- Aaron Dell stopped 26 of 28 shots to get the victory as he led his Worcester Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Providence Bruins last night. Worcester got off to a slow start this season but has been playing well lately (8-2 in last ten games) and are within two points of being in a playoff spot.
- Greger Hanson played his second game in as many nights on Saturday as the Oklahoma Barons lost to Lake Erie 2-1. After getting a goal on Friday night for the Barons, Greger did not score last night but had a good game with five shots on goal.
- Colton Yellow Horn, who holds the Allen Americans single season scoring record (2010-2011) with 88 points (33 goals 55 assists) should have a business card which says "Have Hockey Skill, Will Travel" as he has had quite the adventure in the past year. Last season he played in the Austrian League for a team that was based in Hungary and had 43 points (20 goals 23 assists) in 43 games. This season Colton started in the Asia League for a team in Japan (Nippon Paper Cranes) and had 51 points (13 goals 33 assists) in 40 games. Yellow Horn posted on social media on Friday, "Russia bound today, let's see how this goes." Good luck Yellow!
- In ECHL Central Division action last night Quad City beat Brampton 3-1 and Missouri shutout Wichita 4-0 so Allen maintains its 18 point lead in the standings. Allen has 64 points with Quad City, Wichita and Tulsa in a three way tie for second with 46 points.
- The Missouri 4-0 win over Wichita last night before a sold out crowd of 5800 included a melee with just over a minute left in the game that highlighted a goalie fight between Mavericks goalie Mike Clemente and Thunder goalie Tyler Bunz. The teams totaled 102 penalty minutes in the game with 64 minutes during the melee at 18:52 of the third period. After losing seven straight games Missouri has now won three games in a row with their next four games at home. Here are the highlights from the game. The fighting starts at the 3:55 minute mark if you don't want to watch the goals but have to say the Mavericks do an excellent job with their video highlights.
- The headline in the paper in Prescott Valley, Arizona reads "Prescott Valley apparently out of minor league hockey mix after ECHL announcement." With no mention of Arizona by either the AHL or ECHL it makes you wonder about the future of hockey after the Sundogs went dark for this season.
- With the Allen AHL affiliate (Worcester) moving to San Jose the big question is whether an ECHL team will be in Worcester. This could potentially be important to Allen retaining an affiliation with the San Jose Sharks. If there were an ECHL team in Worcester and they could not find an AHL affiliation on the East coast, San Jose may affiliate with them just because of the relationship they have had in the past. All speculation but if there is not an ECHL team in Worcester next season it makes it more likely the Allen affiliation with San Jose continues. Bill Ballou from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette wrote a story about this yesterday which seems to indicate Worcester getting an ECHL team will not happen next season. Here is part of Bill's story:
While there may be nothing on the ECHL's table regarding a team from here (Worcester) playing in that league (ECHL) any time soon, the cupboard is not necessarily bare. "We've had multiple expressions of interest," DCU Center general manager Sandy Dunn said, adding that she and ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna have been talking frequently about the city's possible entry into that league. However, that entry won't be for at least two hockey seasons, if it happens. "It is highly likely we won't have hockey in Worcester next year," Dunn said, adding that having the sport in the future is "a high priority." She declined to be specific about what possible ownership groups have expressed interest in putting a team in the ECHL. The building and city have known for months that the San Jose Sharks were hoping to relocate their AHL franchise from Worcester to the West Coast as part of a larger move west by the National Hockey League. San Jose met an early deadline to notify the city it wished to negotiate an extension to its lease with the DCU Center and at that time, Dunn said, it looked like a 50-50 proposition that the AHL would be back after this season. She told San Jose that, given the uncertain future, the building would not be able hold potential dates for the hockey team for 2015-16.
- It is way too early to know how the ECHL divisions will be realigned for next year as several more pieces of the puzzle need to be put in place but it doesn't prevent speculation. Find it interesting that some are speculating Allen may be more aligned with the ECHL teams in the southeast rather than those in the midwest. That would make for some great road trips.
- Hope everyone had the chance to see the 2013-2014 Presidents' Cup Championship banner in the concourse and take a picture before it heads to the rafters. Here is super fan, Mike Schwitzgabel posing with the banner and the championship cup.
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| Mike recording a little piece of history |
DID YOU KNOW: There is no real answer to what NHL goalie had the most fights in their career but the list has to include Patrick Roy, Ray Emery and Ron Hextall. In honor of the Clemente vs Bunz fight last night here are a few NHL goalie fight highlights from the past.
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