Allen vs Wichita Series Preview, Shutout History, Two Best Allen Teams Never Won a Championship, Points Per Game Leaders, Europe Deadlines and More

"Best of the Rest" Standings

• .395 (34 points) - Allen
• .395 (34 points) - Rapid City
• .384 (33 points) - Utah

 

- It is game day for the Allen Americans as they start a two game series (Friday and Saturday) against their long time rival, the Wichita Thunder. I have talked before that Allen has most of its 13 wins this season against Rapid City and Utah, eight wins. That leaves just five wins against the top five teams in the division. The good news is of those five wins there was one each against Tulsa and Kansas City and three against Wichita. 

- The game tonight will be the 11th of 13 times these teams will play this season. After this weekend Allen will play the Thunder just one more time (April 6). Allen's record against Wichita is 3-5-2-0 (.400). That  is not great, but better than its record against the other top Mountain Division teams.

 

- Allen is 3-4-2-1 over its last 10 games, Wichita is 5-4-1-0. Here is how Allen and Wichita rank is some key stats this season:

• Ave. goals scored: Allen #23 (2.56) - Wichita #10 (3.30)
• Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (4.02) - Wichita #13 (2.84)
• Ave. shots for: Allen #22 (28.07) - Wichita #11 (31.41)
• Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (39.49) - Wichita #27 (34.66) 
  
• Power play percentage: Allen #16 (19.2%) - Wichita #17 (18.5%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen #20 (79.4%) - Wichita #18 (79.8%) 

You can see from the stats above the Americans and Thunder are fairly close given their position in the standings with the exception of the most important stat, goals scored and allowed. On average Allen scores 0.74 goals fewer than Wichita per game and allows 1.18 more goals per game than Wichita.

 

- Here are the cumulative stats in the 10 games these teams have already played:

• Wichita has outscored Allen 36-25
• Wichita has out shot Allen 378-299
• Allen's power play is 5-24 (20.8%)
• Wichita's power play is 6-37 (16.2%)
• Allen took 47 penalties for 116 minutes
• Wichita took 37 penalties for 120 minutes

The stats are skewed because in one game (December 20) the teams combined for 22 penalties and 96 penalty minutes. The 96 penalty minutes included four fighting majors and four 10 minutes misconduct penalties. You never know what kind of game you are going to get against Wichita. They teams combined for 96 penalty minutes in one game and two penalty minute two weeks prior.

Staying out of the penalty box has been an issue in many games this season and you can see Allen has a better power play percentage in the head to head games (20.8% vs 16.2%). However the Thunder has one more power play goal because Wichita has had 13 more power play opportunities. A key in the series will be staying out of the penalty box and avoiding so many stick penalties. Allen must remember Wichita only takes and average of 10 penalty minutes per game, the third lowest in the league.

 

- Scoring first is normally a big advantage, but not when these teams play. The team that scored first has lost seven of the 10 head to head games. If you look at the season totals Allen has scored first in 20 of 43 (47%) of its games but has the worst record in the league and is the only team with a losing record, 7-8-4-1 (.475). Wichita has scored first in 23 of 44 (52%) games with a record of 16-5-2-0 (.739). 

- Playing with the lead will also be key in this series. Here are the facts:

• Allen's record when leading after the first period is 5-2-3-1. The Americans have 34 points this season. 14 of the 34 points earned (41%) Allen led after the first period. Allen's record when leading after the second period is 10-1-2-0. That means in 77% of its games Allen had the lead after the second period. Allen has only won three games all season when tied or trailing after the second period. 
• Wichita's record when leading after the first period is 12-4-1-0 and when leading after the second period the Thunder record is 17-1-1-0. 
• Bottom line is playing with the lead is a big key for Allen in this series.

 

- No surprise in the players to watch in this series. In the head to head games, Spencer Asuchak leads the team with 14 points in the ten games (3G, 11A). Mark Duarte leads in goals (6) and Brayden Watts has five goals in nine games played. Peter Bates (#22) has been Wichita's leading scorer against Allen with 16 points (6G, 10A) in the 10 games. Wichita's leading scorer, #22 Michal Stinil, who is averaging 1.31 points per game, has only played three of the 10 games against Allen but had four points (3G, 1A) in the three games.  

- The lineup tonight is the same as the last game with he exception of  Wells in goal. Wells will be trying to extend his three game home win streak where he had a save percentage of .957, .969 and 952. 

Forwards

#16 Crnkovic-#26 Asuchak-#92 Watts

#25 Westcott-#89 Polino-#8 Duarte

#14 Guy-#17 Jacobs-#9 Isaacson

#11 Nault-#84 Gorman-#24 Blaisdell

 

Defensemen

#5 Wilson-#82 Fraser

#3 Powell-#23 Brassard

#55 Johnson-#66 Kulakov

 

Goalies

#39 Wells 

#35 Thornton (backup)

- Here is the game preview issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/02/game-day-preview-red-out-night

 

 - It will be a two referee system for the game tonight. Remember, half of the 36 homes games will use two referees and half just one. Rocco Stachowiak (#28) and James Kraft (50) will work the game tonight. The duo worked the Allen at Wichita game on January 10 and called just six minor penalties, four against Allen, two against Wichita. Five of the six penalties including all of the Allen penalties were stick penalties. As coach Ferguson has said several times recently, "No more stick penalties!"  

OTHER COMMENTS

- Allen was shutout 5-0 in its last game against Tulsa. It was the fifth time this season the Americans have been shutout. How do the number of shutouts compare to prior seasons. I went into the archives to find the number of shutouts for each season since Allen joined the ECHL:

• 5 - 2024-25 (thru 43 games)
• 2 - 2023-24
• 2 - 2022-23
• 1 - 2021-22
• 1 - 2020-21
• 3 - 2019-20
• 9 - 2018-19
• 5 - 2017-18
• 2 - 2016-17
• 2 - 2015-16*
• 1 - 2014-15*  

*Won Kelly Cup

 

- As I was putting together the shutout list above I was reminded of what I have always thought were the two best teams in Allen franchise history and neither of them won a championship. For all of you old timers that read the blog, I would be interested in your opinion. The 2016-17 Allen team was going for a three-peat and was ranked #2 in the league during the regular season with a .722 point percentage. The Americans were the #2 offensive team averaging 4.08 goals per game and the #2 defensive team allowing 2.82 goals per game. Allen lost in the second round of the playoffs to Colorado after taking a 2-0 series lead. Colorado went on to win the Kelly Cup. 

The 2010-11 Allen team won the CHL regular season title by 13 points and regular season conference title by 20 points. The Americans scored 271 goals that season (4.10 average) which was 21 more goals then any other team. Allen had three players with more than 30 goals (Bruce Graham - 34, Nino Musitelli - 34, and Colton Yellow Horn - 33). Allen was a big favorite to win the championship as the #1 seed but lost in the Conference finals to Bossier-Shreveport who went on to win the championship.   

 

-  I have had several questions about the chances of Allen signing a player from Europe before the deadline which is 10 days away. When I talked about this issue a few blogs ago it might have sounded like this could happen. Just to clear up any misunderstanding the Americans will not be signing any players from Europe before the deadline.

 

- Watching game results day-to-day makes it difficult to see when teams are gaining or losing ground in the standings. I think this stat is the best indicator. Here are the number of points earned over the last 10 games by each Mountain Division teams. Maximum possible would be 20 points. Each team's total points is in parenthesis:

• 16 points - Tulsa (58 points)
• 14 points - Kansas City (58 points)
• 13 points - Idaho (52 points)
• 11 points - Wichita (52 points)
• 9 points - Tahoe (56 points)
  
• 9 points - Rapid City (34 points)
• 9 points - Allen (34 points)
• 8 points - Utah (33 points)

You can see the bottom three teams in the standings (Allen, Rapid City, Utah) gained no points on the top five teams in the last 10 games. When you consider the bottom three teams have to pass two top five teams to make the playoffs and they are currently 18 points behind, the task is almost impossible. I don't think I am risking another crow chili meal by saying none of the bottom three teams will make the playoffs.

 

- There are 13 ECHL games on the schedule tonight with all eight Mountain Division teams in action. 

• Wichita at Allen
• Rapid City at Idaho
• Utah at Tulsa
• Adirondack at Tahoe
• Kansas City at Cincinnati  

Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/02/echl-today-feb-7

 

 

- Many of you may have seen this on my social media accounts, but wanted to post here for those of you not on social media. It includes the ECHL leader in average points per game for the last 10 seasons. Amazingly, an Allen player was the leader 50% of the 10 seasons:

- ECHL current points leaders based on average points per game (minimum 25 games played):

1.31 - Michal Stinil, Wichita

1.29 - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo

1.28 - Neil Shea, Utah

1.27 - Brady Fleurent, Norfolk

1.26 - Hank Crone, Idaho

1.24 - Cade Borchardt, Kansas City 

 

Here were the ECHL average points per game leaders the last 10 seasons (minimum 40 games played):

1.38 - Hank Crone, Allen (2023-24)

1.52 - Hank Crone, Allen (2022-23)

1.56 - Ryan Kuffner, Iowa (2021-22)

1.15 - Anthony Beauregard, Wichita (2020-21)

1.49 - Tyler Sheehy, Allen (2019-20)

1.28 - Zach O’Brien, Newfoundland (2018-19)*

1.34 - Justin Danforth, Cincinnati (2017-18)

1.69 - Chad Costello, Allen, (2016-17)

1.43 - Chad Costello, Allen, (2015-16)*

1.74 - Chad Costello, Allen (2014-15)*

 

*Team won Kelly Cup

DID YOU KNOW: ECHL players going to & from Europe is about to end:

 

GOING TO EUROPE

Most deadlines have already passed, January 31 deadline for most leagues. A few, mostly in Scandinavia, have a mid February deadline.

 

RETURNING FROM EUROPE

To play in the ECHL players must return by Feb. 17.