It is game day for the Allen Americans as they are in Wichita to take on the Thunder. It will be the first of three games in three days for the Americans who will return home to play Kansas City on Saturday and Wichita again on Sunday. The game tonight is the seventh of the season for the Americans and the fourth against Wichita. After an opening night 7-0 loss, Allen has won 6-3 (at home) and 3-1 in Wichita last Friday. Both of these teams are trying to find their footing after finishing last season with the top two points percentages in the Western Conference. (Allen .653, Wichita .634).
- It is still early in the season but Allen finds itself tied for #8 of 14 teams in points percentage in the Western Conference at .500 with a record of 2-2-2-0. Wichita is #13 with a points percentage of .286 and record of 2-5-0-0.
- Allen enters the weekend having lost both of its contracted players (goalie Antoine Bibeau and center Ryan Lohin) who were recalled to Charlotte (AHL). I don't remember a time when Allen had no NHL/AHL contracted players on the roster. Some ECHL teams have 10+ contracted players.
- Allen will also be without Jack Combs tonight, this weekend and next weekend against Rapid City. He was placed on the IR yesterday and will be out a minimum of 14 days. The earliest Combs could return is November 24 when the Americans begin a three game series in Idaho.
- With Lohin and Combs out of the lineup Allen has lost its top two scorers. These two players have 43% of Allen's goals this season.
- Here is Allen's travel roster which includes two goalies, seven defensemen and nine forwards. Not on the trip are Combs and Nolan Kneen who are injured and Dawson Butt who is serving a one game suspension.
Goalies
#35 - Hayden Lavigne
#40 - Frank Marotte
Defensemen:
#3 - Darian Skeoch
#4 - Kris Myllari
#20 - Ben Carroll
#23 - Ben Owen
#25 - Phil Beaulieu
Forwards
#5 - Jackson Leef
#10- Jackson Leppard
#11 - Branden Troock
#13 - Chad Costello
#17 - Chad Butcher
#19 - Jared Bethune
#26 - Spencer Asuchak
#28 - D-Jay Jerome
#29 - Kelly Bent
- Frank Marotte will get the start in goal tonight but with three games in less than 48 hours, newly signed goalie, Hayden Lavigne, will also get a start this weekend.
- Chad Butcher will play his first game for Allen since last June. Chad is actually on a three game point streak from last season and had a goal in his last game for Allen. He looked very good in practice yesterday even though he hasn't skated since leaving his team in Sweden about 10 days ago.
- Allen's
Achilles' heel has been giving up way to many shots on goal. The
Americans are last in the ECHL, ranked #27 in allowing an average of 38.17 shots per game. Allen is ranked #25 in goals allowed per game at 4.50. It will be imperative for the Americans to hold down shots and goals tonight if they expect to win. Last Friday in Wichita the Americans allowed just 21 shots and one goal, by far the lowest in both categories this season. With so much of the goal scoring out of the lineup (Lohin & Combs) the Americans will need a performance like last Friday again tonight.
- A big part of the problem is turning over the puck in neutral
ice and at the offensive blue line. These turnovers not only eliminate a
chance for the Americans to get a shot, they create a great opportunity
for the opponent to get a shot. Getting the puck in deep when there
isn't room to make a play in neutral ice will be a key to the game
tonight. This week the team has spent a lot of time on the ice and in the video room working on team defense. Will all of the extra work payoff in the game tonight?
- With seven defensemen and only nine forwards, if coach Martinson needs a defenseman to play up front it would be Josh Burnside. Josh played forward in his junior career (OHL) and his last two seasons had 45 points (13G, 32A) in 55 games and 41 points (16G, 25A) in 66 games.
- Special teams are always key and season long stats show Allen with the edge on the power play (18.2% vs 16.7%) and Wichita with the edge on the penalty kill (88.6% vs 77.3%). In the three previous games between these teams each has had one good power play night. In the 7-0 opening night win, Wichita was 3-5 on the power play. In the other two games they were 0-5. Allen was 2-4 on the power play in its 6-3 win at home against Wichita. In the other two games the Americans were 0-8. Allen's power play will have a different look tonight without Combs and Lohin and the addition of Butcher.
- The team that scored first has won all three games Allen and Wichita have played this season. Last season Allen won four of five games against Wichita when scoring first.
- Allen and Wichita have had some real Donnybrooks over the years and it sometimes seems like every game is like that. In fact half the times these teams play they have less than their average penalty minutes. In the three games these teams have played this season the combined penalty minutes were 32 34 and last Friday just eight penalty minutes on four minor penalties.
- Not much intrigue on the Wichita goalie as Evan Buitenhuis has played every game for the Thunder this season. The ECHL leading goalie last season in GAA (2.29) and save percentage (.931) has played well (GAA 2.75, .919 save percentage) this season despite Wichita's poor record. Wichita is the only team in the ECHL that has played only one goalie. Wichita doesn't play on Saturday so a safe assumption Buitenhuis will be in goal against Allen tonight and again Sunday afternoon.
- The
referee scheduled for the game is Riley Yerkovich (#7). He works ECHL and AHL games and in the off season in the pro shop at a golf club. He has a masters degree in Biomedical Science from Colorado State University.
OTHER COMMENTS
- There is a full slate of games in the ECHL tonight. In Mountain Division action in addition Allen at Wichita, Kansas City is at Tulsa, Idaho at Rapid City and Utah visits Adirondack.
- Last season just two of the 14 teams that played had power play percentages above 20% (Fort Wayne 25.9% and Allen 20.5%). It it is still early this season but eight teams are above 20% and three are above 25%. Here are the top power play teams:
36.4% - Orlando
28.0% - Rapid City
26.7% - Maine
- The ECHL announced four additions to the Hall of Fame yesterday. I sure hope I am around to see Allen's locks for the HOF, Riley Gill and Chad Costello be inducted. Goalie Joel Martin is one of the four additions to the HOF and his last season was 2017-18, the same season Gill was injured and had to retire. I think and hope Riley Gill's time for HOF recognition will come soon. Chad Costello may play until he is 40 so his time is years off. Congrats to the four new HOF selectees. Here is the ECHL press release with the details: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2021/11/echl-announces-2022-hall-of-fame-class
DID YOU KNOW: Allen is known for offensive defensemen. Here is the ECHL Stats post for today that mentions a couple of them:
Interesting
ReplyDelete