18 Game Challenge Update:
- 10th game in the books
- Last game: 6-2 home loss to Idaho
- Next game: At Kansas City on Friday
- Record: 1-8-1-0
- Point Percentage: .150
I had a question at the game last night about the 18 game challenge. It is the name I gave to a group of games starting on December 13 and running through January 15 against teams with winning records. At the time I came up with the challenge Allen had won seven games but five of the wins were against Utah and Rapid City, the bottom two teams in the division. The next 18 games would be against teams with point percentages ranging from .700 to .519 and would determine Allen's fate for the season. The 18 game challenge hasn't gone well for the Americans thus far and the final eight games won't be easy to get things turned around. Here are the remaining eight games including the opponents point percentage:
- Kansas City - .700 (2 away)
- Wichita - .613 (1 home, 3 away)
- Tulsa - .617 (1 home, 1 away)
- Allen lost to Idaho last night 6-2 in similar ways the Americans have been losing recently. Here are few examples taken from the game preview blog yesterday with the results from the game last night.
- Scoring first will be important - Idaho scored first to improve its record when scoring first to 9-1-2-0.
- Don't play from behind - Idaho led 1-0 after the first period to improve its record with a first period lead to a perfect 7-0-0-0.
- The game tonight will likely be decided in the second period - Idaho outscored Allen 4-2 in the second period.
- Don't play from behind - Idaho led 5-2 after the second period to improve its record with a second period lead to 12-0-0-0.
- Win the special teams battle - Allen was 0-2 on the power play and to make matters worse the power play unit gave up a shorthanded goal.
- Don't let former Allen players beat you. Hank Crone was held to just one assist but Matt Register had a shorthanded goal, an assist and was +4. He was named the #2 star of the game.
- Allen and Idaho are both at the bottom of the league in shots allowed, so you might see a lot of shots and goals in the game tonight. The teams combined for 77 shots and eight goals. Unfortunately Idaho had 41 of the shots and six of the goals.
- Idaho scored the first and only goal of the opening period at the 11:20 mark, but Allen fought back in the second period scoring two goals in just over three minutes. Nolan Orzeck scored his second goal of the season at 6:17 and Brian Chambers scored his second of the season and first for the Americans at the 9:36 mark. Allen had a 2-1 lead midway through the second period, had a 13-4 shot advantage and had the best of the play and then the roof caved in. Idaho scored four unanswered goals in three and a half minutes to take a 5-2 lead and the game was over. Yes, there were some bad bounces and fluky plays but there were also turnovers and a shorthanded goal, but good teams make their own luck. The third period was scoreless until Allen pulled goalie Anson Thornton, who had relieved starter Luke Richardson after the four goal outburst by Idaho in the second period, with 4:14 left in the game. The Steelheads added an empty net goal to make the final score 6-2. The Americans have now lost 12 of the last 13 games.
- Here are the game recaps issued by both teams and the video highlights:
Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/game-recap-americans-end-2024-with-a-6-2-loss-to-idaho
Idaho Steelheads game recap: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2024/12/strong-second-period-propels-steelheads-to-6-2-victory
Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/idaho-steelheads-vs-allen-americans-dec-31-2024
POST GAME COMMENTS
- Coach Adams brought along Brian Chambers to the post game press conference with the season ticket members. Here is what they had to say to the questions and comments form the STMs:
"Three minutes of the second period has been our downfall in the last few games. I couldn't have been happier how we were playing in the second period until they scored. We scored into our own net which was frustrating, made some dumb mistakes and its the game.".....Adams
"We had shift after shift of constant pressure which led to Chambers goal.".....Adams
"Our power play had a couple of good looks, but then gave up a shorthanded goal which is very frustrating. You can see how dominate we were in the first half of the second period and the challenge is when we make a mistake not to compound it.".....Adams
"Mark Duarte came here to get opportunities at the next level and I will never hold guys back when we get a request to loan a player. He certainly deserves the opportunity. Mark played tonight and will also play on Thursday for Cleveland.".....Adams
"We have gotten more physical by adding Cole Fraser and Nick Isaacson to the lineup.".....Adams
"On my goal I went to the net and Hardie made a great play from the corner, shooting the puck at the net and I was lucky enough to tap it in. I thought at that time we would keep pounding them. A couple of unlucky bounces turned the game and it became a 5-2 game.".....Chambers
"The game was pretty even the whole 60 minutes. If we can play our next game like we played the first half of the second period we will have a better result.".....Chambers
"As players, we can definitely improve on not getting down on the bench when things don't go our way. We have mentioned that in the locker room to try and stay up, but that goal where the goalie makes the save and then it goes off our stick into the net is hard not to be down for a little bit. We do talk about it a lot to stay up when things don't go our way.".....Chambers
"If you look at the last few games we have had as many good opportunities as the other teams, but we miss the net a a lot. We need to do a better job on the execution compared to the other team.".....Adams
"We had a few opportunities tonight to shoot off the rush and we didn't take the shot. I am pretty adamant about players needing to be more selfish and shooting off the rush. We don't have to pick corners, just get the puck on the net. Chamber's goal is a perfect example. It was a bad angle shot but it created a rebound and chaos and Chambers was able to spin and put the puck in the net. We need more second chance goals by putting more shots on the net. We are missing the net too much right now ".....Adams
OTHER COMMENTS
- Here are the ECHL standings at the beginning of the new year the last three seasons. You can see it is not too late for teams to turn around the season and make the playoffs, but it has to start right now. In 2022-23 Allen went from last place at the end of December to finish second in the division. The Americans January record was 9-4-0-0 (.692). That same season Utah made the playoffs despite having a .393 point percentage at this point. Utah's January record was 8-3-1-0 (.708). With the Mountain Division now an eight team division it is highly unlikely Rapid City, Allen or Utah will make the playoffs. These teams will have to win a minimum of two out of every three games the entire month to have a chance.
- 2025
- .700 - Kansas City
- .672 - Tahoe
- .617 - Tulsa
- .613 - Wichita
- .583 - Idaho
- .383 - Rapid City
- .362 - Allen
- .339 - Utah
- 2024
- .758 - Kansas City*
- .726 - Idaho*
- .500 - Rapid City
- .483 - Tulsa*
- .435 - Allen*
- .400 - Wichita
- .393 - Utah
- 2023
- .879 - Idaho*
- .633 - Wichita
- .536 - Kansas City*
- .484 - Rapid City
- .444 - Tulsa
- .393 - Utah*
- .375 - Allen*
*Playoff teams
- The championships in Europe are not that far off and for players whose teams will not make the playoffs they could be looking to return to North America and the ECHL. The deadline for returning is February 17. I took a quick look at some former Allen players that are playing for teams in Europe who are in first or second place and well positioned to win a championship. Here is a list with the years they played in Allen. The European league where they are playing is in parenthesis:
- Justin Kirsch: 2012-13 (Germany3)
- Scott Conway: 2020-21 (EIHL - Great Britain)
- Steve Owre: 2020-21 (Swiss League)
- Alec Breton: 2018-20 (DEL - Germany)
- Matt Maricnew: 2023-24 (DEL2 - Germany)
- Brett Pollack: 2019-20 (Slovakia)
- Josh Atkinson: 2018-19 (ICEHL - Hungary)
- Jake Hildebrand: 2015-16 (DEL - Germany)
- Dante Salituro: 2018-19 (Poland)
- Olivier Archambault: 2017-18 & 2019-20 (Slovakia)
- Joe Gatenby: 2023-24 (Norway)
