the Denver Cutthroats 5–2, winning the finals series four games to one in front of a sold out crowd.[11] Less than a week later, the Americans were sold by the Top Shelf ownership group to Stevens Brothers Sports Management, LLC. The Stevens Brothers also owned the CHL's Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder.[12]

Move to the ECHL

On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 Central Hockey League season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League ceased operations and the Americans, along with the Brampton Beast, Quad City Mallards, Missouri Mavericks, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder, were all approved the expansion membership application into the ECHL for the 2014–15 season.[13][14] On October 14, 2014, the Americans announced their affiliation with the San Jose Sharks and Worcester Sharks (and later the San Jose Barracuda).[15]

The Americans finished its inaugural ECHL season atop the Central Division which encompassed the former CHL members, having the second-best overall regular-season performance and the best offense in the league, with 192 goals.[16] During the 2015 playoffs, they beat both the Tulsa Oilers and Rapid City Rush to reach the Western Conference Finals against the Ontario Reign. The Americans would win the first game before losing the following three games to the Reign. The Americans would come back to win the following three games in order to clinch the series. They were the fifth team in ECHL postseason history to win a series after trailing 3-games-to-1.[17][18] On June 14, 2015, the Americans defeated the South Carolina Stingrays in seven games to win their first Kelly Cup. They are the first team to advance to and win the Kelly Cup in their first ECHL season since the Idaho Steelheads accomplished the feat in 2004.[17]

Allen finished its second season in the ECHL in second place in the newly reorganized Central Division, behind the Brabham Cup champions Missouri Mavericks, earning the number four seed in the Western Conference. After trailing 3-games-to-2 in the opening series with the Idaho Steelheads, Allen forced a game seven at home, with Tristan King scoring the series-winning goal in overtime.[19] The Americans went on to defeat number one seed Missouri by 4-games-to-2,[20] and retain the Western Conference championship, defeating the number two seed Fort Wayne Komets by 4-games-to-1,[21] becoming the first team to make back-to-back trips to the ECHL finals since 1994, and the first-ever since the switch from the Riley Cup to the Kelly Cup. Allen then became the first team since the Toledo Storm in 1994 to win consecutive ECHL championships, by defeating the Wheeling Nailers 4-games-to-2, celebrating their fourth consecutive championship across two leagues on home ice on June 9, 2016.[22]

On February 23, 2017, the ECHL announced that the Americans had been sold by the Stevens brothers to Allen Hockey Team, LLC, led by Reading Royals' owner Jack Gulati.[23][24] As part of the transition, Gulati planned to rebrand the team to be more inclusive of the Dallas-Fort Worth area while keeping the Americans name and keeping the team at the Allen Events Center. The organization held a name-the-team contest from March 31 to June 30, 2017,[25] but nothing further was announced as of the end the 2017–18 season.

Following the 2018–19 season, the Americans missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.[26] In July 2019, owner Gulati also announced that the team for sale before the 2019–20 season due to health issues in his family at the time and thought it would be better for the team to have local owners instead of an absentee owner. He also stated that if the team was not sold before the start of the season, he would not sell it during the season.[27]

The Americans were again leading the division in the 2019–20 season with a 40–14–0–6 record before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Martinson was named General Manager of the Year, while defenseman Alex Breton and forward Tyler Sheehy were named to the All-ECHL First Team. The Americans were one of 14 ECHL teams to elect to play the pandemic-delayed 2020–21 season. They finished with the top seed in the Western Conference, but were eliminated by the Fort Wayne Komets in the conference finals of the 2021 Kelly Cup playoffs.

In the 2021–22 season, the Americans became the first ECHL affiliate of the NHL expansion team, the Seattle Kraken.[28]

Mascot

At the opening weekend of the 2010 season, the Americans introduced their mascot, Biscuit the American Bulldog, who wears the jersey number "K9".

Season-by-season records

Regular season Playoffs
Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA PIM Standing Year 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Finals
Central Hockey League
2009–10 64 42 17 2 3 89 210 183 1,229 2nd; Southern Conference 2010 BYE W, 4–3, LAR W, 4–3, ODE L, 2–4, RC
2010–11 66 47 16 1 2 97 271 211 1,184 1st; Berry Conference 2011 W, 3–1, TEX W, 3–2, ODE L, 1–4, BS —
2011–12 66 39 18 3 6 87 212 175 1,336 2nd; Berry Conference 2012 — L, 2–4, TEX — —
2012–13 66 39 18 4 5 87 210 176 1,571 1st; CHL 2013 — W, 4–1, DEN W, 4–3, MO W, 4–3, WIC
2013–14 66 39 22 1 4 83 249 214 1,498 3rd; CHL 2014 — W, 4–1, BRM W, 4–2, QC W, 4–1, DEN
ECHL
2014–15 72 48 14 6 4 106 292 203 1,644 1st; Central Division 2015 W, 4–1, TUL W, 4–2, RC W, 4–3. ONT W, 4–3, SC
2015–16 72 41 24 3 4 89 222 204 1,189 2nd; Central Division 2016 W, 4–3, IDH W, 4–2, MO W, 4–1, FW W, 4–2, WHL
2016–17 72 49 17 4 2 104 294 203 1,432 1st; Mountain Division 2017 W, 4–1, UTA L, 2–4, COL — —
2017–18 72 35 29 6 2 78 235 232 1,411 3rd; Mountain Division 2018 L, 3–4, IDH — — —
2018–19 72 25 41 4 2 56 208 269 1,691 7th; Mountain Division 2019 Did not qualify
2019–20 62 40 14 6 2 88 247 195 745 1st; Mountain Division 2020 Season cancelled
2020–21 72 45 23 3 1 94 236 196 996 1st; Western Conference 2021 — W, 3–0, UTA L, 1–3, FW —

Players

Current roster

Updated December 13, 2021.[29][30]
Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
26 Canada Spencer Asuchak F L 33 2017 Fort St. John, British Columbia Americans
25 United States Philip Beaulieu D R 29 2021 Duluth, Minnesota Americans
19 Canada Jared Bethune C L 27 2021 Fort Frances, Ontario Americans
29 Canada Kelly Bent C L 29 2021 Halifax, Nova Scotia Americans
15 Canada Josh Burnside D L 29 2021 Brampton, Ontario Americans
49 United States Dawson Butt RW R 24 2021 Buckley, Washington Americans
20 Canada Ben Carroll D L 29 2020 Sherwood Park, Alberta Americans
21 United States Jack Combs C L 36 2021 St. Louis, Missouri Americans
13 United States Chad Costello (C) RW R 38 2021 Johnston, Iowa Americans
35 Canada Alexis Gravel G R 24 2021 Berlin, Germany Americans
40 Canada Luke Henman C L 24 2021 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Kraken
28 Canada D-Jay Jerome C R 25 2021 Lethbridge, Alberta Americans
24 Canada Nolan Kneen D R 25 2020 Kelowna, British Columbia Americans
5 United States Jackson Leef F R 32 2021 Fort Wayne, Indiana Americans
10 Canada Jackson Leppard LW L 24 2021 North Vancouver, British Columbia Americans
9 United States Ryan Lohin C L 28 2021 Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania Checkers
4 Canada Kris Myllari D L 27 2021 Kanata, Ontario Americans
23 United States Ben Owen D R 31 2021 Allen, Texas Americans
7 Canada Eric Roy D L 30 2021 Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan Americans
3 Canada Darian Skeoch D R 27 2021 New Liskeard, Ontario Americans
11 Canada Branden Troock RW R 30 2021 Edmonton, Alberta Americans

References

  1. ^ "CHL Introduces Allen, Texas Franchise". Central Hockey League. April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  2. ^ "Americans name Dwight Mullins head coach". Our Sports Central. May 12, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  3. ^ "Boxscore". PointStreak. October 16, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  4. ^ "Boxscore". PointStreak. November 7, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
  5. ^ "Americans announce new NHL/AHL affiliation". Allen Americans. September 1, 2011. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  6. ^ "Americans still share affiliation with the Dallas stars organization". Facebook. September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  7. ^ "Americans Bring Back McDonald in Advisory Role". Allen Americans. May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  8. ^ "Americans make changes at the top". Allen Americans. May 4, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  9. ^ "Proud to be an American: Allen hires Steve Martinson as new head coach". Plano Star Courier. June 8, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  10. ^ "Americans rally from two goal deficit to win CHL title". Dallas News. May 11, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  11. ^ "Allen Americans win second CHL championship with victory over Denver". Dallas News. May 12, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  12. ^ "After two CHL championships, Allen Americans sold to new owners". Dallas News. May 14, 2014.
  13. ^ "CHL Clubs Join ECHL for 2014-15 Season". Central Hockey League. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  14. ^ "ECHL Accepts Seven Members". ECHL. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  15. ^ "Americans sign affiliation agreement with the San Jose Sharks". ECHL. 2014-10-18. Archived from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2014-10-18.
  16. ^ "Welcome to the show: Postseason underway as Americans gun for another title". starlocalmedia.com. 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  17. ^ a b "Allen claims Bruce Taylor trophy as western conference champions". ECHL. 2015-04-01. Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  18. ^ Allen, Reign o’er Ontario: Americans bound for ECHL Finals after dramatic series comeback
  19. ^ "Americans win overtime thriller". Allen Americans. April 27, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  20. ^ "Americans eliminate Missouri, advance to Western Conference Finals". Allen Americans. May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  21. ^ "Americans advance to Kelly Cup Finals with 6–4 win over Fort Wayne". Allen Americans. May 22, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  22. ^ "Celebrate good times". Allen Americans. June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  23. ^ "ECHL ANNOUNCES MEMBERSHIP TRANSACTIONS". ECHL. February 23, 2017. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  24. ^ "BREAKING: Allen Americans Sold". The Sin Bin. February 23, 2017.
  25. ^ "AMERICANS ANNOUNCE PLAN TO EXPAND ROOTS IN DFW". Allen Americans. March 31, 2017.
  26. ^ "Allen vs Tulsa Preview, Roster Update, Allen's Best Shooters, Average PIMS by Division and More". AllenAmericansBlog. March 12, 2019.
  27. ^ "Allen Americans are on the Market…Again". The Sin bin. July 19, 2019.
  28. ^ "AMERICANS ENTER AFFILIATION AGREEMENT WITH SEATTLE KRAKEN". ECHL. October 1, 2021.
  29. ^ "Allen Americans roster". Allen Americans. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  30. ^ "Elite Prospects - Allen Americans". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
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