Allen vs Newfoundland Preview, The Stats Tell the Story, Steve Martinson's Comments, Gould Out Long Term, Hobey Baker Award and More

 

Allen's home schedule is typically 40% against Tulsa and Wichita, 90% against division foes and a few games against other teams.  This season three teams outside the division (Orlando, Newfoundland, Iowa) will visit the CUTX Event Center. This weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) Allen fans will have the opportunity to see the Newfoundland Growlers, who won the Kelly Cup in 2019, the first year of the franchise. The Growlers have been a good team from their first game in large part because Newfoundland's affiliation with the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) and Toronto Marlies (AHL) have supplied numerous contracted players to the team. Here is the Newfoundland points percentage and division rank since joining the ECHL:

• 2018-19 - 1st place, .653 (won Kelly Cup)
• 2019-20 - 1st place, .708 (season canceled)
• 2020-21 - Did not play
• 2021-22 - 1st place, .692 

 

- Newfoundland got off to a great start this season winning 14 of its first 16 games and at one point were 9-0 on the road. This despite getting kicked out of their home arena for period of time and more recently having to deal with COVID restrictions that caused the cancellation of games. Between December 13 and January 20 the Growlers played just one game. 

 

- Since the great start, when the Growlers won 14 of 16 games, Newfoundland has struggled. In the last 10 games the Growlers are 3-5-2-0. Allen's record over the last 10 games is 2-6-1-1. Both teams desperately need to win the series this weekend.

 

- The odd stat of the day is both Allen and Newfoundland have better road records than home records, so advantage Newfoundland on that stat. The Growlers road points percentage is .810 (11-2-1-0) compared to Allen's home points percentage of .467 (6-7-2-0).

 

- Statistically there is no comparison between these teams as Newfoundland leads in every category on the stat sheet with the exception of one. Here are the stats with Newfoundland the first number and Allen the second.

• 3.69 vs 3.32 - Average goals scored per game
• 2.69 vs 3.79 - Average goals allowed per game
• 25.2% vs 18.5% - Power play percentage
• 83.2% vs 79.8% - Penalty kill percentage
• 9 vs 4 - Shorthand goals scored
• 1 vs 15 - Shorthanded goals allowed
• 34.15 vs 28.12 - Shots for per game
• 28.23 vs 35.56 - Shots against per game
• .833 vs .469 - Points percentage when scoring first
• .500 vs .167 - Points percentage in overtime games
• .905 vs .894 - Team save percentage
• 2.66 vs 3.71 - Team GAA 

The lone stat that Allen is ranked higher than Newfoundland is penalty minutes and that is close. The Americans average 14.41 PIMS per game and the Growlers average 14.08.

 

- Allen is coming off a 3-2 loss to Rapid City on Wednesday. Incidentally, the Rush played in Tulsa last night and lost to the Oilers 7-1. The Growlers last game was Wednesday in Wichita. Newfoundland had a wide margin in shots (42-19) while shutting out the Thunder 3-0.

 

STEVE MARTINSON'S COACH'S CORNER

- My first question when I talked to coach Martinson this morning was asking for a roster update. Here is that answer along with other comments on the series with Newfoundland:

"Gavin Gould requires surgery and is out for the season."

"Chad Butcher will miss this weekend and next at a minimum."

"Eric Roy is day to day and we will see how he feels today when I get to the rink."

"Darian Skeoch will be back in the lineup after serving his two game suspension."

"Spencer Asuchak will be back in the lineup after helping out Charlotte for a few games when they were shorthanded. It was a tough time to have him gone but part of building a relationship with the affiliate.

"Hayden Lavigne will get the start in goal.

"At this point all games are important, every thing is critical."

"Newfoundland is a skilled, hard working team that is made up of a lot of second and third year players many of which are NHL/AHL contracted. The Growlers have had 20 contracted players on there roster at some point this season. We have had four (Bibeau, Marotte, Lohin, Henman). 

"Our top line needs to outplay Newfoundlands top line if we expect to win but we also need the third line to chip in with some goals." 

"As always, I continue to look at improving the team. Players have the opportunity to step up and show they can play in this league but we need get this turned around. We did it before and we can do it again."

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- The founder of the Hobey Baker Award, Chuck Bard, passed away this week at the age of 96. He was one of the founders and CEO of an athletic club in my hometown of Bloomington, Minnesota, The Decathlon Club. It was while Chuck was CEO at the Decathlon Club he came up with the idea and formulated a plan to honor the top collegiate hockey player in the nation with an award much like the Heisman Award in football and Wooden Award in basketball. The Hobey Baker Award was introduced in the 1980-81 season and the first recipient was Neal Broten from the University of Minnesota.  

Ten finalist are named for the Hobey Baker Award each year and three have played for the Allen Americans. Goalies C.J. Motte and Joel Rumpel were finalists in 2014 and forward Tyler Sheehy in 2017.

- There are 11 games on the ECHL schedule tonight. Here is the ECHL Today with a preview for each game: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2022/1/echl-today-jan-28

 

- COVID has had a big impact on the Growlers with the restrictions in Canada. Newfoundland has played the fewest games in the ECHL at this point (26) while some teams have played 41 games. Travel is always risky for hockey teams for COVID breakouts and in the last week Newfoundland has traveled from Canada, to Kansas City to Tulsa to Wichita to Allen. Remember, the last time a team came to Allen from outside the division it was Orlando, who had to cancel one of the two games because of a COVID breakout. Hope all goes well for Newfoundland this weekend.  

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: Jacksonville defenseman Jacob Panetta was just suspended for the remainder of the season (38 games). Here is the ECHL rule that covers this situation as outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

 

"For any suspension that exceeds 20 games, the Commissioner must hold a hearing upon adequate notice to the player and PHPA of the date and time of the hearing. The player shall have the right to be represented by a representative of the PHPA. Such hearing may be held in person or by teleconference. The decision of the Commissioner shall be final and binding upon all parties and shall not be reviewable by any court or be the subject of a grievance except for an abuse of discretion by the Commissioner."