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2006-2008 Junior Hockey Camrose
Kodiaks
2008- 2011 NCAA Hockey at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue
2011-2016 Professional Hockey Player NHL, AHL, ECHL
2013 Team Canada Spengler Cup
Numerous All-Star and Best Goalie Awards
Allen York was born in Wetaskiwin and as a youngster he played in the
Wetaskiwin Minor Hockey Program. He played Midget AAA with the
Leduc Oil Kings and then Junior A Hockey with the Camrose Kodiaks. His
college years were spent playing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Allen was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey
League and he played professional hockey for six years in the NHL, the
American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. He also played
for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup. During his hockey career, Allen
won championships, played in National Championships, was awarded
All-Star recognition and won Best Goalie Awards. Allen is being
inducted into the Wetaskiwin & County Sports Hall of Fame for his
achievements as a hockey goalie.
Allen started skating when
he was two years old and he began playing organized hockey in the
Wetaskiwin Minor Hockey Program when he was six years old. At the Atom
level the players each took their turn playing goalie and Allen found he
liked the position. After his Atom team won the Atom A League
Championship, Allen took up the goalie position and continued improving
as he moved through the age groups. As a Bantam Allen’s team hosted the
Bantam “AA” provincials. When he was 16 Allen’s hockey skills had
improved so much that he was chosen to play goalie for the Midget AAA
Leduc Oil Kings.
Rookie Grabs Goal Tender Awards
In 2006-2007 as a 17 year
old, Allen tried out for the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior
Hockey League and made the team. He spent two years with the Kodiaks
and both years his team won the Doyle Cup emblematic of the Alberta vs
BC Junior Hockey Championship. Winning this title qualified the Kodiaks
for the 2007 and 2008 RBC Canadian Junior A Championships. Although the
Kodiaks didn’t win the Canadian Championship, Allen was named “Best
Goaltender in the Tournament” both years.
In his rookie year Allen
played 32 games for the Kodiaks with a 2.16 goals against average and a
.906 save percentage and won the AJHL Top Team Goaltenders award. In
2007-2008 Allen York had another very strong season and played 37 games
with a 2.24 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Allen
rotated starts with Mathieu Larochelle and the pair combined to win the
AJHL Top Team Goaltenders Award. Allen did start the majority of the
games in the playoffs and all the RBC Cup games. Allen became eligible
for the NHL draft in 2007 and was acquired in the 6th round of the 2007
draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
After Junior Hockey,
Allen attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York where
he played three seasons (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11) with the RPI
Engineers men’s ice hockey team which competed in NCAA Division I in the
Eastern College Athletic Conference. In his freshman season at RPI
Allen appeared in 16 games. He finished his first season with a 5-10-0
record, 3.02 goals against average, and .901 save percentage. In
2009-10 as a sophomore, York took over starting duties for the RPI
Engineers. In 33 games, he finished with a 14-13-4 record, 2.54 goals
against average, and .910 save percentage and was named to the All-ECAC
Second Team. In his final year Allen started 34 of 38 games for RPI.
His team finished in a three-way tie for fourth in the ECAC Hockey
League. He was 18-10-3 with 2 shutouts and had a 2.17 GAA and .924 save
percentage and was named to the All-ECAC Third Team.
 Wetaskiwin-Born
Goalie
Bound for Professional Career
Allen played 11 games with
the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets in 2011-12. He spent the rest of the
season and the 2012-13 season playing for the AHL Springfield Falcons,
the ECHL Evansville Icemen and the ECHL Chicago Express, all affiliates
of the Blue Jackets. In 2013-14 Allen signed to play with the
Evansville Icemen. After a single game stint with the AHL Charlotte
Checkers he was loaned to the AHLTexas Stars. He returned to the Icemen
and then had another one game stint with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. In
the middle of the season Allen was traded to the ECHL South Carolina
Stingrays. Allen continued his whirlwind year by later going to his
fourth AHL club and sixth team in the season on loan to the AHL Syracuse
Crunch before returning to the Stingrays.
Allen was rewarded from
his earlier tenure with the Crunch by signing as a free agent on a
one-year AHL contract with the club in 2014. After playing the first
half of the 2014-15 season, with the ECHL affiliate of the Crunch, the
Florida Everblades, York made his Crunch season debut on Feb 7, 2015.
Allen’s contract with the Crunch continued into 2015-16. In the midst
of the season, after playing with the ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits, he
opted to end his professional career on March 4, 2016.
Career Highlighed by Team Canada
Finish in 2013 Spengler Cup
One of the highlights of
Allen’s hockey career was playing for the 2013 Team Canada in the
Spengler Cup, an annual tournament held in December in Davos,
Switzerland. Allen played in three games and Team Canada lost in the
semi-finals to Geneve-Servette HC, the eventual winners of the
tournament.
In 2016-17 and 2017-18
after retiring from professional hockey, Allen played goalie with the
Daysland Northstars of the North Central Hockey League. In the 2018-19
season he played with the Innisfail Eagles of the Allan Cup Hockey
League, a Canadian Senior ice hockey league based in Alberta. Allen
continues to play with the Eagles for the current 2019-20 season. The
league is made up of two Senior AAA teams and the ACHW is one of the
two Allan Cup-Eligible ice hockey leagues currently operating in
Canada.
Goalie Coach Goes Xtreme
Because of his knowledge
and experience Allen was hired to be the goalie coach of the Camrose
Kodiaks of the AJHL for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. For the
2019-2020 season Allen has added more coaching jobs to his calendar. He
is the goalie coach for the Northern Alberta Xtreme Hockey male and
female teams that play in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League. He
also is with Above the Crease - Alberta Hockey Goaltending, a year round
goalie training company where he is coaching young aspiring goalies.
Besides those three positions, Allen was the goalie coach for the 2019
Canada West team that competed in Dawson Creek in the World U-17 Junior
A Challenge tournament between Canada West, Canada East and four
international entries.
Allen York has had an
exceptional hockey career. He excelled at the Junior and College levels
winning championships and awards. After a brief time in the NHL with
the Columbus Blue Jackets, Allen’s professional career found him playing
for a variety of teams in the ECHL and AHL, moving from city to city and
league to league. The life of a professional hockey goalie can be
challenging and Allen dealt with the travel and moves to different teams
for six years. He enjoyed his time playing professional hockey and
continues to play the game he loves and also give back to his sport. We
are pleased to induct Allen into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall
of Fame and congratulate him on his hockey achievements and career.
Read the
Presentation Speak by Gregg Zilkie
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