After a well deserved day off yesterday it is back to practice today for the Allen Americans as they prepare for three home games this weekend against the Utah Grizzlies. The roster questions for the week include will Alex Ranger return from his upper body injury, will goalie C.J. Motte return from his recall to Iowa (AHL) and will Jake Doty be back at practice after the birth of his son (Dallas Dean Doty, 7 lb 5 oz). I will attend practice this morning and provide an update on these and other roster changes tomorrow in the blog.
- ECHL Commissioner, Ryan Crelin, made his first visit to Allen on Sunday and I had a chance to sit down with him for a few minutes and get acquainted. Crelin was named as the fourth Commissioner in the history of the ECHL back in May and used the summer to work with outgoing Commissioner Brian McKenna as a transition to his new role. Ryan is no stranger to his new job because he has worked for the ECHL for 13 years and has literally worked himself up from the bottom starting as an intern and serving as the ECHL's Chief Operating Officer prior to being selected as Commissioner.
Crelin is trying to visit all 27 teams this season and his western swing this past weekend called for him to be in Idaho on Friday, Utah on Saturday, Allen on Sunday and then back in his office (Princeton NJ) on Monday. Here are the questions I had for Ryan:
Q: How is the pilot video review program in Idaho, Kalamazoo, Toledo and Worcester going and do you see it expanding next season?
A: We have had 13 replays to date of which four were overturned. You can look at it a couple of different ways. We are getting it right 75% of the time on the ice but we are getting it wrong 25% of the time and replay helps us get those times correct. We wanted to do the pilot to make sure it would work well as we were using a new vendor. I wanted to see how our officials would react to replay on the ice and that feedback has been it is easy to use and is working well. I also wanted to make sure we didn't stall the game for 10 minutes. The feedback I have gotten from coaches is it is fast because they look at the video and it is settled. The referee doesn't need to talk to both coaches and it has actually been able to speed up close calls. Expanding is more of an issue of infrastructure than cost but I do see replay expanding.
Q: There seems to be more suspensions this season, what are your thoughts on discipline?
We want to eliminate the instigator and aggressor penalties with the aggressors being the big one. Hits to the head are a point of emphasis but within the scope of the rule hits to the head are not always a penalty. Sometime people get confused and think head contact is automatically supplementary discipline. If you read rule 48.1 it is far from that. You can have head contact and it can be a completely legal hit and not even draw a two minute minor. We take supplementary discipline very seriously and for those that are offensive hits our rules committee takes a strict approach but they also recognize there are legal hits as well.
Discipline is up significantly this season but that may just be a fluke. My approach may be a little different than Brian's (McKenna) but Joe Ernst is consistent and we talk every morning and we settle on what we think is appropriate.
Q: Is it important to look at past incidents when handing out discipline so you are consistent?
A: Yes, we have what I call a frame of reference as a starting point to compare incidents. But the one thing I would say is no two hits are exactly the same. As close as they may appear there is always a differentiating factor. Sometimes we may have only one angle on a play and other times we may have two or three. All of those factors contribute to our review. Ultimately we want to look at the act, look at the criteria, look at the rule and apply all of that to the situation.
Q: How do you approach rule changes?
A: Most of our rules we want to keep consistent with the AHL and NHL because we are a developmental league not only for players but for officials. However, we also need to do what is best for our league and make sure we are giving fans a good, fun experience for our level of hockey. It works both ways, we will certainly take feedback from the AHL and NHL and incorporate suggestions into our rules. Remember, the shootout started in the ECHL and worked its way up to the AHL and NHL. It is a give and take and I would not say it will be 100% one way or another but we will look at it rule by rule and make a decision if we want to adopt it or go in a different direction.
- Here is an interview Ryan Crelin did with the NHL Network back in October where he talks about his new position and the ECHL in general.
- It was a good finish to the weekend with the dramatic overtime win against Reading on Sunday but overall the last three games were a disappointment. Allen gave up the first goal in all three games, allowed an average of 38 shots and 5 goals per game and did not score a power play goal (0-8). Plenty to work on the next three days at practice.
- The Western Conference has the best and worst divisions in inter-divisional play.
The Mountain Division has the worst inter-divisional record. Here is how the Mountain Division has fared against the other divisions:
16-23-4-2 - Central Division
2-6-0-0 - North Division
4-5-0-0 - South Division
The best inter-divisional record belongs to the Central Division. Here is their record.
29-9-2-5 - Mountain Division
21-14-2-3 - North Division
12-2-1-0 - South Division
- Here are a few photos from the alumni game on Saturday. Everyone I talked to said the game was a lot of fun and the players enjoyed getting together and hoped this is something that could be done more often in the future. Photos courtesy of David Dudich.
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| Brian McMillin |
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| Jason Deitsch |
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| Trevor Ludwig |
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| Erik Adams |
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| Justin Bowers |
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| Mathieu Aubin |
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| Tobias Whelan scores |
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| Thanks for the memories boys! |
DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans have allowed more goals (202) than any other team in the ECHL. However, when it comes to giving up shorthanded goals the Americans have the best record in the league. Allen has only allowed two shorthanded goals all season and are the only team in the ECHL that has not allowed a shorthanded goal at home.
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