Allen vs Rapid City Series Preview, Irony of This Series, Battle for the Basement, Best ECHL Road Teams and More

 

Allen's next five games, all against the Rapid City Rush, could not be more ironic. Check this out:

• Two teams tied for the worst points percentage in the league (.365), playing five straight times (twice in Rapid City, then three times in Allen). After these next five games, these teams will not play again this season. 
• Allen struggles at home, 3-10-4-0 (.294)  while Rapid City struggles on the road, 4-11-3-0 (.306).
• The teams have identical records (10-20-7) with the only difference being Allen losing seven games in overtime while Rapid City's seven extra time losses being four in overtime and three in shootouts.
• The teams played three times in Rapid City at the end of November and all three games were close. Rapid City won game one 2-1.  Allen won game two 4-3 in overtime. Allen won game three 2-1. The one goal allowed in game three by the Americans on November 30 was the last time Allen allowed fewer than two goals in a game. 
• Most ironic of all is who will be behind the bench for this five game series. Chad Costello was fired by Allen in the off season and recently hired as the associate coach in Rapid City after the Rush head coach, Scott Burt, had to take a medical leave. Allen will be coached by Brett Ferguson, who was recently named interim head coach after the Americans fired B.J. Adams, the coach they had hired in the off season to replace Costello. 
• And to prove fact can be stranger than fiction, Costello and Ferguson played together on a youth team in Des Moines. Chad grew up in the area and Brett's dad was the coach for the USHL team in Des Moines in the early 1990's.  
• It has been a tough go for Costello and Ferguson since they were named to their new postilions. They both have losing records. Costello's record is 5-8-2-1 (.406). Ferguson's record is 0-3-2-0 (.200). 
• This five game series is critical for both teams. The loser of the series will likely find themselves in the unenviable position of being all alone as the worst team in the league. 

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

• Ave. goals scored: Allen #24 (2.51) - Rapid City #24 (2.51)
• Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (4.08) - Rapid City #27 (3.78)
• Ave. shots for: Allen #27 (27.22) - Rapid City #10 (31.57)
• Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (39.32) - Rapid City #23 (32.49) 
  
• Power play percentage: Allen #8 (21.2%) - Rapid City #25 (14.5%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen #18 (79.5%) - Rapid City #20 (78.6%) 

- Given where these teams are in the standings it is no surprise they don't score a lot (identical average of 2.51 goals per game) and they are at the bottom of the list in goals allowed. In the three game series these teams played at the end of November the winning team allowed one goal, one goal and three goals. That will likely be the kind of game it will take to win in the upcoming five game series.

 

- Allen does have the advantage when it comes to special teams. The Americans have one of the better power plays in the league. In the three game series at the end of November, Allen was 3-8 (37.5%) on the power play and Rapid City was 1-14 (7.1%). Even with the power play advantage, the Americans need to stay out of the penalty box and avoid giving the Rush extra power play opportunities.

 

-  Don't normally talk about shorthanded goals, but it might be a factor in this series. Rapid City has scored six shorthanded goals and allowed three for a plus three. Allen has scored just two shorthanded goals and allowed five for a minus three. Beware the shorthanded goal in this series. 

- These teams are so close statistically these games might be decided by will as much as skill. They have identical records, they have both scored 93 goals and they don't do well playing from behind. Allen is 2-13-2-0 when trailing after the first period, Rapid City is 1-12-0-1. Allen is 1-17-2-0 when trailing after the second period, Rapid City is 0-19-3-0. Playing with the lead will be critical in this series.

 

- Brayden Watts was on a tear before missing the last two games with an illness. In the prior six games Watts had 11 points (6G, 5A). The line of Watts-Asuchak-Crnkovic have been great since they were re-untied. Mark Duarte has seven points (4G, 3A) in the last six games and should be a factor in this series against his prior team.  

- I had a chance to swap messages with coach Ferguson this morning and this is what he had to say, 

"We need to be ready to go from the opening puck drop. It is a loud, packed barn and they start fast on the puck drop."

"Our special teams have to be special. We need to end up plus on the score sheet on special teams to give us a chance to win." 

"We need to win games 3-2 that we are losing 3-2 or 4-2 with an empty net goal."

 

- It will be a one referee game tonight. JR Strager (#2) will work the game. Avoiding stick penalties, especially behind the play will be critical.  

OTHER COMMENTS

- With all that has happened in Allen since last summer with the firing of Chad Costello, hiring of  B.J. Adams and recent firing of  B.J. Adams, I have to believe some long time Allen Americans fans will be routing for Chad and Rapid City in this series. Let me be clear I am not in that category even though I consider myself to be a close friend of Chad. 

 

- There are four ECHL teams with point percentages below .400. While Allen and Rapid City are in last place (.365), Utah (.375) and Kalamazoo (.386) are also in the last place sweepstakes. While the Americans and Rush play five straight games, Utah will play six straight home games (three vs Wichita and three vs Idaho).  Kalamazoo will play single games against Toledo (A), Indy (H) and Bloomington (H) before playing three games at Iowa. The bottom line is Allen and Rapid City can hope Utah and Kalamazoo go on long losing streaks which will help keep them out of the cellar. The odds are whichever teams loses the Allen vs Rapid City series will find themselves in lone possession of last place.     

- The ECHL will be back in full swing tonight after the All-Star break with 12 games on the schedule. All eight Mountain Division teams will be in action with some great match-ups.

• Allen at Rapid City
• Kansas City at Wheeling
• Tulsa at Idaho
• Wichita at Utah
• Fort Wayne at Tahoe

Here is the ECHL Today with previews of all 12 games: https://echl.com/news/2025/01/echl-today-jan-24

 

 - Chaz Smedsrud, who started the season with Allen is Rapid City's third leading scorer with 21 points in 36 games (6 G, 15A). Rapid City's leader in penalty minutes, Connor Mylymok, who has already logged seven fights was just recalled by Calgary AHL). Here are the details: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2025/01/connor-mylymok-called-up-to-wranglers 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about teams that play well on the road. Allen is one of the teams that has a better road point percentage (.425) than home point percentage (.294).

Nine ECHL teams have road records above .600. Five of the nine have a better road record than home record. The home point percentage is shown in parenthesis for the five teams that play better on the road. Pretty dramatic difference between road and home point percentage for several of these teams. Here are the nine teams with road point percentages above .600:

 

North Division

.733 - Norfolk (.568)

.675 - Wheeling

.675 - Trois Rivières 

 

South Division

.711 - Florida 

 

Central Division

.750 - Fort Wayne (.578)

.714 - Toledo (.639)

 

Mountain Division

.738 - Kansas City (.567)

.684 - Tulsa (.550)

.619 - Tahoe