Allen's Travel Roster, Waiver Claim Explained, ECHL Using Record Number of Players and More

 

It is another getaway day for the Allen Americans as the fly to Utah this morning where they will take on the Grizzlies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to the recent postponement of three home games the Americans will set a record this weekend for most consecutive road games. The games in Utah will be the eighth, ninth and tenth road games in a row dating back to January 1st. The most consecutive road games Allen has played prior to this weekend was eight in 2018-19. 

 

- All 20 healthy players on the Allen roster made the trip to Utah, two goalies, eight defensemen and 10 forwards. The only player not making the trip is Braylon Shmyr who will be available next weekend. Here is the travel roster:

Goalies

#34 - Jake Paterson

#39 - Justin Kapelmaster

 

Defensemen

#4 - Turner Ottenbreit

#5 - Phil Beaulieu

#7 - Kayle Doetzel

#14 - Les Lancaster 

#20 - Ben Carroll

#25 - Nolan Kneen

#43 - Matt Register

#47 - Will Lochead

Forwards

#10 - Conner Bleackley

#11 - Kam Kielly

#15 - Corey Mackin

#17 - Colby McAuley    

#26 - Spencer Asuchak

#27 - Sam Laberge

#29 - Jesse Mychan

#40 - Josh Lammon

#44 - Zane Franklin

#71 - Dyson Stevenson

 

- If you follow the ECHL transactions you saw yesterday that Allen claimed off waivers from Fort Wayne, forward Mason Bergh. Don't look for Bergh to show up in Allen any time soon. Here is the story. Bergh is a graduate of Colorado College where he was the captain of the hockey team for two seasons. He is an excellent player who turned pro last season and split time between Ontario (AHL) where he played 25 games and Fort Wayne (ECHL) where he played 29 games. With Fort Wayne getting ready to start playing Bergh informed the team he was retiring from pro hockey. The Komets could have suspended Bergh and retained his rights but decided to release him and put him on waivers. Coach Martinson was familiar with Mason and put in a waiver claim just to get his rights. Allen will suspend him to retain his rights. Bergh was an outstanding student in college, graduated Cum Laude, retired at age 25 after one year of pro hockey and has gone to work as an Investment Analyst for Yale Capital Group back home in Minnesota. While the odds of him returning to pro hockey are slim, coach Martinson took no risk in obtaining Bergh's rights just in case he changes his mind. 

 

- With eight defensemen on the trip to Utah you can expect Will Lochead to play some at forward. He has played both positions and he was upfront last weekend.  

-  Utah has had crowds as high as 2140 at their recent weekend home games so the fan atmosphere will be alive and well this weekend.

 

- I will have a complete series preview tomorrow but here is one stat that may be a factor against Utah. Allen has had just one of their 13 games go to extra time which they won. Utah has had four of their 13 games go extra time and they lost all four.

 

OTHER COMMENTS

 - There was one game in the ECHL last night, Florida shutout Orlando 3-0. There have been six shutouts in the ECHL season and Florida has three of them. Florida also has the best goal differential in the league at +28. Allen is second at +19. 

 

 

- There is one game in the ECHL tonight with Kansas City (4-7-1-1) at Tulsa (6-8-1-1).  

 

 

 - Yesterday I posted about how many players Allen has already used so early in the season. This morning my post on ECHL Stats looked at the players used by all ECHL teams. Here is that post:

The COVID protocols along with numerous players being loaned/recalled to the AHL has caused ECHL teams to use a record number of players early in this season. Tulsa has played only 16 games and already used 34 players, the same number of players they used in the entire season (63 games) in 2019-20. Leaguewide teams have used an average of 33 players this season ranging from 29 (Allen, Wheeling) to 35 (Florida, Indy, Kansas City, Rapid City). Here are the total players used this season and last season. It is clear most if not all ECHL teams will soon surpass the number of players they used all season in 2019-20.

 

 

TOTALS

2019-20: 1594 games, 546 players used (42 average per team)

2020-21: 168 games, 428 players used (33 average per team)

 

Allen - 29 vs 41

Florida - 35 vs 43

Greenville- 33 vs 46

Indy - 35 vs 41

Jacksonville - 34 vs 47

Kansas City - 35 vs 39

Orlando - 34 vs 55

Rapid City - 35 vs 43

South Carolina - 30 vs 37

Tulsa - 34 vs 34

Utah - 34 vs 37

Wheeling - 29 vs 40

Wichita - 31 vs 43

 

 

DID YOU KNOW:  The most famous streak for Allen road games was in 2009-10. Because the Allen Event Center (AEC) wasn't ready the first seven games in Americans history were played on the road. The team came home with a record of 5-1-0-1. It is hard to imagine now but Allen played six different teams on that seven game road trip. They went to Arizona for two games and then single games in Bossier-Shreveport, Laredo, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Corpus Christi.