Happy Thanksgiving, Shorty and Last Second Goal Spells Defeat, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Standings Shuffle and More

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you get to spend the day with friends and/or family. Since my mother and daughter both chose nursing as a profession, I know full well there are plenty of first responders, health care workers, service workers and many others (like the Allen Americans team) that won't be with family today. Luckily, my daughter is off today so we can be together, but that also means she will be working on Christmas day. I am the cook in my family and go back to the staples I grew up with for the most part. Turkey, stuffing (has to be in the turkey), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes (roasted, no marshmallows). I have dropped the canned cranberries from my youth (jelly type) and the pumpkin pie is store bought. I make a 20 pound turkey to provide plenty of leftovers and will start making turkey stew shortly after the meal by boiling all the bones with plenty of meat remaining to get that wonderful broth. Tomorrow I will finish the stew adding all kinds of vegetables, including a favorite from my youth, the under appreciated rutabaga, haha. When it is all done tomorrow afternoon I will have 30-40 individuals containers of turkey stew in the freezer. 

 

- Enough about Thanksgiving traditions, the Allen Americans spoiled their turkey day last night losing to Rapid City 2-1 in the opening game of a three game series. The Rush shut down Allen's big four and the team had trouble generating offense. Allen's lone goal was scored by Brayden Guy in the first period. It was his third goal of the season, all coming in the last four games. 

 

- Allen scored the first goal of the game and held a 1-0 lead after the first period, both good signs. Allen's record when scoring first has dropped to 4-2-1-0. It was Allen's first regulation loss when leading after the first period (3-1-2-0) and it was Rapid City's first win of the season when trailing after the first period (1-5-0-1).

 

- A loss is a loss but the loss last night was extra painful. Rapid City's first goal, the only goal of the second period to tie the score 1-1 was scored shorthanded. The power play has been a strength for the Americans recently. They only had two opportunities last night and were 0-2 but the shorthanded goal was a killer. It was Allen's second shorthanded goal allowed this season. The Americans have yet to score a shorthanded goal. The penalty kill was excellent in the game (0-4). 

 

- The second half of the game was scoreless until Rapid City put a rebound into an open net with just 19 seconds remaining in the game to send the Rush fans home with a well deserved come from behind victory. The last half of the game was not as close as the one goal Allen allowed at the 19:41 mark of the third period. Allen struggled getting the puck out of its own zone, was out shot 27-14 over the final two periods and goalie Anson Thornton was the only reason the score was close. It was another game Thornton took a loss after keeping the Americans in the game, stopping 33 of 35 shots for a .943 save percentage. 

 

- With the loss Allen has fallen below the .500 mark (.464). The team will take the day off today before resuming the series tomorrow night. They team will gather for a Thanksgiving meal together and I heard they will be well fed.  

 

- Here is a game recap and the video highlights with all the goals plus many great saves by both goalies:

• Rapid City Rush game recap: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2024/11/game-recap-janickes-last-minute-stunner-downs-allen-2-1  
• Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-rapid-city-rush-nov-27-2024
  

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

I touched base with assistant coach Brett Ferguson after the game. Here is what he had to say:

"We struggled to break the puck out of our own zone, starting with the first pass from the defensemen and continuing up the wall with too many lost board battles."

"The struggles with getting the puck to our offensive zone resulted in too much time in our own end defending and more pucks on our net."

"Our penalty kill was solid, big time blocked shots, hard clears and timely saves by Thornton."

"Our power play had looks and some grade A chances and an opportunity to win the game late but could not capitalize."

"Shorthanded goals are always a risk, especially against a good penalty kill like Rapid has."

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- There were more losers than winners in the Mountain Division last night because a couple of teams played outside the division. The winners were Tulsa, Rapid City and Tahoe. The losers were Allen, Wichita, Kansas City, Idaho and Utah. Here are the current standings with points in parenthesis. Games played varies from 18 (Wichita) to 14 (Tahoe & Allen).

• .719 - Tulsa (23)
• .643 - Tahoe (18)
• .625 - Kansas City (20)
• .531 - Idaho (17)
• .528 - Wichita (19)
• .464 - Allen (13)
• .406 - Rapid City (13)
• 367 - Utah (11)

- The standings don't reflect who is playing the best hockey in the Mountain Division. Here are the points earned in the last 10 games by each team with record in parenthesis. The top (Tulsa) and bottom (Utah) have distanced themselves from the pack over the last 10 games:

• 16 points - Tulsa (8-2-0-0)
• 13 points - Tahoe (6-3-0-1)
  
• 12 points - Allen (5-3-2-0)
• 11 points - Rapid City (5-4-0-1)
• 11 points - Kansas City (5-4-1-0)
• 9 points - Idaho (4-5-1-0)
• 7 points - Wichita (3-6-1-0)
• 3 points - Utah (2-7-1-0) 

- There is one game on the ECHL schedule today as Florida is at Fort Wayne in a cross division game between two top teams. If you have FloHockey tune in to watch former Allen players Colton Hargrove (leads Florida in assists, 11) and Kris Myllari who is second among defensemen in points per game. Tough guy Kyle Neuber who won a Kelly Cup with Allen in 2016 and three more with Florida could also be in the lineup. All three players are veterans and Florida is the only team in the league with five. Since a team can only have four veterans on the active roster, one veteran has to be on injured reserve at all times. Right now that player is Myllari who is on the 3-day IR.

 

DID YOU KNOW: I found the stats in the ECHL Stats post very interesting. Allen is on the fewest list once. FYI, the Americans have three NHL/AHL contracted players (one is on injured reserve), 12 rookies and one veteran:

 

ECHL teams with the most and fewest NHL/AHL contracted players, rookies and veterans with point percentage in parenthesis. While there is no perfect pattern, in general the more successful teams have more NHL/AHL contracted players, fewer rookies and more veterans. However, there are plenty of exceptions.

 

NHL/AHL contracted players:

Most

14: SAV (.563)

13: SC (.719)

12: WHL (.750)

 

Fewest

1: ATL (.412)

3: ALN (.464)

3: IA (.567)

3: ORL (.472)

3: IDH (.531)

 

 

ROOKIES

Most

16: BLM (.531)

15: ADK (.536)

15: UTA (.367)

 

Fewest

5: JAX (.571)

6: FLA (.800)

 

 

VETERANS

Most

5: FLA (.800)

4: IDH (.531)

4: ORL (.472)

4: TOL (.719)

 

Fewest

0: ADK (.536)

0: BLM (.531)

0: IA (.567)

0: MNE (.400)

0: SAV (.563)