The woes continued for the Allen Americans last night as they lost to the South Carolina Stingrays 4-1 before a Saturday night crowd of 4055. Though the result was the same as the 5-4 loss to the Stingrays of Friday night the games were very different.
- On Friday night Allen scored first, won the first period 2-0, out shot South Carolina in the first period 13-11, built up a 3-0 lead and then collapsed. Last night the Stingrays scored first, won the first period (2-0) and out shot Allen in all three periods (10-7, 15-9, 14-9).
- The Americans did manage to close the gap to 2-1 on a Zach Pochiro power play goal in the second period but that is as close as they got. The power play goal was the first at home all season and stopped a 15 power play drought. Allen was 1-6 on the power play last night and are now 1-18 (5.6%) at home this season which ranks them #23 in the league.
- Allen did a good job staying out of the penalty box as they had just four minor penalties the entire game and when they were shorthanded the penalty kill unit continued to play well. South Carolina was 0-3 on the power play. Allen has the fourth best overall penalty kill percentage (90.0%) in the ECHL and at home it is even better ranked #3 at 92.9%. A bright light in a dismal start for the Allen Americans.
- Zach Pochiro's goal was his fifth of the season. With Braylon Shmyr in the AHL, Pochiro is now the leading goal scorer for Allen.
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/south-carolina-completes-the-weekend-sweep-with-a-4-1-win/
- Here is the South Carolina take on the win over Allen and weekend sweep: https://www.stingrayshockey.com/en/news/stingrays-silence-americans-compete-weekend-sweep
- Here are the video highlights:
- Here are Steve Martinson's post game comments:
OTHER COMMENTS
- Opinions are a dime a dozen on the cause of the Allen Americans poor start to the season with a record of 3-6-0-1. As I talked to fans this weekend the theories ranged from the play of the defensemen, to which goalies should be playing, to all of the injuries, to how older coaches should deal with millennials, to too many stupid penalties.
- I will put injuries at the top of the list. It is not an excuse as it gives the opportunity for other players to step up but here are the facts. Three weeks and 10 ten games into the season Allen has already had six players on the 14 day injured reserve list and remember 14 days is the minimum when a player goes on IR. Ten players have already lost games because of injury and the total games lost is 46. That means on average almost five players missing because of injury for every game. Throw in the loss of the ECHL's second leading scorer to the AHL and it is not hard to see the impact.
- I am not a hockey expert by any means but one factor you don't hear talked about that I have noticed is the toughness on this team. Sure the Americans are in a familiar spot with the most penalty minutes in the ECHL (211) which is ranked #4 in average penalty minutes per game. A lot of those minutes (50) are attributed to the fact Allen leads the league in 10 minute type penalties (10 minute misconduct & game misconduct). When it comes to major penalties which includes fighting majors, 10 teams have more than Allen. According to the website dropyourgloves.com the Americans have had six fighting majors this season. Thirteen teams have had more fighting majors than the Americans. Here are the top seven in fighting majors:
13 -Fort Wayne
13 - Utah
12 - Indy
12 - Greenville
11 - Toledo
11 - Idaho
10 - Rapid City
I bring this up because I think the Allen teams of the past would have handled this weekend much differently. I know the team is missing Josh Thrower and they are playing shorthanded but the Allen teams of the past would not have taken being pushed around both literally and figuratively as they were against South Carolina. Some years the Americans have had a lion and some years a pack of wolves and some years both. Teams knew they would pay the price for cheap shots and agitating because Allen a team full of guys willing to drop the gloves in support of a teammate. Maybe what this team needs is a lion or at least a couple more wolves. There were many incidents in the games against South Carolina that would have ended up with a fight in past seasons.
- In the two losses to South Carolina, Allen was outscored 9-5 and out shot 69-51. The Americans were 1-10 on the power play while the Stingrays were 0-6. Allen had 31 penalty minutes and South Carolina had 38.
- It is still early but almost 15% of the season is in the books. Allen is last in the Mountain Division in points (7) and winning percentage (.350). Since games played by teams in the division varies from six (Wichita) to 10 (Allen, Rapid City, Idaho) the best way to look at the standings is winning percentage. Here is the latest:
.786 - Kansas City
.750 - Tulsa
.688 - Utah
.667 - Wichita
.600 - Rapid City
.450 - Idaho
.350 - Allen
- Not that Allen fans need to be reminded of how bad the start has been for the Americans but these two stats really tell the story. Allen has allowed the most shots on goal than any other team in the league and it isn't even close. Allen has allowed 415 shots on goal. Newfoundland is second in shots allowed with 369 but they have played two more games than the Americans. Allen has given up 39 goals, more goals than any other team in the league. It could be a lot worse because even though the Americans are #27 in shots allowed and #27 in goals allowed the goalies have a combined save percentage of .908 which is in the top ten in the ECHL.
- As a team the Allen Americans have a plus/minus of -64. Last season the Americans finished with a +38 and in 2016-17 their plus/minus was +334. The only player with a positive plus/minus this season is Thomas Frazee who is +2.
- Hats off to the Rapid City Rush and coach Daniel Tetrault who won three games in three days in Tulsa. Two in overtime and one in a shootout. That is not an easy task against Tulsa as the Oilers are the only ECHL team without a regulation loss. One thing you can say about the Rush which comes from their coach. They always work hard and they never give up. Allen can vouch for the never give up part after the Rush came back from a 5-0 deficit against the Americans. Rapid City is now tied for the Mountain Division points lead.
- The Americans will take the day off today, practice tomorrow (Monday) morning and then will fly to Kansas City tomorrow night for a game against the Mavericks on Tuesday night. A 80 minute flight sure beats an eight hour bus ride and the fact Southwest Airlines flies to Kansas City makes the cost comparison between flying or busing much easier.
DID YOU KNOW: For the first time in team history the Americans have started 0-3 at home. In only one other season (2011-12) did Allen start with two losses at home. In only one season (2012-13) did Allen start 3-0. Here is all ten years of Allen history with the home record after three games.
2009-10: loss, win, win
2010-11: win, win, loss
2011-12: loss, loss, win
2012-13: win, win, win
2013-14: *loss, win, win *shootout loss
2014-15: loss, win, win
2015-16: loss, win, win
2016-17: win, win, loss
2017-18: win, *loss, *loss *overtime losses
2018-19: loss, loss, loss
Mathers was the lion in 2016
ReplyDeletePleas play some defense!
ReplyDeleteSpot on with your comments on toughness Barry. Physicality has been a trademark of Martinson coached teams that is sadly lacking thus far in the season.
ReplyDeleteNo offense
ReplyDeleteI have watched all of the games both home and away (ECHL TV). I can't put my finger on it but there is something missing this season from our years at the top. It was missing at the beginning last season too but was found before the end of the regular season.
ReplyDeleteWe have some fast skaters who can score (Dante, Braylon, Zach). We have some good defensemen (Chewy, Breton, Thrower brothers, Gunner, Makowski). What we don't seem to have is something to put it all together at both ends of the ice.
When approximately half of the total goals scored by the team have been executed by only three players, I think this may be the missing element. They don't seem to be a 'team' yet. I realize it is still early in the season but they don't have that 'sixth sense' of where everyone is on the ice. Anticipating their team mates moves on the ice. It seems like that is what we had during our championship runs. Everyone knew what to do, where to be on the ice, and we didn't see as many turn overs in the neutral zone because of a bad pass. Or a player putting the puck perfectly in front of the goal but there isn't a red sweater anywhere in sight.
Maybe I am over simplifying things but maybe that is what we need to do...simplify our game and go back to some basics.