Nitty-Gritty Facts About the Allen Roster, Iowa Wild Beat Tuscon 2-0, Iowa Coach Interview, Iowa Wild History

The Allen Americans take the ice for the first time today and in just 10 days will have the opening day roster selected. There are 26 players currently under contract. Two or three additional players have been or will be signed and Iowa will assign players to Allen in the next few days. Here is a list of the 26 players currently under contract with Allen, sliced and diced in various ways. Unless otherwise stated all of this info is from eliteprospects.com.

ROSTER

Goalies
Jeremy Brodeur
Andrew D'Agostini

Defensemen
Josh Atkinson
Alex Breton
Joel Chouinard
Mike Gunn
Miles Liberati
David Makowski
Tate Olson
Ben Owen
Eric Roy
Dalton Thrower
Josh Thrower

Forwards
Spencer Asuchak
Chad Butcher
J.C. Campagna
Lucas Clark
Ben Duffy
Matt Foget  (likely traded but not announced)
Thomas Frazee
Casey Pierro-Zabotel
Zach Pochiro
Tyler Poulson
Braylon Shmyr
Kevin Sundher
Mitch Vandergunst


FACTS

- Eight players are from the United States born in six different states

- 18 players are from Canada born in six different provinces, six hail from British Columbia

- Combined the 26 players have played 1328 games for Allen in the past

- The group has 486 games of AHL experience led by Joel Chouinard with 204

- Average age is 24.27. Only two other ECHL teams are younger (Wheeling 24.26 & Wichita 23.76)

- Average weight is 188 pounds. Only three teams (Brampton, Jacksonville, Tulsa) are lighter

- Tallest player is Spencer Asuchak (6' 5") and shortest is Tyler Poulson (5'7")

- Nine of the 26 players are rookies

- There are 11 defenseman, four are right shot and seven left shot

- There are 13 forwards, six right shots, seven left shots

- Eight of the 13 forwards are listed as playing center by elite prospects

- The oldest players at 29 are Casey Pierro-Zabotel and David Makowski

- The youngest are 21 and there are six of them


OTHER COMMENTS

-  The Iowa Wild played their final preseason game yesterday and shutout the Tuscon Roadrunners 2-0. The Iowa goalie was C.J. Motte who is expected to be the goalie assigned to Allen. I haven't seen a box score but Braylon Shmyr, Josh Atkinson, Alex Breton and Tate Olson were all expected to play. Here is a press release about the game: https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/iowa-shuts-out-tucson-2-0-in-preseason-finale


- Prior to the Iowa game yesterday coach Tim Army discussed their loss to Tuscon on Friday night and at the end of the interview talked about what the Allen players needed to do in the Saturday game. Army talked about playing with pace, understanding the forecheck, having an impact on the game by being seen and not blending in. It would be a great opportunity for the Allen players to make an impression so they will be the first call up during the season when Iowa has injuries or loses players to Minnesota.  Here is the full seven minute interview. The part where coach Army talks about the Allen players starts at the 5:30 mark. https://bit.ly/2zEloUG


DID YOU KNOW: The Iowa Wild have been in existence since the 2013-14 season. The franchise moved from Houston where the Houston Aeros were part of the AHL since 2001. The Aeros were also affiliated with the Minnesota Wild.