Practice, Roster, and Schedule Update, ECHL and Allen's All Time PIMS Leaders and More

 

- The Americans will practice the next three days as they prepare for three games in Utah this weekend. Because the team doesn't fly to Salt Lake City until Thursday night they will practice Thursday morning at the AEC. There will be 21 players make the trip to Utah with one extra defenseman and one extra forward going because it is a three games in three days series. It has been a while since Allen has had more than 21 healthy players available but that is the situation now.  

 

- The Allen roster continues to change with the latest being goalie Taran Kozun who was traded to Wheeling. Just in the last week Allen has had two players recalled to the AHL, two players released, one player traded and one player signed. If you go back three weeks the transaction totals are five players recalled by the AHL, eight players assigned by the AHL, four players signed, three players released and one player traded. The team hasn't been busy with only four games played in the last three weeks but general manager Martinson has been very busy and he is not done yet.

 

- Here is the current Allen roster which includes two goalies, eight defensemen and 14 forwards:

Goalies 

#34 - Jake Paterson

#39 - Justin Kapelmaster

 

Defensemen 

#5 - Phil Beaulieu

#7 - Kayle Doetzel

#14 - Les Lancaster 

#16 - Chaz Reddekopp

#20 - Ben Carroll

#25 - Nolan Kneen

#43 - Matt Register

#47 - Will Lochead

Forwards

#8 - Joe Garreffa 

#9 - Kyle Topping

#10 - Conner Bleackley

#11 - Kameron Kielly

#15 - Corey Mackin

#17 - Colby McAuley (on injured reserve)

#26 - Spencer Asuchak    

#27 - Sam Laberge

#28 - Krystof  Hrabik

#29 - Jesse Mychan

#40 - Josh Lammon

#44 - Zane Franklin

#71 - Dyson Stevenson

#?? - Frank DiChiara

- The three game series in Utah this weekend will be critical for the Americans if they want to compete with Fort Wayne and Wichita for the top spots in the conference and home ice advantage in the playoffs rather than competing to make the playoffs in the third or fourth spot. Utah has been struggling having lost four straight (all on the road). If  Utah sweeps Allen, taking all three games in regulation, it will pass Allen in points percentage. If Allen sweeps all three games in regulation it will improve its point percentage to .683 and leave Utah at .500.

 

- Allen's next 13 games between now and April 3 are against just three teams. Six against Utah (3 home, 3 away), four against Tulsa (2 home, 2 away) and three games against Rapid City at home. The Americans will have a heavy dose of Utah as they play the Grizzlies 13 times between March 12 and May 23 (6 home 7 away). That will make 18 games between Allen and Utah during the regular season and a realistic chance they could see each other in the playoffs. 

 

- If you haven't had a chance to watch Dyson Stevenson's latest "Inside the Bubble" video which is an interview with Chad Costello, it is like a couple of old friends having a beer at the local bar and catching up after not seeing each other for a while. Great stuff and if you have any problem with the video you can find it on the Allen Americans YouTube channel:

 

 

 

- The ECHL all time penalty minutes (PIMS) leader, 33 year old Garet Hunt, has just signed with the Wheeling Nailers. Here are the players with the most PIMS since 2008-09 when Hunt first joined the ECHL. Only eight players have more than 1000 PIMS since 2008-09. The team in parenthesis is the team the player played with the most seasons. Some real characters/entertainers on this list.

2666 - Garet Hunt, (Stockton)

1421 - Tiegan Zahn, (Colorado)

1272 - Danick Paquette, (Utah)

1202 - Michael Pelech, (Utah)

1177 - Adam Huxley, (Las Vegas)

1167 - Cody Sol, (Fort Wayne)

1125 - Emerson Clark, (Greenville)

1095 - Darryl Bootland, (Colorado)

 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW:  In Allen Americans franchise history, since 2009-10, only five players have amassed more then 300 career penalty minutes. Here are the Americans top 10 all time PIMS leaders with games played in parenthesis:

 

487 - Garrett Clarke  (125)

475 - David Makowski  (222)

383 - Spencer Asuchak  (368)

331 - Bryan Moore  (101)

326 - Trevor Hendrikx  (111) 

285 - Mike Gunn  (197)

280 - Darryl Bootland  (100)

274 - Derek Mathers  (59)

273 - Aaron Gens  (155)

260 - Dyson Stevenson  (143)

260 - Kip Brennan (61)

 

Between 1985-86 and 1989-90 Steve Martinson played in 179 games in the AHL and had 915 penalty minutes.