CORRECTION: Yesterday I incorrectly said Wichita was playing three games this weekend on the road in Rapid City. Those three games are actually being played in Wichita. Thanks to Angelia Blair for bringing that error to my attention. As I always say it takes a village to report on the Americans every day and I appreciate hearing from you on errors, questions, story ideas, interesting articles, scoops and any other information you share with me. You can DM me if you are on social media or email me at janssenfamily@msn.com.
The Allen Americans have a rare Friday off as they have chilled in Kansas City yesterday and today waiting for their game against the Mavericks on Saturday. Not much new to report but I did have a chance to check in with coach Martinson this morning. Here are some of his comments:
"With the compressed schedule this season I am trying to give the players as many days off as possible going down the stretch and into the playoffs."
"We had the day off yesterday and will have a short practice today. We will work on the same things we worked on in our last practice (Wednesday morning in Allen) because we made the same mistakes in the game Wednesday night."
"I don't normally show video of our breakdowns (mistakes) to the entire team but I will do that today before practice."
"We continue to have the advantage in puck possession even in the games we are losing so we have to do a better job of turning the puck possession into more shots."
"We have a couple of players listed as day to day that we hope will be ready for Saturday."
"We have made a lot of changes in the last month as we are heading to the playoffs and you can look for more."
"I am still looking for that combination of players, both forwards and defensemen, that can be that shutdown group you need for the playoffs when teams have their best players all on one line."
- The stat of the day shows why Steve Martinson plays the most entertaining style of hockey in the ECHL. The Americans have scored more goals (197) than any team in the league and also have more fighting majors (34) than any team in the league. Now that is an entertaining combination.
- Maybe the most impressive stat when it comes to entertaining hockey is Martinson's four championships in seven seasons (when there was a playoff) since becoming coach of the Allen Americans.
- Haven't used this stat before but here are the points and plus/minus in the last five games for each player on the Allen roster. It is the last five games the player was in the lineup:
Defensemen
#5 - Phil Beaulieu - 5 points (2G, 3A), 0
#7 - Sam Ruopp - 3 points (1G, 2A), +2
#14 - Les Lancaster - 6 points (3G, 3A), -4
#16 - Darian Skeoch - 0 points (0G, 0A), +1
#18 - Kris Myllari - 1 point (0G, 1A), 0
#20 - Ben Carroll - 2 points (0G, 2A), -3
#21 - Dominic Cormier - 0 points (0G, 0A), +1
#43 - Matt Register - 5 points (0G, 5A), 0
Forwards
#8 - Steve Owre - 1 point (0G, 1A), 0
#9 - Brett Neumann - 6 points (3G, 3A), +1
#11 - Collin Shirley - 2 points (1G, 1A), +1
#15 - Corey Mackin - 6 points (4G, 2A), -3
#17 - Colby McAuley - 2 points (1G, 1A), -1
#19 - Chad Butcher - 4 points (1G, 3A), -1
#25 - Kelly Bent - 0 points (0G, 0A), +1
#26 - Spencer Asuchak - 3 points (1G, 2A), -1
#27 - Sam Laberge - 4 points (0G, 4A), -1
#29 - Josh Maser - 0 points (0G, 0A), -1
#40 - Josh Lammon - 2 points (0G, 2A), +2
#44 - Zane Franklin - 4 points (1G, 3A), +3
#71 - Dyson Stevenson - 0 points (0G, 0A), +1
#77 - Scott Conway - 5 points (4G, 1A), 0
One thing to keep in mind when looking at the plus/minus stats is some players play against the opposing team's top line most of the time. Other players play a lot of time against the opponents third line.
DID YOU KNOW: ECHL top 10 leaders in shots with shooting percentage in parenthesis:
Really great info on Martinson and the teams he puts together. Does this guy have an employment contract yet???
ReplyDeleteAndrew, Martinson does not have a contract and I doubt anything will be resolved on his future until after the 2020-21 season is over.
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