Pandemic impact on the ECHL has gone from bad to worse in rapid fashion. There have been 94 players placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List since the start of the season (December 11) but 42 have been added in the last nine days. Just two games were postponed between December 11 and January 14. Since January 14 there have been 14 games postponed. Here are all of the postponed games:
Tulsa at Utah - December 12, 13
Wheeling at Indy - January 15, 16
Wichita at Allen - January 15, 16, 17
Jacksonville at South Carolina - January 18
Greenville at Orlando - January 20
Kansas City at Wichita - January 21
South Carolina at Wheeling - January 22, 23, 24
Florida at Jacksonville - January 22, 23, 24
- I share the details on the postponed games to show how quickly this has escalated and the impact has been all over the ECHL. Ironically the only team that has not had a game postponed is Rapid City who has placed more players on the Commissioner's Exempt List (16) than any other team.
- You never know when games are postponed which team is the cause or if both teams have significant COVID issues. I have been told the postponement of the game tonight between Kansas City and Wichita in Wichita will not impact the Allen vs Kansas City game on Saturday. Things can change day to day but as of now both of Allen's games this weekend are still a go.
- Everyone keeps asking about the goalie and forward that Martinson is adding to the roster. Part of getting the latest information about the team is honoring an agreement to not share information on newly signed players without approval from the Americans. A big part of the reason for having these restrictions is contracts have to be approved by the league before players can be announced. Information has to be provided to the league before they can review the contracts. I have never seen a list but I am sure the league reviews immigration paperwork, vet status, salary and COVID protocol to name a few of the issues. With that said I can say Allen fans will be familiar with both of these new players.
- Anyway you slice it the Americans will have a new look in their games this weekend against Kansas City and Tulsa. There will be six to eight players that played in Allen's last game that will not be in the lineup this weekend. It will be a good test for the Americans. Kansas City doesn't have a good record (4-6-1-1) but won their last two games on the road in Utah. Tulsa's record is 6-6-0-1 but after their 3-2 loss to Indy last night they have lost three straight games. The Oilers will play Indy again on Friday and Saturday before taking on Allen Sunday afternoon at 4:05 pm CST.
- Three Allen players are tied for the team lead in game winning goals. Les Lancaster, Tyler Sheehy and Jesse Mychan each have two game winning goals. Nolan Kneen and Matt Register each have one.
- In the only game in the ECHL last night the Indy Fuel went on the
road and beat Tulsa 3-2. It has been an amazing start for Indy who
improved their record to 9-1-0-0. It hasn't been easy as all 10 games
were decided by one goal and Indy has only three regulation wins to go
along with five overtime wins and one shootout win. Last season Indy had
10 of 60 (17%) of their games go extra time. This season six of 10
(60%) have gone extra time. It remains to be seen how good Indy is when they play some of the top tier teams. Four of Indy's nine wins have come against Wheeling who has the worst winning/point percentage in the conference (.350).
DID YOU KNOW: Here are Allen's leaders in game winning goals (GWG) for each season since they joined the ECHL:
6 - Gabe Gagne (2019-2020)
4 - Spencer Asuchak (2018-19)
5 - Bryan Moore (2017-18)
6 - Chad Costello (2016-17)
7 - David Makowski (2015-16)
11 - Greger Hanson (2014-15)*
*Greger Hanson has the record for game winning goals even though he only played in 56 games in 2014-15. Hanson scored the GWG in 20% of the games he played.
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