In what was arguably the most important game of the season, the Allen Americans lost 2-1 to Idaho last night, and all but eliminated any chance to catch the Steelheads for second place in the division. What is the benefit of finishing in second place? The team earns home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs and would only need one trip to Idaho, versus a possible two. That is a savings of $15,000. How steep is the hill to catch Idaho now? If the Steelheads play .500 hockey in their remaining 13 games, Allen will have to have a record of 11-3-0-0 (.786) in their last 14 games to pass Idaho. That is possible, but certainly not probable.
- The way Allen lost last night was the real kick in the teeth. For two and a half periods last night, the referees seemed committed to staying out of the spotlight. After all, these were the same referees who called one penalty on Allen in the game on Friday and two through the first two periods last night. But with the score tied 1-1 late in the third period, let the players play went into early retirement. Two debatable penalties on Allen, 44 seconds apart, gave Idaho a long 5-on-3 power play. The Steelheads cashed in for a 2-1 win, as the officials went from letting the players decide to playing a significant role in the outcome of the game. Up until the 5-on-3 penalties, it looked like the game might actually be settled by the players.
- All the Americans can do now is overperform in the last 14 games of the season and see where the chips fall. The team will take their "All-Star" break and be off for the next three days. The team will practice on Wednesday and Thursday morning, and fly to South Carolina on Thursday afternoon, where they take on the Stingrays on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It will be a challenge, as South Carolina is the third-best home team in the ECHL. The Stingrays home record is 22-8-0-1 (.726).
- Allen hasn't received a lot of help from the affiliate, but the two players who have spent the most time in Allen, Danny Katic and Jackson Parsons, have been outstanding. Katic scored again last night, his 27th goal in just 44 games. His goals per game average is .563 which is outstanding. None of Allen's other top goal scorers is above .375. Katic is #3 in the league in goals. Danny is #2 in the league in shooting percentage at 24.5%; the leader is at 24.6%. Katic has scored 27 goals on 110 shots.
- Jackson Parsons had another great night last night, stopping 36 of 38 shots, and one of the two goals he allowed was the 5-on-3 power play game winning goal. His save percentage was .947 last night after a .978 on Friday night. His season stats are 2.29 GAA and .929 save percentage. Parsons hasn't played enough minutes to be qualified; he has 1021 minutes, and it takes 1140 minutes to be qualified, but that 1140 is a moving target and will increase. If Jackson plays in two of the three games in South Carolina, he will likely be qualified. FYI, if he were qualified, his .929 save percentage would rank him #2 in the league.
- Here are the detailed recaps from both teams, plus the video highlights:
- Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/03/game-recap-americans-fall-short-on-wizard-night
- Idaho Steelheads: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2026/03/steelheads-round-up-americans-in-2-1-win
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/idaho-steelheads-vs-allen-americans-mar-14-2026
MARTINSON COMMENTS
"It was a frustrating way to lose a game on a 5-on-3 power play, when the hooking call on Anania was just him lifting his stick. As long as you are lifting the stick, you can pull and yank and hook their stick, and it is not a penalty as long as you don't hook the arm or the hand."
"Our lineup isn't as strong as it will be in a couple of weeks, but they played hard tonight and didn't deserve what happened at the end."
"We were so so in the first period, but came out great in the second period and had a lot of great chances, we just couldn't get the puck in the net."
"The players will have the next three games off as we delayed our All-Star break. I will be spending a lot of time on the phone. I am dealing with a lot of teams and agents in trying to improve the roster. We will have a better lineup next weekend and add more players the week after next."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Whenever the Americans lose on a Saturday night with a big crowd wearing a specialty jersey, I always get asked about the curse. Thanks to team President, Jonny Mydra, I have plenty of stats today on the 29 home games played thus far:
- Record by Jersey
- 4-0 (1.000) - White
- 3-1 (.750) - Black
- 3-2 (.600) - Red
- 5-5 (.500) - Specialty
- 3-3 (.500) - Texas
- 18-11 (.621) - HOME TOTAL
- Record by Day of Week
- 7-3 (.700) - Friday
- 5-3 (.625) - Wednesday
- 5-4 (.556) - Saturday
- 1-1 (.500 - Sunday
Of the five specialty jersey wins, only one was on a Saturday night with a big crowd (5790). It was Military Night (November 1st) against Rapid City. The Rush jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Americans roared back. The 6-3 victory was highlighted by a pure hat trick in the second half of the third period by Harrison Blaisdell.
FYI, last night was the last of the specialty jerseys for this season. The Americans will be in one of their four regular jerseys for the rest of the season.
- The points gap between the top five teams in the Mountain Division remains wide enough that the odds of any position changes are slim to none:
- Kansas City is 18 points ahead of Idaho
- Idaho is 8 points ahead of Allen
- Allen is 6 points ahead of Tahoe
- Tahoe is 5 points ahead of Wichita
- Here are the schedules this week with opponents' points percentage:
- Allen plays three games in South Carolina (.672)
- Tahoe plays three games in Toledo (.684)
- Idaho plays three home games vs Tulsa (.377)
- Wichita plays one game vs Kansas City (.805)
- There are only seven games on tap in the ECHL this afternoon. The only Mountain Division teams in action are Tulsa visiting Utah. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/03/echl-today-march-15
- Kansas City defenseman Marcus Crawford added two more assists last night to increase his points lead to 15 points. He now has 75 points with 13 games remaining. An ECHL defenseman has not scored 75 points in the modern era. Allen's record is 64 points, set by Les Lancaster in 2020-21.
