Barry The Blogger - Follow me on twitter at @allenamericans1 and/or like my Facebook page at Allen Americans Blog. This is the official blog of the Allen Americans.
On my way to the Allen Americans practice yesterday I made a decision the blog today would be called "Positive News Wednesday" since it seems like all I have been writing about lately is what isn't working with the Americans. It didn't take long for that idea to sink into the background when I arrived at practice and learned that Miles Liberati had been traded. Liberati has been a great role player since arriving in Allen in 2016, doing whatever was asked of him whether it was playing defense or playing forward or being a healthy scratch. He is a true professional.
- When you look what is behind the Liberati trade it makes sense from the standpoint of improving the roster under some special circumstances. First, with nine defensemen on the roster there is just not enough ice time for everyone. Miles was a healthy scratch in four of the Americans eight games and in the games he played, Allen was playing with seven or eight defensemen because they were short forwards. I am sure coach Martinson's thought process was he needed fewer defensemen and more forwards especially with the injury situation. Kevin Sundher is on injured reserve, Casey Pierro-Zabotel was injured in Rapid City and it is unknown how long he will be out. If Liberati was only getting in the lineup to play forward it makes sense to trade for a forward and that is what Martinson did. Johnny McInnis, who Allen acquired from the Indy Fuel, is a 6'2" 205 pound, right shot forward that scored 20 goals last season. This trade will also be good for Liberati as he will get more ice time in Indy and it will be at defense, his natural position.
- I am not giving up on "Positive News Wednesday" so here we go.
- Last season Allen started out with three straight wins but then lost five games in a row. The Americans have just finished a three game road trip where they won two of three games.
- Seven of Allen's first eight games were on the road. Five of their next seven games are at home.
- Spencer Asuchak is off to a great start this season with eight points (3G 5A) in the first eight games. He is second on the team in scoring. Last season Spencer didn't get his eighth point until November 22.
- Braylon Shmyr has 14 points (7G, 7A) in eight games. Talk about a great start for the rookie, he is the #2 scorer in the entire ECHL. He leads the rookie scoring race by five points. Coach Martinson always says points get you noticed by AHL teams and there is no doubt Braylon's start has gotten him noticed. Shmyr has been called up by the Springfield Thunderbirds. He will be missed but a great opportunity at the next level for Braylon.
- Another rookie having a great start is defenseman Alex Breton. Alex is averaging a point a game (2G, 6A) and is tied for the league lead in scoring by a defenseman.
- Allen leads the ECHL in penalty minutes with 180. No other team has more than 151 PIMS. A good reminder that the last four Kelly Cup champions were at or near the top of the league in penalty minutes.
- Allen is undefeated (3-0) when scoring the first goal of the game.
- Allen's road penalty kill is ranked #11 at 88.9%. A big improvement over last season when it was ranked #25 at 78.8%.
- Despite a losing record and being ranked #20 in the ECHL in winning percentage (.438) the Allen goalies have the fourth best team save percentage in the ECHL at .916.
- Goalie C.J. Motte is ranked second in the ECHL in minutes (368) and saves (232).
- Allen's team shooting percentage is historically low at 8.4% but the Americans have three players with historically high shooting percentages.
DID YOU KNOW: You can't end on a more positive note than Steve Martinson's record in Allen. He has 10 championships in his 22 years as a coach including four in six years at the helm in Allen. His regular season record in Allen is 251-124-24-21. That computes to a winning percentage of .651. He has coached in 17 playoff series with the Americans and has a record of 15-2. He is 5-1 is seven game playoff series including 2-0 in seven game championship finals.
You can't end "Positive News Wednesday" without a video and I have chosen my favorite championship which was the first in 2013. Maybe it is because Allen beat their two biggest rivals and it took seven games. Missouri in the semifinals and Wichita in the finals in overtime. If you were at that game or are just an Allen fan, whether you have never seen this video or watched it dozens of times it is impossible to watch with out getting chills. I hope Allen fans get to see a lot of these players back in Allen for the Alumni game in February. Enjoy!
It is back to practice today for the Allen Americans and I thought I would start out with a little hyperbole by saying this may be to most important three straight days of practice all season. I say this for a few reasons. First, after this week the Americans will not have three practices days (four days between games) but one time until after the first of the year. This team is still forming and practices are critical at this time of the season. Second, the team is off to a poor start (3-4-0-1). If you look at the standings they are deceiving with four teams (Kansas City, Idaho, Allen, Wichita) tied for third place with seven points. Allen has taken eight games to earn seven points while Kansas City and Wichita have played only five games.
- If you look at the Mountain Division standings by winning percentage the picture is very different. Only two of the seven teams have a losing record, Allen and Rapid City. Here are the standings based on winning percentage.
.900 - Tulsa
.833 - Utah
.700 - Kansas City
.700 - Wichita
.500 - Idaho
.438 - Allen
.429 - Rapid City
- Team performance thus far is why this week is so important when it comes to practice. Coach Martinson said after the team blew a 5-0 lead on Saturday, "We turned pucks over, we didn't defend well, in some cases we over defended and we defended soft in the second half of the game. We are going to have to figure out if we want to learn from this because we can't keep playing like this. We need to get home and get to work. We have some guys who need to learn how to defend. We need to get more serious about our mental preparation and defending, making sure that is a priority."
- While team defense was better in the Allen 2-0 loss on Sunday it did not change the goal for practice this week which is a focus on defensive play. Thus far Martinson has been patient with this group, maybe because they are one of the younger teams in the league and are very skilled. If there isn't marked improvement in team defense this weekend in two home games against South Carolina, who have also had a mediocre start (4-4-0-0), Martinson could decide he can't win with this group and make major changes. That is why the next three days of practice may be the most important of the season (hyperbole intended).
- I wrote yesterday about the inconsistency that has plagued the Americans in their first eight games. The best example was the first two games of the season where they lost 5-1 in the opener and the next night won 4-0. Here is a look at a few stats to help describe inconsistency.
- Goals scored - Allen is in the middle of the pack in goals scored ranking #15 averaging 3.00 goals per game. It is a different look when the goals scored in all eights games thus far; 1,4,5,1,4,3,6,0. Here are the brackets which are telling and do show some inconsistency.
0-1 - three times
2-3 - one time
4 or more - four times
- Shots and Goals allowed - These stats are the best proof of the Americans poor defensive play. Allen is ranked #27 (last) in shots allowed (43.25) and #23 in goals allowed (3.75). Goals allowed in the eight games so far were 5,0,6,4,2,5,2. Again the inconsistency is evident with five or six goals allowed three times and two or fewer goals allowed three times.
- Allen has allowed five goals and won, scored five goals and lost, scored two goals and won, allowed two goals and lost, been shutout once, shutout their opponent once and this all took place in the first eight games. I think the word inconsistency is appropriate.
- Allen isn't the only traditionally good team off to a slow start. Manchester finished second in the North Division last season one point out of first place. This season they have started 3-3-0-1. Florida won the Brabham Cup last season for the most points in the regular season (112). This season they are ranked #22 in points with a record of 2-3-1-0. The winner of the historically good team with a bad start goes Fort Wayne. The Komets were the fifth best team in the ECHL in winning percentage last season and fourth best in 2016-17. This season they have started 1-5-0-0 and are last (#27) in the league with a winning percentage of .167.
DID YOU KNOW: In the history of the ECHL the Brabham Cup (most regular season points) has been won by the same team in consecutive years just one time. That team was the Alaska Aces and they won the Brabham Cup an amazing four straight years, 2010-2014.
The Allen Americans were shutout yesterday 2-0 by the Rapid City Rush in the final game of their three game series in South Dakota. The Americans came away with four points on a shootout win, overtime win and regulation loss and showed the inconsistency that has plagued them so far this season.
- Allen's inconsistency started from the opening weekend of the season when the Americans lost their first game 5-1 to Kansas City only to turn around the next night and beat Wichita 4-0. In Rapid City this weekend the Americans gave up a 2-0 lead in the first game and a 5-0 lead in game two even though they managed to win both games. In game three yesterday the Americans managed 40 shots on goal but could not beat Rush goalie Adam Carlson.
- The Americans scored five goals in the first 25 minutes (25:33) of the game on Saturday but since that fifth goal have gone over 94 minutes (94:27) without a goal.
- There were certainly some bright spots in the 2-0 loss yesterday. The Americans played better defensively other than a 16 second span in the third period when Rapid City scored both of their goals. Jeremy Brodeur played great in goal with a .947 save percentage. Allen out shot the Rush 40-38 and killed six of seven Rapid City power play opportunities.
- Here are the video highlights that show both of the goals but also numerous outstanding saves by both goalies:
- I had a chance to touch base with coach Steve Martinson after the game and he thought the team played much better defensively but had trouble scoring even though they had plenty of chances. He liked the physicality from the team after playing three games in 48 hours. It is clear there is plenty to work on at practice this week.
- The Americans will take the 400 mile bus trip from Rapid City to Denver this morning and than fly back to DFW. They are expected to be back around 4:00 pm.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen continues to take way too many minor penalties. They had eight more on Sunday for a total of 55 on the season which is #1 in the ECHL. Allen is also #1 in giving up power play opportunities (44).
- Former players seem to always play well against the Americans. Last week it was Dyson Stevenson with four goals in two games and a Player of the Week performance. This week it was Garrett Klotz. For the entire 2017-18 season Klotz had no goals and four assists. Against Allen on Saturday and Sunday his totals were one goal and two assists.
- It is difficult to see a proud franchise like the Rapid City Rush struggle at the box office. The announced attendance for the three games this weekend was 2035, 2059 and 1799. Not a good sign when the attendance is that low for weekend games. In 2009-10 when Rapid City won the CHL championship, beating the Allen Americans in the finals, their average attendance was 4811. The first year the Rush joined the ECHL (2014-15) their average attendance was down to 3856. Last season average attendance for Rapid City was 3053. This season the Rush are ranked #27 in attendance averaging just 2204. It is still early (five home games) and attendance always increases after Christmas but most owners cannot sustain the losses that come with an average attendance below 2500. The Rush have struggled on the ice finishing last in the Division the past two seasons. If they can be more successful on the ice and this weekend was proof of that possibility as they got four points against the Americans, hopefully that will translate into improved attendance.
- There was some outstanding goalie play in the Allen vs Rapid City series this weekend. On Friday night the #1 star was Allen goalie C.J. Motte and the #2 star was Rush goalie Michael Bitzer. On Saturday Motte was again selected as the #1 star of the game and Rapid City goalie, Adam Carlson was the #3 star. On Sunday Rush goalie, Adam Carlson was the #1 star for his 40 save shutout and Jeremy Brodeur had a .947 save percentage, saving 36 of 38 shots.
- If you haven't seen the highlights from Allen's wild 6-5 overtime win on Saturday here they are:
DID YOU KNOW: Braylon Shmyr has seven of Allen's 24 goals which is 29.2%. Here are the top five ECHL players with the highest percentage of their team's goals. Notice three of the five have played for the Allen Americans.
31.8% - Caleb Herbert (Utah)
31.6% - Alex Kile (Maine)
29.2% - Braylon Shmyr (Allen)
28.6% - Dyson Stevenson (Wichita)
27.8% - Chris Crane (Norfolk)
I thought it was a perfect plan. The Allen Americans finally had the breakout game everyone was looking for when they took a 5-0 lead against the Rapid City Rush at the 5:33 mark of the second period. The Americans scored first, won the first period 3-0 and had three power play goals on four opportunities. It was going to be a blowout so I decided to go to sleep, get up at 2:45 am and write the blog before I headed out hunting at 5:45 am. It would be quick and easy writing about a lopsided victory. But as Keith Jackson would say, "Whoa, Nelly!" Unless you come from the train of thought that any road win is good, the Americans had a huge collapse but managed to win the game 6-5 in overtime.
- First the good news. Allen scored on three of their first six shots on goals with by Spencer Asuchak (3), David Makowski (1) and Miles Liberati (1). They took a 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes (8:33) of the game and chased starting Rush goalie Micheal Bitzer. When the Americans scored twice early in the second period on goals by Braylon Shmyr (7) and Zach Pochiro (4) the rout was on or at least it seemed the rout was on.
- From the point Allen took a 5-0 lead to the end of regulation Rapid City outscored the Americans 5-0 and out shot them 37-15. To give up 37 shots in an entire game is not good but to do it in half a game is inexcusable, especially when it was mostly five on five hockey. I didn't have a chance to talk to coach Martinson after the game (remember I was sleeping) but I can almost hear him saying after Allen got the 5-0 it became more important to the players to score than to win. That is one of the downfalls when you get a big lead early.
- You can't lose sight of the fact Allen did have the composure to win the game in overtime after blowing the 5-0 lead. The game winning goal was scored by Joel Chouinard, his first of the season, on a back door pass from Chad Butcher at the 1:49 mark of the overtime.
- The #1 star of the game for the second straight night was Allen goalie C.J. Motte. You don't find the goalie getting selected as the #1 star very often in a game that ends up with a score of 6-5. It is a tribute to Motte keeping Allen in the game during the 37-15 onslaught the last 30 minutes of the contest and making 46 saves on the night.
REMATCH PREVIEW
- It hasn't been easy but the Americans have garnered four points in the first two games in Rapid City. Game three of the series takes place this afternoon (4:05 pm Allen time) with a chance for Allen to come away with six points for the weekend. The game this afternoon will be the third game in less than 48 hours for these teams so it will be a test of who wants it more and which team is in better shape with fresher legs.
- It is expected Jeremy Bordeur will get the start in goal for Allen.
- To put it simply the key to victory today is for the Americans is play the way they did in the first 30 minutes last night. They scored first and are still undefeated when scoring first. Allen won the first period (3-0) and are still undefeated when leading after the first period.
- Special teams have been great and it starts with staying out of the penalty box. Last night Allen had three minor penalties for a game total of six minutes. The Americans were 3-4 on the power play and killed all three Rush power play opportunities. If the Americans can come anywhere close to that performance today they will win.
- Winning is more important than scoring and hopefully that will be the message today. The Americans were out shot last night 51-34 and cannot expect to win if they don't play better defense and limit the number of shots.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen played last night without Casey Pierro-Zabotel and missed his leadership the last half of the game. Casey has been one of the ECHL's ironmen having not missed a single game over the past two seasons. He had played in 187 straight regular games before his injury on Friday night. You have to go back to December of 2015 for the last time he missed a game prior to missing the game last night. He will be missed while he is out and it will not be known how long that will be until he is evaluated by the team doctor when Allen returns home but the hope is it won't be too long. In the meantime, hats off to the ironman.
- Allen's power play was 0-19 to start the season but has scored in the last three games and is 6-15 (40%) over those three games. The overall power play percentage is now a respectable 17.6%. The penalty kill continues to do well and is ranked #8 at 89.2%.
- I included this in the blog yesterday about the games on Friday night, "Some former Allen Americans scored goals last night. Mike Brodzinski
had a goal in Orlando's 3-0 win over Florida and Peter MacArthur scored
in Adirondacks 3-1 win over Maine. Chris Crane had a goal for Norfolk in
their 5-2 loss to South Carolina and J.C. Campagna scored in a losing
cause as Fort Wayne lost to Toledo 7-3." When I was checking the box scores this morning I thought I had pulled up the wrong date because Brodzinski, MacArthur, Crane and Campagna all scored goals. I wasn't looking at the wrong date as they all had a goal for the second consecutive night. Now that is a coincidence. Last night only Campagna's goal was in a losing cause.
- Fort Wayne lost again last night, their fifth straight loss after winning their opening game. They are now ranked last in the league with a winning percentage of .167. Captain Jamie Schaafsma has been out of the lineup with an injury since game two.
DID YOU KNOW: I am sure it seems to Allen fans the Americans are off to a slow start but if they win the game today it will be their best start (and only winning record) after eight games in the past three seasons. Here are the records:
- So there you have it. It is 5:45 am and I managed to "Git-R-Done" as Larry the Cable Guy would say. Excuse the errors as no proofreader today and I am going hunting!
The Allen Americans gave up a 2-0 third period lead but managed to come away with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Rapid City Rush last night at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The game turned out to be a goalie duel as both goalies made numerous quality saves to keep their teams in the game. For their effort Allen goalie C.J. Motte was selected as the #1 star of the game and Rapid City goalie, Micheal, Bitzer, was the #2 star.
- Scoring first and winning the first period is always a key to victory and Allen accomplished both on a power play goal from Braylon Shmyr with 21 seconds remaining in the opening period. For Shmyr it was his sixth goal of the season which has him tied for the league lead. Chad Butcher, playing his first game of the season after coming off the injured reserve list and Thomas Frazee, returning to the lineup after missing the last four games with an injury, got the assists.
- The Americans took a 2-0 lead early in the second period (4:09) on Zach Pochiro's third goal of the season assisted by Frazee and Shmyr. Allen took the 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
- Early in the third period (5:49) Rapid City would cut the Allen lead in half. With Alex Breton and Dalton Thrower in the penalty box the Rush made the score 2-1 on a 5-on-3 power play goal. Midway through the third period (11:50) Rapid City got the equalizer on an unassisted goal off a turnover in the slot. Both teams had opportunities to win the game but the goalies made grade A stops to send the game to overtime.
- Allen dominated play in the overtime out shooting the Rush 9-2 but despite some quality chances could not score. The Americans, who lost their only other shootout this season, scored twice in the shootout to come away with the win. Rapid City chose to go first and both shooters (Shmyr for Allen) in the first round missed. In the second round the Rush shooter missed and Allen took the lead when Dante Salituro, who played with Rapid City last season, scored. That meant the third shooter for the Rush had to score in the final round of the shootout to keep the game alive, which he did. The game winner came as Allen's third round shooter, Chad Butcher, playing his first game of the season, made a great move to score and give the Americans a 3-2 victory and two very important points in the standings.
- The two teams will be back in action tonight (8:05 pm Allen time) for game two of the three game series.
"It was painful to watch when you giveaway a two goal lead going into the third period."
"They got a minute and a half of 5-on-3 power play and we couldn't kill it."
"Then we score a goal and it doesn't count because of a quick whistle."
"We made a bad turnover in the slot" (on the game tying goal)
"I thought their goaltender was pretty good and made some big saves"
"I thought we had some good opportunities in the overtime"
"I felt if the game went to a shootout we would win."
OTHER COMMENTS
- After not having a power play goal in their first four games (0-19) Allen has scored on the power play in the last two going 3-11 (27.3%). It will be a big plus if the Americans can keep that streak going.
- Allen scored the first goal of the game which was only the second time in six games that has happened. The Americans are 2-0 when scoring first.
- Allen outshot Rapid City 43-37 which is real progress. Going into the game Allen was ranked #14 in shots per game averaging 31.60. In shots allowed Allen was last in the
league allowing an average of 44.00 shots per game. Giving up 37 shots is real progress especially because the game went into overtime.
- Injuries continue to plague the Americans as Casey Pierro-Zabotel left the game in the first period with an upper body injury and did not return. It would be a huge loss for Allen if Casey is out of the lineup for any length of time. Per coach Martinson, Casey will be evaluated by the team doctor on Tuesday after the team returns to Allen.
- Braylon Shmyr is tied for the lead league in goals (6) and leads all
rookies in goals and points (10). He also has the longest current road
streak in the league in goals and points (4 games). Shmyr has twice as many goals as anyone else on the team even though is is ranked third on the team in shots taken with just 16. His shooting percentage is off the charts at 37.5%. As a team Allen's shooting percentage is 8.5%.
- C.J. Motte is second in the ECHL in minutes played (306) and first in saves (186). Motte's save percentage last night was .946 (35-37) and his save percentage for the season (five games) is now .921. Of the 16 ECHL goalies that have played in four games and over 200 minutes, Motte's .921 save percentage ranks second.
REMATCH PREVIEW
- Allen and Rapid City are back at it tonight (8:05 pm) and the Americans need to build on their win last night. They scored first, had the lead after the first period, had a power play goal, outshot the Rush and gave up only two goals. One of the two goals was on the power play but it was a 5-on-3. If Allen can accomplish all of those things tonight they will win again tonight.
- Two areas for improvement are turnovers which led to one of the Rush goals last night and stick penalties. Allen's six penalties last night were slashing, tripping, cross-checking, slashing, hooking and tripping. The referee called seven slashing penalties in the game so players need to be aware he enforces that rule to the letter.
- The referee scheduled tonight is Jeff Parker (#22). The linesmen will be Kilian McNamara (#90) and Cade Bloomenrader (#91). This is the same crew that worked the game last night.
AROUND THE ECHL
- Some former Allen Americans scored goals last night. Mike Brodzinski had a goal in Orlando's 3-0 win over Florida and Peter MacArthur scored in Adirondacks 3-1 win over Maine. Chris Crane had a goal for Norfolk in their 5-2 loss to South Carolina and J.C. Campagna scored in a losing cause as Fort Wayne lost to Toledo 7-3.
- In the Mountain Division action last night Tulsa beat Kansas City 4-1 and Utah beat Idaho 3-2. Here are the current Mountain Division standings with games played in parentheses:
- The Jacksonville Icemen are the only team that hasn't lost (4-0-0-0) and the Wheeling Nailers are the only team that hasn't won (0-2-0-0).
- Florida finished #1 in the ECHL last season with a winning percentage of .778. They are off to a tough start this season ranked #22 with a winning percentage of .400. The other perennial playoff team that is having a rough start is Fort Wayne. The Komets were ranked #5 last season (.668) and are currently ranked #26 at .200.
- The Mountain Division is well represented at the top of the standings when looking at winning percentage with four teams in the top 10. Utah is #2 (.900), Tulsa is #3 (.875), Wichita is #5 (.750) and Kansas City is #9 (.625).
DID YOU KNOW: After six games Allen's 26.00 average penalty minutes per game is higher than any
other season since the Americans joined the ECHL. Here are the numbers
with the league ranking in parentheses:
2018-19: 26.00 (#1) - through six games
2017-18: 19.60 (#1)
2016-17: 19.89 (#1)
2015-16: 16.51 (#5)
2014-15: 22.83 (#1)
Pretty sure I have never used this statement in the seven years I have been writing the blog, "It is a battle for the basement in the Mountain Division." Unfortunately that is the situation as the sixth place Allen Americans (1-3-0-1) are in Rapid City (1-3-0-0) to take on the seventh place Rush. It will be a three game series with the loser finding themselves in last place come Sunday night.
- If past is prologue Allen is in good shape but unfortunately what has happened in past seasons doesn't mean much this season. The Americans have dominated Rapid City since the teams joined the ECHL in 2014. Here are the stats.
22-7-1-0 Overall record
11-3-0-0 Record in Rapid City
11-4-1-0 Record in Allen
- Last season Allen was 7-1-0-0 against Rapid City including two wins to open the season that I described at the time this way. The Allen Americans defeated the Rapid City Rush last night 5-3 after winning 8-3 Friday night. The Americans swept
the weekend series by outscoring the Rush 13-6. It was quite a
weekend for the line combination of Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Zach Pochiro
and Olivier Archambault who created opportunities every time they were
on the ice together and were solid in the defensive zone. Here is how
dominant this group was in Rapid City. They collectively scored seven
goals, the rest of the team scored six. They had 17 points, the rest of
the team had 13 points. They had a plus/minus of +24, the rest of the
team was +15.
- Those two games in Rapid City to open the season last year turned out to be the best back to back games of the season. The three games this weekend will be the only trip of the season to Rapid City for the Americans. Allen will certainly go into the series knowing they have played well against the Rush in the past but that won't do them a lot of good.
- When you look at goals scored and goals allowed both teams have struggled. Allen is ranked #18 in goals scored (3.00) and Rapid City is ranked #24 (2.50). When it comes to goals allowed Allen is #23 giving up an average of 4.20 goals per game while Rapid City is ranked #20 (4.00).
- If you look at shots, Allen is ranked #14 in shots per game averaging 31.60 compared to Rapid City who is ranked #23 (28.50). In shots allowed Allen is last in the league allowing an average of 44.00 shots per game. Rapid City is ranked #13 allowing 31.25 shots per game.
- Overall, special teams stats are not as useful as looking at home and road numbers. Allen's power play is 2-24 (8.3%) overall but 2-16 (12.5%) on the road and the two power play goals came in their last game (in Tulsa) when the Americans were 2-5. Rapid City's overall power play percentage is 15.0% but at home they are only 1-9 (11.1%). Allen's road penalty kill is very good at 90.5% but Rapid City at home is 100% (0-9). Clearly, how these teams perform on special teams will go a long way in determining the outcome of this three game series.
- You can't talk about special teams without talking about penalties and it is clear Allen and Rapid City take a lot of penalties. In average penalty minutes per game Allen is ranked #1 (28.80) and Rapid City is ranked #3 (22.75). There are two facets of this stat. The first is fighting majors and as you might expect both of these teams are more than willing to drop the gloves. Rapid City has seven fighting majors in four games while Allen has six in five games. Heavyweight Garrett Klotz is on the Rapid City roster but has not played in a game yet. Their leading fighter has been Shaquille Merasty who has three fighting majors. There isn't anyone on the Americans roster that will fight Klotz if he is in the lineup and he is a liability if he isn't fighting. His career ECHL stats are 21 points (6G, 15A) 156 games to go along with a plus/minus of -36.
- A more telling penalty stat that will have a bigger impact on this series relates to minor penalties. Both of these teams take minor penalties at a high rate averaging 7.4 (Allen) and 7.0 (Rapid City) per game. Both teams are giving up close to six power play opportunities per game which is well above the league average. Whichever team is the most disciplined and stays out of the penalty box (unless they take someone with them) will be successful.
- Allen and Rapid City are the worst in the league in goal differential. Allen has scored 15 goals and allowed 21, Rapid City has scored 10 goals and allowed 16. Their minus six goal differential has the Americans and Rush ranked tied for #27. While Rapid City has a minus goal differential in all three periods, Allen's scoring by period is quite different. The Americans have been outscored in the first period 5-3 and in the second period by a significant 12-6 but in the third period they have outscored their opponents 6-3. Scoring first and winning the first period is always important but even more so in this series.
- The referee scheduled tonight is Jeff Parker (#22). The linesmen will be Kilian McNamara (#90) and Cade Bloomenrader (#91).
- If you plan on listening to or watching the games this weekend the time (CDT/Allen time) is 8:05 pm on Friday and Saturday with a 4:05 pm puck drop on Sunday.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Three former Allen Americans could be in the lineup for Rapid City in this series. Steven Tarasuk was part of the 2013-14 CHL championship team and also played briefly for Allen in 2014-15. Garrett Klotz was also a member of the Americans 2013-14 championship team. His 257 penalty minutes that season ranks #2 all time for a single season. Tyler Poulsen is the third former Allen player on the Rapid City roster. Poulsen played briefly for Allen last season and was in training camp with the Americans this season before being traded to the Rush.
- Several Allen players will be trying to extend scoring streaks tonight. Alex Breton has a point in all five Allen games. He has the longest road streak (4 games) in the league for assists and points. Dante Salituro and Braylon Shmyr have a goal in three straight road games which is the longest streak in the league.
- In other Mountain Division action tonight Kansas City is at Tulsa and Idaho is at Utah. A couple of other games around the league to keep an eye on are Florida at Orlando and Toledo at Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne and Orlando are playoff teams from last season that have gotten off to poor starts, looking to get back on the winning track.
DID YOU KNOW: It is always interesting to look at the geographical makeup of the
Allen Americans roster. If you go back to the first season
(2009-10) there were 35 players that played at least one game for the
Americans. Canadians were the vast majority as 26 players were from
Canada with the other nine from the US. By 2014-15 the roster was 23
Canadian, 18 US and one from Sweden. Here is the breakdown of the 22 players
on the current Allen roster. Looks like those British Columbia boys are slowly taking over.
Canada - 15 Players
9 - British Columbia
2 - Quebec
1 - Saskatchewan
1 - Alberta
1 - Ontario
1 - Manitoba
United States - 6 players
2 - Michigan
1 - Missouri
1 - Pennsylvania
1 - New Jersey
1 - Nevada
Yesterday I had some technical problems with the blog, actually that is a fancy way of saying I ran out of talent and somehow managed to
delete the post after taking four hours to write, proofread and post it,
so entirely operator error. Hopefully a better outcome today so let's get started.
- The Allen Americans had two good days of practice this week, according to the coaches, as the team prepared for three games this weekend in Rapid City. There was some good news as I rolled in to practice on Tuesday because four of the seven players that did not make the trip to Tulsa on Sunday were back on the ice as full participants. Eric Roy and Chad Butcher were placed on the 14 day injured reserve at the beginning of the season and are ready to go. Mike Gunn and Thomas Frazee are also back having missed the last four games. Roy, Butcher, Gunn and Frazee will all make the trip to Rapid City. The other three injured players (Josh Thrower, Kevin Sundher, Pavel Jenys) have not practiced and will not be on the Rapid City trip. If my math is correct it means 19 players will be in Rapid City so
without any more injuries there will be one healthy scratch each game.
- The team left very early this morning on a flight to Denver and will then bus from Denver to Rapid City. That proved to be the best balance between cost and avoiding a close to 1100 mile bus trip. By doing a fly and drive the trip will take about nine hours compared to close to 20 hours if it was by bus only. If all goes as planned the team will arrive in Rapid City early this afternoon. They will not practice today.
- I often get asked what the lines will be for upcoming games and always answer that question the same way. With coach Martinson line combinations change from practice to practice and even shift to shift. With that said it looked like Frazee was with Shmyr and Pochiro, Pierro-Zabotel was with Asuchak and Salituro and Lang was with Butcher and Stallard is some of the drills yesterday.
- Rookie defenseman Tate Olson was traded yesterday to the Newfoundland Growlers for future considerations. What I mean by future considerations is a player is not coming to Allen as result of this trade, at least not at this point.
- I wrote about this yesterday before I heard about the Tate Olson trade but it is still germane. One consideration when a team signs a lot of rookies at the beginning of the year is will they leave to enroll in college. This has happened many times in the past. If you remember last season the Americans traded Tanner Eberle to Jacksonville for defenseman Micheal Webster who opted to enroll in college rather than report to Allen. Allen started this season with four rookies, Braylon Shmyr, Alex Breton, Jordy Stallard and Tate Olson who played their junior hockey in Canada. Major junior hockey leagues in Canada (WHL, OHL, QMJHL) are considered professional by the NCAA because players get a small amount of spending money. Once a player signs with a major junior team they are ineligible for NCAA scholarships. However, playing major juniors provides young hockey players with great scholarships at Canadian colleges. Many players try the professional route and then decide attending college is what they prefer. If enrolled in college by the end of December or early January they are eligible to play college hockey immediately without sitting out a year. So there is always a question of will rookies leave and go to college. They always say they intend to stay pro but past history would say the team won't know for sure until the end of the year.
- Rookie Alex Breton is off to a great start averaging 1.60 points per game as a defenseman. His eight points lead all defensemen in the league. Even more impressive is this stat. There are 338 forwards in the ECHL that have played at least one game so far, only two of the 338 forwards have more points than Breton.
- Dyson Stevenson was a one man wrecking crew against his old team last weekend leading the Wichita Thunder to two wins over Allen. In the two games Dyson had five points (4G, 1A), a game winning goal, nine penalty minutes including a fight and was a +4. For his efforts Stevenson was named the ECHL Player of the Week. Here is the press release. https://www.echl.com/en/news/2018/10/wichita-stevenson-named-inglasco-echl-player-of-the-week
ECHL Player of the Week Dyson Stevenson goes around the outstretched glove of C.J. Motte
- I had the chance to check in on the Krefeld Pinguine of the top German league (DEL) to see how teammates Chad Costello and Geger Hanson are doing. Krefeld got off to a good start but have lost three of their last four games and are in 10th place in the 14 team league. Chad leads the team in points with 15 (4G, 11A) in 12 games. His 15 points is tied for third in the entire league. Greger Hanson has played in 10 games and does not have a single point. Hard to believe a player of Hanson's talent is scoreless after 10 games. In checking the box scores Hanson is usually on the third or fourth line which limits his playing time and opportunities. Hanson and Costello share the career record for goals in Allen with 98.
- The Americans are wearing Minnesota Wild inspired warmup jerseys at home that will eventually be auctioned off. Here are a couple of photos of the sharp looking warmup jerseys. You can also see the sticker on the front of the helmet for the new sponsor, Black Eyed Distilling Co. and their signature product, BLK EYE Vodka. Thanks to photographer David Dudich for providing all the photos in the blog today.
DID YOU KNOW: Some Allen players come from huge metropolitan areas like
Edmonton (Josh Atkinson), Montreal (Joel Chouinard), St. Louis (David
Makowski), Las Vegas (Zach Pochiro), Toronto (Dante Salituro) and Vancouver (Thomas Frazee). Others come from small towns like goalie C.J. Motte who hails from St. Clair, Michigan with a population of 5400. However, when you talk small towns
the prize goes to Eric Roy (Beauval, Saskatchewan). The 2016 census for
Beauval, which is in northern Saskatchewan, shows a population of 640
and includes five residents over 100 years old.
The MASH unit taking care of the Allen Americans has been very busy the last few days so when the team returns to practice today after taking a well deserved day off yesterday the primary question is who will be able to practice. Seven players did not make the trip to Tulsa because of injury. Mike
Gunn, Eric Roy, Josh Thrower, Chad Butcher, Thomas Frazee, Pavel Jenys
and Kevin Sunder. The hope is three or four of the injured players will be able to play when the Americans play three games in Rapid City this weekend.
- There is no doubt the players, coaches and Allen fans are disappointed in the slow start by the team this year. A year ago Allen started the season 3-0 and outscored their opponents 19-8 in those games. The Americans record is now 1-3-0-1. Prior to this season, since Steve Martinson arrived in Allen the Americans have never had a losing record after five games.
- After talking to coach Martinson yesterday as he was reviewing video of the game in Tulsa in preparation for practice today the conversation was similar to his approach every year as the season gets under way. Sure he is disappointed in the results thus far but he likes the team he has assembled and will work this week in practice to address the defensive breakdowns that have plagued the team.
- It doesn't mean Martinson is not trying to improve the roster but that is part of the process every season. There is little doubt in my mind Martinson is looking at players up for trade around the league to see if he can strengthen the Allen roster. There are always trades at this time of the season and there is no reason to expect that won't happen this season. It may happen this week or it may happen next week but history says there will be trades. Last season trades involving Tanner Eberle, Jaynen Rissling, Daniel Leavens, Alex Guptill and Marcus Basara all took place early in the season.
- Martinson is also in almost daily contact with the Wild to talk about needs with both organizations. Discussions are ongoing about the transfer of Wild contracted players to and from Allen. Again, history would suggest there will be changes, it is merely a matter of time.
- The bottom line is Martinson is trying to get better with the team he has, deal with all of the injuries, improve the roster with trades and work with the Wild to help Iowa and Allen.
INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS
- I thought it might be instructive to take a look at Allen's stats leaders after five games. Below are the team leaders
in various statistical categories with the league rank
in parentheses:
Shots On Goal:
26 - Dante Salituro (2nd)
14 - Braylon Shmyr (35th)
14 - David Makowski (35th)
Points by Defensemen
8 - Alex Breton (1st)
2 - David Makowski (30th)
1 - Josh Thrower (58th)
1 - Josh Atkinson (58th)
Save Percentage
.923 - Jeremy Brodeur (13th)
.915 - C.J. Motte (16th)
If
you can draw any conclusion from the individual stats it would be the team is being carried offensively by two rookies and a second year player. Breton, Shmyr and Salituro have contributed 22 points in the first five games. The rest of the roster combined have only 18 points. The three young players have accounted for 55% of the offense. To be successful Allen will need more offense from the experienced players.
- Here is how the Americans rank in the ECHL in some critical statistical categories:
Goal differential - 27th (-6)
Average PIMS per game - 1st (28.80)
Power play - 24th (8.3%)
Penalty kill - 9th (89.7%)
Ave. goals scored - 17th (3.00)
Ave. goals against - 23rd (4.20)
Ave. shots for per game - 14th (31.60)
Ave. shots against per game - 27th (44.00)
Shooting percentage - 16th (9.5%)
There is not much to like in the stats above which help explain the 1-3-0-1 start by the Americans. The only stat ranked higher than ninth is penalty minutes where Allen leads the league. With the power play percentage, goal differential, average goals allowed and average shots allowed all among the worst in the league there is plenty of room for improvement.
- In the ECHL transactions yesterday Allen took Mike Gunn off the reserve list and placed Kevin Sundher on the reserve list. There are several reasons this move could be made and unlike the injured reserve where a player must stay for a minimum of 14 days, players can move off and on the reserve list at any time. With that said this move may mean Gunn is getting closer to playing and Sundher will not make the trip to Rapid City.
- Some teams that didn't make the playoffs last season are off to great starts this season. There are four teams with winning percentages above .800; Jacksonville, Utah, Kansas City and Tulsa. Only Utah was in the playoffs last season.
DID YOU KNOW: Was asked yesterday if the start by Allen this season is the worst ever. It took some research but the answer is yes, the 1-3-0-1 record this season is the worst start in franchise history. In eight of Allen's 10 seasons they have had a winning record after five games. The best record after five games was 4-0-0-1 which happened in 2009-10 and 2013-14. The only other losing record after five games was in 2011-12 when Allen started 1-2-0-2.
The Allen Americans lost last night in Tulsa by a score of 6-4. While moral victories are meaningless when you have lost three games in a row there were some positives from the loss. It is important to put the game in perspective. The Americans were playing their third game in less than 48 hours while Tulsa was playing their first game in 161 hours. To make matters worse the Americans had to travel the 230 miles to Tulsa on game day. Throw in the Americans had to play short two skaters because of injuries and you had a recipe for disaster.
Seven players did not make the trip to Tulsa because of injury. Mike Gunn, Eric Roy, Josh Thrower, Chad Butcher, Thomas Frazee, Pavel Jenys and Kevin Sunder. There are others who are injured but managed to make the trip and play. Because of all of the injuries Allen played the game with seven defensemen and just seven forwards.
- The story of the game was one of not giving up against some fairly sizable obstacles. Tulsa scored first early in the opening period (3:57) but Allen came back to tie the score and the teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1.
- The second period was all Tulsa with the Oilers out shooting Allen 22-6 and out scoring them 3-0. With Tulsa taking a 4-1 lead into the second intermission it appeared the Americans had ran out of gas against a fresh team and the game was over.
- Allen scored 30 seconds into the third period on a goal by Spencer Asuchak and that gave the team renewed energy. When Zach Pochiro pulled Allen within one goal (4-3) at the 12:39 mark it started to feel like a comeback was possible. Allen pulled Jeremy Brodeur for an extra skater with just over two minutes remaining while the Americans were on a power play but Tulsa immediately scored an empty net goal. Not giving up, the Americans again closed to within one goal (5-4) with 23 seconds remaining in the game. Tulsa scored a second empty net goal with 10 seconds remaining to end the comeback attempt and secure the victory.
- It says a lot about the team that they won the third period when they were exhausted from playing with only 14 skaters in their third game in 48 hours. Allen out shot Tulsa in the third period 17-14 and outscored the Oilers 3-2. The two Tulsa goals were both empty net goals.
- There were other positives from the game. The Americans were 2-5 on the power play after going 0-19 in their first four games. The penalty kill was perfect (0-5).
- Goal scorers for Allen were Braylon Shmyr (5), Spencer Asuchak (2), Zach Pochiro (2) and Dante Salituro (3).
- I had a chance to talk briefly with coach Martinson after the game and he acknowledged that, "Considering we played shorthanded for two straight nights and we played three games in three days there were some positives especially in the third period. However, some of the scoring chances we are giving up lack brain power."
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Allen penalty kill gave up two goals in the Americans opening game in Kansas City (2-6) but in the last four games the penalty kill unit is 1-23 for a penalty kill percentage of 95.7%.
- The Americans allowed a season high 53 shots on goal by Tulsa yesterday. It was the fourth time in five games Allen has allowed 40+ shots. Allen is last in the ECHL in shots allowed. Here is a comparison.
25.50 - Shots allowed per game by #1 in shots allowed - Jacksonville Icemen
38.25 - Shots allowed per game by the #26 ranked team - Brampton Beast
44.00 - Shots allowed by the last place team in this stat, #27 ranked Allen Americans
- For those of you that study ECHL box scores and have struggled with the new ECHL website you can see the old box score format if you download and use the ECHL Application. I am told you will be able to see the game sheets as part of the game center portion of the new website by this weekend. In the meantime if you don't have the ECHL app and aren't interested in downloading it, here is a direct link to the box scores in the old format. https://lscluster.hockeytech.com/statview/mobile/echl/#/daily-schedule/2018-10-12?league=1&season=48
- Alex Breton had two assists in the game against Tulsa to continue his scoring streak. Breton has a point in all five Allen games and has a total of eight points (2G, 6A). Alex is tied with Braylon Shmyr for the team lead in points, he is also tied with Shmyr for the most points in the ECHL by a rookie. Breton is also the top scoring defenseman in the ECHL. Finally, Alex is tied for second in scoring in the ECHL among all players.
- Braylon Shmyr had a goal and two assists in Tulsa and has a total of eight points (5G, 3A). Shmyr is tied with Breton for the team lead in scoring. Here is where Braylon stands in ECHL scoring:
#2 - overall scoring leader (tied)
#1 - goals (tied)
#1 - points by a rookie (tied)
#1 - goals by a rookie
- As a team Allen has a plus/minus of -23. The only players with a plus are Joel Chouinard and Spencer Asuchak who are +2.
- Last week I shared some information about team travel this season on a different bus than the team used last season. I have also heard the team will be flying more this season than last. In addition to flying on the long trips (Idaho, Utah, Rapid City, Reading) the team may be flying to Kansas City as well.
DID YOU KNOW: Allen's winning percentage has fallen to .300 which places them #23 in the ECHL. Here are the bottom five teams in winning percentage with their record in parentheses:
.300 - Allen Americans (1-3-0-1)
.250 - Fort Wayne Komets (1-3-0-0)
.250 - Maine Mariners (1-3-0-0)
.250 - Rapid City (1-3-0-0)
.000 - Wheeling Nailers (0-2-0-0)
The Allen Americans lost their home opener 4-1 last night to the Wichita Thunder before a disappointed crowd of 5301 at the Allen Event Center (AEC). If you are superstitious you can blame the loss on the specialty jersey curse or the home opener curse. I haven't kept track of the record when wearing specialty jerseys as the Americans did last night but it is a losing one for sure. I have kept track of home openers and this outstanding franchise is now a mediocre 4-6 on opening night at the AEC. Check below for the details.
- It is hard to know where to start in describing this penalty filled game but stats don't lie and here are a few from last night that would predict defeat.
Allen had another bad start giving up the first three goals of the game and lost the first period 2-0. The Americans record last season when they didn't score first was 9-23-5-0 and when trailing after the first period their record was 4-17-3-1. Not great odds when you have a start like Allen did last night.
The Americans gave up 41 shots in the game and managed only 28 of their own despite having eight power play opportunities. The Americans have allowed over 40 shots in three of their four games thus far and lost them all. Allen is now dead last in the ECHL in shots allowed with an average of 41.75 per game.
Allen did a good job on the penalty kill allowing Wichita one power play goal in eight opportunities but still lost the special teams battle. The Americans were 0-8 on the power play. Allen is now 0-19 on the season and is one of only two teams (Kalamazoo the other at 0-14) that have yet to score a power play goal this season.
- The game was a penalty filled affair with 33 penalties and a total of 112 penalty minutes which is by far the most combined penalty minutes in a game this season. When the dust settled there were two roughing calls, 10 fighting majors and two game misconduct penalties. The bad blood between these teams continue and they play 11 more times in the regular season.
- Allen's lone goal was scored by rookie defenseman Alex Breton who leads the team in points (2G, 4A), is tied for second in the league in scoring among all rookies and is also second in the ECHL in scoring among all defensemen.
- C.J. Motte took the loss for Allen but played great in goal. Motte has faced the most shots in the league in his four starts (165) and he also has the most saves (151). Coach Martinson has talked about the defensive breakdowns after all three Allen losses. Motte's save percentage is .916. As a comparison last season the three goalies with 20 or more games played had save percentages of .917, .908 and .899.
- It was a tough game physically for both teams but Wichita doesn't play for a week while Allen is back in action this afternoon. It was standing room only in the trainers room after the game and if you watched the game you have to assume some of the players will be out today. I am sure it will not be known until the team gets on the bus this morning who will be able to answer the call and whether the Americans will have a a full team or will have to play shorthanded in Tulsa.
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
- It was after 11:00 when I left coach Martinson's office and his concentration was already on the game in Tulsa. He shared some of the defensive breakdowns on the Wichita goals. The first two were scored on a breakaway and a two on one. We also talked about the power play and some of the tactics they were trying but did not execute. The bottom line is Martinson was already breaking down tape of the game to get ready for Tulsa. I have said this many times there is not a player in the locker room that takes losing worse than the coach and he is laser focused on what he needs to do to get a win in Tulsa.
- Martinson was getting an update from the trainer on the status of the injuries and it didn't look good. His comment to me was how quickly you can go from having too many players to not enough players.
- It is a tall order for the Americans as they will travel to Tulsa this morning and play their third game in less than 48 hours while the Oilers have not played a game for seven days and that game was at home. The scheduling gods strike again.
- Several have asked about the disallowed Allen goal at the end of the second period that would have made the score 4-2. It was a delayed penalty on Wichita so normally the play would have continued but Joel Chouinard was hurt and laying on the ice. The referee told Martinson he stopped play immediately for the safety of the injured player as Chouinard was face down on the ice and not getting up.
ALLEN VS TULSA GAME PREVIEW
- It will be a gut check for sure for the Americans today. They are tired and really dinged up. There are eight or nine players on the 23 man roster that could be out with injuries. There will be plenty of guys playing hurt today and hopefully the Americans have a full squad.
- Allen's record against Tulsa:
6-5-2-1 - last season
34-19-3-3 - since joining the ECHL
16-10-1-3 - since joining the ECHL in games played in Tulsa
- Tulsa's record this season is 1-0-0-1 compared to Allen's 1-2-0-1.
- Tulsa has one power play goal (1-6) while Allen is still seeking their first (0-19). Tulsa is 80% on the penalty kill (1-5) and the Americans are 87.5% on the penalty kill (3-24).
- It sounds like a broken record but the keys to a win today for the Americans remain the same. Get off to a good start, stay out of the penalty box, score a power play goal, out shoot Tulsa, avoid neutral zone turnovers and play defense. This is going to be a real challenge given the situation of Allen playing three games in 48 hours and Tulsa resting for a week.
- Jeremy Brodeur will get his first start in goal today and Miles Liberati should also be in the lineup with fresh legs.
- The referee scheduled today is Liam Sewell (#7). The linesmen will be Chris Provost (#50) and Addison Brush (#80).
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen finished their three straight games against Wichita with a win, a regulation loss and a shootout loss. Here is a story written by Matt Harding (Team Sin Bin) that talks about this three game series and the rivalry between Allen and Wichita. These teams have been going at each other for 10 years and the 2013 CHL championship series is a classic with Allen winning the President's Cup in overtime in game seven with a great comeback. However once they joined the ECHL in 2014 this wasn't much of a rivalry. The Americans
overall ECHL record against Wichita prior to this season was 39-10-4-3 and when the teams have
played in Wichita the Allen record was even better at 20-5-1-2. It is difficult to have a rivalry when one team is so dominant. However, everything changed last season. Former Allen agitator Dyson Stevenson was traded to Wichita and became captain of the Thunder. Wichita was a much better team that split 12 games with the Americans and made the playoffs. This season has proven this is a true rivalry. Matt does a good job of telling this story. Check it out: https://thesinbin.net/initial-impressions-from-the-wichita-allen-three-game-series/
- I didn't watch the live auction after the game but did notice there weren't many fans that stayed to participate. Not sure if they got used to the online auctions last season, didn't stay because the game lasted so long (it didn't end until after 10:00) or they didn't like the specialty jersey. According to the reports I got from those in attendance the top bid was $550 (Pierro-Zabotel, Gunn, Dalton Thrower) but many of the jerseys went for $300, $350 and $400.
- In the college game that preceded the Allen game Dallas Baptist University (DBU) defeated Texas A&M by a score of 7-5. I would describe the game as chippy and chirpy.
- Allen's winning percentage this season is now .375. Only four teams have a lower winning percentage (Fort Wayne, Wheeling, Rapid City and Maine). This team has a lot of potential and the slow start is certainly disappointing but there is no need for concern at this point. The Americans are a very young team (only two ECHL teams are younger) and it may take a while to get everyone in sync with the Martinson system. Once the team starts executing better defensively the wins will come. That may not happen this week or this month but it will happen.
- The Americans have three of the top four defensemen in the ECHL in penalty minutes. Dalton Thrower is #1 (33 minutes), Josh Thrower is #3 (22 minutes) and David Makowski is #4 (20 minutes).
DID YOU KNOW: When you consider how good the Allen Americans have
been since their inception the home opener record is a mediocre 4-6. Here is a trip down memory lane even though I am sure you would like to forget many of these games.
2009-10
- Allen started on
the road the first season because the Allen Event Center was not
completed. The Americans played their first seven games in franchise
history on the road. They returned to Allen after those first seven
games 5-1-0-1. The home opener was memorable even though the Americans
laid an egg, losing to Corpus Christi by a score of 4-1. Two of the goal
scorers for Corpus were Chad Costello and future NHLer Ryan Garbutt.
That game is mostly remembered for a melee that broke out after the game
was over that ended up with 72 penalty minutes being called. A crowd of
5808 witnessed the first home game in team history.
2010-11
- Allen opened at home against
Texas, scored three goals (Alexandre Quesnel, Dustin Donaghy, Judd
Blackwater) in the first four minutes of the game and coasted to a 5-2
win. Similar to the year before there were 66 minutes worth of penalties
called at the 18:29 mark of the third period including four fighting
majors and four game misconducts. Allen got the last laugh as Erik Adams
scored an unassisted, shorthanded, empty net goal with under a minute
remaining to seal the victory for the Americans.
2011-12 - Allen's home opener was against Tulsa and the Americans
got beat 4-1. Jim McKenzie scored the Americans only goal with
just over a minute left in the game. Most notable in that game was a
Gordie Howe hat trick by Tulsa's Gary Steffes who had a goal, an assist
and a fight with Allen's Scott Langdon.
2012-13 - Allen's home opener was against Arizona and they shut out Sundogs 4-0. Scott Howes had two
goals in the game. The other goal scorers were Adam Pineault and Darryl
Bootland. Steve Silverthorn was in goal and the backup was a rookie by
the name of Aaron Dell. Dell would play sparingly the first few weeks of
the season but eventually take over the starting role and lead the
Americans to their first championship.
2013-14 -The
home opener was an exciting game but the Americans lost to Wichita 4-3
in a shootout. Ironically the two teams had played the season opener the
night before in Wichita and Allen had won by an identical score of 4-3
in a shootout. The home opener was a Sunday afternoon game and Allen
took a 2-0 lead into the third period only to allow the Thunder to score
three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead. Tyler Ludwig got the
equalizer with less that three minutes remaining n the game. The game
would go to a shootout and Allen could manage just one goal (Kale
Kerbashain) in seven rounds before Wichita got the game winner.
2014-15 -
The worst home opener ever for Allen as they got
beat by Tulsa 9-6. Greger Hanson was the lone bright spot for Allen with
a whopping 11 shots on goal, four points and a hat trick. Aaron Dell
was in goal for the Americans and gave up seven of the nine goals. It was Dell's only
regulation loss in the 12 games he played for Allen
that season. By the end of January he was in the AHL on his way to the
NHL.
2015-16 - Another home opener loss as the Quad
City Mallards came to the Allen Event Center and beat the Americans 2-1.
Allen's lone goal was scored by Garrett Clarke with assists going to
Justin Courtnall and goalie Joel Rumpel. You didn't see those three in
the boxscore very often let alone on the same play.
2016-17
- It was a home opener win as Allen beat
Missouri 6-3. Kale Kerbashain had two goals and Riley Gill was peppered
with 47 shots.
2017-18 - After two big wins on the
road in Rapid City the Americans opened at home against Orlando and beat
the Solar Bears 6-2. Zach Pochiro had two goals, David Makowski and
Casey Pierro-Zabotel each had three points (1G 2A). This game will
always be remembered as the game with less than seven minutes remaining
goalie Riley Gill was injured and would be out for the season.
2018-19 - It was a 4-1 loss to the Wichita Thunder in a penalty filled game with 10 fighting majors. Allen was out shot 41-28, got behind 3-0 and could not recover despite having eight power play opportunities. The Americans went 0-8 on the power play. Rookie defenseman Alex Breton had the lone Allen goal and became the team leader in points.
The Allen Americans lost to the Wichita Thunder 6-5 in a shootout last before a crowd of 6839 at Intrust Bank Arena. It was one of those strange games where there was plenty of things to like and plenty to dislike about how the Americans played so obtaining one point for their effort was probably a just result. Here are just a few examples of the good, the bad and the ugly from last night.
- Allen gave up the first and only goal of the first period but scored two goals in the opening three minutes of the second period to take a 2-1 lead.
- Allen scored four second period goals but also surrendered four second period goals to Wichita and trailed the Thunder 5-4 at the second intermission.
- Allen's penalty kill was good, not allowing Wichita a power play goal (0-3) but Wichita's penalty kill was even better (0-5) including a long 5-on-3 kill in the third period.
- Allen had 43 shots on goal, the best of the season, but Wichita had 48 shots on goal, the most allowed by Allen thus far.
- Allen was out shot 8-2 in overtime partly because they had to play the first 1:50 of the overtime shorthanded as the result of a game delay penalty at the end of regulation.
- Allen missed all three of their shootout attempts (Shmyr, Pierro-Zabotel, Salituro), Wichita converted their first (Jacobs) which proved to be the game winner for the Thunder.
- Allen's Braylon Shmyr was the #1 star of the game (3G, 1A) and former American Dyson Stevenson was the #2 star of the game (2G, 1A).
- So if you want to see the glass half full you would say Allen had 43 shots on goal, scored five goals including four in the second period, were flawless on the penalty kill (0-3) and had the first hat trick of the season in the ECHL from Braylon Shmyr. If you see the glass half empty Allen gave up the first goal of the game, allowed Wichita to score four second period goals, went 0-5 on the power play including a long 5-on-3, gave up 48 shots, were out shot in overtime 8-2 and went 0-3 in the shootout. Maybe getting a point on the road from that game isn't so bad.
- There is no other way to describe what happened tonight than it was a poor defensive game on our part.
- We had some soft turnovers which ended up in the back of our net. We hung our goalie out to dry too many times tonight.
- We gave up several back door passes that ended up in goals.
- I will review the tape, make some adjustments and we will be ready to go for the home opener tomorrow night.
REMATCH PREVIEW
- Martinson's comments capture what has to be different in the game tonight. If you watched the game or even the highlights the defensive lapses were obvious. Too many Wichita players left all alone in dangerous areas led to several of the goals. That will have to get tightened up.
- Allen has done great on the penalty kill in the two games against Wichita. The Americans have killed all 10 of Wichita's power plays and have a shorthanded goal to boot. It is a good sign when your penalty kill unit outscores your opponent (1-0) over two games.
- As good as the penalty kill has been against Wichita the power play has struggled. Allen is 0-8 in the two games against the Thunder as the Americans are still looking for their first power play goal of the season. Allen is one of four ECHL teams that still don't have a power play goal. In three games Allen is 0-11 on the power play. If it is any consolation, Wichita is even worse as they are also looking for their first power play goal of the season and are 0-14. If either team can break out it might mean victory tonight.
- A real bright spot for Allen thus far has been two rookies. Braylon Shmyr had four points last night including the first hat trick in the ECHL this season. Shmyr is tied for the league lead in goals with four. Rookie defenseman Alex Breton had a goal and two assists in the game last night. Alex is now #1 in points (1G, 4A) among all ECHL defensemen.
- Coach Martinson talks all the time about how turnovers in the neutral zone create missed opportunities for Allen and additional opportunities for their opponents. This was a problem last season when Allen finished #23 in shots allowed giving up an average 36.25 per game. After three games this season the Americans are ranked #26 in the league, giving up an average of 42 shots per game. The Americans can't give up 40 shots tonight and expect to win.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Not sure if this is an indication of how tough the Mountain Division will be this season but every team has already had a loss with the exception of Kansas City who has only played one game.
- Allen is in a familiar place leading their division in penalty minutes with 69 but Rapid City leads the entire league in average penalty minutes per game at 28.50. The Rush have only played two games thus far.
- When you look at Allen's penalty minute record what stands out is they are nowhere near the lead in major penalties for fighting as they have just one. More alarming is the fact Allen is #2 in the league in minor penalties with 22. Allen also leads the league in misconduct penalties with two.
- Vincent Arseneau finally got to play for the Utica Comets (AHL) after being a healthy scratch for the first six games of the season. Utica lost their game 4-3 last night to Cleveland but Arseneau had two shots on goal and was one of only six players that didn't have a minus night in the plus/minus category. Utica plays again tonight in Syracuse.
- Some perennial strong ECHL teams have gotten off to a slow start this season. Fort Wayne, Florida and South Carolina are all 1-2.
DID YOU KNOW: If you attend or watch the game tonight you will undoubtedly notice there is a new liquor sponsor front and center on all of the helmets. The new sponsor is a Texas original named Black Eyed Distilling company that makes handcrafted vodka in Fort Worth. With 100% Texas roots from farm to bottle, it is the first vodka crafted from black-eyed peas. If you are a vodka fan you can check out this award winning company and new Allen Americans sponsor at: http://www.blackeyed.vodka/
It is game day for the Allen Americans as they return to Wichita after beating the Thunder 4-0 last weekend. It is fair to say the game tonight will be different than the shutout win last Saturday. Here is why.
- Both teams have had a full week of practice to work on systems, special teams and shortcomings from their opening weekend games. Both teams received four or five contract players from the AHL just prior to opening day. These players have now had time to practice and get accustomed to the style of play in Allen and Wichita.
- Wichita was embarrassed by Allen last week getting shutout 4-0 at home before a crowd of over 10,000. There is no doubt the Thunder will be hyped up tonight and be much more emotionally invested in the game.
- The Wichita power play went 0-7 in the 4-0 shutout to Allen including 0-4 in the first period. The Thunder also allowed a shorthanded goal. You can be assured a lot of time was spent at practice this week by the Thunder working on the power play.
- Here are four keys to victory against Wichita tonight.
1.
Get off to a good start. Score the first goal and/or win the first
period. Last season Allen won 80% of the games/points when they scored first while Wichita was at 70%. It is highly likely the team that scores first wins the game.
2. Eliminate neutral zone turnovers which
turn into shots for the opponent. The Americans were doubled up on shots in their opener in Kansas City allowing 43 and
taking 21. The next night against the Thunder, Allen had 34 shots on goal
and allowed 35. A big improvement considering they gave up seven power play opportunities to Wichita. Keeping shots on goal close will be key for the Americans.
3. Win the special teams battle. Allen and Wichita are tied for last in the league in power play success. They are a combined 0-17 thus far with the Thunder 0-11 and Allen at 0-6. Whichever team can break out will be the winner. On the penalty kill Allen was perfect against Wichita in the last game (0-7) but the Thunder didn't give up a power play goal in their first two games (0-7). Something has to give on special teams and it will be a key in the game tonight.
4. On average, Allen has more minor penalties than any team in the league with 18 in two games. The Americans have given up 13 power play opportunities and have only had six of their own. To be successful Allen needs to be more disciplined in taking penalties that give Wichita a power play.
- It will be no surprise to anyone that C.J. Motte will be in goal for Allen after his 35 save shutout against Wichita last Saturday.
- The referee scheduled for the game is Liam Sewell (#7). The linesmen are Chris Provost (#50) and Addison Brush (#80).
OTHER COMMENTS
- The best news of the day yesterday happened as I drove into the Allen Event Center parking lot and saw a different bus being prepared to take the team to Wichita. I walked over to take a look and ran into Monty Williams who drove "Big Red" for many years before the bus went to Tulsa after the sale of the Americans and he hung up his driving skates and retired. The good news is Monty is coming out of retirement to drive the team bus again. Monty is a beloved member of the Allen Americans family who went above and beyond to keep the guys safe and had to deal with many breakdowns with Big Red. He is a great bus driver but an even greater guy who always has a smile on his face.
Welcome back Monty!
- The vehicle Monty will be driving is a 2007 Powerhouse Coach with about 300,000 miles on it. Compare that to Big Red which was built in 1997 and had close to 3,000,000 miles. Powerhouse Coach is a company out of Idaho Falls, Idaho. This is a custom built vehicle on a Volvo truck frame. I had a chance to take a tour of the bus and it is a great setup for the team. Each bunk features its own LCD-TV with DVD player capable of two different satellite feeds and a feed from a central VCR and DVD player. There is more seating and lounge areas than the bus the team used last season.
Allen's New Ride
- There is so much happening at the home opener on Saturday everyone should make plans to attend. Check out this list.
Pink in the Rink with pink ice
Pink cancer awareness specialty jerseys
Live jersey auction right after the game
Post game skate with players
Owner Jack Gulati greeting fans on the concourse as they enter the event center
Debut of the 2018-19 Allen Americans Ice Angels
Attend Dallas Baptist University vs Texas A&M game (2:35 pm) free with your Allen ticket
Pregame 10 year celebration party (4:30-6:30)
Pink drinks
Debut of the Marty Dog at All American Dog concession (Section 114)
DID YOU KNOW: Here are a few milestones to monitor.
21 - wins Steve Martinson needs to reach 1000 as a coach
6 - games played Spencer Asuchak needs to move into #2 all-time for the Americans
9 - assists needed by Casey Pierro-Zabotel to move into the top 10 all time in the ECHL
0 - David Makowski played in his 200th ECHL game last Saturday
5 - Number of points Joel Chouinard needs to have 100 points as an Allen American
It is getaway day for the Allen Americans as they will head to Wichita after practice for a game on Friday night. The Americans then head back to Allen to play the Thunder in the home opener on Saturday. After beating Wichita 4-0 last Saturday the Americans can expect the Thunder to be highly motivated tomorrow night.
- I will have a complete game preview tomorrow but one stat worth noting is Allen's success in Wichita. This season they are 1-0, last season the were 3-2 and since joining the ECHL back in 2014 the Americans
overall record against the Thunder in Wichita is 21-5-1-2.
- If you listen to Steve Martinson talk about coaching long enough there are a few themes that always repeat themselves. Here are a few of those themes.
Martinson doesn't see himself as the team motivator, he expects professionals to be motivated without the coach giving motivational speeches. His view is if you are getting paid to play hockey you need to come to the rink ready to play, it is your job.
Martinson sees his job is to recruit the right group of players and create an environment for them to be successful. When you have the right chemistry the coach's job is much easier. The leaders in the locker room take the initiative to deal with most issues. I think coach Martinson would be the first to say the loss of players to non-affiliates last season and some off ice issues with players were obstacles to winning last season. It changed his approach to recruitment this season.
Something Martinson does at the beginning of every season is to have a team meeting to talk about his expectations. When players sign in Allen they know before they arrive there are very high expectations because of the winning culture. Whenever coach Martinson is asked about the type of players he recruits it is the same answer, "I want guys that work hard, be in shape, be team first guys that play within the system and finish their checks."
That team meeting/discussion took place yesterday before practice. Coach Martinson went over a laundry list of items but the overarching theme was to make sure the team and especially the new players buy into the concept that individual success comes through a commitment to team first principles.
- Mike Gunn and Thomas Frazee are still listed as day to day but have not participated in practice this week. Kevin Sundher has been practicing all week and is expected to be in the lineup in Wichita. If Gunn and Frazee don't make the trip to Wichita there are still enough healthy players for the trip. There will even be one extra.
OTHER COMMENTS
- I mentioned yesterday the Pink in the Rink specialty jerseys the team wears on Saturday will be auctioned off at a live auction right after the game. Here is that jersey:
- Former Allen captain Jamie Schaafsma was injured in Fort Wayne's 5-2 loss in Cincinnati last Saturday. Jamie suffered an upper body injury and was placed on the injured reserve list. He is expected to be back in the lineup in two weeks.
- The Pierro-Zabotel family recently raised close to $1200 for a friend of their son who is battling cancer. The family that won Casey's red jersey in a drawing that was part of the fundraiser kindly donated it back so more money can be raised. The jersey will be on display at the Fan Club table on Saturday and you can have a chance to own it by purchasing a $10 raffle ticket.
- The Mountain Division will start to take shape this weekend as there will be exclusively inter-divisional games. Allen is home and home with Wichita and then plays in Tulsa, Kansas City is in Rapid City for two games and Utah is in Idaho for two games. Utah and Kansas City haven't lost while Rapid City hasn't won but there is only a three point difference between first place and last place. There are 14 points up for grabs this weekend so who will emerge on top and bottom by Sunday night?
- The ECHL is starting its 31st season and in that time only two teams, Alaska and South Carolina, have won three championships. Alaska accomplished their three wins in 11 years. South Carolina has been in the league for 24 years. Allen has the best championship winning percentage at 50% winning two championships in four years in the ECHL.
DID YOU KNOW: I received my hard copy of the ECHL 2018-19 Official Guide and Record Book yesterday and it is full of great information. The page that caught my eye this morning was #363. The page is full of Allen Americans.
Most power play goals in one playoff year - Greger Hanson is #2 with eight
Most assists in the playoffs, career - Chad Costello is #3 with 61
Most assists in one playoff year - Chad Costello is #1 with 29
Most assists in a final series - Chad Costello is #1 with 10
Most points in playoffs, career - Chad Costello is #4 with 83
There were no roster moves yesterday for the Allen Americans so maybe things will be stable for the upcoming three games in three days. The Americans travel to Wichita for a game on Friday, play Wichita again on Saturday at home and then travel to Tulsa for a game on Sunday. It is the nature of the schedule that Allen has only three games between October 14-25 (12 days) but the three games will be played in a period of 48 hours.
- With so many practice days before and after the three games this weekend I thought today would be a good day to talk about practice. You can't talk about practice with out remembering NBA star Allen Iverson's thoughts on practice, a real classic.
- Lots of practice time early in the season is critical as the team is still forming. Over half the players on the roster were not in Allen at the beginning of last season. In order to implement the offensive and defensive systems and expectations of coach Steve Martinson it takes a lot of repetition. The goal is to have players instinctively do what the system calls for without having to think about where they should be, where they should pass and who should they cover. With enough repetition players will react the right way without thinking.
- As the season progresses there are fewer practice days so laying the foundation early is critical. The month of December is a good example. The Americans play 15 games and take road trips to Kansas City, Wheeling, Reading and Utah. If you add in travel days, no practice during the Christmas break, a day off for the players here and there, it is realistic to expect as few as five practices the entire month. It is difficult to make adjustments and work on problems with such little practice time.
- If you watch a lot of Steve Martinson practices there is a certain ebb and flow you pick up. He told me a few years ago he doesn't like to have practice more than three days in a row because he gets tired of yelling at the players and they get tired of listening to him yell. There is little doubt Martinson's presence on the ice creates a tone that is very different if you have watched practices conducted by others. It doesn't mean there are not light moments at practice as Martinson has never lost his ability to chirp but there is no doubt he is in command.
- If you take a 20,000 foot view of practice this week it goes something like this. Monday and Tuesday was devoted to a lot of skating drills. Some of the drills Martinson uses he has been using for 20 years but he is always looking for something new as well. He will be using some things he has acquired from the new affiliation with the Minnesota Wild. With the amount of speed on the roster you can see the emphasis on everyone moving with speed. If you watched practice the last two days there wasn't much talking by coach Martinson, it was a lot of skating drills.
- Things will change today and tomorrow and practice will slow down. Martinson will spend more time at the white board talking systems and strategy between drills. There will be time spent on special teams. The power play didn't convert in the two games last weekend (0-6) so that will get plenty of attention.
- The team will practice Thursday and then head to Wichita after lunch. A lot will have been accomplished in four days of practice this week.
- One of the many quotes you hear over and over from Steve Martinson is, "You can't be the best player if you don't work the hardest." He expects that in practice as much as in the games.
- I started with a video about practice. I thought I would end with a different point of view about practicing. This video is about the importance of hockey IQ.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Pink in the Rink specialty jerseys the Americans will wear at the home opener on Saturday will be auctioned off right after the game with a live auction. This season the team will be using a combination of live auctions and online auctions when they wear specialty jerseys. They haven't announced all of the details yet but on Saturday it will be a live auction.
- The Americans will be wearing a Minnesota Wild inspired jersey during warmups. Here is a look at the jersey if you haven't seen it.
- Former Allen player Colby McAuley, who is under contract with San Jose, was loaned to Orlando at the beginning of the season. Colby has gotten off to a great start with the Solar Bears. In three games he has four points (3G, 1A). He leads his team in goals, points, shooting percentage (42.9%) and has a game winning goal. His three goals are tied for the league lead. Colby was a popular player in Allen who was good in all situations, played both ends of the ice and played with a lot of grit. Hopefully his great start in Orlando will earn him a trip back to the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda.
DID YOU KNOW: The Jacksonville Icemen have a roster with 1335 AHL games played which is tops in the ECHL followed by Wichita with 1159 AHL games played. By comparison Allen has 556 AHL games played on their roster. Here is a list of Allen players with AHL games played.
204 - Joel Chouinard
139 - Kevin Sundher
60 - Spencer Asuchak
34 - Chase Lang
19 - Dante Salituro
17 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel
17 - Pavel Jenys
15 - C.J. Motte
10 - Eric Roy
9 - Dalton Thrower
9 - David Makowski
9 - Thomas Frazee
7 - Chad Butcher
5 - Zach Pochiro
2 - Josh Atkinson
0 - Jordy Stallard
0 - Braylon Shmyr
0 - Tate Olson
0 - Miles Liberati
0 - Alex Breton
0 - Jeremy Brodeur
0 - Mike Gunn
0 - Josh Thrower
