Another Loss for Allen, Game Recap, Scoring First Stats, Christmas Break Plans, Mountain Division Playoff Picture, Interdivisional Records and ECHL Point Leaders

18 Game Challenge Update:

• 7th game in the books
  
• Last game: 4-3 loss at Tulsa
• Next game: Kansas City at home
• Record: 1-5-1-0
• Point Percentage: .214

The Allen Americans went into the Christmas break (23rd to 25th) with a 4-3 loss in Tulsa yesterday afternoon. Once again the Americans scored the first goal of the game and lost. The last seven times Allen has scored the first goal of the game it has lost. You have to go back to the end of November in Rapid City to find the last time the Americans score the first goal of a game and won. Allen's record when scoring first is now down to .464 (5-6-3-0). When you consider the ECHL point percentage for teams that score first is .745 (256-73-40-5), a below .500 point percentage is really bad. How bad is it? I decided to go into the archives to see Allen's point percentage when scoring first for each season since joining the ECHL in 2014-15. Here is what I found:

• .434: 2024-25 (thru 26 games)
• .636: 2023-24
• .727: 2022-23
• .653: 2021-22
• .791: 2020-21
• .871: 2019-20
• .638: 2018-19 (the season Allen finished in last place in the ECHL)
• .803: 2017-18
• .922: 2016-17
• .847: 2015-16 (Allen won the Kelly Cup)
• .850: 2014-15 (Allen won the Kelly Cup) 

- Brayden Guy scored Allen's first goal early in the first period (4:58) assisted by Mark Duarte and Ayo Adeniye. It was Mark's 11th point in his last 11 games. Ayo's assist was his first professional point. Tulsa tied the game later in the first period (16:36) in a goal reminiscent of how many times former players come back to haunt the Americans. Don't remember this ever happening before. Three former players combined for the first Tulsa goal. Tyler Poulsen (2021-22) scored his ninth goal of the season assisted by Solag Backich (2023-24) and Duggie Lagrone (2018-19). 

 

- J.C. Brassard scored his first goal since joining the Americans at the 2:52 mark of the second period to give Allen a 2-1 lead. Brassard's goal made it back to back games with a goal by a defneseman. Nolan Orzeck scored in the win over Wichita on Saturday. Back to back goals may not sound like much until you consider the entire defense has scored just six goals all season. If you add up games played by all defensemen this season it totals 155 games. Not a great goals to games played percentage, but the goals by Oezeck and Brassard in back to back games is encouraging. 

 

- Allen could not hold its 2-1 lead and Tyler Poulson was the culprit again, scoring his ninth goal of the season midway through the second period. When Tulsa took a 3-2 lead with two minutes left in the second period you knew this would probably not end well for the Americans. 

- Allen defied the odds in Wichita on Saturday by coming back after trailing after the second period. Wichita was 11-0 when leading after the second period, but Allen came back and won.  Could Allen defy the odds again Sunday trailing 3-2 after the second period. Tulsa wasn't perfect with a second period lead, but it was close with a record of 12-0-2-0.

 

- It wasn't to be for the Americans. Tulsa stretched its lead to 4-2 early in the third period (5:24). To Allen's credit it responded just 22 seconds later to cut the score to 4-3 on Harrison Blaisdell's first professional goal. The Oilers clamped down defensively over the last five minutes of the game outshooting Allen 5-1 and sent the Americans into the break with a loss and the worst record in the league over the last 10 games (1-7-2-0).

 

- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/game-recap-americans-fall-to-tulsa-4-3  

OTHER COMMENTS

- The Christmas break couldn't arrive quick enough for the struggling Americans. I am sure they are looking forward to three days with no games and no practices. Even though it is only a three day break, a lot of players (I have heard half) will be able to get home for Christmas. The team will practice on Thursday, but practice will be late in the day to give players most of the day on Thursday to fly back to Allen. Hopefully the players can get their minds off hockey and rest all the bumps and bruises. Come Thursday evening the reality of the 18 game challenge will come back in focus. The next group of five games includes three home games, two against Kansas City and one against Idaho followed by two games in Kansas City.   

- Each day it becomes more and more apparent the Mountain Division has a five way race for four playoff spots. Last season at this time Kansas City and Idaho were so far ahead in the standings it was a given they were going to be the #1 and #2 seeds in the playoffs. The bottom five teams were fighting for two playoff spots and were close enough they all had a legitimate chance. Here were the Mountain Division standings at this time last year. Notice where Allen was and the Americans finished in third place:

• .788 - Idaho
• .732 - Kansas City
• .580 - Tulsa
• .462 - Rapid City
• .423 - Wichita
• .365 - Allen
• .333 -Utah

This season is a very different picture. No team has managed to pull away and there are five teams with a legitimate chance to win the division. With five teams battling for four playoff spots it makes it almost if not impossible for the three teams that lag far behind the top five to make the playoffs. Looking at points rather than point percentage really tells the story. The top five teams are separated by just five points, 32 to 37. The bottom three have between 17-21 points. To make the playoffs the bottom three teams will have to leapfrog two teams with much better records. The Mountain Division is the only one with eight teams, so don't look for the bottom three teams to get anywhere close to fourth place. Here are the current standings by points:  

• 37 - Kansas City
• 34 - Tahoe
• 34 - Tulsa
• 32 - Wichita
• 32 - Idaho
• 21 - Allen
• 19 - Rapid City
• 17 - Utah

- Seven ECHL players have scored more than 30 points at the break and are on pace to finish the season with 85-95 points. Of course injuries and time promoted to the AHL can have a big impact. FYI, Brandon Hawkins (Toledo) led the ECHL in points last season with 93 and Hank Crone led the league with 105 points on 2022-23. Crone's 100 point season was the first since Chad Costello had three straight 100 point seasons in 2016-17 (122 points), 2015-16 (103 points) and 2014-15 (125 points).

 Here are the seven players with more than 30 points with their potential total for the season if they played in all remaining games and scored at the same pace (in parenthesis).

• 35 points - Hank Crone, Idaho (94 points)
• 34 points - Brady Fleurent, Norfolk (94 points)
• 33 points - Anthony Repaci, Worcester (85 points)
• 33 points - Ty Pelton-Byce, Idaho (88 points)
• 32 points - Sloan Stanick, Tahoe (93 points)
• 31 points - Cade Borchardt, Kansas City (92 points)
• 31 points - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo (83 points)
  

 

DID YOU KNOW: ECHL interdivisional records that show dominance:

 

10-1-1-0: South record vs Central

7-1-0-0: South record vs North

13-2-1-0: Central record vs Mountain

16-6-0-0: North record vs Central 

 

The South Division has a winning record vs all other divisions. That is the reason every team in the South Division has a point percentage of .500 or above.