Big Win for Allen, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Martinson Comments, PIMS Then and Now, NHL Contracted Players in the ECHL and More

 

The Allen Americans snapped their six-game losing streak with a 4-2 win in Utah last night. It is just one game, but the team earned the win playing the way Coach Martinson has been talking about every time he is interviewed and every time he goes over video with the team. More than all of the stats, playing the right way and working hard is what enabled the win last night. Two post-game quotes captured this sentiment.

Steve Martinson: "We skated hard tonight and got rewarded for it. It was a fun game to watch."

Michael Gildon: "It was a complete team victory. We came together as a group and dug deep for the big win. Throughout the game, we played hard. We need to continue the hard work the rest of the weekend."

 

- Here are a few of the fruits of the hard work put in by the team last night. 

• Allen outshot Utah in all three periods.
• Allen allowed Utah only 24 shots, the lowest total of the season.
• Allen gave up the first goal of the game, but came back and tied the score 1-1 by the end of the first period.
• Allen was a perfect 0-3 on penalty kill that included 1:45 of  5-on-3 time.
• Allen was the first team to reach three goals, which has been key to wins. Allen's record when scoring three or more goals is 5-0-1-0. When the Americans score two or fewer goals, their record is 0-6-2-0.
• Marco Costantini was great in goal again with a .917 save percentage. Marco has played in three of the four games on this road trip, saving 94 of 101 shots for a save percentage average of .931. 

 

- All wasn't perfect, and there is room for improvement on the weekend, but if the team plays like they did last night, you have to like their chances. Here are some of those areas for improvement:

• Allen gave up the first goal for the 10th time in 14 games.
• Allen was 0-3 on the power play and has fallen to #24 in power play percentage (13.2%).
• Allen gave up a shorthanded goal, the second of the season. It was an unfortunate circumstance that led to the goal. Allen shot the puck into the skates of a Utah player, which started the play going the other way. It was passed to Utah's leading scorer, who had just come on the ice. At first glance, it looks like Hank Crone got beaten, but he was just the closest guy and was at the end of his shift. 

 

- Goals scorers for Allen were Crone (3), Gildon (6), Watts (6), and McAuley (1). Crone has been heating up on this road trip; he has a point in all four games and has a total of five points (2G, 3A). Gildon and Watts have been carrying the offensive load all season. They are tied for the team lead in goals (6), and their total of 12 is almost a third (32.4%) of Allen's team goals (37). Watts also had a goal disallowed for the net being off its moorings. It looked like a deliberate move on the goalie's part. I know Coach Martinson felt like the goal should have counted.

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams and the video highlights:

• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/11/americans-end-losing-skid
• Utah Grizzlies: https://utahgrizzlies.com/news/2025/11/grizzlies-fall-4-2-on-thanksgiving-eve-at-maverik-center 
• Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-utah-grizzlies-nov-26-2025

 

- Allen's two young defensemen, Andre Anania and Sam Sedley, continue to outperform. Between them, they have 71% (15 of 21) of the assists by all the defensemen. Last night Sedley had two assists, and Anania was a +4. He now leads the team in plus/minus.

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

"We showed more speed tonight by getting in the right position to support the puck and skating coming into the offensive zone."

"I don't necessarily think the league is faster since I left in 2021-22, but it plays faster. What I mean by that is, since the league expanded to 18 skaters and teams have four lines, the fourth line players are guys who played on the third and fourth lines in college. They learned to play the right way, or they didn't play with the roster sizes in college." 

"Tonight, all three lines scored a goal. Getting scoring out of all three lines is very important, and I know we will get better from here. I plan on putting the McAuley, Hargrove, and Crone line back together on Friday, and I think the way they have played recently, they are ready to take off."

"There were three really nice goals. Great passing on the first, skill on the second, and net traffic on the third.   

"As bad as we needed a win last night, it is so much better that we got the win playing the right way. Winning reinforces playing the right way. I feel we can go on a roll once we stop beating ourselves because we have the talent." 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- The team has the day off today and will have a team dinner tonight at Cracker Barrel. It should be extra enjoyable after the win last night.  

 

- The gap in games played seems extra wide right now. Here are the most and fewest games played in each division:

• North - 13 (Adirondack) to 16 (Greensboro)
• South - 12 (Savannah) to 17 (Florida)
• Central - 14 (three teams) to 17 (Iowa)
• Mountain - 13 (Tulsa) to 18 (Idaho)  

 

- If you look at the average penalty minutes per game ranking, the Mountain Division has the top and bottom teams in the ECHL. Here are the rankings with average penalty minutes. To show how things have changed, in parentheses is each team's average penalty minutes per game when the CHL  joined the ECHL in 2014-15: 

• #1 - Tulsa, 16.62                 (18.75)
• #3 - Allen, 15.29                 (22.83)
• #6 - Idaho, 14.44                 (16.25)
• #16 - Tahoe, 11.82
• #19 - Utah, 10.38                (16.25)
• #20 - Kansas City, 10.33     (19.81)
• #24 - Rapid City, 9.25         (17.07)         
• #30 - Wichita, 7.94              (20.94)

The minutes per game numbers may look small, but the total minutes tell the story. At the present pace the average penalty minutes per team this season will be 866 minutes. In 2014-15, the average per team was 1357 minutes. 

Tulsa leads the league and, at the current pace, will end the season with 1196 penalty minutes. In 2014-15, Allen led the league with 1644 penalty minutes.  

 

DID YOU KNOW: 74 NHL contracted players have played in the ECHL at some point this season. Here is how many have played for each team.

 

7: FW, ORL

6: TUL, WOR

5: ADK, IDH

3: GSO, IA, SAV, TAH, TOL

2: ATL, BLM, FLA, MNE, REA, SC, WHL, WIC

1: ALN, CIN, JAX, KAL, NOR, RC, TR, UTA

0: GVL, IND, KC

 

Keep in mind that the majority of NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to the ECHL are under AHL contracts.