Allen's Individual Records Since Joining the ECHL, Playoff Picture, ECHL Attendance, Former Allen Players Overseas Update, Gary Steffes Book Signing and More

Yesterday I took a look at team stats for the five years the Allen Americans have played in the ECHL. Today I want to take a look at individual leaders for the five ECHL seasons. There have been just two players that have played in all five seasons, Spencer Asuchak and Gary Steffes. There are three others that have played four of the five years; David Makowski, Mike Gunn and Eric Roy. Here are the team leaders for the five ECHL seasons (2014-19) combining regular season and playoff stats.

Games Played
295 - Spencer Asuchak
277 - Gary Steffes
276 - Chad Costello
251 - David Makowski
216 - Joel Chouinard


Goals
122 - Gary Steffes
117 - Chad Costello
107 - Greger Hanson
92 - Spencer Asuchak
65 - David Makowski


Assists
309 - Chad Costello*
140 - David Makowski
129 - Spencer Asuchak
126 - Greger Hanson
99   - Joel Chouinard


Total Points
426 - Chad Costello*
233 - Greger Hanson
221 - Spencer Asuchak
219 - Gary Steffes
205 - David Makowski


Points Per Game (100 games minimum)
1.543 - Chad Costello*
1.137 - Greger Hanson
0.962 - Zach Pochiro
0.947 - Bryan Moore
0.817 - David Makowski


Penalty Minutes
505 - David Makowski
359 - Bryan Moore
358 - Spencer Asuchak
317 - Dyson Stevenson
303 - Aaron Gens


Here are the top five individual seasons since Allen joined the ECHL. These season totals combine regular season and playoffs. Some remarkable seasons on this list.

Games Played
97 - Chad Costello (2014-15)
97 - Jamie Schaafsma (2014-15)
97 - Aaron Gens (2014-15)
96 - Chad Costello (2015-16)
96 - Kevin Young (2014-15)


Goals
57 - Gary Steffes (2014-15)*
50 - Chad Costello (2014-15)
40 - Greger Hanson (2014-15)
38 - Greger Hanson (2016-17)
36 - Chad Costello (2016-17)


Assists
108 - Chad Costello (2015-16)*
103 - Chad Costello (2014-15)*
98  - Chad Costello (2016-17)*
56 - Aaron Gens (2014-15)
50 - Greger Hanson (2014-15)
50 - Casey Pierro-Zabotel (2017-18)


Total Points
153 - Chad Costello (2014-15)*
139 - Chad Costello (2015-16)*
134 - Chad Costello (2016-17)*
91  - Gary Steffes (2014-15)
90  - Greger Hanson (2014-15)


Points Per Game (50 games minimum)
1.61 - Chad Costello (2016-17)*
1.58 - Chad Costello (2014-15)*
1.45 - Chad Costello (2015-16)*
1.22 - Greger Hanson (2016-17)
1.13 - Greger Hanson (2014-15)


*The asterisks represent stats that not only led the Allen Americans but the entire ECHL. Said another way if you look at all players over the last five ECHL seasons and combine regular season and playoffs, Chad Costello (who only played in three of the five seasons) is the leader in assists, points and points per game. If you look at individual seasons, Chad has the top three of all ECHL players in assists, points and points per game.


- After trending down for several years the ECHL attendance was up last season. With 141 games remaining the league's average attendance (4337) is down 87 per game from last season. To match last season's attendance the league will have to average 4937 per game over the final 141 games. Many of the teams at the top of the attendance chart (Fort Wayne, Toledo, Orlando, Wichita) have a lot of home games remaining so exceeding last seasons average attendance is certainly possible.

4337 - 2018-19 (831 of 972 games played)
4424 - 2017-18
4251 - 2016-17
4385 - 2015-16
4598 - 2014-15
4706 - 2013-14


- In the only Mountain Division action last night Kansas City was at home and beat Wichita 3-2. Rapid City and Wichita are hanging on by a thread in their attempt to catch Kansas City for the final playoff spot. The magic number for Wichita is eight and Rapid City is nine. The Mavericks could go 4-7-1-0 over their last 12 games and still make the playoffs even if the Thunder and Rush win all of their remaining games. Tonight Kansas City plays Tulsa at home and Rapid City is at Utah. Wichita is idle.


- I was having a conversation after practice yesterday about teams that are built for the playoffs with the premise being tough physical teams tend to the wear down less physical teams in seven game series. The teams in the upper half of the league in winning percentage and the upper half in penalty minutes include Cincinnati, Florida, Idaho, Orlando, Utah and Fort Wayne. Teams in the upper half in winning percentage and the lower half in penalty minutes include Newfoundland, Toledo, Tulsa, Adirondack, Kansas City, Maine and Brampton.


- Gary Steffes will be having a pre-sale event of his new book, "The Mental Side" in the team store this afternoon. Gary will talk about the book and take questions starting at 2:00 pm. The books will be discounted to $12 (his retired number) and all proceeds will go to charity. The publicity on this event says it will go until 3:30 but the team has practice this afternoon so I would assume Gary will have to leave the book signing around 3:00 to get ready for practice. My advice is to get to the book signing early (2:00 pm).


-  The playoffs have started in many leagues in Europe. Chad Costello and Greger Hanson played for a team (Krefeld) in the top German league (DEL) that did not make the playoffs so their season is already over. Rylan Schwartz also plays in the DEL and his team lost in the first round of the playoffs.


- Alex Lavoie and Colton Yellow Horn play in the EBEL (Austrian League) and the playoffs have just begun. Lavoie's team (Innsbruck) did not make the playoffs. Yellow Horn's team (Graz 99ers) are tied 1-1 in the first round of the best of seven playoff series.


- The EIHL (Great Britain) has not started their playoffs. Rick Pinkston (Fife), Tanner Eberle (Sheffield) and Alex Guptill (Nottingham) are all in position to make the playoffs with two weeks remaining in the regular season.


- Jonathan Lessard plays in the French League for Bordeaux. His team made the playoffs but lost in the first round in a series that went seven games.


- Kale Kerbashian and Judd Blackwater play for the same team (HK Nitra) in the Slovakian League. Nitra finished third in the regular season so they were automatically seeded into the second round (quarterfinals) of the best of seven series. They are currently trailing 2-1 in the series with game four taking place today.


- Other former players already done with their seasons overseas include Jack Combs and Josh Brittain.
  


DID YOU KNOW: This week Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop set a team record with a shutout streak that now stands at 230 minutes and 53 seconds. He left his last game with an injury so the streak is still intact. Bishop broke the record of Ed Belfour that was 219:26 set in 2000. The ECHL record for longest shutout sequence is held by Jeff Jakaitis. Playing for the South Carolina Stingrays, Jakaitis didn't allow a goal between March 6-21, 2015, a total of 321 minutes and 46 seconds of playing time. Second place all time is more than 85 minutes behind Jakaitis (236:03).