I am without internet for almost a day now (AT&T network problem) so no desktop this morning. I am trying to write the blog on my IPhone. This will be short and sweet today and I apologize up front for any errors.
- The Allen Americans won the game (5-2) and the series against Kansas City last night and head back home with four of six points. Until last night the Mavericks had lost one series all season and that was back in late October.
- The Americans have struggled to score goals recently and even strength goals have been even harder to come by. The last time the Americans scored more than three goals was February 14 against Tulsa. Allen won 5-3 and all five goals were power play goals. Last night was just the opposite. The Americans ended up 0-7 on the power play and scored five even strength goals.
- Allen got off to a great start, scoring the only goal (Danny Katic) of the first period at the 5:37 mark. It was the 23rd time in 53 games (43%) the Americans have scored first, with a record of 18-2-3-0 (.848).
- Allen added to its lead scoring the only two goals (Sam Stange & Brayden Watts) of the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. That was an excellent sign considering the Americans’ record when leading after the second period was 18-0-2-0.
- Kansas City scored early in the third period to cut the score to 3-1, but Allen got its three goal lead back just 51 seconds later on a Colton Hargrove goal and added a fifth goal at 9:41 on a Quinn Warmuth rebound goal. Allen took a couple of penalties in the last half of the period which led to a Mavericks’ power play goal. It was the only power play goal of the game by either team (1-14). The final score was 5-2.
- Jackson Parsons was outstanding in goal again stopping 40 of 42 shots. His stats for the weekend are 3 goals allowed in 124:53 minutes, 1.46 GAA and a .956 save percentage. Those are ECHL Goalie of the Week numbers if you ask me.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Danny Katic (23), Sam Stange (8), Brayden Watts (18), Colton Hargrove (17) and Quinn Warmuth (6) Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-kansas-city-mavericks-feb-28-2026
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/02/game-recap-americans-hand-mavericks-second-straight-loss
- I had a chance to swap messages with Coach Martinson as the team was bussing back to Allen late last night. His message to me was, “Obviously it is nice to get four points on the weekend. The big takeaway is our attitude going forward. Will it be it was ‘nice to beat the 1st place team’ or will it be ‘we are coming and let’s f***ing go.”
- Allen will be even stronger going forward as McAuley and Sillinger should be available for the three game series against Tulsa next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And if you know General Manager Martinson, he is always trying to add pieces down the stretch in anticipation of the playoffs. Stay tuned!
OTHER COMMENTS
- Quinn Warmuth’s 6th goal of the season last night ties him with Sam Sedley and Ty Prefontaine for the team lead in goals by a defenseman. Points are another story, The top four defensemen in points are Sedley (40), Anania (27), Prefontaine (15) and Warmuth (13).
- The Mountain Division playoff picture is getting clearer every day. While it is still a long way before the four playoff teams are mathematically assured, the gaps are getting to a point they will be very hard to close. After the games last night the Mountain Division teams have between 18-22 games remaining. Here are the standings by points. In parentheses is points earned in the last 10 games which shows how difficult it is to make up points:
85 points - Kansas City (17 points)
72 points - Idaho (10 points)
63 points - Allen (13 points)
61 points - Tahoe (11 points)
52 points - Wichita (11 points)
48 points - Rapid City (9 points)
47 points - Utah (9 points)
37 points - Tulsa (11 points)
You can see over a 10 game span the most any team has gained is 3 points, which Allen gained on Idaho. The Steelheads still have a nine point lead and there are only two 10 game periods left in the season. Unless a team wins or loses 8 out of 10 games it is almost impossible to makeup gaps more than a few points. My prediction is the only contest left is for #3 and #4 between, Allen and Tahoe, to see who plays Kansas City in the first round of the playoffs.
- Jackson Parsons has played 777 minute for the Allen Americans and to be qualified needs 1020 minutes. He is four games short of becoming qualified, but the 1020 minutes to become qualified increases as the season progresses. By the end of the season it will reach 1440 minutes played. If Parsons doesn’t get recalled, he needs to be in goal for 11 of Allen’s remaining 21 games to be qualified. That is a long drawn out way to say if Jackson were qualified, his .928 save percentage would be the third best in the ECHL.
- Last night was an outstanding attendance night for the ECHL. 15 games totaled 121,564, with an average of 8104 per game:
15,199: Tulsa
14,268: Jacksonville*
9763: Fort Wayne*
9354: Cincinnati
8668: Orlando
8300: Toledo*
7485: Savannah*
6828: Reading*
6723: Utah
6572: Indy
6532: Greensboro
5720: Worcester
5460: Adirondack*
5425: Kansas City*
5267: Idaho*
*published arena capacities aren’t always accurate, but by my review these teams had sellouts or close to sellouts. Stick taps to all of the sales and marketing staffs for one of the highest ECHL attendance nights ever.
DID YOU KNOW: ECHL players going to & from Europe is about to end:
GOING TO EUROPE
Dates vary by league but final deadline was February 15 according to International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rule.
RETURNING FROM EUROPE
To play in the ECHL players must return by tomorrow, March 2 (3:00 pm EST).
