Allen Earns a 3-2 Comeback Win in a Shootout, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Former Allen Players Overseas and More

 It wasn't the cleanest of games and at times sloppy, but the Allen Americans found a way to win with, a 3-2 shootout victory in Wichita last night before a crowd of 4393 at INTRUST Bank Arena. It is always a good sign when you win a road game when you don't play your best game. Hank Crone, who was just acquired from Greenville this week, made his presence known, scoring the game winning shootout goal.

- Here is the game recap from both teams:

Allen Americans - https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/10/americans-win-opener-in-a-shootout 

Wichita - https://wichitathunder.com/news/2025/10/wichita-comes-up-short-in-shootout-loss-to-allen

- Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-wichita-thunder-oct-18-2025

- Here are some of my observations from the game:

• Allen's opening game record has not been great, but with the win last night it is now 9-8. The Americans have a winning record when the season opener has been on the road (5-4).
• Wichita's first goal of the 2025-26 season was a power play goal, scored by Kyle Crnkovic, a former Allen player.
• Allen's first goal of the season was a power play goal, scored by Brayden Watts, a former Wichita player.
• Allen did not score an even strength goal.
• Allen held Wichita to two goals after two shutouts in preseason games. The defensive side of the puck seems much improved from last season when Allen allowed an ECHL worst 4.32 goals per game.
• Allen scored two power play goals which is great, but the Americans had seven power plays, including four straight in the third period with two 5-on-3 opportunities.
• Matt Register's game tying goal in the third period was a 5-on-3 power play goal.
• Jackson Parsons earned his first professional win, stopping 33 of 35 shots. Parsons was outstanding in overtime when Allen had to kill a 4-on-3 power play and were outshot 5-0. Jackson has a 1.79 GAA and a .943 save percentage after his first pro game.
• It is no surprise Hank Crone scored the shootout game winner. His record in shootouts as an Allen American is 3-4 with two of the three being game winners. How good is a 75% shootout percentage? The NHL averages is 25-28%, 30-39% is considered good, 40-49% is considered very good and 50% or more is considered elite.  
• Defenseman Sam Sedley assisted on both Allen goals and was the only player with multiple points. Sedley also had a multiple assist game in the preseason. 

- The Americans now have the week off before starting a six game homestand, beginning with two games against Kansas City on Friday and Saturday. Coach Martinson has planned all along to take advantage of the schedule, with only one game the first week of the season, to tweak some things after the first game. Remember, Martinson has not coached most of the players on the roster, so he is now seeing them in game conditions for the first time. Conditioning will also be an emphasis this week as some players need to improve their conditioning.

- Kevin Spinozzi and Brad Morrison will be available for the games against Kansas City this weekend. Spinozzi is on the 3-day IR and Morrison's arrival was pending immigration. He will arrive in Allen tonight. 

   

OTHER COMMENTS

- The ECHL has gotten off to a great start in attendance. Average attendance after 21 games is 5807. Five teams drew more the 7000 fans for their home opener and the top three teams in attendance last season (Jacksonville, Fort Wayne, Toledo) have yet to play a home game

• 11,398 - Greensboro
• 9049 - Orlando
• 7485 - Savannah (2 game average)
• 7305 - Florida
• 7295 - Greenville

- I went through all of the ECHL transaction reports since the league started publishing them on October 3 to tally up the number of NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to ECHL teams. It is not a surprise that Allen is at the bottom of the list with just one player (Parsons) assigned. The number was two, but Danny Katic was recalled by Belleville. By my count there are five ECHL teams with double digit players assigned. South Carolina leads with 11 assigned players. Cincinnati, Rapid City, Savannah, Trois Rivieres and Wheeling have 10 NHL/AHL contracted players assigned. 

- The Mountain Division has just one undefeated team after the teams in the division have played one or two games. Allen is the only undefeated team. It is still very early but could the Mountain Division have more parity in 2025-26 than in the recent past. It is silly even talking about it at this point, but here are the point percentages.

• 1.000 - Allen
• .750 - Utah
• .500 - Rapid City
• .500 - Wichita
• .500 - Idaho
• .500 - Tahoe
• .500 - Kansas City
• .000 - Tulsa

- One third of the 21 games played in the ECHL thus far have gone extra time. Four games have been decided in overtime and three went to a shootout. 

- Former Allen Americans players playing overseas. This is not a complete list:

• *Alex Breton, Germany - 15 games, 16 points (7G, 9A)
• Josh Winquist, Scotland - 12 games, 14 points (3G, 11A)
• Matt Marcinew, England - 12 games, 13 points (6G, 7A)
• Jared VanWormer, Romania - 15 games, 12 points (6G, 6A)
• Corey Mackin, Germany - 9 games, 11 points (3G, 8A)
• Alex Lavoie, France - 8 games, 10 points (4G, 6A)
• Olivier Archambault, Slovakia - 11 games, 10 points (3G, 7A)
• Brett Neumann, Scotland - 12 games, 9 points (6G, 3A)
• *Colton Saucerman, England - 10 games, 9 points (4G, 5A)
• Scott Conway, Northern Ireland - 16 games, 8 points (3G, 5A)
• Kameron Kielly, Scotland - 9 games, 8 points (2G, 6A)
• Brandon Troock, Slovakia - 11 games, 8 points (2G, 6A)
• Dante Salituro, France - 10 games, 6 points (1G, 5A)
• Rylan Schwartz, Scotland - 8 games, 5 points (2G, 3A)
• Zane Franklin, Austria - 11 games, 5 points (2G, 3A)
• *Ty Farmer, Denmark - 9 games, 5 points (1G, 4A)
• *Travis Brown, England - 9 games, 5 points (0G, 5A)
• Braylon Schmyr, Sweden - 2 games, 3 points (1G, 2A)
• *Stepan Falkovsky, Russia - 16 games, 2 points (1G, 1A)
• *Konrad Abeltshauser, Germany - 10 games, 1 point (0G, 1A) 

*Defensemen

DID YOU KNOW: In the 37-year history of the ECHL, 760 players have gone on to play in the NHL, including 16 who made their NHL debut in 2024-25. 

If you count players, coaches, trainers, equipment staff, scouts, front office staff and broadcaster, the 2025 Stanley Cup Champion, Florida Panthers, had 16 employees with ECHL experience.