Allen Americans

Allen Americans
City:	Allen, Texas
League:	ECHL
Conference:	Western
Division:	Mountain
Founded:	2009 (in the CHL)
Home Arena:	Allen Event Center
Colors:	Red, white, navy
Owner(s):	Allen Hockey Team, LLC.
General Manager:	Steve Martinson
Head Coach:	Steve Martinson
Media:	Allen American-Star
Affiliates:	Minnesota Wild (NHL) Iowa Wild (AHL)
Franchise history
2009–present:	Allen Americans
Championships
Regular Season Titles:	2 (2010–11, 2012–13)
Division Championships:	3 (2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15)
Conference Championships:	5 (2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16)
Ray Miron President's Cup:	2 (2012–13, 2013–14)
Kelly Cups:	2 (2014–15, 2015–16)

The Allen Americans are an ice hockey team headquartered at the Allen 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.

Currently, the Americans are affiliated with the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild and the American Hockey League's Iowa Wild.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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. Richard Matvichuk was then announced as the assistant general manager and defensive coach. A month later, the Americans announced Steve Martinson as their new head coach.

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.

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. 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.

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. On October 14, 2014, the Allen Americans announced their affiliation with the San Jose Sharks and Worcester Sharks (and later the San Jose Barracuda).

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. 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 to 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. 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.

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. The Americans went on to defeat number one seed Missouri by 4-games-to-2, and retain the Western Conference championship, defeating the number two seed Fort Wayne Komets by 4-games-to-1, becoming the first team to make back-to-back trips to the ECHL finals since 1994, and the first ever since the switch from Riley Cup to 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.

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. 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, 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. 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.

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.

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	2021	N/A	W, 3–0, UTA	L, 1-3, FTW	-

Players

Current roster

Updated February 23, 2021.

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
26	Canada	Asuchak, SpencerSpencer Asuchak	3.0 F	L	29	2017	Fort St. John, British Columbia	Americans
5	United States	Beaulieu, PhilipPhilip Beaulieu	2.0 D	R	26	2020	Duluth, Minnesota	Iowa
10	Canada	Bleackley, ConnerConner Bleackley	4.0 C	R	25	2021	High River, Alberta	Americans
20	Canada	Carroll, BenBen Carroll	2.0 D	L	26	2020	Sherwood Park, Alberta	Americans
7	Canada	Doetzel, KayleKayle Doetzel	2.0 D	R	26	2019	Rosetown, Saskatchewan	Americans
44	Canada	Franklin, ZaneZane Franklin	4.0 C	R	22	2020	Marwayne, Alberta	Americans
8	Canada	Garreffa, JosephJoseph Garreffa	7.0 RW	L	22	2021	Toronto, Ontario	Barracuda
81	Czech Republic	Hrabik, KrystofKrystof Hrabik	6.0 LW	L	21	2021	Prague, Czech Republic	Barracuda
11	Canada	Kielly, KameronKameron Kielly	7.0 RW	R	24	2020	Baxter, Minnesota	Iowa
25	Canada	Kneen, NolanNolan Kneen	2.0 D	R	22	2020	Kelowna, British Columbia	Americans
27	Canada	Laberge, SamuelSamuel Laberge	6.0 LW	L	24	2020	Chateauguay, Quebec	Americans
40	United States	Lammon, JoshJosh Lammon	3.0 F	R	26	2019	Jackson, Michigan	Americans
14	United States	Lancaster, LesterLester Lancaster	2.0 D	R	26	2019	Ypsilanti, Michigan	Americans
15	United States	Mackin, CoreyCorey Mackin	3.0 F	L	26	2020	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Americans
8	Canada	Maser, JoshJosh Maser	6.0 LW	L	22	2020	Penticton, British Columbia	Iowa
17	Canada	McAuley, ColbyColby McAuley	6.0 LW	L	25	2021	Sherwood Park, Alberta	Americans
29	Canada	Mychan, JesseJesse Mychan	6.0 LW	L	29	2020	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	Iowa
80	Canada	Pasichnuk, SteennSteenn Pasichnuk	4.0 C	R	26	2020	Bonnyville, Alberta	Barracuda
34	Canada	Paterson, JakeJake Paterson	1.0 G	L	27	2019	Mississauga, Ontario	Americans
72	Canada	Reddekopp, ChazChaz Reddekopp	2.0 D	L	24	2021	West Kelowna, British Columbia	Barracuda
43	Canada	Register, MatthewMatthew Register	2.0 D	L	32	2019	Calgary, Alberta	Iowa
71	Canada	Stevenson, DysonDyson Stevenson	7.0 RW	R	28	2020	Shaunavon, Saskatchewan	Americans
74	Canada	Topping, KyleKyle Topping	4.0 C	L	21	2021	Ganges, British Columbia	Barracuda

External links

• Allen Americans' official website

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