- With fewer teams as well as an odd number of teams the schedule is very different than last year. The season starts a week later (October 24) and ends later (April 3) than last year. The number of midweek home games has been increased from six to eight. Because one team will be idle each weekend Allen will play only 18 Friday games this year (9 home, 9 away). This compares to 23 Friday games last year (13 home, 10 away). Saturday is similar with only 17 Saturday games this year (9 home 8 away) compared to 21 Saturday games last year (10 home, 11 away).
- The schedule is very unbalanced as indicated by the number of times Allen plays the other teams in the league:
16 - Tulsa
16 - Wichita
9 - Rapid City
9 - Missouri
8 - Quad City
8 - Brampton
- The Allen Americans have traditionally tried to avoid too many home dates during football season especially with Allen High School being a state powerhouse that is favored to repeat as state champions. This year opening night for the Americans (October 24th) conflicts with an Allen High football game. There is no way to predict scheduling conflicts during the football playoffs, however, if Allen High ends up in the state championship game again this year they will be playing football almost until Christmas. Here is a breakdown of the 33 home games by month compared to last year:
2013 2014
October 2 1
November 5 5
December 7 8
January 7 9
February 5 5
March 7 4
April 0 1
- Many traditional dates and promotion dates remain on the schedule this year:
October 24 - Banner Raising Night highlights the home opener for the second straight year
November 21 - Military Appreciation Night
November 22 - Teddy Bear Toss Night
December 31 - New Years Eve (Rapid City is the opponent)
January 19 - Kid's Day (Missouri is the opponent)
February 14 - Valentine's Day (Wichita is the opponent)
February 28 - Police vs Fire Game (Brampton is the opponent)
March 17 - St Patrick's Day (Wichita is the opponent)
- Here is a breakdown of all 66 games by day of the week:
Sunday - 12 (7 home, 5 away)
Monday - 2 (2 home, 0 away)
Tuesday - 6 (1 home, 5 away)
Wednesday - 8 (4 home, 4 away)
Thursday - 3 (1 home, 2 away)
Friday - 18 (9 home, 9 away)
Saturday - 17 (9 home, 8 away)
- One of the many things the team looks at when the schedule comes out is how many times they have to play three games back to back. Three games in three days is stressful especially if there is travel involved. Players are more prone to injuries in these situations. Last year the Americans played three games in three days nine times. This year that will only happen five times. Here are back to back to back games for the Allen Americans:
November 14,15,16 - Missouri (A), Wichita (A), Quad City (H)
November 25,26,27 - Tulsa (A), Missouri (A), Tulsa (A)
December 19,20,21 - Wichita (H), Tulsa (H), Tulsa (A)
December 26,27,28 - Tulsa (H), Wichita (A), Tulsa (A)
February 14,15,16 - Wichita (H), Wichita (A), Quad City (H)
- Four games in five days with travel is really brutal but that only happens one time this year compared to three times last year.
November 25th - 29th - Tulsa (A), Missouri (A), Tulsa (A), Wichita (A)
- The toughest part of the schedule for Allen will be February 25 through March 20 when Allen plays nine of eleven games on the road including six in a row.
- The easiest part of the schedule for Allen will be between December 6th and January 19th. During this 45 day period they have 14 home games and only four road games with two of the four road games in Tulsa. The four road games are December 21 in Tulsa, December 27 in Wichita, December 28 in Tulsa and January 6 in Missouri.
- If you have ever wanted to go on a road trip to cheer on the Americans two dates to mark on your calendar are December 21st & 28th. Both of these games are on a Sunday afternoon in Tulsa. These games combine the shortest distance to drive (230 miles) and a 4:05 pm puck drop so you can watch the game and still drive back to Allen at a reasonable hour. Maybe the Americans can sponsor a bus to one of these games.
- Here is a breakdown of the season series with each team:
Tulsa (8 home, 8 away) - Despite playing 16 times these two team only play back to back games in one arena once which is in Allen November 8 & 9. Twice they play three games in a row but they go from one arena to the other. December 2nd in Tulsa, 3rd in Allen and 5th back in Tulsa is one three game set. The other is December 20th in Allen, 21st in Tulsa and 26th back in Allen. Another anomaly with Tulsa is that twelve of the sixteen games they play take place before the first of the year. The teams only play one time between December 29th and March 24th.
Wichita (8 home, 8 away) - The sixteen times Allen plays Wichita are spread out from October 25 to April 1st. The most they play in any one month is March when they play four times. They play three games in a row two times. In one case they play in Allen February 11th and 14th and then travel to Wichita for a game February 15th. In the other instance they play in Allen on March 17, in Wichita on March 20th and back in Allen on March 22nd.
Rapid City (4 home, 5 away) - Allen travels to Rapid City (836 miles) twice during the season. They go for a two game set on October 31 & November 1st and then return for three games March 10-14. Rapid City comes to the Allen Event Center (AEC) twice including the New Years Eve game & January 2nd. Their second trip to the AEC is at the end of January.
Missouri (5 home, 4 away) - What was already a good rivalry will probably intensify with Richard Matvichuk now at the helm of the Mavericks. Mark your calendars for these five dates when Missouri visits the AEC. December 7, January 10, 11, & 19th, and March 27. The first meeting between the Martinson led Americans and Matvichuk led Mavericks will take place in Missouri on Friday, November 14th. If you like to travel to away games this would be a good choice.
Quad City (3 home, 5 away) - Quad City comes to the AEC three times during the season for single games as part of road trips to other teams. Allen also travels to Quad City three times during the season.
Brampton (5 home 3 away) - Allen really caught a break in the schedule as they are the only team that has to travel to Brampton only one time during the season. They go for three games January 22, 23 & 25. They have no other away games on this trip so just go from Allen to Brampton and return. Maybe that means they will fly to Brampton as they did last year and avoid the over 1300 mile bus trip. Brampton actually comes to the AEC on four different occasions. Only one time (November 21 & 22) they play two games in Allen. The other three dates (December 13, February 28, & April 3) are single game visits.
- Along with the schedule the CHL posts some important dates for the year. Here they are:
2014-15 Important Dates
Training Camp Opens: Monday, October 13
Preseason Schedule Begins: Wednesday, October 15
Regular Season Opens: Friday, October 24
Christmas Break: December 23-25
Mid-Season Break: January 12-15
Last Day of Regular Season: Sunday, April 5
DID YOU KNOW: MavsFanJoe who I call "Stats Man" over on Chlforums.com computed total miles traveled for the season by team. No surprise that Brampton leads the league with an estimated 27,005 miles traveled. Here is the list:
- ALN 20,070
- BRM 27,705
- MIZ 21,112
- QDC 22,371
- RPD 24,513
- TUL 16,134
- WIC 19,161
No comments:
Post a Comment