Allen Americans | |
---|---|
City | Allen, Texas |
League | ECHL |
Conference | Western |
Division | Mountain |
Founded | 2009 (in the CHL) |
Home arena | Credit Union of Texas Event Center |
Colors | Red, white, navy |
Owner(s) | Myles Jack LaSonjia Jack |
General manager | Chad Costello |
Head coach | Chad Costello |
Captain | Colton Hargrove |
Media | CW33 Dallas (Television) +, Allen American-Star (Print) |
Affiliates | Ottawa Senators (NHL) Belleville Senators (AHL) |
Website | allenamericans |
Franchise history | |
2009–present | Allen Americans |
Championships | |
Regular season titles | 2 (2010–11, 2012–13) |
Division titles | 3 (2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15) |
Conference titles | 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) |
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. The team is led by President Jonny Mydra and Head Coach/General Manager Chad Costello. [1] Currently, the Americans are affiliated with the National Hockey League Ottawa Senators and the American Hockey League Belleville Senators. [2]
On April 15, 2009, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team for Allen, to begin play in the 2009–10 season. [3] 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. [3] Through this affiliation, they also affiliated with the Austin-based AHL Texas Stars.[ citation needed ]
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. [4]
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. [5] 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 5,808 people. [6]
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 three straight games, losing the series 4–2.[ citation needed ]
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.[ citation needed ]
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. [7] [8]
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. [9] Richard Matvichuk was then announced as the assistant general manager and defensive coach. [10] A month later, the Americans announced Steve Martinson as their new head coach. [11]
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. [12]
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. [13] 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. [14]
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. [15] [16] On October 14, 2014, the Americans announced their affiliation with the San Jose Sharks and Worcester Sharks (and later the San Jose Barracuda). [17]
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. [18] 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. [19] [20] 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. [19]
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. [21] The Americans went on to defeat number one seed Missouri by 4-games-to-2, [22] and retain the Western Conference championship, defeating the number two seed Fort Wayne Komets by 4-games-to-1, [23] 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. [24]
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. [25] [26] 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, [27] 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. [28] 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. [29]
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. [30]
The 2022–23 ECHL season was the first for head coach for Chad Costello and President Jonny Mydra. On August 24, 2022, the Americans announced they had reached a deal to become the new ECHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators of the NHL and their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. [2] Later that offseason, they announced the first major television deal in franchise history, agreeing to terms with Dallas TV station CW33. [31] With a reach of over 2.5 million households, it became one of the largest television deals in minor league sports. [32]
The Americans finished the 2022–23 season second in the Mountain Division, defeating the Kansas City Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. [33] Rookie Hank Crone won the ECHL Regular Season MVP, [34] and the team set their franchise record for season ticket sales.
On October 4, 2023, it was announced that the team was sold to Myles Jack and his mother LaSonjia Jack, becoming the first ever African-American majority owners in ECHL history. [35]
At the opening weekend of the 2010 season, the Americans introduced their mascot, Biscuit the American Bulldog, who wears the jersey number "K9". Biscuit has remained the Americans mascot ever since.
The Americans are also known for their dance team, the "Allen American Ice Angels". Founded the same year as the team, the group performs at every home game and makes various community appearances. The group is considered a high-level feeder team for NFL and NHL dance teams.
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 | — | ||||
2021–22 | 72 | 35 | 28 | 8 | 1 | 79 | 240 | 244 | 1,000 | 3rd; Mountain Division | 2022 | L, 1–4, RC | — | — | — | ||||
2022–23 | 72 | 37 | 32 | 2 | 1 | 77 | 260 | 263 | 1,172 | 2nd; Mountain Division | 2023 | W, 4-2, KCM | L, 1–4, IDH | — | — |
The ECHL is a professional ice hockey minor league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Carolina Ice Palace, also located in North Charleston, serves as a practice facility and backup arena. Established in 1993, the team has been owned by a group of local businesses since 1995. The team was affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League from 2004 to July 2012, when the Capitals announced their affiliation with the ECHL's Reading Royals. On June 26, 2014, the Washington Capitals announced an affiliation agreement with the Stingrays for the 2014–15 season.
The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League (CHL), the original International Hockey League (IHL), and the second International Hockey League (UHL/IHL). Founded in the original IHL They have won four post-season championship titles in the original IHL in 1963, 1965, 1973, and 1993, four in the UHL/second IHL in 2003, 2008, 2009, and 2010, one in the CHL in 2012, and one in the ECHL in 2021. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Original Six teams of the NHL and the Hershey Bears of the AHL have played continuously in the same city with the same name longer than the Komets.
The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season.
The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team played in the Central Hockey League from 1992 until 2014, and then in the ECHL since the 2014–15 season. From 1992 until December 2009, the Thunder played in the Britt Brown Arena located in the northern Wichita suburb of Park City. In January 2010, the team began playing its home games at the newly built Intrust Bank Arena. The Thunder are currently the ECHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.
The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa Oilers name was shared with Tulsa's former minor-league baseball team that pre-dated the Tulsa Drillers. To reduce confusion in local news reporting, the hockey team was often called the "Ice Oilers".
The Colorado Eagles are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Loveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League.
The Cincinnati Cyclones are a professional ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team is a member of the ECHL. Originally established in 1990, the team first played their games in the Cincinnati Gardens and now play at Heritage Bank Center. The Cyclones are a minor league affiliate of the New York Rangers and the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The Arizona Sundogs were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Prescott Valley, Arizona. They played in the Central Hockey League from 2006 to 2014 with their home games at Tim's Toyota Center.
The Central Professional Hockey League was a minor professional ice hockey league that operated in the United States from 1963 to 1984. Named the Central Hockey League for the 1968–69 season and forward, it was owned and operated by the National Hockey League and served as a successor to the Eastern Professional Hockey League, which had folded after the 1962–63 season. Four of the CHL's initial franchises were, in fact, relocations of the previous year's EPHL teams, while the fifth came from the International Hockey League. Its founding president was Jack Adams, who served in the role until his death in 1968. The CHL's championship trophy was called the Adams Cup in his honor.
Darryl Bootland is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right wing who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders.
Stephen Paul Martinson is an American former professional ice hockey player and coach. He played 49 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, and Minnesota North Stars between 1987 and 1992. The rest of his playing career, which lasted from 1981 to 1996, was spent in various minor leagues. After retiring as a player he turned to coaching, and his 1,123 career professional coaching wins are the most ever for an American born ice hockey head coach.
The Rapid City Rush are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Rapid City, South Dakota, and play their home games at The Monument. The Rush are currently a minor affiliate of the Calgary Flames NHL franchise.
The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena.
The Quad City Mallards were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa that competed in the International Hockey League, Central Hockey League and ECHL. They were named after the Mallards team that played in the United Hockey League from 1995 to 2007, this Mallards franchise marked their debut in 2009 in the International Hockey League. The Mallards played their home games at TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Illinois.
The 2009–10 Dallas Stars season was the 43rd season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 5, 1967. The Stars introduce Joe Nieuwendyk as their new general manager, replacing Les Jackson and Brett Hull, who were both reassigned within the organization. On June 11, head coach Dave Tippett was fired and replaced with Marc Crawford.
The Denver Cutthroats were a minor league ice hockey team, as a member of the Central Hockey League, that began play in the 2012–13 season. They served as a farm team of the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche and the American Hockey League's Lake Erie Monsters. Based in Denver, Colorado, the Cutthroats played their home games at the Denver Coliseum. On August 20, 2014, after only two seasons in the CHL, the Cutthroats announced they would go dormant for the 2014–15 season, with hopes to gain additional investors for 2015–16.
Troy Schwab is a Canadian former professional ice hockey center, who played in the ECHL and the Central Hockey League. He is currently an assistant coach for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
The 2022–23 ECHL season was the 35th season of the ECHL. The regular season began on October 21, 2022, and ended on April 16, 2023, with the 2023 Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. 28 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces played 72 games.