The Allen Americans have reached the final three games of the regular season. As many predicted months the Americans playoff fate comes down to the upcoming series against the Tulsa Oilers. I will have a complete series preview tomorrow, but have a bunch of miscellaneous items to cover today, so here goes.
- How has Allen fared against its Mountain Division foes. Here is the Americans record against each team. The teams are listed from top to bottom in points percentage order:
- Kansas City: 4-10-1-0
- Idaho: 3-7-1-0
- Tulsa: 7-5-1-0
- Utah: 3-4-0-0
- Wichita: 8-1-0-0
- Rapid City: 3-3-0-0
Noteworthy from the records above is Allen beat Kansas City four times in regulation. It may not sound very impressive but when you consider the Mavericks lost just 11 games in regulation all season the Americans handed the Mavericks 36% of their regulation losses this season.
Allen had its best record against Wichita (8-1-0-0). It was the best record against Wichita since 2015-16 when the Americans were 13-0-0-0 against the Thunder. The rivalry between Allen and Wichita goes back to the CHL days but has been one-sided since the teams joined the ECHL in 2014-15. Allen has won two Kelly Cups and missed the playoffs just once while Wichita has only made the playoffs twice since 2014-15. Allen's regular season record against Wichita since the teams joined the ECHL is 87-33-13 which is a points percentage of .703.
The only team the Americans have a winning record against this season, other than Wichita, is Tulsa. Allen needs to win two of three games against the Oilers this weekend to pass them in the standings and secure a playoff spot. The Americans can also make the playoffs if they earn one more point than Utah this weekend. The Grizzlies play twice in Idaho. It will take all weekend to figure it out as the Americans can finish in the playoffs and as high as third place or out of the playoffs in fifth place.
- If Allen does make the playoffs the first round home games will be between April 24-28. The exact dates are dependent on the team the Americans play in the first round.
- Kansas City has one regular season game remaining (at Iowa) in the best regular season in the Mavericks franchise history. Kansas City has already surpassed the ECHL all time record of 26 road wins. The Mavericks have 29 road wins and could make it 30. If they win the last game against Iowa the Mavericks will be #2 all time in points, #2 all time in points percentage and #3 in wins. The Mavericks have never won a championships in the 15 years history of the franchise. Will Kansas City overcome the Brabham Cup curse and win the Kelly Cup this season? The three best teams in the ECHL come from the Western Conference so getting past Idaho and Toledo won't be easy for the Mavericks, but they have to be considered the favorites.
- The ECHL announced the all-rookie team yesterday and once again the Mountain Division was well represented. Last season four of the six players came from two teams. Hank Crone and Liam Finlay from Allen and Remi Poirier and Owen Headrick from Idaho. This season the Mountain Division had three of the six rookies. Max Adreev and Cade Borchardt from Kansas City and Kyle Mayhew from Utah. Here is a link to all of the rookies and their stats: https://echl.com/news/2024/04/echl-announces-2023-24-all-rookie-team
- Belleville won in overtime last night and is fighting for a playoff spot just like the Americans. Five of seven teams in the division make the playoffs and the Senators are in fifth place. They have five games remaining with the last one on April 20. There are two players on the Belleville roster that are qualified for the ECHL playoffs, goalie Leevi Merilänen and forward Tarun Fizer. Defenseman Donovan Sebrango has played four games in Allen and needs to play one more to be qualified for the playoffs. All three of these players have been playing but not everyday. Fizer played last night and has played in three of the last nine games. Sebrango didn't play last night but has played in four of the last nine games. Merilänen was the winning goalie last night and has played in five of the last nine games but just one in the last four. The bottom line is with Belleville in a tight race for the playoffs it is hard to see any of these players coming to Allen until after the AHL regular season concludes on April 20. And that assumes the Senators miss the playoffs. If Sebrango doesn't play at least one shift for Allen this weekend he will be ineligible for the playoffs.
- With the Mountain Division standings so close here is a reminder of the top three tiebreakers if there is a tie. Also included is the tiebreaker numbers going into the weekend:
1. Regulation wins
2. Regulation + OT wins
3. Goal differential
- Regulation Wins
- 25 - Utah
- 24 - Allen
- 23 - Tulsa
- 21- Wichita
- Regulation + OT Wins
- 31 - Utah
- 29 - Allen
- 28 - Tulsa
- 26 - Wichita
- Goal Differential
- -10: Tulsa
- -24: Utah
- -44: Allen
- -45: Wichita
What this all means is if Allen ties with Tulsa the Americans will make the playoffs. If the Americans tie with Utah the Grizzlies will make the playoffs.
- Here are the Allen leaders in the major stat categories:
- Games - Kris Myllari & Eric Williams (69)
- Points - Colby McAuley (61)
- Goals - Colby McAuley (24)
- Assists - Colby McAuley & Kris Myllari (37)
- Plus/Minus - Ty Farmer (+10)
- PIM - Mikael Robidoux (174)
- Points Per Game - Hank Crone (1.38)
- Shots - Colby McAuley (191)
- Shorthanded Goals - Gavin Gould (4)
- PP goals - Colby McAuley (12)
- PP Assists - Kris Myllari (22)
- The leagues in Europe are starting to crown champions and some former Allen players are involved.
The Erste Liga (Hungary & Romania) just concluded its playoffs and the winner was Brasov. Two former Allen players, Judd Blackwater and Jared VanWormer, played for Brasov. Spencer Asuchak's team lost in the semi-finals.The top league in Germany (DEL) is just staring the playoff finals, Bremerhaven vs Eisbaren Berlin. Former Allen goalie Jake Hildebrand in the #1 goalie for Eisbaren Berlin.
The EIHL in Great Britain has a unique playoff that is more reminiscent of a soccer playoff. It all take place in two weekends. The the first round of the playoffs is this week. Eight teams qualify (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5) and they play a two game aggregate goal series. The four winners advance to the finals next week which is a single game elimination. The two winners on Saturday play for the championship on Sunday. There are a lot of former Allen Americans involved in the eight team playoffs. Here is the list:- Colton Saucerman (2022-23)
- Brett Neumann (2020-21)
- Dominic Cormier (2020-21)
- Colin Shirley (2020-21)
- Josh Brittain (2016-17 & 2019-20)
- J.D. Dudek (2021-22)
- Dallas Eharardt (2013-14)
- Evan Weninger (2019-20)
- The WHL just granted exceptional status to a 14 year old defenseman, Landon Dupont, that will allow him to play in the WHL next season as a 15 year old. He is the first defenseman and second player (Connor Bedard the other) to be granted exceptional status into the WHL. Nine players across Canada have have been granted exception status. Here are the details: https://chl.ca/video/landon-dupont-becomes-the-ninth-exceptional-status-player-in-chl-history/
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