Allen vs Arizona Preview, Hendrikx & Berube Milestones, PIM Records

The Allen Americans kick off the second half of the season tonight in Prescott Valley, Arizona (8:05 PM Allen time) against the Arizona Sundogs. Plenty of story lines in this series as both teams have been playing great hockey. Arizona has won four games in a row (all on the road) and have shut out their opponents in the last three games. Goalie Andrew Engelage goes for the all time record for consecutive minutes without allowing a goal. He is just over 32 minutes from passing Mark Guggenberger's record (238:31). Allen's only blemish in the last eight games is a come from behind overtime loss to Denver one week ago. The Americans have been the best team in the league the last few weeks. Throw in the Garrett Clarke incident the last time Allen was in Arizona, where he deliberately shot the puck into the Allen bench at the end of the game, and you have the makings for a great series. Here is a comparison of the two teams from the CHL:

COMPARISONS
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                                  Arizona Sundogs            Allen Americans   
RESULT OF LAST GAME               WIN  1-0 vs QDC            WIN  6-5 vs TUL   
GAMES PLAYED                      33                         34                
RECORD                            14-18-1                    21-10-3           
POINTS                            29                         45                
HOME RECORD                       5-9-1                      10-5-3            
AWAY RECORD                       9-9-0                      11-5-0            
SHO RECORD                        2-1                        3-2               
LAST 10 GAMES                     7-3-0                      7-2-1             
LAST 5 GAMES                      4-1-0                      4-0-1             
OCTOBER                           1-4-1                      5-0-1             
NOVEMBER                          6-6-0                      7-6-0             
DECEMBER                          3-8-0                      5-4-1             
JANUARY                           4-0-0                      4-0-1                          
SCORING FIRST                     9-10-0                     12-3-2            
LEADING AFTER 1ST                 6-3-0                      10-3-0            
LEADING AFTER 2ND                 5-0-0                      13-1-2            
TIED AFTER 1ST                    6-6-1                      6-2-2             
TIED AFTER 2ND                    8-4-0                      7-0-1             
TRAILING AFTER 1ST                2-9-0                      5-5-1             
TRAILING AFTER 2ND                1-14-1                     1-9-0             
WHEN OUTSHOOTING OPPONENT         6-12-0                     10-6-1            
1 - GOAL GAMES                    9-8-1                      10-2-3            
GOALS FOR PER GAME                2.64                       3.68              
GOALS AGAINST PER GAME            3.15                       3.12              
SHOTS FOR PER GAME                30.88                      34.06             
SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME            29.55                      31.94             
POWER PLAY RECORD                 29 - 171   17.0%           35 - 187   18.7%  
PENALTY KILLING RECORD            27 - 156   82.7%           27 - 188   85.6%  
SH GOALS FOR                      3                          8                 
SH GOALS AGAINST                  8                          6                 
PIM AVERAGE                       20.88                      23.38             


SCORING BY PERIODS    1ST  2ND  3RD  OT  TOTAL  
Arizona               27   26   30   4   87     
Opponents             34   36   33   1   104    
                      
Allen                 34   47   41   3   125    
Opponents             32   36   35   3   106    

- As is usually the case, Allen brings a special teams advantage into the series. Allen's power play is ranked #4 (18.7%) while Arizona is #6 (17%). Allen is #2 on the penalty kill (85.6%) and the Sundogs are #5 (82.7%). In the last five games the Allen power play has scored seven goals and has a success rate of 30%. Allen also has the best road penalty kill percentage in the CHL at 88.4%.

- Arizona has added two players since the last time Allen was in town that have increased offensive firepower. Brandon Coccimiglio has 14 points in eight game (8 goals, 6 assists) and David Rutherford has six points in five games (4 goals, 2 assists). Coccimiglio is currently on seven day IR but is eligible to come off today so he may be playing tonight.

- In the last 10 games Allen has five players scoring at a point a game clip:
Jamie Schaafsma: 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists)
Greger Hanson:    12 points (4 goals, 8 assists)
Tyler Ludwig:       11 points (7 goals, 4 assists)
Kale Kerbashian   11 points (3, goals, 8 assists)
Alex Lavoie          11 points (2 goals, 9 assists)

- Arizona has a home record of 5-9-1 and Allen always plays better on the road. Hope this combination holds true for the weekend.

- Based on the pattern used the last few series of rotating the goalies would expect Bryan Pitton to be in goal tonight.

- Tommy Daniels shared the following milestones the other day:
*Trevor Hendrikx is now the all time career leader in penalty minutes (275) surpassing Kip Brennan.
* Mike Berube will play in his 200th game as an Allen American on Monday.

- Former Allen American Jim McKenzie who plays for the Quad City Mallards was called up by the Iowa Wild (AHL) last week and has played in four games. Jim has an assist, a fight and is a +1.

- In other action around the CHL to keep an eye on Denver plays Rapid City in Rapid City. In their last five games the Rush are 1-4 while Denver is 4-1. This is a big series for both teams.



DID YOU KNOW: The career leader in penalty minutes in the NHL is held by Tiger Williams at 3966 minutes. The CHL record is held by Doug Lawerence (Tulsa Oilers) at 2109 minutes. Second place is held by former Brahma's coach Dan Wildfong with 1970 minutes. Justin Sawyer (Rapid City) is the active leader in penalty minutes with 1059.