The Week Ahead, Allen Assessment at Halfway Point, Projected Allen Scoring Leaders, ECHL Team Shutouts and More

 

The Allen Americans roster will be shorthanded again this week as the team gets ready for one of those grueling four games in five days. The good news is three of the four games are at home starting with the Kansas City Mavericks on Wednesday. After Wednesday the Americans should have a full lineup.

 

- Allen played with 14 skaters in the win over the Mavericks in Kansas City on Sunday. Here is who is in and out for this week:

• Gavin Gould will arrive today and is expected to play on Wednesday.
• Dalton Gally has been listed as day to day and is expected to play on Wednesday.
• Justin Young was injured in the game in Wichita on Friday. He will not be available this week and I would expect he is headed to injured reserve. 
• Zach Pochiro will not play on Wednesday as he will be serving the second game of his two game suspension. He will return for the three weekend games against Tulsa.
• Mikael Robidoux will be serving the last of his seven game suspension on Wednesday. He will return for the three weekend games against Tulsa.

It is possible coach Costello could have enough players by the weekend to have a healthy scratch. That is if there are no suspensions or injuries on Wednesday and Belleville doesn't recall either of its defensemen. Big ifs but certainly possible. 

 

- The Allen Americans have completed exactly 50% of the season and will have to play much better in the second half to have any hope of making the playoffs. Here are some of the stats at the halfway point. The league rank in parenthesis.

• 31 - points (22nd)
• .431 - points percentage (22nd)
• .393 - home points percentage (26th)
• .455 - road points percentage (18th)
  
• 20 - losses (3rd)
• 106 - goals scored (21st)
• 133 goals allowed (21st) 

 

- There have been plenty of obstacles the first and foremost being the trouble finding an affiliate. Allen was last or close to last in finding an affiliate. The Americans have received the fewest contract players of any team in the league, partly because of so many injuries in Belleville and Ottawa. 

 

- Allen has lost players for a combined total over 130 games because of injuries and another 40 games because of suspensions. That is the equivalent of losing five players for the entire first half of the season.   

 

- There is certainly reason for optimism for the second half of the season. Allen's points percentage in the month of January is .667 (6-3-0-0). In the nine January games Allen has allowed three or fewer goals in seven. The roster has gotten stronger with the addition of Chad Butcher, Colby MacAuley, Gavin Gould, Dalton Gally, Aidan Brown, Xavier Bernard, Grant Hebert and Chase Perry. If Allen could have fewer injuries in the last half of the season, get some help from Belleville and play disciplined hockey it could be a much better outcome in the final 36 games. 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Ten ECHL players have 40+ points this season. Two teams have two players on the list, Allen and Wichita. For Allen Hank Crone is #4 (47 points) and Jack Combs is #6 (44 points). For Wichita Brayden Watts is #2 (52 points) and Michal Stinil is #3 (48 points). 

- Since the Allen Americans joined the ECHL in 2014-15 the leading scorer each season has exceeded 70 points four times. All four times were by Chad Costello. Based on their current points per game average and if they play in all remaining games, three players could exceed 70 points this season. Here are the projected points based on current pace:

• 94 points - Hank Crone
• 88 points - Jack Combs
• 71 points - Liam Finlay

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about team shutouts. Allen is one of eight teams that does not have a shutout this season. The last Allen shutout was over a year ago. In January 16, 2022 the Americans were in Tulsa and shutout the Oilers 8-0. Hayden Lavigne stopped 27 Tulsa shots on the way to the most lopsided shutout win in Allen history. Allen's all time record for most shutouts in a single season is held by Riley Gill. In 2016-17 Riley had seven shutouts in the regular season and two more in the playoffs. 

There have been 38 shutouts in the ECHL this season. Eight teams have none, eight teams have one, nine teams have two and just three teams have more than two shutouts.

 

3 - Atlanta

3 - Utah

6 - Idaho

 

Goalie Jake Kupsky (Idaho) leads the ECHL in shutouts with three. Kupsky has more shutouts by himself than 25 ECHL teams. He has been on a PTO (professional tryout) in the AHL (Abbotsford) since early December. Kupsky only played seven games in Idaho before heading to the AHL. His ECHL totals, seven games played, three shutouts, 6-1 record, GAA 1.15 and save percentage .955.