This and That Randomness - News You May or May Not be Able to Use

Some days there is not a lot to talk about and this is one of those days. Just a bunch of random thoughts and stats. Hope you can find something of interest!


- Allen defenseman Les Lancaster was loaned to the San Antonio Rampage yesterday. This is Lancaster's second loan to the AHL this season. He spent five weeks with the Iowa Wild and just returned to Allen 11 games ago. Les has played 23 games with the Americans and has 21 points (2G, 19A). His .91 points per game average is tops among Allen defensemen and fourth overall on the team.


- The Newfoundland Growlers beat Kansas City at home last night 7-1. It was the Growler's 16th straight home win which is the third longest home win streak in ECHL history. Here are the top three:

18 games - South Carolina, 12/23/94 to 3/19/95
17 games - Wheeling, 11/24/94 to 2/8/95
16 games - Newfoundland, 10/19/19 to ????


- I was recently talking to an NHL off ice official about what constitutes a faceoff win and was surprised to learn which team gets possession of the puck on a faceoff does not determine which player gets credit for the faceoff win. It is much more complicated but in general the player that first contacts and directs the puck gets credit for the faceoff win even if their team does not get possession.


- There are 22 ECHL players with 16 or more goals. Almost one quarter of them (23%) play for the Allen Americans:

24 goals - Gabe Gagne
17 goals - Tyler Sheehy
17 goals - Jared VanWormer
16 goals - Jordan Topping
16 goals - Alex Guptill


- The South Carolina Stingrays are having a historic season. They are currently on pace to set all time records for points (116) and winning/points percentage (.806). They are winning with outstanding team defense. They have allowed just 76 goals in 37 games which is on pace for 149 goals allowed for the season, the all time record is 153. They have two goalies splitting the workload and they both have GAA's under 2.00. South Carolina has eight shutouts in 37 games. They need just four more in their remaining 35 games to tie the all time ECHL record of 12 shutouts which they set in 2014-15. One of their goalies, Parker Milner, has six shutouts in 18 games, twice as many shutouts as any other goalie this season. Milner needs two more shutouts to tie the all time single season record of eight.


- Not sure why, other than it is a slow day, but here are the January 16-31 birthdays for every player to put on a jersey for the Allen Americans with their age in parenthesis. You would have to be a "super fan" to remember some of these names:

January 18 - Kevin Sundher (28)
January 19 - Greg Campbell (25)
January 20 - Jared Bethune (23)
                     Wade Macleod (33)
January 22 - Dereck Baribeau (21)
January 23 - Brett Lyon (29)
January 24 - Raphael Girard (29)
                     Jarret Lukin (36)
                     Chris Mifflen (32)
                     Corey Tamblyn (31)
January 25 - Chad Butcher (24)
January 26 - Jack Combs (32)
                     Bryan Pitton (32)
January 28 - Dominic D'Amour (36)


- Allen has three players in the top 22 ECHL defensemen in plus/minus. Jack Sadek is +16, Turner Ottenbreit is +14 in just 17 games and Stepan Falkovsky is +10. Allen's all time plus minus leaders for a single season are:

+47   Joel Chouinard (2016-17)
+28   David Makowski (2017-18)
+26   Trevor Ludwig (2014-15)
+25   Aaron Gens (2014-15)


- The Allen Americans penalty minutes are down dramatically this season but the Mountain Division is still holding their own as the most physical division in the ECHL. Here is the range, team with most and least PIMS, by division:

699-394   North Division
625-435   South Division
632-343   Central Division
660-488   Mountain Division

Worcester leads the ECHL with 699 penalty minutes followed by Rapid City (660) and Utah (634). Three teams have fewer than 400 penalty minutes, Wheeling (343), Newfoundland (394) and Maine (399).


- Many former Allen players are doing well overseas including Tanner Eberle in Great Britain and Alex Lavoie in Norway but to no surprise Chad Costello, who plays in the top German league (DEL), which is one of the best pro leagues in the world, is having the best season. Chad leads the DEL in scoring with 39 points (16G, 29A).


- A good team playing good is Newfoundland which is 10-0-0-0 in their last 10 games. A good team playing poorly is Fort Wayne who is 3-5-2-0 in their last 10 games. A last placed team playing well is Kansas City who is 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games.


- Allen is ranked #14 in average attendance at 3835 per game. For the full season in 2018-19 the average attendance was 4073.


- Stepan Falkovsky is tied for #2 in the ECHL in goals by a defenseman with nine.


- Former Allen defenseman, Miles Liberati, who now plays for Tulsa, is tied for the ECHL lead in points by a defenseman. Miles has played in 34 games and has 30 points (6G, 24A).


- The Newfoundland Growlers are the only ECHL team that hasn't lost an overtime game this season, they are 7-0.


- Allen is ranked #5 in winning/points percentage when scoring first at .841. The Americans record is 18-3-1-0.


- South Carolina leads the ECHL in penalty kill percentage (90.1%) giving up 14 goals in 142 opportunities. Reading is last with a penalty kill percentage of 74.3% (35-136).


- Orlando and Worcester have 10 shorthanded goals, Jacksonville has none. The Allen Americans have five. Tyler Sheehy has two, Boka, Falkovsky and Durocher have one each.


- Allen's record is about the same whether outshooting an opponent or not:

13-4-2-0  when outshooting an opponent
14-4-4-1  when outshot by an opponent

 

DID YOU KNOW: Spencer Asuchak is #1 all time for the Allen Americans in games played (333), goals (100) and seasons (7). He is #2 in assists and points behind Chad Costello and #3 in penalty minutes behind Garrett Clarke (#1) and David Makowski (#2).


Derek Mathers holds the all time Allen Americans single season penalty minute record at 274 minutes. Allen coach Steve Martinson led the AHL in penalty minutes in 1985-86 while playing for the Hershey Bears when he totaled 432 penalty minutes.