First Two Weeks in Review, Individual & Team Stats, Players Tribune Story & Geography of Allen's Roster

The Allen Americans are preparing for the third weekend of the season when they will play the Tulsa Oilers three times in a span of less than 48 hours. They play Friday and Saturday in Tulsa and Sunday in Allen.

Thought today would be a good time to recap the first two weekends of the season. Allen opened on the road in week one and beat Rapid City twice by scores of 8-3 and 5-3. This past weekend the Americans were at home and beat Orlando 6-2 on Saturday and then lost to the Solar Bears 4-3 in overtime on Sunday. All in all it has been a good start for Allen capturing seven of eight points in their first four games. Their 3-0-1-0 record is only good enough for third place in the Mountain Division as both Colorado and Wichita have started with 4-0 records.


- As a reminder, last season Allen started with a 3-1 record and then went 1-6 over the next seven games and the roster changes started.


- The Americans good start has included a lot of offensive firepower as they lead the ECHL in total goals (22) and also in average goals per game (5.50). Here is how they rank in some other statistical categories:

Goal differential - 1st (+10)
Average PIMS per game - 1st (32.00)
Power play - 15th (13.0%)
Penalty kill - 5th (95.8%)
Shorthanded goals - 1st (3)
Ave. goals against - 11th (3.00)
Ave shots for per game - 11th (34.50)
Ave shots against per game - 15th (32.50)
Shooting percentage - 1st (15.9%)
Save percentage - 10th (.908)


- Overall you would have to rate the start of the season very high but as coach Martinson has said there is still plenty of room for improvement. The team will have three days this week working on everything from conditioning to systems to special teams to three on three overtime strategy. 



INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS


- Below are the team leaders in various statistical categories after four games with the league rank in parentheses:

Points:
10 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel (1st)
8 -   Zach Pochiro (2nd)
7 -  Olivier Archambault (6th)

Goals:
5 - Zach Pochiro (1st)
3 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel (8th)
3 - Jonathan Lessard (8th)

Assists:
7 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel (1st)
5 - Olivier Archambault (2nd)
3 -  Eric Roy (29th)
3 -  Zach Pochiro (29th)

Plus/Minus:
+11 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel (1st)
+8 -   Zach Pochiro (2nd)
+7 -  Olivier Archambault (3rd)

Penalty Minutes:
21 - Bryan Moore (10th)
19 - Tanner Eberle (12th)
17 - Josh Thrower (17th)

Shots On Goal:
18 - Zach Pochiro (9th)
17 - David Makowski (10th)
14 - Jonathan Lessard (32nd)


If you can draw any conclusion from the individual stats it would be the need for more offense from up and down the line up. Pierro-Zabotel, Pochiro and Archambault (currently with San Jose) have 41% of the team's points and 42% of the team's assists. Throw in Lessard's three goals and these four players have 60% of the team's goals. Look for more balanced scoring against Tulsa.


OTHER COMMENTS

- I recently wrote in the blog about a website called "The Players Tribune" (theplayerstribune.com) that Allen captain Joel Chouinard told me about. The website publishes first-person stories from athletes, providing unique insight into the daily sports conversation. These stories cover a lot more than just playing the sport. Here is a recent article from retired NHL player Shawn Thornton. Thornton was a tough guy/enforcer with over 400 fights in his hockey career including 182 in the NHL. The title of this article is "The Real Fighters" but it has nothing to do with fighting on the ice. It will bring a tear to your eye and highlights how many players contribute to the community through hospital visits, school visits and participation in charitable events. Take the time to read this story if you haven't read it already: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/shawn-thornton-parkinsons/


- It is always interesting to look at the geographical makeup of the Allen Americans roster each season. If you go back to the first season (2009-10) there were 35 players that played at least one game for the Americans. Canadians were the vast majority as 26 players were from Canada with the other nine from the US. By 2014-15 the roster was 23 Canadian, 18 US and one Sweden. Here is the breakdown of the 22 players on the Allen roster this season. A geographical dispersed group for sure.

Canada - 13 Players
5 - Quebec
4 - British Columbia
2 - Saskatchewan
1 - Alberta
1 - Ontario

United States - 9 players
2 - Missouri
1 - Minnesota
1 - New York
1 - North Dakota
1 - North Carolina
1 - Michigan
1 - Pennsylvania
1 - Alaska  


DID YOU KNOW:  Some Allen players come from huge metropolitan areas like Edmonton (Jaynen Rissling), Montreal (Joel Chouinard), St. Louis (David Makowski), Las Vegas (Zach Pochiro) and Charlotte (Bryan Moore). Alex Schoenborn comes from the fourth largest city in North Dakota (Minot) but the population is only just over 40,000. When you talk small towns the prize goes to Eric Roy (Beauval, Saskatchewan). The 2016 census for Beauval, which is in northern Saskatchewan, shows a population of 640 and includes five residents over 100 years old.