Allen vs Wichita Preview, Today's Lineup, My Kris Myllari Case for All-ECHL Team, Newfoundland Folds and NHL/AHL Contracted Player Numbers

 

It is game day or more appropriately game morning for the Allen Americans as they are in Wichita for an  Educational Day Game with an early wakeup call and 10:30 a.m. puck drop. The game couldn't be more important for the Americans as they try to make the playoffs with seven games remaining in the regular season. Allen trails third place Utah and fourth place Tulsa by six points.

- Allen is 7-1-0-0 against the Thunder this season and is undefeated in Wichita (5-0-0-0). Here are some other head to head stats:

• Allen has outscored Wichita 37-21.
• Wichita has outshot Allen 276-258.
  
• Allen has scored first in five of the last six games against Wichita and won them all. .  

 

- As always special teams will be a key in the game this morning and the head to head stats in the previous eight games tell an interesting story. Despite Allen having a record of 7-1-0-0 against Wichita the Thunder has dominated special teams. Here are the somewhat unusual facts:

• Allen has had fewer penalty minutes in just one of the eight head to head games.
• Total penalty minutes: Allen 83 vs Wichita 130.
• Allen has had 33 power play opportunities and Wichita has had only 20.
• Allen's power play is 15.2% (5-33) in the eight head to head games.
• Wichita's power play is 40.0% (8-20) in the eight head to head games.
• 38.1% of Wichita's goals (8-21) against Allen this season  have been power play goals.
• Allen's penalty kill percentage against Wichita this season is a meager 60.0%.  

Allen has to do a better job on the penalty kill and continue to have the advantage in power play opportunities. Winning the special teams battle will go a long was in winning the gme.
 

 

- Both teams have struggled recently but come into the game this morning having won its last game. Allen has lost five of the last seven games but beat Rapid City in overtime last Saturday. Wichita has lost five of the last six games but beat Tulsa last Saturday. 

 

- Wichita isn't mathematically eliminated from the playoffs but would have to win all of its remaining games and hope for a collapse by the teams ahead of them in the standings. It is always dangerous playing against a last place team at this point in the season. This game is clearly a lot more important to Allen than Wichita.      

 - The keys this morning will sound familiar. Get off to a good start, don't play from behind, win the special teams battle, hold Wichita to fewer than four goals and stay out of the penalty box.You can add to this list control of the neutral zone by avoiding turnovers. 

 

- Why Allen doesn't want to get behind and/or play from behind this morning. Here are the records this season:

• Scoring First
• Allen: 21-7-1-1 (.733)
• Wichita: 11-7-5-0 (.587)

• Leading After the 1st Period
• Allen: 15-1-1-1
• Wichita: 12-3-3-1

• Leading After the 2nd Period
• Allen: 23-2-1-1
• Wichita: 17-2-3-1

• Trailing After the 1st Period
• Allen: 4-17-0-0
• Wichita: 8-17-2-0

• Trailing After the 2nd Period
• Allen: 3-27-1-0
• Wichita: 3-26-1-0

- Here is a game preview issued by the Wichita Thunder with more details to get you ready for the game. https://wichitathunder.com/news/2024/04/wichita-hosts-allen-for-educational-day-game

 

 

 

- Here is the lineup for the game this morning. Kameron Kielly will play his first game since being claimed of waivers. Gavin Gould and Mikael Robidoux are not on the trip and Solag Backich was placed on injured reserve (3/31): 

 

Forwards

McAuley-Smedsrud-Finlay

Hardie-Hebert-Brodzinski

MacArthur-Murray-Kielly

Fournier                 Jacobs

 

Defense

Myllari-Farmer

Jarvis-Gagnon

Allen-Williams

 

Goalies

Costantini

Sinclair (backup)

 

 

 

 - The referee scheduled for the game this morning is #9 Hunter Mottinger who is a first year ECHL referee. He has refereed three times in Allen games all early in the season. One of the games was a 6-0 shutout loss to Atlanta back in October that had 19 penalties, but those kind of games typically end up with a lot of penalties. His other two Allen games had eight and seven penalties.

 

 

 

 

OTHER COMMENTS 

 

- I had a chance to talk to Hank Crone during practice on Monday and he is planning on returning to the lineup on Friday against Adirondack. He was a full participant in practice and looks ready to go. 

- The league will announce the All-ECHL first and second teams next week if they follow the timing from past seasons. The Thursday before the last day of the season (season ends April 14) is the likely date. The ballots from coaches, broadcasters, media relations directors and media have already been submitted.

 

- Last season Hank Crone was on the first team and Jack Combs was selected to the second team. Colton Hargrove was #2 in the ECHL in goals (39), #6 in points (85) and had 21 goals in the last 28 games of the season and should have been selected but was not. 

- The only player that has a shot to make the All-ECHL team this season is captain Kris Myllari. He certainly has my vote. Here are the stats and my thoughts on his value to the Allen Americans:

 

• Leads the team in time on ice at 25:03 minutes per game, also one of the highest averages in the league
• Leads the team in blocked shots (85).
• Leads the team in takeaways with 558 (81% in the defensive zone).
• Leads the team in puck retrievals and puck retrievals after shots by a wide margin (this contributes to quick transitions).
• Wins 57% of puck battles.
• Leads the team in assists (35). The only defensemen to do that since Allen joined the ECHL were three time Defenseman of the Year Matt Register and Defenseman of the Year Alex Breton.
• #2 among all ECHL defenseman in power play goals.
  
• #3 among all ECHL defemsemen in power play assists.
• #3 among all ECHL defensemen in power play points.
• #7 among all ECHL defensemen in points.
• Hasn't missed a game since joining the Americans in 2021-22, 225 straight games.
• After being selected to the ECHL All-Star team this season opted to not attend so he could play a game with his team.
• Selected by his peers around the ECHL Western Conference as the best defensive defenseman in the conference.
• Took on the role as captain when Colton Hargorve had a season ending injury early in the season. 
• Is always one of the first on the ice and last off the ice for practice.
• You can tell a lot about a player by what his teammates say about them. Nothing but high praise for Myllari.

I know some of you look at this list and will say what about his -19 plus/minus. I have something to say about that as well. 

• It is easy to have great plus/minus numbers when your team scores a ton of goals and team defense is great. Kansas City's goal differential is +94 and Allen's is -46.
• Kris spends more time on the ice than any other player and it is not close.
• Part of the pre-scout the coaches do before every game is identify the best player going for the opponent. Kris Myllari will be on the ice with that opposing player the majority of the time.
   

Since the voters for these teams typically just look at the numbers like points, goals, assists and plus/minus, Kris may not make the cut. But if anyone took the time to look at his entire body of work and what he means to the Allen Americans he would definitely be selected. I also believe if the players in the Mountain Division had a vote he would be recognized. 

Kris has a degree in Business Management from Penn State University and was honored as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar that goes to students that have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors and have a GPA of 3.70 or higher. Bottom line is Myllari is playing hockey for enjoyment and will have no problem finding a great job outside of hockey when the time comes. I only hope he returns to Allen next season.

 

 

 

- The Newfoundland Growlers ceased operations yesterday. I know most of you have seen the press release with the details but here it is just in case. Wouldn't it be amazing if Toronto would consider Allen as an affiliate. Nonstop flights from Dallas to Toronto are a big plus. The rumor over the last couple of weeks is Newfoundland and Trois Riviéres would both fold if they didn't find new ownership. There was no announcement about Trois Riviéres so they must have been given more time because they have a buyer interested. https://echl.com/news/2024/04/echl-terminates-newfoundland-membership 

 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: Update: NHL/AHL contracted players on each ECHL team as playoffs approach. Includes players on injured reserve and excludes Newfoundland who ceased operations yesterday. Some of the Growlers 10 NHL/AHL contracted players could end up on other ECHL teams over the next few days.

 

12: FW

10: *KC

9: SC, WOR, ATL, IND, TR

8: TUL, UTA

7: FLA, SAV, MNE

6: *ADK, NOR, ORL, WHL, REA

5: IDH, IA, JAX, RC

4: ALN, *GVL, KAL, *TOL, WIC

3: CIN

 

*Division Leaders