Get ready for a lot of hockey as the Americans play Kansas City at the Allen Event Center (AEC) the next three days. Tonight will be game two of the four game series against the Mavericks. Allen won game one on Wednesday 3-2.
- Playing four games in five days is tough, playing three games in three days is tough but the next three days is even more of a challenge. With a 2:05 pm start on Sunday it means just 43 hours between the start of game one to the start of game three. It means returning to the AEC 14 hours after the end of the game on Saturday to get ready for the Sunday game. The ECHL schedule is not player friendly in most seasons but this season is ridiculous with the number of times the schedule calls for three games in three days and four games in five days. I doubt there is any player not suffering from some ailment and finding a healthy groin muscle on the team is almost impossible. Team trainer Jordan Dutton is earning his keep this season for sure.
- With three games in a short period of time coach Martinson will be able to use all 14 healthy forwards on the roster to keep some fresh legs in the lineup. That is unless he has made a trade for a defenseman. Allen has just six healthy defensemen so no rest for them this weekend.
- The game tonight will see the return of goalie Jake Paterson who will be starting his first game since being injured on March 13. Paterson has a record of 6-2-1-0 with two shutouts since joining the Americans at the end of January. He hasn't played enough minutes to be qualified for official stats. Jake has played 549 minutes and needs 780 minutes to be qualified. If he was qualified his .931 save percentage would be ranked #1 in the ECHL.
- Allen won on Wednesday with good team defense and goaltending but there is certainly room for improvement. The Americans won the game despite giving up the first two goals of the game to Kansas City. You don't win very often in the ECHL after getting behind 2-0. In the five games against the Mavericks this season the team that scored first won four of them. A good start by Allen tonight is imperative.
- Allen also lost the special teams battle on Wednesday. The Americans were scoreless on the power play (0-3) while Kansas City was 1-4. To be fair Allen scored the game winning goal seven seconds after a Mavericks penalty expired and the player was just getting back into the play. Allen's special teams have been improving and that needs to continue tonight. In the last five games the power play percentage is 20.0% (5-25) and the penalty kill percentage is 90.9% (2-22). The penalty kill unit also had a shorthanded goal (Mackin). A big key tonight will be to win the special teams battle.
- Les Lancaster with five points and Zane Franklin with four points have been the most productive players against Kansas City this season. Chad Butcher had two goals on Wednesday and has stood out since joining the Americans. He looks like a point a game player going forward.
- Allen's average attendance over its 18 home games is 1848 which ranks then 10th out of the 14 ECHL teams playing. The first three Friday night games drew 2032, 2259 and 2392 fans. The last two Fridays nights have drawn crowds 1891 and 1954. Tonight is Veteran's Night so hopefully attendance will be over 2000 once again.
- Steve Martinson's alma mater, St. Cloud State University, defeated Minnesota State last night to advance to its first national title game in school history. The team's coaching staff asked Martinson to talk to the team at the beginning of the season about what it takes to win a championship. With 10 championships as a coach and two as a player, Steve certainly knows what it takes to win a championship and how to communicate that to young players. St. Cloud State will play the University of Massachusetts in the title game Saturday night.
OTHER COMMENTS
- It will be an action packed weekend in the ECHL with the possibility of a shake up in the Western Conference standings. Rapid City plays Tulsa, Utah plays Wichita and Fort Wayne plays Indy. All seven teams could be in a different position both up or down by Sunday evening. As a reminder, here are the standings going into play tonight:
.670 - Wichita
.667 - Fort Wayne
.646 - Allen
.558 - Utah
.523 - Kansas City
.500 - Rapid City
.489 - Tulsa
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has used 45 players this season, 46 if you count one player that was signed but never played. Here is the ECHL Stats post from today that compares players used thus far this season to prior years. Bottom line is more players have already been used this season (average per team) than any of the four previous seasons:
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