Playoff Roster, Comparing Mountain Division Playoff Teams, Allen Home Record by Day and Jersey, 2024-25 Jersey Plans, Ironman Club and More

 

The Kelly Cup playoffs kick off tomorrow night with two of the eight first round series getting underway. The Allen vs Idaho series will be the last one to start (April 22) so the Americans have a full week to prepare. The Kansas City vs Tulsa series starts tomorrow (April 17) and if the Mavericks sweep the series it will be over the same day Allen is playing game one.

 

- The big news yesterday was the release of the Allen Americans playoff roster. The ECHL will issue a press release with all of the playoff rosters today, but individual teams can put out their list if they desire and that is what Allen did yesterday afternoon. Here is the playoff roster:  

  

 - Who is not on the list? There was some hope Colton Hargrove might be ready at some point if Allen made the playoffs but it was not to be. Coach Costello saved two roster spots for Tarun Fizer and Leevi Meriläinen who will be assigned to Allen when Belleville finishes its season. That date could be as soon Belleville's final game (April 20) if they don't make the playoffs. The Senators are currently in the fifth and last playoff spot in the division. If Belleville makes the playoffs (first round is best three) it is hard to tell when its season will end. 

- To fit within the playoff roster limit of 24 players, three players had to be released. Those three players were Solag Bakich, Gavin Gould and Dalton Skelly. It is never easy to see players released at this time of year, but you never know, you could see them back in Allen next season.

 

- Many years ago I started what I called the Barry the Blogger Matrix to compare division playoff teams and come up with a numerical score to predict playoff success. Below is how the four teams in the Mountain Division playoffs stand in 12 statistical categories. Fairly easy to see the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of each team. Because Kansas City and Idaho were so much better than the rest of the division during the regular season, the outcome of this matrix was predictable. 


Goals Scored (average per game)

• 4.24 - Kansas City
• 4.21 - Idaho
• 3.24 - Allen
• 3.98 - Tulsa
  

Goals Allowed (average per game)

• 2.81 - Kansas City
• 3.24 - Tulsa
• 3.36 - Idaho
• 3.83 - Allen
  

Shots For (average per game)

• 36.94 - Tulsa
• 35.79 - Idaho
• 33.03 - Kansas City
• 30.22 - Allen
  

Shots Against (average per game)

• 29.58 - Kansas City
• 30.61 - Tulsa
• 32.35 - Idaho
• 39.90 - Allen
  

Shooting Percentage (goals as a percent of total shots)

• 12.8% - Kansas City
• 11.8% - Idaho
• 10.6% - Allen
• 8.3% - Tulsa
  

Power Play Percentage

• 28.5% - Idaho
• 21.3% - Kansas City
• 20.2% - Allen
• 18.8% - Tulsa
  

Penalty Kill Percentage

• 79.3% - Kansas City
• 79.2% - Idaho
• 78.2% - Allen
• 76.8% - Tulsa
  

Power Play Goals Scored

• 71 - Idaho
• 57 - Kansas City
• 49 - Allen
• 42 - Tulsa
  

Plus/Minus

• +409: Kansas City
• +203: Idaho
• -7: Tulsa
• -174: Allen
  

Goals Against Average (GAA)

• 2.75 - Kansas City
• 3.19 - Tulsa
• 3.31 - Idaho
• 3.78 - Allen
  

 

Save Percentage

• .906 - Kansas City
• .904 - Allen
• .897 - Idaho
• .895 - Tulsa
  

 

Record Last 10 Games

• 9-1-0-0 - Kansas City
• 7-3-0-0 - Idaho
• 6-3-1-0 - Allen
• 3-5-2-0 - Tulsa
  

- Finally, I tallied up the rank for each team in every category to get an overall score. The lower the score the better. If you finished first in every category you would get a final score of 12. Kansas City was first in nine of the 12 categories. Here are the results:

• 16 - Kansas City
• 26 - Idaho
• 38 - Tulsa
• 40 - Allen
  

 - Based on the stats it is no surprise Kansas City comes out as a big favorite over Tulsa and Idaho is a big favorite over Allen. If Kansas City and Idaho make it to the division finals this matrix gives Kansas City a good sized edge. 

 

- Another metric to consider is how these teams did against each other during the regulars season:

• Kansas City was 6-1-1-0 against Tulsa
• Idaho was 8-3-0-0 against Allen
• Kansas City was 4-1-1-0 against Idaho
• Kansas City was 11-4-0-0 against Allen
• Idaho was 5-4-0-0 against Tulsa  

 

- I will have more series preview information later in the week as the Idaho series gets closer. In the meantime here are a couple of other topics of interest:

 

- Here is a breakdown of Allen's home record in two ways. First by the day of the week and second by which jersey the team was wearing. Those of you that are superstitious can adjust accordingly. The percentage is win rate not points percentage:

• 8-3: Friday (72.7%)
• 4-2: Wednesday (66.7%)
• 2-4: Sunday (33.3%)
• 3-9: Saturday (25.0%)
• 0-1: Monday (0.0%)

• 7-3: Texas Jersey (72.7%)
• 6-3: Red Jersey (66.7%)
• 2-6: White Jersey (25.0%)
• 2-7: Specialty Jersey (22.2%)

 

- For those of you that are interested in jerseys here is the tentative plan for next season. The team will have four different jerseys. The blue/Texas jersey will return. It has been the most popular jersey in team history. There will not be a white jersey next season. In addition to the traditional red jersey the team will have a light grey jersey and a black jersey.  

- The ECHL Stats post below is about the ECHL Ironmen this season. Kris Myllari once again played every game this season. It is hard to overestimate the value of a player that never misses a game in a single season, let alone for three straight seasons. Here is a list of the Allen Americans exclusive Ironman's club:

 

• 2023-24 - Kris Myllari
• 2022-23 - Kris Myllari, Ryan Gagnon
  
• 2021-22 - Kris Myllari 
• 2020-21 - Les Lancaster
• 2019-20 - None
• 2018-19 - Spencer Asuchak  
• 2017-18 - Joel Chouinard, Casey Pierro-Zabotel
• 2016-17 - Chad Costello, Joel Chouinard
• 2015-16 - Chad Costello
• 2014-15 - Chad Costello, Aaron Gens, Jamie Schaafsma
• 2013-14 - Spencer Asuchak, Daniel Tetrault, Mike Berube
• 2012-13 - Jamie Schaafsma, Jason Deitsch
• 2011-12 - Jason Deitsch
• 2010-11 - Colton Yellow Horn, David Strathman
• 2009-10 - Bruce Graham, Christian Gaudet  
  

 

 

DID YOU KNOW:

 

THE IRONMEN

 

1062 players played in the ECHL this season. Just 30 of them (2.8%) played in every game for their team. Stick taps to all 30 Ironmen, but especially to these four multi year Ironmen:

 

Haven’t miss a game the last three seasons:

Kris Myllari, Allen

Tyler Penner, Utah

 

Haven’t missed a game the last two seasons:

Alex Aleardi, Rapid City

Patrick Polino, Cincinnati 

 

How do you play in more than 72 games in a season? One player, Jesse Jacques, played in 74 games this season. He played 22 games for Iowa, was traded, and played 52 games for Orlando.