Allen vs Wichita Preview, Costantini Heads to Italy, ECHL Teams with Most Rookies, Most Veterans and More

 

It is game day for the Allen Americans as they host the Wichita Thunder tonight at CUTX Event Center (7:10 pm). The Americans will be trying to snap a six game losing streak, the longest of the season. Allen will see a steady stream of games against Wichita in the next month with seven of the next 15 games coming against the Thunder. The eight games in the next month not against Wichita will not be a walk in the park and include Kansas City (four games), Tulsa (three games ) and Idaho (1 game). 

- Before the last road trip I talked about Allen's upcoming 18 games were the toughest part of the schedule and would determine the fate of the team. Playing top teams with 11 of the 18 games on the road. After the first three games of this challenging schedule the Americans record is 0-2-1-0 and they have been outscored 18-5. 

 

- The next group of four games, this week's challenge, includes four games in five days with travel included. Three of the four games are against the Wichita. After home games against Wichita tonight and Friday night both teams will travel to Wichita (370 miles) where they will play again on Saturday night. After that game Allen will get on the bus and head for Tulsa (175 miles) where they play the Oilers in a Sunday afternoon game starting at 3:05 pm. ECHL scheduling strikes again.

- While Allen is on a six game losing streak, Wichita's record over it last six games is 4-1-1-0 which includes a 4-2 win over Allen on December 5. Here is how Allen and Wichita rank is some key stats this season:

• Ave. goals scored: Allen #22 (2.50) - Wichita #12 (3.28)
• Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (4.14) - Wichita #11 (2.72)
• Ave. shots for: Allen #28 (25.91) - Wichita #7 (32.00)
• Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (40.23) - Wichita #25 (33.84) 
  
• Power play percentage: Allen #10 (20.0%) - Wichita #15 (18.1%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen #23 (78.8%) - Wichita #6 (85.3%) 

You can see Wichita has the advantage in goals scored and allowed. On average Allen scores 0.78 goals fewer than Wichita per game and allows 1.42 more goals per game than the Thunder.

- Head to head this season Allen's record against Wichita is 1-1-1-0. 

• 4-2 loss in Wichita (December 5)
• 4-2 win in Wichita (November 8)
• 5-4 OT loss in Allen (October 30)  
• Wichita has out shot Allen 122-84
• Allen's power play is 0-5 in the three games
• Wichita's power play is 2-9 (22.2%)
• Allen took 11 penalties for 25 minutes
• Wichita took seven penalties for 17 minutes

The last time these teams played Wichita had no penalties and Allen had one. Oh how the times have changed. Allen has only taken seven major penalties all season. Just five ECHL teams have taken fewer including Wichita with a league low of four major penalties. The days of Allen and Wichita being known for their toughness is long gone. 

- Special teams will play a key role in the three games against Wichita this week. The Allen power play has been in a drought for a while. At the end of November Allen had the #3 ranked ECHL power play at 26.1%. Since that time Allen has scored one power play goal in its last seven games. The Americans are 1-19 (5.3%) on the power play in the last seven games. The Allen penalty kill has also struggled recently. Since the beginning of December the penalty kill percentage is 68.8% (5-16). If Allen is going to be successful against Wichita it will have to do better on special teams.

 

- Despite a 1-1-1-0 record against Wichita the Americans scored first in all three games. Keep in mind across the entire league the team that scores first wins 75.7% of the points. The overall record for the teams that score first is 232-60-37-5. Even though Allen's scoring first record of 5-3-3-0 (.591) is one of the worst in the league and Wichita's scoring first record of 9-3-1-0 (.731) is below the league average, scoring first and playing with the lead will be critical in this series. Wichita is 5-1-0-0 when leading after the first period and Allen is 0-8-1-0 when trailing after the first period. The records are even worse after the second period. Wichita is 9-0-0-0 when leading after the second period and Allen is 0-8-2-0 when trailing after the second period. It is very clear the importance of the Americans getting off to good starts and avoid playing from behind.   

- Colin Jacobs, who was just acquired in a trade with Worcester for Ryan Mahshie, is scheduled to arrive in Allen today. Whether he will be in the lineup tonight remains to be seen. James Hardie was practicing yesterday wearing the green non-contact jersey. He is listed as day-to-day and should be available sometime this week, but tonight might be a little soon. Will have to wait and see on his status.

 

 

- Here is the complete updated Allen roster that I am pretty sure is accurate as of this morning. The transactions this afternoon could make changes to the status of some players. With the Christmas waiver/trade freeze four days away and Allen on a six game losing streak, it won't be a surprise to see more roster changes before the 22nd.

Goalies 

• #1 Logan Neaton 
• #35 *Anson Thornton

Defensemen

• #91 Ayo Adeniye -  reserve
• #23 JC Brassard
• #82 Cole Fraser - 14-day IR
• #3 Ryan Gagnon 
• #66 Artyum Kulakov 
• #44 Nolan Orzeck 
• #21 Mike Van Unen
• #2 Quinn Warmuth 

Forwards

• #26 Spencer Asuchak 
• #42 Robbie Baillergeon 
• #24 Harrison Blaisdell
• #22 Easton Brodzinski 
• #28 Brian Chambers
• #16 *Kyle Crnkovic
• #8 Mark Duarte 
• #10 *Will Gavin - 14-day IR
• #84 Liam Gorman 
• #14 Brayden Guy
• #86 James Hardie - reserve
• #17 Colin Jacobs
• #70 Dakota Seaman - 14-day IR
• #11 Rylan Van Unen 
• #92 Brayden Watts
  

 *AHL contracted players

 

- Here is the game/series preview from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/americans-open-a-four-games-in-five-nights-stretch-this-evening-againt-wichita

OTHER COMMENTS

- Goalie Marco Costantini is headed to Europe. He has signed with an Italian team, Asiago Hockey 1935, in the ICEHL. The ICEHL is made up of teams from Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. Former Allen players Zane Franklin, Corey Mackin, Alex Lavoie, Kale Kerbashian, Josh Atkinson and Jason Fram all  play in the ICEHL. Asiago is currently in 11th place in the 13 team league with a record of 6-16. 

- Blake Murray who along with Bennett MacArthur was a big part of Allen's turnaround last season. They were both under NHL contract last season, Murray (Carolina) and MacArthur (Tampa Bay) and assigned to their ECHL affiliates. Somehow coach Chad Costello was able to convince their NHL teams to send them to Allen, (neither NHL team was affiliated with Allen) for development. It was a big piece of the puzzle that turned around Allen's season and got them to the playoffs. This season MacArthur is playing for the top team in the league (Wheeling). and Murray is playing for the last place team in the South Division, Atlanta.Congrats to Blake who was just selected as the ECHL Player of the Week. Here is the press release: https://echl.com/news/2024/12/atlantas-murray-named-inglasco-echl-player-of-the-week  

-  The ECHL season is already close to one third completed and the top and bottom teams are well established: Here are the top and bottom five teams in point percentage. Notice all of the top teams are in the Eastern Conference:

• .833 - Wheeling
• .775 - Trois Riviéres
• .761 - Norfolk
• .750 - Florida
• .750 - South Carolina

• .250 - Cincinnati
• .261 - Utah
• .354 - Rapid City
• .385 - Reading
  
• .404 - Worcester

- There are six games on the ECHL schedule tonight and three of them are in the Mountain Division. In addition to Wichita at Allen, Rapid City is at Idaho and Tahoe is at Utah. Here are the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/12/echl-today-dec-18  

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about rookies and veterans. With the trade this week Allen lost a rookie and gained a veteran. The Americans now have 11 rookies and two veterans.

Here are the ECHL teams with the most and fewest rookies and veterans on their roster. Teams with point percentages above .600 are marked with an asterisk. Most telling from these stats is seven of the nine teams with the fewest rookies are above .600. The five teams with the most rookies have point percentages of .261, .354, .385, .409 and .500.

 

ROOKIES

 

Most

17: BLM

15: ADK

14: REA, UTA, RC

 

Fewest

6: *JAX, *KC, *TOL, *FW, IDH

7: *FLA, MNE, *NOR, *TAH

 

 

VETERANS

 

Most

4: *FLA, IDH, ORL, *TOL

 

Fewest

0: ADK, BLM, *IA, MNE, SAV, WOR

Allen Loses 4-3 in Overtime, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Comparing Records After 22 Games, Allen Shorthanded Goal Leaders and More

 

The Allen Americans salvaged a point on their three game swing through the Central Division with a 4-3 overtime loss in Fort Wayne last night. Allen's losing streak of six games (0-4-2-0) is now the longest of the season. The Americans record over the last 10 games is 2-5-3-0.

 

- Unlike the first two games of this road trip, Allen had some good to go along with the bad in the loss yesterday. Here are a few of the good and the bad:

• Allen scored the first goal, by Spencer Asuchak and his reunited line.
  
• Fort Wayne had a 15-9 shot advantage in the first period.
• Allen led 2-0 after the first period.
• Fort Wayne scored the only goal of the second period on a breakaway.
  
• Allen led 2-1 after the second period, its record with a second period lead was 6-1-0-0.
• Fort Wayne scored twice early in the third period to take a 3-2 lead.
• Allen (Mark Duarte) scored late in the third period (17:49) to send the game to overtime.
• Fort Wayne scored the game winner 55 seconds into overtime on a breakaway.
• Allen didn't give up a power play goal (0-2).
• Fort Wayne didn't give up a power play goal (0-2).
  
• Allen gave up four goals, the fewest of the weekend.
  
• Fort Wayne scored three of its four goals on breakaways, all by Jack Dugan.
• Allen's second goal was scored by Robbie Baillargeon, his 50th as a pro.
• Fort Wayne had a 42-23 shot advantage.  

- Goal scorers for Allen were Spencer Asuchak (8), Robbie Baillargeon (1) and Mark Duarte (6). Here are the video highlights. Three breakaway goals in a 4-3 game is not acceptable. The fact they were all scored by the same player is even worse. https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-fort-wayne-komets-dec-15-2024  

- Fort Wayne has a population of around 420,000 in its metropolitan area and gets so much local media coverage the Komets don't produce or publish game recaps on its website. Here is the Allen Americans game recap and a couple of the game recaps from Fort Wayne media:

Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/game-recap-americans-fall-to-komets-in-ot

WANE 15: https://www.wane.com/sports/komets/dugans-hat-trick-leads-komets-to-overtime-win-over-allen/ 

The Journal Gazette: https://www.journalgazette.net/sports/professional/komets/jack-dugan-scores-on-3-breakaways-including-ot-winner-and-komets-down-americans/article_d43d3036-bb35-11ef-bd12-7b4fb7fcc73b.html

 

- While you can certainly find some good in the game yesterday the bottom line is it ended in another defeat for the Americans. Next up for Allen is two home games against Wichita on Wednesday and Friday. If Allen has hopes of making the playoffs, these games against Wichita are vitally important because the Thunder occupy fourth place in the division. Allen's current point percentage is .432 compared to Wichita's .560. If Allen sweeps the two games the Americans would narrow the point percentage gap to .479 vs .519. If Allen gets swept by Wichita the point percentage gap will widen to .396 vs .593. The Americans would be 13 points out of a playoff position. 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- How does the Mountain Division rank among all 29 ECHL teams in point percentage? Here is the ranking with point percentage in parenthesis:

• #6 - Kansas City (.700)
• #8 - Tahoe (.696)
• #11 - Tulsa (.630)
• #14 - Wichita (.560)
• #17 - Idaho (.542)
• #22 - Allen (.432)
• #27 - Rapid City (.354)
• #28 - Utah (.261)

- Hank Crone has finally made it to the top of the ECHL points list. Crone leads the league in points (31) and assists (22). Hank also leads Idaho in plus/minus (+13). 

 

- Ryan Smith (Adirondack) leads the ECHL with three shorthanded goals in just 18 games played. Last season the shorthanded goal leader was Patrick Polino of Cincinnati who had five. Here are Allen's shorthanded goal leaders since the Americans joined the ECHL

• 1 - Spencer Asuchak, 2024-25 (after  22 games)
  
• 4 - Gavin Gould, 2023-24
• 2 - Liam Finlay, 2022-23
• 2 - Spencer Asuchak, 2021-22
• 5 - Corey Mackin, 2020-21
• 2 - Tyler Sheehy and Stepan Falkovsky, 2019-20
• 3 - Riley Bourbonnais, 2018-19
• 1 - By seven different players, 2017-18
• 2 - Bryan Moore, 2016-17
• 3 - Justin Courtnall, 2015-16
• 5 - Greger Hanson, 2014-15    

- Every season there is plenty of discussion why Allen's record is good or bad to start the season. Discussions often allude to injuries, call ups, loans and road vs home games just to name a few. It seems like good teams find a way to overcome these issues. I pulled a sample of Allen's record after 22 games over the years. I included the first ECHL season for Adams (2024-25), Costello (2022-23) and Martinson (2014-15) plus Martinson's last season in Allen (2020-21). As a reminder, Martinson missed the playoffs once in his 10 years in Allen and won four championships. Costello made the playoffs in both seasons he coached in Allen. It remains to be seen if the Americans can overcome their poor start this season and make the playoffs.

• 7-10-5-0 (.432), 2024-25
• 7-14-1-0 (.341), 2022-23
• 10-9-3-0 (.523), 2020-21
• 16-4-1-1 (.773), 2014-15

- It is no coincidence the Wheeling Nailers are on pace to set the all-time ECHL record for point percentage in a single season. Wheeling's point percentage is .833, just ahead of the all-time record of .826 set by Idaho in 2022-23. The number of NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to Wheeling has actually increased since the season began and is the highest of all ECHL teams as of last week. The Nailers have two NHL contracted goalies from their affiliate (Pittsburgh Penguins) and 12 AHL contracted players from their AHL affiliate (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins). Wheeling is the hottest team in the league right now. Three teams in the North Division have the ECHL's longest current point steaks led by Wheeling. Here is the list:

• 15-0-1-0: Wheeling
• 10-0-2-0: Trois Rviéres
• 10-0-0-0: Norfolk 

As a comparison the longest point streak right now in the Central and South Divisions is three games and in the Mountain Division is seven games.
 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about the best and worst teams in several statistical categories:

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

 

Wheeling point streak: 15-0-1-0

Utah losing streak: 0-12-1-0

Trois Rivières PP%: 30.4%

Atlanta PP%: 10.6%

South Carolina PK%: 95.2%

Utah PK%: 55.9%

Florida goals allowed average: 1.88

Utah goals allowed average: 4.70

Indy shots allowed average: 21.85

Allen shots allowed average: 40.23

 

Trois Rivières is 21-69 on the power play.

Atlanta is 9-85 on the power play.

South Carolina is 3-62 on the penalty kill.

Utah is 26-59 on the penalty kill.

   

Another Big Loss for Allen, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Rematch Preview, All-Time Worst Losses, Goal Differentials, Christmas Break and More

 

It was a second night of making the Allen Americans all-time worst losses list (losing by six or more goals) which now stands at 11 over the past ten years. Three of the 11 have come this season. Last night it was a loss to Fort Wayne by a score of 8-2. The Komets scored on their 3rd, 4th, 8th and 10th shot of the game and it all happened before the midpoint of the first period. Fort Wayne added a fifth goal at the 13:20 mark of the first period to put the final nail in the coffin. Three of the five first period goals were scored unassisted including a shorthanded goal.

 

- It wasn't as bad as the loss in Indy on Friday night. After all the Americans generated 33 shots and scored two goals, both in the second period. Braden Guy scored his fifth goal of the season and Ryan Mahshie his first, but the game was long since over by the time Allen got on the scoreboard. Fort Wayne scored three unanswered goals in the third period to make the final score 8-2. Eight different players scored goals for Fort Wayne. 

 

- Allen has now been outscored 14-2 on its swing through the Central Division with one more game this afternoon in Fort Wayne (4:00 pm Allen time). Here are a  few other combined stats from the two losses:

• 72-33: Allen shot disadvantage.
• 0%: Allen's power play percentage (0-7).
• 57.2%: Allen's penalty kill percentage (3-7).

 

- Here are the video highlights. You can see the many defensive miscues including those that led to the three unassisted goals in the first period. : https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-fort-wayne-komets-dec-14-2024  

-  Allen will have one more opportunity to earn points on this road trip with a rematch against Fort Wayne this afternoon (4:00 pm Allen time). The team can't be in a good frame of mind based on the embarrassing losses the last two nights. Meanwhile the Komets will be full of confidence. They scored eight goals last night after totaling just 10 goals in their last six games. 

- Allen will need outstanding goalie play to have any chance of beating Fort Wayne. Thornton looked tired last night giving up four goals on 10 shots after allowing six goals on Friday in Indy. Anson has started 10 of the last 11 games including three games in three days before this road trip. Logan Neaton came in to the games last night in a difficult relief role and stopped 25 of 29 shots (.862) over 50 minutes of playing time. You have to expect he will get the start today, but you just never know. 

 

- Allen will have to do better on special teams if it expects to win. Whenever you get outscored on the power play it is not a good night. Last night the power play failed to scored on five opportunities and gave up a shorthanded goal. The penalty kill gave up a goal last night and has been scored on in four of the last five games. Allen can't win with special teams results like that.

 

- Last night Allen gave up a couple of early goals and got steamrolled. Fort Wayne's record when it scores first is 8-2-1-0. If Allen doesn't score first this afternoon it could get ugly again.

 

- Allen Americans leading scorers over the last six games with six points are Mark Duarte (4G, 2A) and Brayden Guy (2G, 4A). Here are Allen's leading goal scorers:

• 11 - Easton Brodzinski
• 8 - Brayden Watts
• 7 - Spencer Asuchak
• 5 - Kyle Crnkovic
• 5 - Brayden Guy
• 5 - Mark Duarte
   

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Goal differential (goals scored minus goals allowed) is a good proxy for just how good a team is regardless of the standings, though both stats are very closely aligned. Here are the Mountain Division goal differentials with point percentages in parenthesis:

• +28 Kansas City (.700)
• +20 Tahoe (.682)
• +14 Wichita (.560)
• +12 Tulsa (.630)
• +9 Idaho (.542)
• -35 Allen (.429)
• -35 Rapid City (.354)
• -44 Utah (.273)

It is pretty clear there is a sizeable difference between the top five teams in the division and the bottom three. 

 

- Allen's losing streak has now reached five games (0-4-1-0). Only two ECHL teams have a current longer losing streak than the Allen Americans. Bloomington has lost seven straight games and Utah has lost 11 straight. The five game losing for the Americans matches the five game losing streak they had to start the season.

 

- Here the 11 games Allen has lost by six or more goals since joining the ECHL in 2014. Notice the only two road losses by six or more goals happened the last two nights. Also, notice the only team on the list more than once is Kansas City (four times).

•  8-2: Fort Wayne - 12/14/24 (road)
•  6-0: Indy - 12/13/24 (road)
•  9-0: Kansas City - 10/26/24 (home)
•  6-0: Tulsa - 3/10/24 (home)
•  6-0: Atlanta - 10/29/23 (home)
•  8-1: Kansas City - 1/8/22 (home)
•  8-2: Rapid City - 12/3/22 (home)
•  7-0: Wichita - 10/23/21 (home) 
•  9-3: Kansas City - 3/8/19 (home
•  6-0: Kansas City - 3/6/19 (home) 
•  8-1: Colorado - 11/14/15 (home)

 

- It is a light schedule in the ECHL today with just five games being played. The Allen game will be the latest with a 5:00 pm local start time. The other four games have start times at 3:00 or 3:05 pm local time. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews.https://echl.com/news/2024/12/echl-today-dec-15 

 

- Here is a great story about Charlie Combs, who plays for South Carolina, and the influence his brother Jack has had on his hockey career. Jack Combs is fifth on the Allen Americans all-time points list with 213 points (79G, 139A) in just 162 games played. His 1.31 points per game average is second all-time to his good friend and teammate, Chad Costello's 1.50 points per game (minimum 110 games played). https://echl.com/news/2024/12/charlie-combs-hockey-journey-following-in-big-brother-jacks-footsteps 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about the Christmas break. My guess is a lot of players will stay in Allen over the break. The Americans are one of the teams that have a game on the 22nd (in Tulsa) so they won't get an early start on the Christmas break. The Americans play at home on the 27th so I would expect coach Adams will have a practice on the 26th. If that is the case, maybe practice can be scheduled late in the day so players can travel back to Allen the morning of the 26th. 

It’s that time of year. The ECHL Christmas waiver/trade freeze is from December 22-26. No games will be played on the 23, 24 or 25 which is the official Christmas break.

 

Some teams can’t wait for the break. The Utah Grizzlies have lost 12 straight games (0-11-1-0). They haven’t won a game in a month (November 16). 

 

Other teams are on a roll. The Wheeling Nailers are on a point streak of 16 games (15-0-1-0). Wheeling has won 13 straight games and last lost in regulation on November 1.

 

There are only six games on the schedule on the 22nd and no games on the schedule on the 26th. If coaches are cooperative and don’t schedule practices for the 26th, players might have time to go home or take a quick vacation to warm places, Las Vegas, etc. For players that have to play on the 22nd and have to practice on the 26th, it will be tough to go anywhere.

 

Allen Sets ECHL Record, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Allen vs Fort Wayne Preview, Steve Martinson Update, All-Time Fewest Shots List and More

 

There is no way to sugarcoat what happened to the Allen Americans in Indy last night. The 6-0 loss to the Fuel was one of the worst defeats since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014. The Americans have lost by six or more goals 10 times since joining the league. The worst defeat was earlier this season (October 26) when Kansas City followed up a 4-0 shutout in Allen's home opener with a 9-0 shutout the next night. 

 

- While the game last night was not the worst defeat in history it was arguably the worst game in franchise history. Here is a sample of what went wrong for the Americans last night.

• Allen gave up the first goal of the game. Record when that happens is 2-6-2-0.
• Allen trailed after the first period (1-0). Record when that happens is 0-7-1-0.
• Allen trailed after the second period (3-0). Record when that happens is 0-7-2-0. 
• Allen's #4 ranked power play was 0-4.
• Allen's penalty kill gave up two goals on three opportunities.
• Allen had one shot in the first period, the second lowest shot total in the league this season.
• Allen had two shots in the second period, tied for the lowest shot total in the league this season.
• Allen had four shots in the third period.
• Allen's seven total shots was six fewer than the ECHL season low of 13.
• Allen's seven shots set the all-time ECHL record for fewest shots in a game. 

 

- Going into the game it was clear shots would be hard to come by because Indy leads the league in shots allowed giving up just 22.2 per game. Meanwhile Allen is ranked #29 allowing 40.2 shots per game. The shot totals for the game favored Indy 33-7. Allen was well rested having not played for a week, but they laid a royal goose egg. It was the fourth time in 20 games the Americans have been shutout. That represents 20% of the games Allen has played and none of the scores were close. Total goals in the four shutouts was 23-0. 

 

- If the humiliating loss wasn't enough, James Hardie left the game early and never returned. His status for the games in Fort Wayne won't be known until later today. Hopefully it is nothing serious and he will be available tonight. If not, the Americans have an extra forward on the trip, Rylan Van Unen, who can step in.

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams and the video highlights:

• Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/americans-blanked-by-indy-6-0
• Indy Fuel game recap: https://indyfuelhockey.com/news/2024/12/fuel-shut-out-americans-6-0-on-eras-night  
• Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-indy-fuel-dec-13-2024

 

 

- The game in Indy was one of those burn the tape games where it is better to just look ahead to the two games in Fort Wayne. It is a short trip, just over 100 miles, from Indy to Fort Wayne. The Americans have to have a total reset for the game tonight which starts at 6:35 pm Allen time. Sunday's game has a 4:00 pm Allen start time.

 

-  With the loss last night the Americans record fell to 7-9-4-0 (.450). Fort Wayne beat Bloomington 2-1 on the road to increase its record to 12-7-1-0 (.625). Just like Allen the Komets have a better road record (8-2-0-0) than home record (4-5-1-0). 

Fort Wayne has struggled recently to score goals. Its record over the last six games is 3-3-0-0, but the Komets didn't score more than two goals in any of the games. They have a total of 10 goals in the last six games, an average of just 1.67 goals per game. 

While Allen lost last night and set a record for fewest shots on goal, Fort Wayne was not far behind. In the Komets win over Bloomington they managed just 15 shots and were outshot 28-15. The 15 shots were the sixth fewest in the league this season.     

 

- Here is how Allen and Fort Wayne rank is some key stats this season:

• Ave. goals scored: Allen #21 (2.50) - Fort Wayne #13 (3.15)
• Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (3.95) - Fort Wayne #20 (3.15)
• Ave. shots for: Allen #28 (25.7) - Fort Wayne #3 (34.2)
• Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (40.2) - Fort Wayne #16 (29.8) 
  
• Power play percentage: Allen #4 (22.4%) - Fort Wayne #11 (18.8%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen #24 (78.4%) - Fort Wayne #18 (80.6 %) 

- It will be imperative for Allen to get off to a good start tonight. If the Americans go down a couple of goals early in the game it could go south in quick order. Allen has to be ready from the opening puck drop after what happened in Indy.

 

-  Allen's special teams will have to get back on track tonight if the Americans expect to win. Allen went through a stretch in November when it had power play goals in six of seven games. Since then the Americans have one power play goal in the last five games. In Allen's current four game losing streak the penalty kill has been at 60% (4-10).  

 

- The game will have two referees, #10 Austin O'Rourke and #40 Harrison O'Pray. I know there is a joke somewhere in those names, but I will refrain. When it comes to penalties, Fort Wayne is ranked #5 averaging 15.45 minutes per game. Allen is ranked #17 averaging 11.45 minutes per game.  

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- The top five teams in the Mountain Division are starting to distance themselves from the bottom three teams. The top five are all on point streaks while the bottom three are all on losing streaks. Here are the standings by point percentage with current streaks in parenthesis:

• .708 - Kansas City (6-0-0-0)
• .667 - Tahoe (5-0-0-0)
• .614 - Tulsa (1-0-0-0)
• .565 - Idaho (1-0-1-0)
  
• .563 - Wichita (3-0-0-0)
• .450 - Allen (0-3-1-0)
• .326 - Rapid City (0-5-1-1)
• .286 - Utah (0-9-1-0)

- Steve Martinson's team, the Athens Rock Lobsters, finally had their home opener last night over a month after the season started. The Rock Lobsters played their first 11 games on the road because they were waiting for the completion of their new arena. Then the home opener scheduled for December 6 had to be postponed because of problems with the final inspection. A sold out crowd of 5500 last night watched the Rock Lobsters win the home opener 3-2 in Steve Martinson style. A couple of fights, a bunch of roughing penalties, four game misconduct penalties for everything from charging to boarding to fighting after the original altercation. Athens improved its record to 10-2. From December 21 to January 12 the Rock Lobsters will play nine straight games at home.

 

- It is a big night around the ECHL tonight with 13 games on the schedule. All eight Mountain Division teams will be in action. Will the winning streaks continue or can the bottom three teams gain some ground? Here are the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/12/echl-today-dec-14  

- There are 34 ECHL players with 20 or more points thus far. Here are the players averaging more than 1.20 points per game. Noteworthy that four of the five on this list play in the Mountain Division:

• 1.35 - Cade Borchardt, Kansas City
• 1.30 - Hank Crone, Idaho
• 1.29 - Simon Pinard, Tahoe
• 1.25 - Odeen Tufto, Fort Wayne
  
• 1.21 - Max Andreev, Kansas City

 

DID YOU KNOW: Here is the ECHL Stats post from today. Anytime an ECHL team sets an all-time record it has to be the subject of an ECHL Stats post.

It’s not very often an all-time ECHL record is broken. The Allen Americans managed to do so last night for fewest shots in a game in a 6-0 loss to Indy. The Americans had one shot in the first period, two shots in the second period and four shots in the third period for a total of seven shots to set the all-time record. The lowest shot total this season prior to last night was 13 set by Kalamazoo in a game against Fort Wayne. Here is a list of the ECHL all-time fewest shots in a game:

 

7 shots - Allen Americans , 2024

8 shots - Elmira Jackals, 2016

8 shots - Trenton Devils, 2009

9 shots - Atlanta Gladiators, 2024

9 shots - San Francisco Bulls, 2012

9 shots - Bakersfield Condors, 2004

9 shots - Arkansas RiverBlades, 2000

Allen vs Indy Preview, Chad Costello Named Associate Coach in Rapid City, ECHL Leading Goal Scorers and More

 

The Allen Americans start their one and only road trip outside the Mountain Division tonight as they are in Indy to take on the Fuel. They will then travel to Fort Wayne to take on the Komets on Saturday and Sunday. Thus far this season the Mountain Division has a record of 3-8-1-1 against the Central Division. 

 

- Both teams have some unique stats within their records:

• Allen's record is 7-8-4-0 (.474) which places the Americans in sixth place in the Mountain Division. Allen has a losing home record (2-4-4-0) but a winning road record (5-4-0-0). The Americans record over the last 10 games is 4-3-3-0 and they have lost their last three games (0-2-1-0).
• Indy's record is 8-7-1-1 (.529) which places the Fuel in fourth place in the Central Division. Indy is the only team in the ECHL that has not won a home game, but the odd stat of the day has to be the Fuel have played 15 road games and just two home games. Like Allen the Indy Fuel have a losing home record (0-1-1-0) and a winning road record (8-6-0-1). Their record over the last 10 games is (6-1-1-1) and they have lost the last two games (0-1-1-0). 

 

- Here is how Allen and Indy rank is some key stats this season:

• Ave. goals scored: Allen #18 (2.63) - Indy #29 (1.94)
• Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (3.84) - Indy #2 (2.00)
• Ave. shots for: Allen #27 (26.7) - Indy #20 (28.7)
• Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (40.6) - Indy #1 (23.1) 
  
• Power play percentage: Allen #4 (24.1%) - Indy #15 (18.3%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen #21 (80.3%) - Indy #2 (89.8 %)
  

 

- For two teams with similar records Allen and Indy couldn't be more different in style of play:

• Indy is the second best defensive team in the ECHL allowing just 2.00 goals per game, but is the worst offensive team in the ECHL scoring 1.94 goals per game. 
  
• Allen on the other hand is the second worst defensive team in the league allowing an average of 3.84 goals per game while scoring 2.63 goals per game.
• The match up tonight, statistically, will pit a bad offensive team against a bad defensive team.

-  When it comes to average shots allowed per game this will literally be the best team in the league (Indy, 23.1 shot average) against the worst team in the league (Allen, 40.6 shot average).

 

- When it comes to special teams there is also a contrast. The game will feature the fourth best power play in the league (Allen - 24.1%) versus the second penalty kill (Indy - 89.8%). If you add power play percentage and penalty kill percentages together Indy has the edge and is above the 105% that is considered excellent. Allen is just below the standard:

• 108.1% - Indy
• 104.4% - Allen

- Scoring first and playing with the lead is always a big advantage. 

• Indy and Allen are both winless all season when trailing after the first period or the second period. They have a combined record of 0-11-1-0 when trailing after the first period and 0-12-2-0 when trailing after the second period. 
• Allen has scored first in 53% of its games and is 5-3-2-0 (.600) when scoring first. Indy has scored first in 47% of its games and is 6-0-1-1 (.875) when scoring first.
• Bottom line is for Allen to be successful tonight it needs to score first and not play from behind. 

 

- Defenseman Hudson Wilson did not accompany the team to Indy because he was loaned to Tucson and flew to meet the Roadrunners Tuesday evening. Tucson plays Henderson at home tonight. This is Wilson's second loan to Tucson. He spent a week with Tucson in October, but did not play in a game. Hopefully he will get an opportunity to play this time.

- The players that stayed home were Will Gavin, Dakota Seaman and Cole Fraser. They are all on 14-day injured reserve. Here is the group on this road trip. Allen has one extra forward and one extra defenseman.

Goalies 

• #1 Logan Neaton
  
• #35 Anson Thornton 

Defensemen

• #91 Ayo Adeniye
• #23 J.C. Brassard
  
• #3 Ryan Gagnon 
• #66 Artyum Kulakov 
• #44 Nolan Orzeck
  
• #21 Mike Van Unen
  
• #2 Quinn Warmuth 
  

Forwards

• #26 Spencer Asuchak
• #42 Robbie Baillergeon
  
• #24 Harrison Blaisdell
  
• #22 Easton Brodzinski 
• #28 Brian Chambers
  
• #16 Kyle Crnkovic
• #8 Mark Duarte 
  
• #84 Liam Gorman
  
• #14 Brayden Guy
• #86 James Hardie
• #82 Ryan Mahshie
  
• #11 Rylan Van Unen
• #92 Brayden Watts
  

 

- The game tonight will use just one referee, Dylan Slater, #4. He is new to the ECHL this season. Last season he was a referee in the USHL and was named a referee for the playoff final (Clark Cup).

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Chad Costello was named the associate coach for the Rapid City Rush yesterday. It was announced last Friday that Rapid City coach Scott Burt has taken a medical leave of absence. Yesterday was a whirlwind day for Chad. An announcement of his selection, a flight to Rapid City, a quick introduction and behind the bench for his first game (a 3-2 shootout loss to Wichita). Here is the press release on Chad's selection: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2024/12/rush-hires-chad-costello-as-associate-coach   

 

- Mark Duarte has scored a goal in four straight games. It is the second longest current goal streak and tied for the fifth longest goal streak in the ECHL this season. If he scores tonight he will be tied for the third longest streak this season. It was just a matter of time before Duarte started to score. He had 14 goals in 36 games for Rapid City last season. He had a slow start this season. It took nine games to score his first goal and he had just one goal in his first 15 games in Allen. He has now scored a goal in four straight games and is a big reason the second line has been outproducing the first line recently. If Allen can get the top two lines producing at the same time the Americans will be tough to beat on this road trip.

 

- There are 12 games on the ECHL schedule tonight with six Mountain Division teams in action including two teams playing teams outside the division:

• Allen at Indy
• Savannah at Kansas City
• Wichita at Rapid City
• Tulsa at Idaho

Here is the ECHL Today with previews on all 12 games: https://echl.com/news/2024/12/echl-today-dec-13

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today asks the question about which player will lead the league in goals this season. Easton Brodzinski leads Allen with 11 goals and just miss the list below.

Who do you think finishes the season with the most goals? Current ECHL leaders. NHL/AHL contracted players are marked with an asterisk:

 

19: *Cade Borchardt, KC

16: Anthony Repaci, WOR

13: *Simon Pinard, TAH

12: Ty Pelton-Byce, IDH

12: Tyler Spezia, TOL

12: Connor MacEachern, IDH

12: *Riley Hughes, SAV

 

 

Injuries as well as loans and call ups will play a big role in determining the ECHL leader in goals:

 

- Riley Hughes is currently called up to Charlotte (AHL). His 12 goals scored for Savannah came in just 16 games played. 

 

- Tahoe’s Simon Pinard has 13 goals in 17 games. He was called up to Henderson (AHL) for 11 days (3 games) in November. 

 

- Kansas City’s Cade Borchardt has 19 goals in 22 games, but has scored nine goals in the last five games including back to back hat tricks. He had one short stint (3 days) with Coachella Valley (AHL) and did not play in a game.

 

Allen Roster Update, Americans Embark on 18 Game Challenge, ECHL Rookie and Assigned Players Stats and More

 

I got home from a great late season pheasant hunt in North Dakota Tuesday night and attended Allen Americans practice yesterday. Several changes since my last blog post. 

Marco Costantini - Marco was released on December 2 and from what I understand it was at his request. ECHL teams don't release players before they attempt to trade them. I assume what happened is coach Adams wanted to accommodate Marco's request to play elsewhere, tried to trade him, but there were no takers. Marco was released and was not claimed off waivers and became a free agent, so he could sign with any ECHL team. Costantini signed with the Indy Fuel on Monday. Ironically Indy's first game since signing Marco is tomorrow night at home against the Allen Americans. There is no doubt Costantini is lobbying to play against his old team and if history is any indicator, former Allen players always seem to play well against the Americans. It will be a great story line if Marco gets the start. As a reminder, in Marco's one start this season for Allen, on November 30 against Rapid City, he was named the #1 star of the game giving up one goal while saving 35 of 36 shots for a .972 save percentage.

 

Logan Neaton - To replace Costantini the Americans made a trade with Kalamazoo for Neaton. He was with Kalamazoo for less than a month and made two starts. He lost both games with a combined 5.10 GAA and .857 save percentage. Neaton was on the opening day roster for Norfolk, but was released on October 22 without playing a game. Last week Allen played three games in three days with travel to Wichita for game three. Anson Thornton was in goal for all three games. The Americans have three games in three days again this week. They travel to Indy for one game tomorrow night and then go to Fort Wayne for games on Saturday and Sunday. You have to believe Neaton will get his first start for Allen in one of the games in Fort Wayne.

- JC Brassard - Allen signed defenseman Brassard on December 4. He was playing in France to start the season. I haven't gotten the story but looking at Brassard's background, Robbie Baillargeon had to have something to do with recruiting him to Allen. Both players grew up in Massachusetts so I am sure they have known each other since they were kids. Professionally they both played for South Carolina in 2017-18 and in the EIHL (Nottingham) in 2021-22. They played in France in 2023-24, but for different teams. I will get the whole story after practice one day.

 

- Cole Fraser - There has been rumors of Cole signing with the Americans for several weeks as he lives in the area and has been attending games. That finally game to fruition on Tuesday when it was announced Allen had signed Fraser and immediately put him on 14-day injured reserve. I assume that was done to allow Cole to skate with the team and get in playing shape before he gets into games. Cole played with Allen in 2019-20 and part of 2020-21. In 2019-20 Fraser led the Americans with seven fighting majors. 

 

- Riley Ginnell - Yesterday Ginnell was traded to Worcester to complete the future considerations deal that brought Artyom Kulakov to Allen on October 15. The way these future considerations deal typically work is Allen had to provide a list of names (usually 3-5) depending on what was negotiated to Worcester. Typically the list can't include goalies or veterans and players on the list must have played a minimum number of games for Allen (5-10). Once Worcester got the list it had a choice of which player to take and the Railers pick Ginnell.  

 

- Ginnell will not be the last player Allen will lose to satisfy a future considerations deal. In addition to all of the things above that are negotiated at the time of the trade, the date to satisfy the futures deal is also agreed upon. Sometimes it is agreed the date will be at the end of the season. The deadline this season is June 20. Other times the date to satisfy the future considerations deal is before the new year. According to my records Allen has received two players from Orlando (Brian Chambers and Ryan Mahshie), so that might be the next team Allen owes a player. 

 

- Will Gavin - Gavin was assigned to Allen on October 23 and placed on injured reserve on November 9. He has begun skating wearing the no contact green jersey. Look for him to return to the lineup sometime after Christmas.

 

- The Allen is about to embark on the most challenging portion of their schedule. The Americans record with 26% of the season completed is 7-8-4-0 which is a point percentage of .474. 

Over the next month Allen will play 18 games starting in Indy tomorrow night and ending at Wichita on January 15. Of the 18 games, 11 will be on the road. None of teams the Americans will play in this stretch have a point percentage below .523.

Here are point percentages of the six teams Allen will play over the next 18 games. The number of games Allen will face each team is in parenthesis, broken down by home games (H) and away games (A).

.696 - Kansas City (4 games, 2H, 2A)

.605 - Fort Wayne (2 games, 2A)

.595 - Tulsa (3 games, 1H, 2A)

.568 - Idaho (1 game, 1H)

.529 - Indy (1 game, 1A)

.523 - Wichita (7 games, 3H, 4A)

 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

 

- The hottest teams in the Mountain Division right now are the two teams at the top of the standings. Kansas City is on a five game winning streak and Tahoe has won four straight. The two teams at the bottom of the standings are struggling. Utah is 0-9-1-0 in the last ten games and Rapid City is on a five game losing streak (0-4-1-0).  

 

 

 

- Hank Crone and Matt Register, two former Allen players who now play for Idaho are tied for the ECHL lead in assists. They both have 19 assists in 22 games played. Hank also leads Idaho in points with 28 which is #2 in the league, one point behind  Kansas City's Cade Borchardt. Borchardt leads the league in goals. Against Utah last week he had three goals in one game and four in the next. In the history of the ECHL just 14 players have scored back to back hat tricks. Three times players have scored hat tricks in three straight games, but all were in the high scoring era (1989, 1992, 1994).

 

 

 

- Dalton Skelly, former Allen defenseman, is playing for the Knoxville Ice Bears of the SPHL this season and having a great season. He was the SPHL Player of the Week and is tied for second on his team with four goals. 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today has Allen included twice. The Americans are on the fewest contract players assigned list (3) and the most rookies list (13). Pay particular attention to the rookie numbers. You can see winning in the ECHL with lots of rookies is very difficult. Four of the five teams on the most rookies list have point percentages below .500. The teams with the fewest rookies all have point percentages above .500 including the #1 team in points in the South (Florida), Central (Toledo) and Mountain (Kansas City) Divisions. Norfolk in the North Division is #2 in points.

 

ECHL rosters with most and fewest NHL/AHL contracted players and rookies. What impact do these numbers have on team success? Teams with point percentages below .500 are marked with an asterisk:

 

NHL/AHL CONTRACTED PLAYERS

Most

14: WHL

11: SAV, SC

10: *CIN, GVL

9: KC, TAH

 

Fewest

1: *ATL, IA

3: *ALN, TOL, TUL

4: ADK, FW, IDH, JAX, ORL

 

 

ROOKIES

Most

15: *BLM

14: IA, *UTA

13: *ALN, *RC

 

Fewest

5: TOL

6: JAX, IND

7: FLA, FW, IDH, KC, NOR