Allen Loses Series Finale, Game Recap, Video Highlights, A Look Ahead, ECHL Attendance and More

 

Everything that went well for Allen in Friday night's win was reversed last night. The Americans lost a close game (3-2) to Kansas City and head home with two of a possible six points from the series. Here is how the night went for Allen compared to Friday. Safe to say it was just the opposite:

• Friday Night
• Allen scored the first goal of the game.
  
• Allen led 1-0 after the first period and improved its record with a first period lead to 6-0-1-0.
• Allen led 3-0 after the second period and improved its record with a second period lead to 6-1-0-0.
• Allen held Kansas City to 28 shots, the first time all season holding an opponent to less than 30 shots in a game.
• Allen was 1-2 on the power play, Kansas City was 0-3.   

• Saturday Night
• Allen gave up the first goal. Record when allowing the first goals is 2-11-0-0.
• Allen trailed 1-0 after the first period. Kansas City's record with a first period lead is 10-1-1-0.
• Allen trailed 3-2 after the second period. Kansas City is 11-1-0-0 with a second period lead.
• Allen was 0-4 on the power play, Kansas city was 1-3.
• Allen allowed 37 shots after holding Kansas City to 28 on Friday. 
• Allen was outshot in all three periods, 37-27 for the game. 

- Allen was battling the odds all night but was in the game until the very end. With the worst point percentage in the league it is no time to talking about moral victories but the Americans are definitely playing better hockey, have a stronger roster, will play 11 of the next 14 games at home and will start getting injured players back soon. Whether that translates into improved play remains to be seen, but it presents a great opportunity for the Americans.

 

- Here is a comparison of the Mountain Division standings last year at this time to this season. Clearly some similarities. ECHL rank is in parenthesis:

• December 2022
• .870 - Idaho (1st)
  
• .643 - Wichita (9th)
  
• .500 - Kansas City (16th)
  
• .483 - Rapid City (20th)
  
• .423 - Utah (23rd)
  
• .420 - Tulsa (24th)
  
• .340 - Allen (27th)

• December 2023
• .780 - Idaho (2nd)
  
• .712 - Kansas City (4th)
  
• .614 - Tulsa (8th)
  
• .458 - Rapid City (20th)
  
• .440 - Wichita (22nd)
  
• .364 - Utah (27th)
  
• .354 - Allen (28th)

Worthy of note is the top and bottom team are the same and Allen has a better record this season than at the same time last season. The Americans went on to finished in second place in the division with a .535 point percentage ranked #13 in the league. It will be a tall task to replicate last season, but if it is to happen, the next month will be critical.  

- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/12/americans-drop-series-finale-in-kc

 

- Allen goal scorers were Solag Bakich (3) and Blake Murray (4, 2nd in Allen). Murray has three points (2G, 1A) in three games since joining Allen and is +4. Hank Crone had an assist on Murray's goal to keep his assist streak alive. Crone has assists in five straight road games and now has 16 assists in 14 games played. Here are the video highlights from the game last night. https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-kansas-city-mavericks-dec-16-2023  

 

 

 

- The Americans will now prepare for three games next week (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) against Rapid City before the Christmas break. When you consider there are at least 12 players on the roster that weren't here a month ago and several who have yet to play a game in Allen, a couple of practices this week will help.

OTHER COMMENTS

- Some of the high flying  ECHL teams have come down to earth recently. There are no teams left with a point percentage above .800 and and just four are above .667. Here are those four teams:

 

• .792 - Greenville
• .780 - Idaho
  
• .750 - Toledo
• .712 - Kansas City
   

- Mark Rassell (Idaho) leads the ECHL in goals (15), defenseman Jalen Smereck (Cincinnati) leads the ECHL in assists (25) and Ty Pelton-Byce (Idaho) leads in plus/minus (+21). These are all monster numbers at this point of the season.

 

 

- It is a light day around the ECHL with just six games on the schedule. Three Mountain Division teams will be in action. Utah is at Fort Wayne and Wichita visits Tulsa. The Allen Americans are idle but could escape last place (by point percentage) if Utah loses to Fort Wayne in regulation. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2023/12/echl-today-dec-17

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: My ECHL Stats post today compares attendance this season to last season. Hats off to the Allen sales and marketing staff as the Americans are near the top of the list in year over year attendance increase. The numbers are even more impressive given Allen's home record is 1-6-0-0. The staff will have their hands full with 11 home games in the next 26 days. 

Here is the change in average attendance from last season (2022-23) to so far this season. Average attendance typically increases as the season progresses and with 68% of the ECHL remaining, numbers will improve for most if not all teams. Here is the increase or decrease in attendance from last season for all teams. Leaguewide average attendance is down 127 per game.

 

+501 Orlando

+361 Maine

+340 Allen

+276 Jacksonville

+194 South Carolina

+32 Kansas City

0 Savannah

-2 Tulsa

-7 Idaho

-16 Iowa

-37 Toledo

-39 Florida

-47 Kalamazoo

-89 Fort Wayne

-105 Adirondack

-127 ECHL

-132 Wheeling

-206 Greenville

-215 Newfoundland

-249 Cincinnati

-256 Norfolk

-334 Trois Rivières

-336 Indy

-385 Rapid City

-506 Reading

-605 Utah

-680 Worcester

-814 Wichita

-1083 Atlanta 

 

These numbers don’t reflect actual attendance numbers. For example Idaho is sold out almost every game so no chance for an increase. Iowa is down just 16 per game but that is from a very low attendance, 1851 last season to 1835 this season. Toledo and Fort Wayne are down slightly but draw over 7500 per game.