The Schedule, The Standings, The Stats, Plus Great Updates on Chad Costello, Vincent Arseneau and Alex Guptill

There are only two weekends all season when the Allen Americans don't play on Saturday and Sunday and this past weekend was the first. It means a week off between games and time to regroup and let the bumps and bruises heal. At this time of year every player is playing hurt but most remain in the lineup.


- The remaining schedule is stranger than normal if you ask me. Between now and January 30 the Americans will play three games in three nights against Wichita with the only home game against the Thunder on Friday night. Allen then plays three games in four nights in Utah followed by three games in three nights in Tulsa. From January 30 to the end of March the Americans will play 23 games with 20 of them at home. The three away games are Wichita, Kansas City and Tulsa. 


- Under normal circumstances playing 20 of 23 games at home would mean a winning streak that would propel Allen in the standings. That is not the case this season as Allen's home record is 4-11-0-0 and they are 15 points from getting out of last place in the Mountain Division.


- I was looking at the standings page of the ECHL website and decided to click on the 10 headings at the top of the page to see how the Americans rank. Here are the results:

Games played - Allen has played more games (38) than any other team in the league. Utah has played only 32 games and the Grizzlies have 24 more points than Allen.

Wins - Allen is ranked #26 in wins with nine. Atlanta is last with eight wins but they have played five fewer games than the Americans. Florida and Cincinnati lead the ECHL with 23 wins.

Regulation losses - Allen leads the ECHL with 27 regulation losses. The next closest is Greenville and Atlanta with 19 losses. Florida and Cincinnati have just seven regulation losses.

Overtime losses - Allen is one of five teams that have not lost an overtime game. Wichita and Florida lead with five overtime losses.

Shootout losses - Allen is tied for fourth with two shootout losses. Reading leads with five shootout losses.

Points - Allen is ranked #27 with 20 points. Florida is #1 with 51 points.

Winning percentage - Allen is last in winning percentage at .263 and there is only one other team (Atlanta at .333) below .434. The best winning percentage belongs to Cincinnati at .735.

Goals for - Allen is ranked #24 with 93 goals scored. Worcester is last with 79 goals scored while Florida is first with 131 goals scored.

Goals against - Allen is ranked #27 having allowed 146 goals. Cincinnati is #1 having allowed only 81 goals.

Penalty minutes - Allen is second with 783 penalty minutes. Rapid City is #1 with 847 minutes. Manchester has the fewest penalty minutes with 341.


- I will have a complete update on the Allen roster tomorrow after I attend practice today. It will include those out with injuries, players on loan to the AHL, new players arriving and what coach Martinson has in the works.


- If you haven't been keeping track of Vincent Arseneau he has been on a hot streak lately. Arseneau had a rough start to the season as he was a healthy scratch for some games and then was injured which kept him out of the lineup five weeks. He is back in form now and has five goals in his last five games after going scoreless in his first 12 games. Arseneau's team (Utica) is in third place in the division.


- Chad Costello has just signed a one year extension to play for his current team (Krefeld Pinguine) in 2019-20. Chad is having a great season with 40 points (14G, 26A) in 37 games. He leads his team in scoring and is the second leading scorer in the entire league.


- Alex Guptill is having an outstanding year playing for Nottingham in the top league in Great Britain (EIHL). Guptill leads the league with 25 goals in 38 games.


- ECHL teams that score first have a winning percentage of .739 this season. That is a leaguewide record of 320-97-31-18. The best team when scoring first is Toledo who is 19-2-2-0 when scoring first.


- Will this be the season the Mountain Division doesn't win the Kelly Cup? Here is the Mountain Division's record against the other divisions:

Central Division:   6-16-2-2
South Division:     2-2-0-0
North Division:     0-3-0-0


- Worcester is the only ECHL team that has not scored a short handed goal this season. Kalamazoo leads the ECHL with 11 shorthanded goals. Two Kalamazoo players have four shorthanded goals (Chris Collins & Justin Taylor). Only 13 of 27 ECHL teams have more shorthanded goals than Collins and Taylor have as individuals.


- Of all of the bad stats this season and there are plenty, the most surprising to me has been shooting percentage. Allen is dead last in the ECHL with a shooting percentage of 7.5%. Allen has always had teams with a lot of offensive skill and a high shooting percentage. Here are the team shooting percentages since Allen joined the ECHL.

2018-19:  7.5% (through 38 games)
2017-18:  10.5%
2016-17:  12.9%
2015-16:  10.6%
2014-15:  12.2%

The difference between a 7.5% and 12.9% shooting percentage is 125 goals over the course of a typical season.


DID YOU KNOW: There are 17 ECHL goalies who have played over 1000 minutes this season. One of the 17 goalies is C.J. Motte who has 1204 minutes in goal. Even though Allen is the worst team in the league, only four of the 17 goalies with over 1000 minutes played have a save percentage higher than Motte. Here are the top five.

.924 - Mitch Gillam (Worcester)
.923 - Brandon Halverson (Maine)
.915 - Joe Cannata (Utah)
.914 - Chris Nell (Greenville)
.913 - C.J. Motte (Allen)