It is game day as the Mountain Division's last place team, Allen Americans, take on the first place team, Idaho Steelheads. Allen has 33 points and a .351 winning percentage compared to Idaho with 57 points and a .663 winning percentage.
- Despite the records there is plenty of hope for Allen fans. In a quirk in the schedule that has a lot of quirks, Idaho and Allen play six times all season and the six games take place in 17 days. The Americans played the Steelheads tough in the three games they played in Idaho two weeks ago. Allen won the first game 3-2 and then lost two games in overtime, 3-2 and 4-3. Tonight Idaho is in town for the first of three games. The teams will play again on Friday and Saturday.
- The Americans have earned points in eight of their last nine games which is better than Idaho who has earned points in seven of their last nine games. The difference is Allen has lost three games in overtime so their record in the last nine games is 5-1-3-0 while Idaho is 7-2-0-0.
- In the three head to head games Idaho led in goals (9-8) and shots (116-85). In the game Allen won in Idaho the shots were even (30-30). Having shot totals close will be a key to winning this three game series. When the Americans have a lot of turnovers and fail to get the puck in deep the shot difference widens. This will be a point of emphasis against the Steelheads.
- Head to head Allen is 3-13 (23.1%) on the power play and Idaho is 1-14 (7.1%). The Americans power play has slowed down recently going 2-21 (9.5%) over the last five games. Coach Martinson spent a lot of time at practice yesterday working on the power play so hopefully there will be a resurgence against the Steelheads.
- Something to watch for in the game tonight is carryover of the bad blood from the game in Idaho on January18 that resulted in suspensions for Allen's Zach Pochiro (2 games), Curt Gogol (5 games), Emerson Clark (5 games) and Idaho's Kale Kessy (10 games). Gogol and Clark will miss the game tonight but be back in the lineup for the weekend. It is always difficult to predict how a singular game will unfold but there is no doubt bad blood exists between these teams and it is bound to break out at some point in this series. Idaho is ranked #1 in average penalty minutes per game (21.65) and Allen is ranked #2 (21.19).
- The Americans roster isn't shorthanded but with two players (Clark & Gogol) serving suspensions tonight there will be no extra forwards. There were seven defensmen eligible to play tonight practicing yesterday so someone will have to sit out. I was reminded of the key players missing from the lineup as they sat in the stands watching practice yesterday. Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Thomas Frazee, Kevin Sundher, Mike Gunn and now Dalton Thrower all out with injuries, many of them long term/season ending injuries.
- Goaltending as always will be a big key in this series. C.J. Motte has been playing great for the Americans with a save percentage of .916 over the last nine games. Idaho has all-star goalie Tomas Sholl who is ranked #2 in GAA (2.12) and also #2 in save percentage (.931) in the ECHL.
- The referee scheduled for tonight is Stan Szczurek (#15) and the linesmen will be Addison Brush (#80) and Brian Bull (#95).
OTHER COMMENTS
- Utah beat Tulsa in Tulsa last night and Kansas City beat Rapid City at home. Utah and Tulsa play again tonight in rare back to back midweek games. If the playoffs started today the three teams that would not make it would be Wichita, Rapid City and Allen. These are the same three teams the data predicted would miss the playoffs at Thanksgiving. There is still a long way to go but so far the Thanksgiving theory is holding true.
- You will enjoy this story about high school hockey in Minnesota. I was exchanging messages with Wendy McMillin last night after my "Where Are They Now" story about Brian yesterday. Wendy mentioned that Brian and his dad were at the Roseau vs Warroad high school hockey game. There are many hockey rivalries in Minnesota high school hockey but none more famous than the one between these two small towns 20 miles apart in northern Minnesota. Back in 2007 the New York Times wrote about this rivalry and the title of the story was, "A Game? No, it's a Life." Here it is if you would like to read about this rivalry: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/travel/escapes/26hockey.html
You can tell how important this rivalry is when they cancel school, mail delivery, planes, trains and tell everyone this is serious and to stay indoors but the hockey game goes on. It was only -30 with the wind chill in the -50's last night at game time as Roseau and Warroad played to a 2-2 tie. There is just one eight minute overtime period in high school hockey. This morning the temperature in Roseau as I write this is -38 with a wind chill of -60.
I asked Brian about the size of the crowd at the hockey game last night given the extremely low temps and he said, "It was packed in there. Honestly, it was probably a bigger crowd than normal the last couple of years. It is funny because a bunch of people went out between the second and third period and started their vehicles and just let them run with the doors unlocked!"
You have to love the spirit of small town hockey in Minnesota.
Here is a video from 2016 about the Roseau vs Warroad rivalry:
- There are eight games in the ECHL tonight. Here is the ECHL Today with a preview: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2019/1/echl-today-jan-30
DID YOU KNOW: Zack Pochiro leads the ECHL in goals with 25 but he also has the highest percentage of his team's goals of any player in the league and it isn't even close. Zach has 25 of Allen's 132 goals which is 18.9%. Here are the ECHL players with the highest percentage of their team's goals in 2018-19:
18.9% - Zach Pochiro (Allen)
15.9% - Caleb Herbert (Utah)
15.9% - J.C. Campagna (Fort Wayne)
15.2% - Johno May (Greenville)
15.0% - Reid Gardiner & Justin Taylor (Kalamazoo)
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