After the Allen roster was hit by four San Jose players being recalled it is time to look forward as the Americans begin a four game series in five days against Tulsa. The teams play in Allen tonight and Friday and then travel to Tulsa for games on Saturday and Sunday.
- Coach Martinson has re-signed forward Scott Conway who played three games for the Americans on their recent road trip to Greenville when a bunch of players were out with COVID. Conway was born in England and started his hockey career there but played junior hockey and college hockey in the United States. Teams that Conway played for include the Texas Tornado (NAHL) and Providence College (NCAA). Scott turned pro last season and played 13 games in the AHL (Providence Bruins) where he had five points (3G, 2A) and 39 games in Atlanta (ECHL) and had 33 points (17G, 16A). Conway will wear the #77 jersey tonight.
- Martinson will hopefully sign another player before the weekend. The injury list has grown to four players so Allen will be playing one player short tonight. Colby McAuley is still day to day but will not play tonight. Dyson Stevenson is out with an injury that typically takes a few weeks to heal, Nolan Kneen will be put on the injured reserve and Jake Paterson is also out with an injury. Allen will have Justin Kapelmaster in goal and have an EBUG (Thomas Hodges) tonight.
- Here is the updated Allen roster which now has two goalies (not counting the EBUG), seven defensemen and 12 forwards:
Goalies
#34 - Jake Paterson (injured)
#39 - Justin Kapelmaster
Defensemen
#5 - Phil Beaulieu
#7 - Kayle Doetzel
#14 - Les Lancaster
#20 - Ben Carroll
#25 - Nolan Kneen (injured)
#43 - Matt Register
#47 - Will Lochead
Forwards
#10 - Conner Bleackley
#11 - Kameron Kielly
#15 - Corey Mackin
#17 - Colby McAuley (injured)
#26 - Spencer Asuchak
#27 - Sam Laberge
#29 - Jesse Mychan
#37 - Frank DiChiara
#40 - Josh Lammon
#44 - Zane Franklin
#71 - Dyson Stevenson (injured)
#77 - Scott Conway
- Tulsa is a resurgent team after a rough patch in January when it lost eight straight games. Since the beginning of February the Oilers are 10-4 and last week they beat Wichita four straight including three times in Wichita. The Oilers will be missing their #1 scorer (Danny Moynihan) and their #4 scorer (Charlie Sampair) who were loaned to Tulsa's AHL affiliate, San Diego Gulls, yesterday.
- Here is a comparison of the records for Allen and Tulsa. Overall Allen is 19-10-1-0 and Tulsa is 16-14-2-1. Allen's home record is 7-1-1-0 while Tulsa's road record is 10-7-1-0. In the last 10 games Allen is 5-5-0-0 and Tulsa is 6-4-0-0.
- The game tonight will be the fifth of 13 between Allen and Tulsa this season. Allen is 3-1 in the first four games and the last time these teams played on January 24 in Tulsa the Americans, with Jake Paterson in goal, shutout the Oilers 5-0. The head to head totals have Allen with the advantage in goals (17-6) but Tulsa with the advantage is shots (148-145).
- Tulsa leads the league in average shots per game (34.61) but they have the worst shooting percentage in the ECHL at 6.5%. Allen is ranked #5 in average shots per game (31.90) but has a shooting percentage of 10.7%.
- Special teams will play a big role in this series and there is a contrast between these teams. Overall stats show Allen with the better power play, ranked #4 at 17.8% while Tulsa is last (#14) at 12.3%. The opposite is true on the penalty kill with Tulsa ranked #4 (86.2%) while Allen is ranked #11 (80.9%).
- In their four head to head games Allen is 3-13 (23.1%) on the power play and Tulsa is 2-8 (25.0%)
- It wouldn't be a series preview without the scoring first stats. Leaguewide the team that scores first has a points percentage of .773 with a record of 156-37-19-6. Allen is one of the best in the league at .882 and a record of 15-2-0-0. Tulsa's point percentage when scoring first is .794 with a record of 13-3-1-0. FYI Allen scored first in all four games against Tulsa this season and won three of them.
- Allen is 2-1 in overtimes and 2-0 in shutouts. Tulsa is 3-2 in overtimes and 1-1 in shootouts.
- If you are attending the game tonight or watching on Flo Hockey it will be the first chance to see Frank DiChiara in action. Frank led Reading in scoring last season averaging a point a game with 59 points (22G, 37A). He wears #37 and I would guess he will be on a line with his Reading teammate, Corey Mackin, who is Allen's leading scorer this season.
OTHER COMMENTS
- In my ECHL Stats post this morning I talked about how teams were using more goalies this season because so many goalies have been called up or loaned to AHL/NHL teams. Goalie by committee is the rule more than the exception this season. The top two teams in team save percentage have used four different goalies. Wichita leads the league with a team save percentage of .931 followed by Florida at .926. Allen is ranked #3 with a team save percentage at .914. Here are the four goalies that have played for Allen, ranked by save percentage with games played in parenthesis:
.931 - Jake Paterson (9 games)
.926 - Zach Sawchenko (7 games)
.915 - C.J. Motte (5 games)
.902 - Justin Kapelmaster (10 games)
Kansas City takes the award for doing the best with the most goalies. The Mavericks have a team save percentage of .912, which is fifth best in the ECHL, and they have used eight different goalies.
- Saw this posted by the Americans President Mike Waddell which puts the Allen home games in perspective. "We've got five home games over the next 10 days compared to only nine home games over the last 375 days."
- There are three games on tap in the ECHL tonight. One of the other games is Indy at Wichita. Allen fans may be scoreboard watching as an Allen win in regulation and Wichita loss in regulation would move the Americans into second place in the Western Conference.
- You may have seen the information released by the Allen Americans last week that the COVID -19 safety precautions that have been in effect will stay that way for the remainder of the 2020-21 season. That decision was made by the Allen Americans not by the city of Allen or the Allen Event Center and is consistent with what the other indoor pro sports teams in the DFW are doing.
DID YOU KNOW: The Americans will be wearing specialty jerseys tonight to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Have to say I have the soul of an Irishwoman as my mother was born and raised in a small seaside community (Dalkey) just south of Dublin. An orphan, she grew up a feisty but caring person who became a nurse, met my dad during World War II and married him. Everyone she met was her friend and she would help anyone in need. She is missed everyday but even more so today. We had a lot of Irish Blessings around the house growing up but this one is apropos in these times, "May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need the most." Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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