Today I want to do some catch up on some miscellaneous items but first share may conversation this morning with coach Martinson,
COACH'S CORNER
"After going over the game on Sunday I found we had the advantage in puck possession even in the first period. We have been consistently having more puck possession our last few games even when we aren't converting the chances into goals."
"Playing four games in five days which we have done a lot this season takes a physical toll. Almost every player has had to deal with groin issues. There is not enough time to rest from week to week. This week is a good example as we get ready to play Tulsa four games. Practice today and Thursday will be light and some players won't practice."
"We are finally back to a place where we have some extra healthy players. We have seven healthy defensemen for the first time in a month. The newest defenseman, Kris Myllari, will see action this weekend."
"We will go back to 18 skaters playing in games when the playoffs start. We started the season with 18 skaters but that was reduced to 17 skaters in January. It will be nice to have the extra skater for the playoffs."
I asked Martinson to share what his stats show as leaders on various stats he tracks through the video analytics platform the team uses.
"Most hits - Franklin and Laberge, Stevenson on would also be up there but he has missed a lot of games."
"Faceoffs - Spencer Asuchak"
"Puck Battles - Lochead for defenseman, Lammon and Franklin for forwards"
"Zane Franklin takes a lot of penalties but he gets some leeway from me because he always pushes back when there is trouble on the ice and his penalties are more physical penalties. What bothers me is when players take stick penalties."
ODD AND ENDS
- Had a question about hat tricks by defensemen and Gordie Howe hat tricks my defensemen. These are not easy stats to research. I ended up going through every hat trick in the ECHL since 2014-15 and picking out those by Allen Americans. Turns out since Allen joined the ECHL just two defensemen have had a hat trick. I could not find any Gordie Howe hat tricks by a defenseman but that is not a guarantee.
- Alex Breton on February 17, 2019 at home against Reading had a hat trick. His third goal came in the third period to tie the score 4-4 and send it to overtime. Another defenseman, David Makowski, scored the game winner just 59 seconds into overtime, assisted by Dante Salituro and Alex Breton.
- The only other defenseman to score a hat trick happened on April 3, 2015. Playing in just his third game for Allen after being assigned to the Americans by their AHL affiliate at the time (Worcester Sharks), Konrad Abeltshauser score a hat trick. The Americans were playing at home and beat Brampton 8-1. Also noteworthy in that game was Chad Costello had five points (1G, 4A) and Vincent Arseneau was given a game misconduct for instigating a fight in the last minute of the game. Incidentally he fought Brampton's Dalton Thrower who would later play for the Americans.
- Since I had to wade through every Allen hat trick since 2014-15 to find the info above I thought you might like to see all of the hat tricks since the Americans joined the ECHL.
Greger Hanson
Chad Costello
Jack Combs (2)
Kyle Follmer
Konrad Abeltshauser
2015-16
Chad Costello
Chris Crane
Dyson Stevenson
2016-17
Greger Hanson (2)
Bryan Moore (3)
Chad Costello
2017-18
Vincent Arseneau
Alex Guptill
Gary Steffes
2018-19
Braylon Shmyr
Zach Pochiro
Jake Doty
Alex Breton
Gary Steffes
2019-20
Jordan Topping
Gabe Gagne
Alex Guptill
2020-21
Jesse Mychan
- I also had a question about the impact of losing in overtime versus regulation since the ECHL is using points percentage rather than points this season. The easiest way to explain this is through an example. To figure points percentage all you do is divide earned points (2 for a win, 1 for OT or SO loss) by maximum points (if team won every game). If a team plays 25 games and had a record of 20-5-0-0 the maximum number of points they could earn is 50 (2x25) but since they only won 20 games they earned 40 points (2X20) so you divide 40 by 50 and the points percentage is .800. If that seem teams lost two games in overtime rather than in regulation they would have a record of 20-3-2-0. The maximum points would still be 50 (2x25) but earned points would be 40 (2x20 for the wins) and 2 points (2x1 point for the two OT losses) for a total points earned if 42. You divide 42 by 50 and the team's points percentage is .840. Hope this helps answer the question.
- I checked when the AHL season ends because you could soon see players being sent ECHL teams, especially those on loan to the AHL. The dates vary widely with the earliest a team finishes the regular season is tonight (May 4) and the latest a team ends the regular season is May 20. The team with the May 4 end date is Bridgeport which happens to be where C.J. Motte plays. If Motte is sent back to Allen followed by Justin Kapelmaster when Cleveland finishes its season (May 15) it will create a log jam for coach Martinson at the goalie position. There are a lot of factors to consider in deciding which goalies to keep.
- I saw the ECHL has announced they will have their summer meetings in Las Vegas on August 15-17. While the meeting is focused on sales, marketing and communications it is also a meeting where the Board of Governors consider changes for the 2021-22 season.
- My ECHL stats post today (see below) was about the ECHL highest scoring defensemen duos. Allen has the top two scoring defensemen in the ECHL in Les Lancaster and Matt Register and they far exceed other duos. How do they compare with the high scoring Allen defensemen duos from the past? At the pace they are scoring, if they stay healthy, Les and Matt will blow away the all time record. Here are the top scoring duos (defensemen) for each season since Allen joined the ECHL:
100 points - Aaron Gens and Kevin Young (2014-15)
75 points - David Makowski and Matt Register (2015-16)
94 points - David Makowski and Joel Chouinard (2016-17)
95 points - David Makowski and Joel Chouinard (2017-18)
71 points - Alex Breton and David Makowski (2018-19)
96 points - Alex Breton and Stepan Falkovsky (2019-20) (shortened season)
88 points - Les Lancaster and Matt Register (2020-21) (17 games remaining)
DID YOU KNOW: ECHL's most points by defensemen duos this season:
Sorry for asking such a tough question, research wise, Barry. I thought that hat tricks would be something stored away by the ECHL in an obscure stat book or site somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for doing the research, the results are interesting. I didn’t think it would be a long list but I also didn’t think it would as short a one as it is.
Thanks for everything you do Barry, it is appreciated very much!!!!