I always remember many years ago reading the children's book to my kids entitled, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" where everything went wrong for Alexander. Yesterday reminded me of that book as we arrived back in Dallas after an amazing trip to Antarctica. When we left Antarctica the temperature was in the 40's. When we arrived in Dallas it was in the 20's. Our travel friends from Iowa had their flight from Dallas to Iowa cancelled and are stranded until at least Saturday night. When we arrived at our house the refrigerator was a cold 22 degrees and everything was frozen solid. The cable television wasn't working. A gift of a box of fruit (pears) sent from a friend arrived earlier than scheduled (held by a neighbor) and were way too ripe. The final straw was tuning into my first hockey game in three weeks to watch the Americans score first, have a 1-0 lead after the first period, a 2-0 lead until eight seconds remaining in the second period, give up two goals in the third period and lose to Tulsa 3-2.
- I won't bore you with a bunch of photos of Antarctica but will just say if there ever was a place you have to see to believe it is the penguins, seals, icebergs and glaciers in Antarctica and on South Georgia Island. Being among a king penguin colony of 200,000+ who have no fear is indescribable. The icebergs are like works of art and the glaciers are massive.
.HEIC)
- When I last posted a blog before our trip, Allen was preparing to play Rapid City, had a record of 5-8-1-0 and a points percentage of .393. Since that time, including last night, the Americans are 2-7-0-0, now have a record of 7-15-1-0 and a points percentage of .326, which is dead last in the Western Conference. While the optimists still talk about making the playoffs, the realists know history says there is virtually no chance the Americans make the playoffs. Allen is eight points out of a playoff position, but have to pass three teams to make it to fourth place.
- Last night Allen took a 2-0 lead on a first period power play goal (Aidan Brown) and a second period shorthanded goal (Mikael Robidoux) despite being outshot in each period and 44-23 for the game. Allen also gave up a shorthanded goal and a power play goal. Allen has fallen to #25 in the ECHL in average shots allowed (35.4) and is now #22 in average shots taken per game (29.2).
- Allen's record when leading after the first period (3-3-0-0) and second period (4-2-1-0) is one of the worst in the league. 17 of 28 ECHL teams have not lost a game in regulation with a second period lead and nine have lost just once in regulation time.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-americans-fall-to-tulsa-3-2/
- Video Highlights:
https://www.echl.com/en/video/2022/12/allen-americans-vs-tulsa-oilers---dec-22-2022-CB9ZmvlW
- Allen will have one more chance to get on the winning track before the Christmas break with a rematch against Tulsa tonight (7:05 CST).
- I have to say I was surprised this morning to see some of the negative comments when I went through all of the comments left on the blog, Facebook and Twitter in the last three weeks. I know the team has deleted negative comments and blocked people who leave negative comments, a policy that I don't agree with. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and can express those opinions freely. However, when the comments are not fact based, but personal attacks it crosses a line for me and I will start deleting those comments going forward. I encourage expressing different points of view and unlike the team, I am not about deleting every comment that isn't positive, but there is no place for the personal attacks. There is plenty of room for criticism based on the facts which is fair game. I know the coaching staff will not give up and will continue to grind to get this turned around. I would never question their dedication, work ethic or resolve to get better each and every day.
- There is a lot to being successful at the ECHL level and it is not easy. Steve Martinson went from back to back championships to the worst team in the league in two seasons. He didn't become a bad coach all of a sudden. Injuries, affiliations, Europe and recruitment are all factors that contribute to success. One season, standing alone does not tell you much.
OTHER COMMENTS
- 2022-23 could be a historic ECHL season. With the season at the one third point there are teams on pace to have the worst points percentage in league history and the best points percentage in league history. Norfolk has a points percentage of .173 (4-21-1-0), well ahead of the all time record of .227 (14-49-1) set by Roanoke Valley in 1992-93. Idaho is well ahead of the best single season points percentage at .860 (21-3-0-1). The all time record is .806 (56-12-4) set by Louisiana in 2001-02.
- Two ECHL teams have won nine of their last 10 games. No other team has more than seven wins. The two teams with a record of 9-1-0-0 in the last 10 games are Idaho and Reading.
- A top team playing poorly is Worcester. The Railers started the season winning nine straight games. In the last 10 games Worcester is 4-6-0-0. They have fallen to third place in the North Division.
- After the Christmas break the Allen Americans will be playing a bunch of games against their three geographically closest rivals, with a chance to make up some ground in the standing. Between now and the end of January the Americans play Tulsa six times, Wichita six times, and Kansas City five times. Nine of the 17 games will be on the road.
- Hank Crone was held scoreless last night but still leads all ECHL rookies in scoring. Hank has 28 points (12G, 16A) in 23 games. His 28 points is tied for sixth among all ECHL players.
- Goalie Kevin Mandolese took the loss last night but stopped 41 of 44 shots for a save percentage of .932. Kevin has played in four games in Allen with save percentages .970, .917, .949 and .932. You may have heard Mandolese's name said with the last "e" silent. That is not the case as you will hear him say his name at the end of this video about his mask.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today was about scoring first. Allen has not fared very well when scoring first. The Americans are just 6-4-1-0 (.591) when scoring the first goal of the game.
Welcome back. The trip seem facinating but how were the plane flights? Long?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Barry. And thanks for clearing up that pronunciation question. I was CERTAIN it couldn't be man-duh-LOHS, as I've been hearing.
ReplyDeleteSo that's a win. Maybe we can have another, tonight.
Flights were not as long as going East-West like trips to China or Africa. We changed only three time zones. Our nonstop flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires was 10 hours. After spending a day in Buenos Aires we flew 3.5 hours to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world where we boarded our expedition ship. To get to Antarctica it was a two day trip across the Drake Passage (where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet) known as the roughest seas on the globe. It was not that bad for our crossing but we still had 15 foot waves. Barry
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