Allen Regroups for Games in Florida, Roster Update, Americans Sign Patrick Megannety & More

Sorry for the lateness of the blog today. My cable and internet went down at 4:00 am this morning and just got back up at 2:00 pm.

The Allen Americans are in regroup mode as they prepare to take on the Florida Everblades (Wednesday) and the Orlando Solar Bears (Thursday & Sunday) this week. It will be the first road trip to South Division teams since the Americans joined the ECHL. The only other South Division team Allen has faced was earlier this season when Atlanta came to the Allen Event Center (AEC) and split two games.

-        Florida leads the South Division with a record of 27-8-1-2, has a winning percentage of .750 and is 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games. Orlando has been struggling recently going 3-5-0-2 in their last 10 games but still holds third place in the division with a record of 20-15-4-2 and a winning percentage of .561. 

-        Allen has problems of their own coming off two very poor performances against Wichita where they were beaten 4-0 and 5-1. The Americans have been playing with a short bench with several players in the AHL along with numerous injuries.

-        Allen will be in better shape player personnel wise as they head to Florida. Dyson Stevenson is expected to be back in the lineup and coach Martinson has signed Patrick Megannety from the SPHL Pensacola Ice Flyers. Megannety is a 23 year old rookie who is a left shot forward. Steve Martinson and Megannety’s father (Neal) played together with the Adirondack Red Wings (AHL) in the late 1980’s. 

-        Riley Gill will not make the trip to Florida but Zach Hall will be with the team. Hall is listed as day to day.

-        There is nothing new regarding the players in the AHL. San Jose (Moore & Marchment)  and San Diego (Hanson) both have games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. If either team gets some of their injured players back it is possible you could see Moore, Hanson or Marchment  in Florida. The news out of San Jose is several injured players are now day to day.

-        With the  possibility of  Moore and Hall being out of the lineup it will be critical to have some of the forwards that have not been scoring step up and create offense. Allen continued to score goals when Hanson and Marchment  went to the AHL but have just one goal in the last two games without Hall and Moore. The Americans scored 19 goals in the last six games. If you eliminate Hall and Moore the forwards have just six of the 19 goals. Costello has three, Asuchak, Steffes and Mathers have one each. 

-        The Allen penalty kill is another area that needs improvement if the Americans are to have success in Florida. Over the last six games the penalty kill percentage is only 75% (8-32). Having Dyson Stevenson back in the lineup should be a big help. Stevenson probably logs more penalty kill minutes than anyone.  

OTHER COMMENTS

-        Here is an article about a possible deployment plan for Aaron Dell for the remainder of the season. It should be noted this is not being suggested by the team. Dell has done an outstanding  job in his backup role and actually has better stats than the starter (Martin Jones). It does make one wonder why Dell isn’t used more frequently to provide rest for Jones down the stretch so he is well rested for the playoffs. http://thehockeywriters.com/a-deployment-plan-for-aaron-dell/

 

-        Greger Hanson has played in five games for the San Diego Gulls since being loaned on January 11. He has three points (1 goal 2 assists), is a +2, has 18 shots on goal and two penalty minutes.

-        Jake Marchment has played in two games since being recalled by the San Jose Barracuda on January 10. Jake has recorded no points, is a -2, has two shots on goal and two penalty minutes. 

-        Bryan Moore has played in one game since being loaned to San Jose last Saturday. Bryan’s boxscore for the game was all zeros with the exception of two shots on goal.

-        There will be some familiar faces when Allen goes to Orlando. John Snowden is the assistant coach for the Solar Bears. Trevor Ludwig plays for Orlando but has been out with an injury since the end of December. Chris Crane is also in Orlando having been traded to the Solar Bears for Bryan Moore. 

  

 --  Here Patrick Megannety's stats courtesy of hockeydb:

Patrick Megannety

Forward -- shoots L
Born Feb 1 1993 -- Oakville, ONT
[23 yrs. ago]
Height 5.11 -- Weight 195

			Regular Season						Playoffs
Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2009-10	Georgetown Raiders	OJHL	7	0	1	1	0	0
2010-11	Georgetown Raiders	OJHL	50	15	21	36	36		5	1	5	6	4
2011-12	Georgetown Raiders	OJHL	41	26	20	46	33		18	5	1	6	10
2012-13	Clarkson University	ECAC	36	7	10	17	8
2013-14	Clarkson University	ECAC	37	4	10	14	2
2014-15	Clarkson University	ECAC	34	6	7	13	16	4
2015-16	Clarkson University	ECAC	35	5	8	13	8	0
2015-16	Brampton Beast	ECHL	8	1	0	1	2	-2	--	--	--	--	--
2016-17	Pensacola Ice Flyers*	SPHL	18	3	4	7	21	1

DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans have more fights this season (53) than the Florida Everblades (24) and Orlando Solar Bears (16) combined (40). Allen leads the ECHL in fights and penalty minutes (878). Despite having the most penalty minutes the Americans have 35 power play goals. Only Toledo has more (39). Allen has scored 158 goals this season. Only Toledo (160) and Manchester (159) have scored more.