It is a big day in our household as we will be getting out second COVID shot this morning so the blog will brief and posted early. However, I didn't want to miss a day, especially when the Americans play at home after 10 straight road games. Here goes:
- It is finally game day at the Allen Event Center (AEC) as the Allen Americans take on the Wichita Thunder in the first of three games. The teams will play at the AEC again on Friday and then travel to Wichita for a game Saturday night.
- Not to bring up a bad memory but the last Allen home game was actually last year, December 31. Just so happens it was against Wichita and the Thunder rolled the Americans 7-2. The silver lining is the teams played in Wichita the next two days and Allen won both games, 5-1 and 4-3 in overtime.
- This should be a great three game series between the two best teams in the Western Conference. Allen's record is 12-4-0-0 with a points percentage of .750. Wichita's record is 9-3-1-0 with a points percentage of .731. Based on points percentage these are the #2 (Allen) and #3 (Wichita) ranked teams in the ECHL.
- In the three head to head games against Wichita the Americans have a combined shot advantage of 115-98. The totals are misleading because Allen gave up 46 shots in the 7-2 loss and the very next night in Wichita allowed only 12 shots in beating the Thunder 5-1. If you look at season shot averages you would predict a high shot game tonight with the advantage slightly favoring the Americans. Allen ranks #2 (34.00) in average shots taken per game while Wichita is ranked #4 (32.92). In average shots allowed Allen is ranked #10 (32.06) and Wichita is ranked last (#13) at 34.54.
- Even though Allen and Wichita give up a lot of shots they are the two best teams in the ECHL in goals allowed. What that means is outstanding goaltending. Wichita is #1 (.935) in team save percentage and Allen is #2 (.928). It should be quite the series. Another fun fact is the most goals Allen has allowed in a game this season was against Wichita (7) and the most goals the Thunder has allowed this season was against Allen (5). It is definitely like that proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get when these teams get together.
- Combined penalty minute totals in the three head to head games was 56 for Allen and 72 for Wichita. You are never sure what to expect as the teams could start fighting in warmups or go the entire game with only minor penalties. One thing is certain, former Wichita captain Dyson Stevenson will be playing his old team for the first time (he was injured for the last series) and will be mixing it up as only he can do.
- Head to head Allen scored a power play goal in all three games against Wichita. The Americans total was 3-20 (15%). Wichita had a power play goal in two of the three games with a total of 2-16 (12.5%). If you look at season averages Allen at home is 12.5% on the power play and 81.8% on the penalty kill. Wichita on the road has a power play percentage of 16.7% and penalty kill percentage of 86.7%.
- Odds are special teams will play an outsized role in this series given the past history between these teams. A key for Allen will be the penalty kill which had a streak of seven games when they allowed just one power play goal and scored three shorthanded goals. However, the penalty kill went south last weekend in Utah giving up four power play goals in three games. I know coach Martinson has made some adjustments to the penalty kill unit so hopefully you will see improvement against Wichita.
- Players to watch in this series for Wichita are the #1 and #3 players in the league in average points per game (minimum 10 games). Bobby McMann (#22) is averaging 1.33 points per game and Matteo Gennaro (#34) is averaging 1.31 points per game. For Allen the top scorers are Corey Mackin (15 points), Jesse Mychan (13 points) and Matt Register (13 points).
- I was lucky enough to attend practice yesterday using my media credential and noticed a couple of players are banged up and will be a game time decision. Braylon Shmyr was out of the no contact jersey and a full participant in practice so he will see his first action of the season tonight.
- The referee scheduled tonight is #20 Jacob Rekucki. He was the referee in an couple of Allen vs Wichita games last season. Not sure if it was the referee or the players but not a lot of penalties in those two games, a total of 18.
OTHER COMMENTS
- There is one other game in the ECHL tonight with Greenville visiting South Carolina.
- With the AHL starting play in two days the expectation is some extra players from training camp may start being assigned to ECHL teams. It has only been a trickle so far with four players being assigned yesterday. It could be AHL teams will keep a larger number of extra players on their roster this season because of concerns about COVID. The San Jose Barracuda have already cancelled their first game on Friday and moved their Saturday game to Sunday. The Barracuda's exhibition game last Saturday was canceled between the second and third period because of a positive COVID test. Here is the San Jose press release on the issue: http://www.sjbarracuda.com/news/detail/american-hockey-league-adjusts-san-jose-barracuda-2020-21-schedule
- I saw that Patrick Williams, who covers the AHL, reported the players association (PHPA) will be waiving AHL player dues this season.
DID YOU KNOW: The PHPA was founded in 1967 in Portland, Oregon when members of the Portland Buckroos (of the now defunct Western Hockey League) recognized that Canadian players playing in the US who were starting families had to send their wives home to Canada to give birth because they had no health insurance coverage in the US. Over the 1967-68 season the AHL got involved and on May 20,1968 the WHL and AHL players voted to form the Professional Hockey Players' Association (PHPA). The ECHL joined the PHPA for the 1995-96 season. Here is a link with more detail on the history of the PHPA: https://phpa.com/site/history
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