Barry The Blogger - Follow me on twitter at @allenamericans1 and/or like my Facebook page at Allen Americans Blog. This is the official blog of the Allen Americans.
Wasn't planning on a blog today, but had a few things to share before heading to Minnesota until Saturday:
- Thanks for all the messages and comments on my Mark Duarte story. Those long form stories are a labor of love, but take a lot of time from the upfront research, the interview, and all the post interview research and writing. I feel like Mark should be listed as a co-author with all of the time he gave me for this story. From the one hour we talked about his family and career after practice to the numerous text messages I sent him the last few days asking him to clarify or expand on something we talked about. Even though he was dealing with an injury and wasn't feeling the best, he was very responsive and helpful. Allen fans know what a great player Mark is, but as I say in the story he is even a better person. If you haven't had a chance to read his story here is the link: https://allenamericansblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-mark-duarte-story-success-is-not.html
- The live auction after the game on Saturday is a rarity these days. Years ago live auctions were the primary way of selling jerseys. Here are the results of the military specialty jersey auction in 2014. $1200 for the Bootland jersey and $1000 for the Schaafsma jersey would be unheard of in Allen today.
Here are the results of the Texas jersey auction on Saturday. Thanks to my friend Kristi for staying late on turn your clocks ahead night to capture the results:
$700 - Duarte
$600 - Watts
$600 - Wells
$500 - Kulakov
$475 - Richardson
$475 - Fraser
$400 - Crnkovic
$400 - Thornton
$400 - Brassard
$400 - Wilson
$400 - Kane
$375 - Gavin
$375 - Powell
$375 - Polino
$350 - Matikka
$350 - Nault
$350 -Jacobs
$350 - Gorman
$325 - Blaisdell
$325 - LeDonne
$325 - Isaacson
$300 - Perepeluk
$275 - Johnson
$250 - Westcott
$250 - Van Unen
$250 - Warmuth
- Yesterday Allen traded the rights to Kyle Crnkovic to Fort Wayne for forwards Michael Gildon and Brad Morrison. Allen is short on forwards with so many injured, so a 2-for-1 trade at this point will be helpful. Crnkovic led Allen in assists (33) and was second in points (44), but had struggled over the last month. In his last 16 games he had four points (0G, 4A). A fresh start, with a playoff bound team maybe just what Kyle needs to get going. I am sure he will be missed in the Allen locker room. He is one of the most popular and funny guys on the team.
Plano native Michael Gildon
- Michael Gildon is a 23 year old, 196 pound, 6'2" left shot forward from Plano, TX. He is a rookie who played for Ohio State University last season. He played five seasons for Ohio State and had 38 points (12G, 26A) in 118 games. Gildon played in 23 games for Fort Wayne and tallied eight points (5G, 3A). He earned a bachelor's degree in sports industry (2023) and master's degree in sport coaching (2024) from Ohio States. He was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
Michael was on the US National Development team from 2017-2019. In his last year with the team he 45 points (18G, 27A) in 61 points.
Here is the only YouTube video I could find of Gildon's. It is from the time he was on the National Development team. He is the guy on the right. His teammate on the left in the video is the 2019 NHL draft #1 overall pick, Jack Hughes, who now plays for the New Jersey Devils
- Brad Morrison is a 28 year old, 170 pound 6'0" left shot forward from Prince George, BC. he is in his seventh pro season, but by my count he is still under 260 games played (247), so he is not a veteran.
Morrison has played in 185 ECHL games for Fort Wayne, Indy, Reading, Florida and Kalamazoo. He has averaged 0.82 goals per game in those 85 games (52G, 100A). He has also played 57 AHL games and scored 26 points (13G, 13A).
Here are a couple Morrison videos from the archives. The first is his 2017-18 highlight reel when he was playing in the WHL. The second is a 10 year old NHL Entry Draft Preview video on Morrison. He was drafted in the 4th round of the 2015 NHL draft by the New York Rangers
Trevor LeDonne
- Last week Allen signed 25 year old, 6'1" right shot defenseman Trevor LaDonne who just completed his college career at Robert Morris University. LaDonne is from Stoney Creek, Ontario and trains with Mark Duarte and a bunch of other pro athletes in the summer. LaDonne had quite a pro game debut on Friday night. He didn't score because Allen was shutout 4-0, but Trevor was even on plus/minus and led the team in shots with five. Saturday night he assisted on Allen's only goal of the game. His totals after two games is one assist, seven shots and +1.
OTHER COMMENTS
- I get asked about Allen's affiliation for next season all the time. It is pure speculation at this point. I have heard from what I would say is a reliable source, not in the Allen organization, that Tucson will be affiliated again next season with Utah HC. If I was a betting man I would bet Allen will be affiliated with Utah/Tucson again in 2025-26, but that is based on nothing more than a hunch.
While you always want more help from the affiliate, it has been a step up this year compared to last season with Belleville. Last season Allen got 19 games from skaters assigned by Belleville. This year the number is already 87 and Will Gavin only has 17 games played even though he has been in Allen all season. Last season Allen got 42 games played by affiliate goalies. This season it is at 48. That number will grow, but you may have seen Dylan Wells was recalled to Tucson. Utah HC goalie Connor Ingram has entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and will be out indefinitely according to the press release. Wells could be in Tucson the remainder of Allen's season.
The second year of an affiliation is always better than the first after relationships are established. I do predict if Allen does affiliate with Utah/Tucson again the Americans will get more help next season.
- I have also been talking to a lot of long time, loyal Allen fans that are thinking about not renewing their season tickets for next season. I certainly understand that, but my advice, especially if you like your seats is to hang on until you find out the plans for 2025-26, which should happen shortly after this season ends. I know for a fact team owner Myles Jack wants to have a winning team in Allen, it is #1 priority, even more than finances. He is also well aware he needs to make a decision on a coach right after this season ends. If all goes quickly, you may know in April who will be coaching the team in 2025-26. If you wait until a new coach is named you just might be surprised.
- ECHL leaders in points, goals and assists. Points is a one man race. Goals is a two man race. Assists is a three man race.
Points
76 - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo
65 - Brady Fleurent, Norfolk
65 - Michal Stinil, Wichita
Goals
35 - Cade Borchardt, Kansas City
34 - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo
27 - Simon Pinard, Tahoe
Assists
43 - Jack Dugan, Fort Wayne
43 - Matt Register, Idaho
43 - Peter Bates, Wichita
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today about fights and suspensions isn't an issue for the Allen Americans given Nick Isaacson leads the team with three fights. For a perspective of how Allen fights have dwindled here are the number of fights since 2020-21. These are some paltry numbers when you consider in 2016-17, before the fighting rules changed, Derek Mathers had 29 fights all by himself. By today's rules he would have been suspended a total of 34 games
12 - 2024-25
19 - 2023-24
27 - 2022-23
38 - 2021-22
41 - 2020-21
With players approaching 10 fights a reminder:
When players reach 10 fighting majors they’re suspended for one game. Each subsequent fighting major is a one game suspension. At 14 fights the suspension becomes two games. If the opposing player is assessed an instigator penalty, that fight doesn’t count.
Mark Duarte #8 Birthdate: September 27, 2002 Birthplace: Hamilton, Ontario Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario 6'2' 195 lbs
Mark is the oldest child of teachers Mike and Juliana Duarte but not by much. His younger brother, Matthew, is five minutes younger and his younger sister, Jenna, is 16 months younger. The Duarte family is from Hamilton, Ontario, and still live in the house where the kids grew up. Five minutes into my conversation with Mark it was very clear how important his family is to him and the values his parents instilled in all of the children were very apparent.. Because the three children are so close in age, they are extremely tight, supportive of one another, and competitive.
The Duartes - L to R Matthew, Juliana, Mark, Jenna, Mike
The family competitiveness comes naturally but not the hockey. Mike and Juliana were college athletes, but basketball was their sport. They knew nothing about hockey when the kids first got involved but have become big hockey fans. When they were younger the kids played soccer, basketball, and hockey, but the time came because of time commitment and cost to pick one sport. As Mark tells the story, "It was tough and we kind of made the decision together, my grandfather wanted us to choose soccer, our parents wanted us to choose basketball, but we loved hockey and it is the sport that brought us all together." Mike Duarte's take was, "hockey is expensive so we tried to steer them to basketball."
Mark, Matthew, and Jenna played together in school tournaments. In his words, "In elementary school, we would have 3-on-3 tournaments. My dad was the coach which was pretty cool. How it worked is you have a certain number of girls and a certain number of boys so we all got to play together."
Matthew, Jenna, Mark - 2011
All three children are still involved in hockey. While Mark is playing pro hockey, Matthew and Jenna are playing college hockey at Brock University in Saint Catharines, Ontario which is about 40 minutes from Hamilton. Jenna is in her third year of eligibility and is majoring in Sports Management. According to Mark, her goal is to play pro hockey in the PWHL. Matthew is in his second year of eligibility and is majoring in computer science. He would also like to pursue a pro hockey career. Mark is trying to get him to visit now that his season is over, to experience Texas and watch a few games. Not to be outdone, Mark is also enrolled in college, taking an online general arts course through Lakehead University. Per Mark. "It is kind of funny our college progress is in reverse of our age, I am in my first year, Matthew is in his second and Jenna is in her third."
Matthew, Juliana, Jenna, Mike, Mark - Boys 8th grade graduation
Mark and Matthew are super competitive with each other, but also super supportive. Per Mark they are kind of opposites, "We are pretty opposite in most stuff and have been from a young age. I am a right shot and he is a left shot. My favorite color is red, his is blue and we have different personalities.
- Mark's journey to professional hockey was unique from a couple of perspectives. First, he played in his hometown of Hamilton until his 20-year-old overage year in the OHL, He never lived with a billet family until his last year in junior hockey when he played in Sault St. Marie (Soo Greyhounds). Mark told me his one year with a billet family, Cindy and Mike MacKay, was unbelievable.
- The second part of Mark's story that was unique to me was all of the setbacks he had to deal with along the way. He is the player he is today because of those setbacks. Mark recalled to me time and time again during our interview the message from his dad when he was disappointed was to put your head down and keep working. Work ethic was the most important thing. You will see at the end of this story some get-to-know-you questions and one of them was what do you remember your parents telling you as a kid that you still remember today. Mark didn't have to think at all. "Work ethic is something my parent stressed all the time growing up from minor hockey until today. My dad still texts me all the time reminding me to make sure I am in the gym, make sure I am eating right. Working hard and doing all of the little things right was always talked about."
- Mark and Matthew played together pretty much all the way through until their second year of juniors. There was a hockey rink (Chedoke Twin Pad Arena) close to their house where a hockey club, Hamilton Huskies Hockey Club, operated teams from tykes through juniors. Over the years the brothers worked their way up through the Huskies system and were playing AAA (highest level) by the time they were nine. However, in 2015-16 Mark and Matthew were cut from their AAA Hamilton Huskies team and went on to play AA for the Huskies organization. Here is how Mark described getting cut and playing back in AA. "That year was one of the best years of hockey for both of us. We had the opportunity to play a lot and we grew a lot as players. We learned about the side of not getting what you want. We were shocked when we were cut from the AAA team. All of our friends were still on the AAA team. We moved on and the AA year was great. I still talk to that whole AA team to this day. It was a special group and they were all from the Hamilton area. In 2016-17 we played for the AAA Hamilton Bulldogs. In 2017-18, our draft year, we went back to the Huskies AAA team. I got drafted to the OHL from that team."
Here is Mark's description of getting drafted in April, 2018. "I got drafted in the 14th round of a 15-round draft by the OHL Hamilton Bulldogs. I wasn't expected to get drafted because I had an okay year but not a great draft year season. I didn't even get a phone call. We were actually at a hockey tournament. We were at a Tim Horton's and I was watching the draft on my phone to see where my friends were getting drafted and my name popped up. The Bulldogs invited their draftees to their game that night. It was the playoff finals and it was a sold-out barn. I remember I walked into the suite where all the draftees were gathering and I was the only one not in a suit because I had just come from a hockey tournament so was in a tracksuit. It was a special moment being drafted by my hometown team that I had grown up watching and dreamed of playing for.
While getting drafted was a big step, making the team was another story. In the fall of 2018 as a 16 year old, Mark tried out for the Hamilton Bulldogs but did not make the team. He then tried out for the Junior B team, Hamilton Kiltys B's, which was affiliated with the Hamilton Bulldogs, and made that team. Junior B teams could only have two 16 years old players. Mark and former Allen goalie Marco Costantini (who is also a twin) were the two 16-year-olds on the team. Mark tells this story about both of their brothers (Matthew and Anthony), who didn't make Junior B teams and were playing on U18 AAA teams. Coincidentally, both Matthew and Anthony got called up to the Kilty B's at the same time. As Mark described it, "That was a great experience having the two sets of twins from the Hamilton area playing in a Hamilton Kilty B's game."
Mark has another memory from that game, "When Matthew was called up it was early in the season and I hadn't scored yet. I remember it clearly; I was on the bench and one of his first shifts he went down and scored. I looked at my coach and he said you better score. Luckily, I was able to score in the game to match Matthew. It was really special to have that experience with him.
Mark played one season with the Kilty B's and had a decent year with 25 points (11G, 14A) in 38 games. That season playing was yet another example of Mark having to take a step back before taking a step forward, just like he had done several times before. Put your head down and work hard, just as his parents told him from a young age, would get him to the OHL.
The following season Mark made the Hamilton Bulldogs and started his major junior career in the OHL, but it wasn't easy. In Mark's words, "That first season with the Bulldogs was tough. I spent a lot of games in the stands watching and that is not what you want to do. I learned a lot that year and spending that time watching games fired me up. I spent a lot of time in the gym getting bigger and stronger. When you get to the OHL guys are bigger, faster, and stronger. During my first two years in the OHL, I didn't play a lot of hockey, but I spent a lot of time realizing this was what I wanted to do with my life and I had to commit to it. It is a hard decision when you are 17 years old. All your friends are doing their own thing, going to university, going to parties. Then the Covid year happened, that was a big year for me, my brother, and my sister. We were in the same house and all had hockey goals, so we pushed each other. The only hockey was rollerblading down the street with a stick and the green biscuit or stick handling ball."
The pattern of head down work hard continued to be the key for Mark, "After Covid (2021-22) I still had to try out for the Bulldogs as it wasn't a guarantee because I hadn't proved much yet after my first year with the team and the the Covid year off. I didn't know if the team wanted to bring in younger guys or draft picks. I reported to camp ready to go and did make the team. I made a name for myself early in the year showing what I could bring. It was penalty kill and a third/fourth-line guy who played a 200' game and blocked shots. That is what I took pride in. I knew what I needed to do if I didn't want to be scratched. That season was special, winning the OHL championship and making it to the finals of the Memorial Cup is a memory I will have for the rest of my life. I still talk to all of the guys from that team. We meet up in the summer. We had a very good team, but just as important we had a really good group and team culture."
Mark's OHL career was not over after that championship season, but his challenge to prove himself with his head down and hard work would be needed once again. He was waived by the Hamilton Bulldogs and signed with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, known as the Soo Greyhounds. The story is much more complicated than just being waived by Hamilton. Teams in the OHL can only have three overage players (20 years old). This is how Mark described his overage year, "After the 2021-22 season with such a special championship ending, I didn't know what would happen in 2022-23. I just kept training knowing Hamilton had had eight or nine overage players. Things were uncertain because it was unknown how many of the guys would turn pro. Several could have played at the AHL level but chose to play another season in Hamilton. I talked to the president and general manager, Steve Staios, (now the president of hockey operations and general manager of the Ottawa Senators) who offered to help me. He waived me so teams knew I was available and helped me find a spot with the Soo Greyhounds."
After 20 years of playing hockey at home in Hamilton, Mark was off to play for the Soo Greyhounds. It was an important year for his growth and another chance to bring his work ethic to yet another team and follow his dad's advice of working hard from start to finish no matter what the score is and how many goals you have scored. Here is how Mark described his year with the Greyhounds, "I had a big opportunity with the Greyhounds, they allowed me to play on the power play which is something I hadn't done before. I penalty-killed, got some top-line minutes, and played a lot. It was a big stepping stone for my offensive game and my production. I got to play a 200' game with an offensive side and grew as more of an offensive threat."
After Mark's final junior year in which he finished with 48 points (20G, 28A) in 65 games he didn't know what was going to happen. He started to talk to some Canadian colleges, but his goal was to turn pro and sign an AHL deal. Here is how described it, "It was at the beginning of the summer and my agent gave me a call and told me Calgary was going to offer me an AHL deal and I was over the moon when I got that news. I didn't expect it but it is something I was hoping for. I knew I worked hard and was just hoping I was given an opportunity. Kyle Raftis (general manager) and John Dean (head coach) were so instrumental in my success with the Soo,"
"I played 15 games with Calgary last year spread out over the season. They had a really good team and it was very cool going into that organization. They are one of the top teams in the AHL and that is not just the hockey, but their culture also. It was something that I got to see and learn. It was my first pro season and the players were just awesome. Brett Sutter was still playing and now he is an assistant coach with the Wranglers. I didn't know what to expect as a first-year pro. It was my first time playing with guys over 20. I played third- and fourth-line minutes with some penalty kill. Being able to play at the AHL level and see what it takes was a great experience. You get to see their work ethic and ability and that is what I am working on."
How did Mark end up in Allen? After waiting to see what AHL opportunities would come his way for 2024-25 he started talking to ECHL teams as he was an ECHL free agent. B.J Adams reached out to him and Mark talked to James Hardie who had played in Rapid City before being traded to Allen last season. As he told me "Texas is a great place to play and live. Everything I heard about the fans; the staff and the area was great. It was kind of a gut feeling at the end of what would be best for me. I love it here."
#8 Mark Duarte in action
I asked Mark what he would say to the Allen fans after this disappointing season. This is what he had to say, "The fans here are awesome. The year we have had we owe the fans more and we know that. If I was them, I wouldn't be happy either. The way the year went prior, I wasn't happy, the guys in the room weren't happy about it, coaches, fans, we all weren't happy. We are all one, we are all together. I hope everyone realizes and understands we want to give our all every game. We want to win hockey games and eventually bring another Kelly Cup to Allen. We owe it to our fans, our families back home, and our coaches and we owe it to ourselves. It is what we are here to do, what we get paid to do. This is something I dreamed of doing my whole life. It is pretty cool to play pro hockey at a young age. I want to bring winning back to Allen. Whatever I can do to build that culture back and get better as a leader that is what I will do. I think we have made strides."
"Myles Jack wants nothing but the best for the team and he will do whatever it takes for us to win. This year hasn't gone our way, but Myles will do everything in his power to make things right and bring in the right people to make sure we win.
" Fergie (Brett Ferguson) has done a wonderful job of bringing us together. Watty (Brayden Watts) has been a great captain and leader for us. Our record doesn't show it, but the room does. It is a special group and it is just a matter of time. There are no excuses for us. We have to win, we have to learn how to win. It is frustrating getting poor outcomes night after night when you are giving it your all and playing the right way."
There are so many life lessons in Mark Duarte's story. Starting with the foundation of values he learned from his parents and the strength derived from family support. His career has been a rollercoaster of progress with many ups and downs. His persistence, work ethic, and doing things right have been his keys to success. There is no doubt in my mind there will be more ups than downs in his career and life. Mark is a great hockey player, but an even better person.
Here is a video from 2021 which is a Hamilton Bulldogs Feature on Mark that covers some of the information in this story, but gives you a much better flavor of the Duarte family.
Some questions to get to know Mark a little better:
Q: Who is your roommate? A: At the apartments it is Noah Kane. He just moved in recently and has been awesome. We have got to know each other a little bit. I wore #88 as a kid and was a big fan of his cousin (Patrick Kane) so we have talked about him. It is cool for Noah to have his cousin to look up to, be a mentor to him, and support him in his career. On the road, I have had several roommates but right now it is Matikka.
Q: What are your cooking skills? A: They have gotten a lot better since I turned pro and living on my own. I cooked for Gorman and Kane yesterday. They said I surprised them with my cooking. My go-to meal is steak, but I made Chicken Caesar and kale for them.
Q: What is your nickname? I saw where your mom used to call you squirrel. A: My parent used to joke around because I would always be distracted by the next thing and go from one thing to another. My nickname with the guys is Dewy.
Q: Who is your hockey hero? A: I have several I grew up watching, but if I had to name just one it would be Alex Ovechkin. He is such a legend with the way he scores and the way he hits. As a kid, I watched him a lot and looked up to him.
Q: What is your first hockey memory? A: When Matthew and I first started playing house league hockey. I believe this is correct; he skated all the way down the ice to our own net and he thought it was the other goalie. We were all trying to stop him but he scored and raised his hands above his head in a celly. My dad and I were yelling at him that it was the wrong net. We were very young, but that was funny.
Q: How would you describe your style of play? A: I try to play with my heart every night. If it is scoring, having to block shots, having to penalty kill, I will do whatever my teammates need. I will do whatever it takes. I learned along the way you have to do all the little things right for the big picture of winning games and championships. I take pride in wearing my heart on my sleeve.
Q: You have worn several different numbers along the way (8, 60, 67, 88). Any significance? A: When we were playing minor hockey, I wore 67 and my brother wore 76, my dad always enjoyed the flopped numbers. One year I went to 88 and he went to 77. My sister also wore 88. I want to say it was because of Patrick Kane, I was a big fan of his growing up.
Q: Do you have a favorite actor and actress? A: I would say Adam Sandler and Jessica Alba.
Q: What is your favorite genre of music? A: Country for sure. I used to be a big Rap fan but I have kinda transferred to the country side of things. I got a guitar this year, Liam Gorman got me into it. I have been playing my guitar and learning some country songs. My favorite country singer is Wyatt Flores.
Q: If you could invite any three people to join you for lunch who would you choose? A: Billy Bob Thornton, Kevin Costner and Jason Statham.
Q: Can you think of something people would be surprised to learn about you? A: People are surprised when they learn I am a twin.
Q: What do you like to do away from the rink? A: Playing the guitar right now trying to teach myself and learn. I have been doing a lot of that recently. In the summer I like to play golf. My entire family is golfers.
Q: What chore do you hate doing? A: I am not a fan of folding laundry.
Q: What do you have that has great value to you, but not so much value to others? A: This gold chain and Italian horn (Cornicelli) charm I wear belonged to my grandfather. It is a symbol of protection, good luck, and strength. It is very special to be able to wear this. He passed before I got to know him at all. My grandmother gave it to our family. Me and my brother fought over it a little bit to see who would get it.
Q: Who do you admire as a leader? A: I would say my dad. He has taught me a lot. There have been times we have butted heads and as a teenager, you never think you are wrong. I have had a chance to grow and learn and realize most of the time he was right. I learned so many lessons from him both on the ice and in life. He has helped me grow as a person and as a leader.
Q: What would you do if you weren't playing pro hockey? A: That is a tough question because my life has been hockey, hockey, hockey. Firefighting has always grabbed my attention so maybe I would pursue that.
Q: Where is the most interesting place you have ever visited? A: I would say Italy this past summer. It was my first time in Europe. Claire and I visited Palermo, Milan, and Cinque Terre. We got to experience the European lifestyle and what was going on over there. The food, the people, and a whole different lifestyle in a beautiful area. Claire is Mark's girlfriend who is in college. She spent more time with him in Allen earlier in the season when she was taking online courses. She is now back home in Hamilton finishing up her degree at McMaster University. She is majoring in mental health and addiction. Mark and Claire met in high school and yes, she played hockey with Mark's sister growing up. And to complete the small-town story their parents went to high school together.
Mark and Claire in Palermo
Q: Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions? A: I try not to. If there is something that I am doing that is working like a certain stretch or warmup I will stick to it, but nothing superstitious. I play sewer with the guys a lot. I like to get moving and play some music but that is pretty much it.
Q: Who is the funniest guy on the team? A: Crank (Crnkovic) for sure. He is awesome and I love him. He is chirping funny and just a funny guy. The last two days I haven't practiced trying to heal up and he was in my ear about not being on the ice.
Q: When was the last time you lost something? A: When we were just in Tahoe I lost my winter toque (stocking cap, knit cap). It was bad timing because the last day we were there it was cold.
Q: What do you like to do to kill time on the bus? A: I play a lot of cards with the guys (Schnarps or Euchre). Once in a while, I will watch a movie but mostly cards.
Q: What is your best bus story? A: This is the only one that comes to mind. It was this year and we were headed to Wichita. It was lights out and I was asleep in my bunk. I wake up in the middle of the night and I am freezing and shivering. I have my blanket, my hoodie and my toque on and I am still freezing. I rolled over and the heat vent by the window wasn't working. I was shivering, my feet were numb, so I got up and couldn't go back to bed.
I always like to finish these interviews by hearing from some of those who impacted Mark along the way:
"Mark has emerged as a leader for us on and off the ice. He leads by example He is always one of the hardest workers at practice, dragging others along with him. He has developed into a detail-oriented hockey player who is very coachable. He says the right things on the bench and leads by example on the ice".....Allen Americans coach Brett Ferguson
"I always knew Mark was special. What stood out to me with Mark when he played for me was his hands. The kid had the softest I have ever seen on a young kid. His ability to see the game was way different than anybody else around us. He was just head and shoulders above everybody else in our league and it showed every moment on the ice. Mark is a pretty funny guy and always fun to be around and I just really enjoyed having him.".....Andrew Beckerson, Mark's AA coach after he was cut from his AAA team.
"My first impression was he had a lot of skill and that was exciting for us as a coaching staff. Once we got to know him and how good of a genuine person he was it was even better. He always walks into the rink with a smile, but as soon as he hits the ice he is totally focused on the game, which is great especially when we had him at 16 when you are still trying to teach kids the game.".....John Barrett, Hamilton Kilty B's coach
"Mark Duarte personified everything we expect a Hamilton Bulldog to be. Mark came to the rink and gave his all every day. He earned his way onto the club and into a key role contributing to our OHL championship.".....Steve Staios, President and General Manager, Hamilton Bulldogs
"Anyone who has been around Mark day in and day out sees what a a positive influence has been. There is always a smile on his face, he has had the right mindset every day and he has been a great fit for us in terms of where we are at. He has been a great influence for our guys.".....Kyle Raftis, General Manager, Soo Greyhounds.
The Allen Americans lost to the Jacksonville Icemen 3-1 last night before the second largest crowd of the season (6264) on Celebrate Texas Night. Wearing the Texas Jersey which has a record of .700 since its inception was no match for the curse of a Saturday night huge crowd, live auction which has a record just around .200 the last two seasons.
- The only thing I can think of about finding positives from this series, it is like putting lipstick on a pig. As I talked to fans between periods of all three games I heard comments like we are hanging in there, we are outshooting them, we are keeping it close, we had bad puck luck, bad calls by the referees and we outplayed them that period. To be clear there are a couple of stats that are positive. Allen outshot Jacksonville 104-103 in the series. That never happens. Allen had more power play opportunities (14) than Jacksonville (11) and that rarely happens. Don't be fooled by the lipstick, this series was a pig. Here are the facts on the worst three game series of the season:
Allen was outscored 16-2.
Allen gave up the first goal in all three games.
Allen scored no goals in the first period.
Allen gave up more goals as the game progressed.
Allen was outscored 2-0 in the first period.
Allen was outscored 5-1 in the second period.
Allen was outscored 8-1 in the third period.
Allen had 14 power play opportunities and never scored a goal.
Other than a 0-0 tie after the first period of game one, Allen trailed after every period in the series.
- After the drubbing Allen took from Jacksonville it is timely the team has a week off before the Americans play again. Allen plays just one game next week and that is a Sunday afternoon game (2:10 pm) against Utah. The Grizzlies are the other Mountain Division team with a point percentage under .400 (395). It may not sound exciting to have a game between the worst team in the league and the third worst team in the league, but it will be a great opportunity for Allen to get a home win against a team the Americans have a winning record against this season (3-1-1-0).
- Allen also needs some healing time and a week off will help not only the injured players but those that are banged up. The Jacksonville series took its toll with Dylan Wells, Mark Duarte and Nick Isaacson going down with injuries. You add in the players on 14-day injured reserve (Asuchak, Johnson, Gavin, Chambers) and the roster is very depleted. Unfortunately, several of these players will not return this season.
- Here are the game recaps from both teams plus the video highlights:
- Jacksonville's sweep in Allen gives them 80 points which is still third in the South Division, but is also tied for third in points in the ECHL. The Icemen's 13 game points streak (10-0-3-0) is the longest in the ECHL right now. The sweep helped two Jacksonville players extend their current longest streaks in the league. Olivier Nadeau has scored a goal in six straight games (8 goals) and Bennett MacArthur has scored a point in nine straight games (11 points).
- Allen's power play has not scored a goal in the last seven games. The Americans last scored a power play goal on February 21 in Kansas City. Since that game Allen has not converted on 25 straight power play opportunities including several 5-on-3 chances. The Americans are now ranked #25 on the power play at 16.7%.
That is a far cry from what I wrote about the power play at the beginning of December:
- Allen's power play has been the difference maker the last two weeks.
The Americans have scored at least one power play goal in six of the
last seven games and the three last night is the most all season. In the
last seven games the Allen power play is 9-21 (42.9%). The power play
has been steadily going up the ECHL chart. It is now ranked #3 in the
league at 26.1%.
- Allen is ranked #29 in average goals allowed (4.14) and #29 in average shots allowed (38.14). The last time the same team finished last in both categories was Indy in 2016-17. The Americans goal differential crossed 100 last night. The Americans have scored 139 goals and have allowed 240 goals for a -101 goal differential, by far the worst in the ECHL.
- Former Allen forward Grant Hebert (2022-2024) recently returned to the ECHL after starting the season in England. He is now playing for the Norfolk Admirals and scored the first goal of the game last night in a 3-2 win over league leading Florida. In eight games since returning from overseas, Grant has seven points (3G, 4A).
- Rapid City lost in Tahoe last night 7-1 and their playoff hopes are now all but over. Tahoe snapped Rapid City's 13 game point streak with a 5-4 win on Thursday. The teams play again this afternoon. The Rush now find themselves 12 points out of a playoff spot and must pass Idaho and Wichita to make the playoffs.
- Idaho beat Kansas City twice this week on the road (5-0 & 6-2) to tie Wichita for fourth place in the division. Last night the Mavericks turned the tables, blowing out the Steelheads 7-3.
- Here are the Mountain Division standings including games remaining:
79 points - Kansas City (15)
72 points - Tahoe (14)
72 points - Tulsa (15)
67 points - Wichita (15)
67 points - Idaho (15)
55 points - Rapid City (16)
45 points - Utah (15)
38 points - Allen (14)
- Here is Allen's record this season by month:
0-3-1-0 (.125) - October
7-3-2-0 (..667) - November
1-10-2-0 (.115) - December
4-5-2-1 (.417) - January
1-9-1-1 (.167) - February
- You may have heard I am working on an in depth story about Mark Duarte. I am planning on posting that story on Monday. It will be the only blog post next week as I will be out of town. If I do my job right, you will be even more impressed with this young man.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about player streaks. Here are Allen's longest streaks this season:
Goals - 4 games, Spencer Asuchak, Mark Duarte
Assists - 5 games, Patrick Polino, Kyle Ctnkovic
Points - 7 games, Brayden Watts
ECHL Player Streaks in 2024-25 (number is consecutive games)
The Allen Americans were shutout 4-0 by the Jacksonville Icemen last night after a 9-1 loss on Thursday night. Scoring one goal in two games while allowing 13 shows how dominant the Icemen have been. It is hard to believe how Jacksonville is in third place in the South Division based on how the Icemen have played the last two games. If they were in the Mountain Division they would be in first place with 78 points.
- Jacksonville scored the first goal of the game and the only goal of the first period at the 10:32 mark. It is well documented the Americans do not play well from behind. After the loss last night Allen's record when trailing after the first period is now 2-25-2-0.
- Despite trailing 1-0 Allen had plenty of chances to tie the score in the second period. The Americans had three power play opportunities including a very short (9 seconds) 5-on-3. Allen had seven shots on goal, plus several other shots that missed the goal or were blocked, but were blanked over almost six straight minutes of power play time.
- The back breaker came when Jacksonville scored from the blue line on what looked like a harmless shot with less than a second (.9) left in the period after Allen had full possession and failed to clear the puck. The Icemen took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission which was the kiss of death. You combine Allen's record when trailing after the second period (2-30-2-0) with Jacksonville's record when leading after the second period (26-0-3-1) and Allen was toast.
- The third period was all Jacksonville. The Icemen outshot Allen 19-7 and outscored the Americans 2-0 to preserve a 28 save shutout for goalie Matt Vernon, whose dad Mike had a 19 year NHL career. It was Vernon's second shutout of the season. Allen was playing shorthanded after forward Nick Isaacson was injured and defensemen Jay Powell received a game misconduct penalty in the second period. Maybe fatigue played a factor.
- When you get the results Allen has been getting the last month you look for any advantage you can find. Only one I can find is the Texas jersey the Americans will wear tonight has the best record of all of the jerseys both this season and last season. I am skeptical the Texas jersey will come through tonight. It is Saturday night with a big crowd and the jerseys will be auctioned off live after the game, almost like a specialty jersey. Will the specialty jersey curse apply?
- Some things Allen could do tonight to win the game:
Score first - Allen has given up the first goal in 11 of the last 15 games and lost them all.
Score a power play goal - Allen hasn't scored a power play goal in six games (0-18).
- I will post the lineup on social media later this afternoon. I did hear:
Jay Powell was not suspended for his boarding game misconduct penalty last night.
Forward Nick Isaacson is out after his injury last night.
Allen will dress eight defensemen with two playing upfront.
Anson Thornton will start in goal.
OTHER COMMENTS
- After giving up six goals in three games last week against Tahoe the
defense was looking good coming into the Jacksonville series. It has
been the offense that has been suspect ever since Allen's three game
sweep of Rapid City at the end of January. In Allen's lone win since
that Rapid City sweep the defensemen scored all four goals. Allen has
played 15 games since the Rapid City sweep. Here is a breakdown of
goals scored in those 15 games:
0 goals - 2 times
1 goal - 4 times
2 goals - 4 times
3 goals - 4 times
4 goals - 1 time (the lone win)
You
add it all together the total is 28 goals in 15 games for a per game
average of 1.87. Even worse is of the 28 goals the forwards have scored
just 21 for a per game average of 1.40. Compare that to Jacksonville's
Olivier Nadeau who has averaged 1.11 goals per game all by himself over
the last nine games. He has tallied four goals in the two games against Allen, four times as many goals as the entire Americans team.
- Allen was shutout for the sixth time this season last night. How does that compare to prior seasons? It is not even close to the all time record. Here are the number of shutouts for each season since
Allen joined the ECHL:
6 - 2024-25 (thru 57 games)
2 - 2023-24
2 - 2022-23
1 - 2021-22
1 - 2020-21
3 - 2019-20
9 - 2018-19
5 - 2017-18
2 - 2016-17
2 - 2015-16*
1 - 2014-15*
*Won Kelly Cup
- With the loss last night Allen's home record is now 6-17-4-1. Three of the six
wins came in a three game sweep of Rapid City at the end of January.
Two wins were back-to-back against Utah on November 13 and 15. The sixth
win was against Wichita on January 6. Allen won't set the record for
fewest home wins in a season which is five. Second place is eight shared
by four teams and another three teams had nine home wins. Allen needs four wins in its eight remaining home games to avoid joining the record
book. Here is the list of fewest home wins in a season from the ECHL record
book:
5 - Greenville Grrrowl (2003-04)
8 - Las Vegas Wranglers (2013-14)
8 - Stockton Thunder (2005-06)
8 - Texas Wildcatters (2004-05
8 - Victoria Salmon Kings (2004-05)
9 - Evansville Icemen (2014-15)
9 - Johnstown Chiefs (2009-10)
9 - Greensboro Generals 2001-02)
- Idaho has been in fifth place in the Mountain Division and outside a playoff spot for over two months. Most observers expected the Steelheads would get things turned around, but not against Kansas City on the road. Idaho not only beat Kansas City on Wednesday and last night, they spanked the Mavericks 5-0 and 6-2. The Steelheads are now tied with Wichita with 67 points for the fourth and final playoff spot. Idaho has the better schedule with eight home games remaining compared to Wichita with four. The Steelheads play Allen five times, but finish the season with three games against Kansas City at home. Among Wichita's remaining games are road games against Indy (2), Rapid City (3), Kansas City (2) and Tahoe (3). After a great season could Wichita find themselves on the outside looking in at the playoffs once again. The Thunder have made the playoffs just twice since joining the ECHL in 2014-15. Wichita made the playoffs in 2021 (14 team season) and 2018. They lost to Fort Wayne in the first round in 2021 and to Colorado in the first round in 2018.
- There are three ECHL teams with point percentages over .700. All are in the Eastern Conference:
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about point percentages of teams that have made and missed the playoffs. Last season two teams made the playoffs with losing records, both in the Mountain Division. Tulsa is the one below, but Allen also made the playoffs with a losing record (.486) and was the third seed.
The top four teams in each ECHL division make the Kelly Cup playoffs. 2024-25 could see a repeat of 2023-24 when a good team missed the playoffs and a losing team made the playoffs:
2023-24:
- South Carolina (South Division) missed the playoffs with a .590 point percentage.
- Tulsa (Mountain Division) made the playoffs with a .479 point percentage.
2024-25: If playoffs started today
- Idaho (Mountain Division) would miss the playoffs on a tiebreaker with a .598 point percentage.
- Bloomington (Central Division) would make the playoffs on a tiebreaker with a .473 point percentage.
The Allen Americans lost to the Jacksonville Icemen last night by a score of 9-1. It wasn't the worst score of the season. That is reserved for the 9-0 shutout by Kansas in the home opener. The game last night was without a doubt the worst game of the season. In addition to get embarrassed by Jacksonville the Americans lost their best goalie (Dylan Wells) to a lower body injury in the first period and their best player, Mark Duarte, to an upper body injury at the end of the second period.
- Allen found out just how good the third place team in the South Division is. Jacksonville is the third best team in its division, but the sixth best team in the ECHL by points and point percentage. In my mind, Jacksonville is the fastest team the Americans have played this season. It was apparent on the rush and when the Jaguars were in control in Allen's defensive zone.
- Allen actually had a great start, outshooting Jacksonville 10-1 in the first five minutes of the game. The Americans had a great chance to take the lead on a power play when Jacksonville took penalties at 3:56 and 4:55 of the period. Despite having over a minute of 5-on-3 time Allen couldn't score, missing the net when they did have chances to score. Allen had another power play opportunity later in the period after Jacksonville had taken a 1-0 lead, but once again failed to score. The Icemen had the better opportunities to score on Allen's power plays than the Americans. Jacksonville had at least three shorthanded chances and you could see how much speed the team had on those plays. The Icemen have scored nine shorthanded goals (#2 in the league).
- After starting out with a 10-1 shot advantage, the first period ended with Allen outshooting Jacksonville by one shot, 16-15. More importantly the Americans were trailing 2-0 at the end of the first frame. That was definitely a bad sign because Allen's record when trailing after the first period is 2-24-2-0.
- Jacksonville took a 3-0 lead midway through the second period. Forward Olivier Nadeau scored the first three goals to get a pure hat trick and take over the team lead with 20 goals. If you read the blog yesterday or listened to coach Ferguson's pregame interview he talked about controlling Jacksonville's contracted players who are averaging over a point per game. Nadeau is one those players. He is under contract with the Buffalo Sabres. The 22 year old was the fourth round draft choice of the Sabres in 2021. He leads Jacksonville in goals (20) and is second in points (37) despite playing in only 33 games. Nadeau's goals per game average of .606 is the best in the ECHL of all of the 20+ goals scorers. Keep an eye on #68 tonight. He has scored goals in four straight games (six goals) and has nine goals in his last eight games.
- The Icemen built a 4-0 lead in the second period before Allen finally got on the scoreboard on Colin Jacobs eighth goal of the season. Jacksonville took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission and the game was over. The Icemen record when leading after the second period is almost unbeatable, 25-0-3-1, so the only question was the final score.
- The third period was a disaster for the Americans. The Icemen scored five goals on 11 shots. Allen scored zero goals on 17 shots. The Americans actually outshot Jacksonville for the game (40-37) and stayed out of the penalty box (one minor penalty), but Jacksonville was clearly the better team.
- After breaking their 12 game losing streak in Tahoe last Sunday there was hope things would turn around for the Americans. After one step forward the team has taken two steps back. With the win Jacksonville extended its point streak to 12 games. Meanwhile Allen's record over the last 14 games fell to 1-11-1-1 (.142).
- The challenge tonight for the Americans is huge. It is tough to bounce back from a game like last night. Coach Ferguson met with the season ticket holders after the game and gave an update on the injuries. Wells will likely not be available tonight, he is listed as day to day. There won't be a need for an EBUG as Anson Thornton can be activated from the 14-day injured reserve. Mark Duarte will be out for a while. With eight days off after the Jacksonville series a decision on whether Durate goes on the 14-day IR can be delayed. In addition a few other players are banged up pretty good.
- Allen's task tonight is twofold as they need to be much better at both ends of the ice. The defense has been improved the last few games, but the inconsistency has crept back in. The nine goals allowed last night was the second time Allen has given up nine goals in the last month. For the season Allen is #29 in goals allowed (233) which is over 100 more goals allowed than #1 Florida (126).
- The offense is every bit of a concern as the defense. Last night Allen scored one goal on 40 shots. Since the beginning of February the Americans have averaged exactly 2.00 goals per game. Allen has scored 138 goals this season. The other seven Mountain Division teams have scored between 170-203 goals.
- Many times when the situation looks bleak and almost impossible a big surprise happens. That is they way it looks for tonight. Can Allen pull off that surprise.
- If you want the goal by goal details here are the game recaps from both teams plus video highlights or more appropriately low-lights:
- It will be a two referee game again tonight. Trevor Wohlford (#38) and
Hayden Verbeek (#57) will work the game as they did last night. They let the players play last night, calling only five minor penalties with four of the five on Jacksonville.
OTHER COMMENTS
- In the only other ECHL game last night, Rapid City lost in Tahoe 5-4 in a game the Rush had a 46-40 shot advantage. The loss snapped Rapid City's 13 game points streak and was a big setback to its slim chance to make playoffs. Here is a point update on the Mountain Division. Each team's maximum points if they won all remaining games is in parenthesis:
77 points - Kansas City (111)
70 points - Tahoe (102)
70 points - Tulsa (102)
67 points - Wichita (101)
65 points - Idaho (99)
55 points - Rapid City (91)
45 points - Utah (77)
35 points - Allen (70)
- If Allen loses tonight and Wichita wins or loses in overtime the Americans will become the first ECHL team to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
- There are 12 games on the ECHL schedule tonight. Six of eight Mountain teams are in action.
Jacksonville at Allen
Wichita at Cincinnati
Idaho at Kansas City
Tulsa at Utah
Here is the ECHL Today with previews on all 12 games.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about the best defensive teams. FYI, Allen is ranked #29 in average goals allowed (4.16) and #28 in average goals scored (2.46)
If defense wins championships the 2025 Kelly Cup will go to one of the six ECHL teams allowing an average of 2.65 or fewer goals per game. Each team’s average goals scored is in parenthesis:
2.25- Florida (3.30)
2.34 - South Carolina (3.73)
2.49 - Trois Rivières (3.58)
2.56 - Kansas City (3.55)
2.61 - Jacksonville (3.33)
2.65 - Toledo (3.28)
Statistically South Carolina is the best team in the ECHL, ranked #1 in goals scored and #2 in goals allowed.
It is game day for the Allen Americans as the Jacksonville Icemen are in town for three games in the next three nights. The ECHL schedule is full head scratchers and this is yet another one. Allen plays three games in three days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) and then the Americans have eight days off before playing Utah at home on Sunday afternoon. Go figure!
- This series against the Jacksonville Icemen or should I say Zawyer Icemen has many plot twists. Jacksonville was the first ECHL purchase by Zawyer back in July of 2019. They have expanded greatly since that time, but the Jacksonville Icemen has been the shining star as the original purchase and is locally owned since Zawyer is headquartered in Jacksonville. Allen Americans owner, Myles Jack, first got involved in hockey as a minority owner of the Icemen when he was playing for the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jacksonville ECHL franchise has been wildly successful from a business perspective growing from an average attendance of 5993 when Zawyer bought the team to a league leading average of 9358 this season. Jacksonville's attendance would rank it #4 of 32 teams in AHL attendance.
As has been well documented things didn't go well between Zawyer and Allen. Zawyer was a minority owner in Allen, but was hired by majority owner Myles Jack as a consultant. That relationship ended on January 31 after a contentious divorce.
That is a long winded way to say this series is a lot more important than South Division Jacksonville visiting Mountain Division Allen. There is no doubt both Zawyer and Myles Jack want to win this series.
- Obviously the Allen locker room is not focused on the ownership/Zawyer divorce. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see Myles Jack make a trip to the locker room to address the team as he has done several times in this season.
- The on ice challenge in this series for Allen will be a formidable one. The Americans come into the series with a win in their last game, but are 1-7-1-1 in the last 10 games. Jacksonville arrives in Allen with with a 10 game point streak (7-0-3-0), the second longest current point streak in the ECHL (Rapid City #1 with 13). If you look at a longer time frame, in the last two months (24 games) Allen's record is 5-14-3-2 (.313) and Jacksonville's record in 16-5-3-0 (.729).
- Jacksonville is solidly in third place in the South Division. The Icemen have a six point advantage (74 vs 68) over fourth place Orlando with three games in hand. The Icemen trail second place South Carolina by five points and first place Florida by seven points. The South Division is the toughest in the league. South Carolina and Florida both have better records then Mountain Division leader, Kansas City.
- Here is how Allen and Jacksonville rank in some key stats this season:
Ave. goals scored: Allen #26 (2.49) - Jacksonville #12 (3.23)
Ave. goals allowed: Allen #28 (4.07) - Jacksonville #5 (2.64)
Ave. shots for: Allen #19 (28.98) - Jacksonville #15 (30.63)
Ave shots allowed: Allen #29 (38.16) - Jacksonville #17 (31.14)
Power play percentage: Allen #20 (18.1%) - Jacksonville #14 (19.6%)
Penalty kill percentage: Allen #16 (79.9%) - Jacksonville #8 (83.1%)
It
is no surprise given where Allen and Jacksonville are in the standings that
Allen is ranked lower in every stat above. The most glaring difference is in goals allowed. Allen gives up almost a goal and a half (1.43) per game more than Jacksonville. To be fair the Americans are much improved in goals allowed recently. In the last six games the average is 3.33 and in the just completed three game series in Tahoe the average was just 2.00.
- Sometimes home vs road special teams percentages are very similar. Not the case with Jacksonville's power play. I can't remember ever seeing such a wide discrepancy. The Icemen's home power play is ranked #27 (13.0%), but their road power play is ranked #2 at (26.4%). Allen on the other hand has the exact same power play percentage at home and on the road (18.1%).
- Allen snapped its losing streak in Tahoe on Sunday by scoring the first goal and never surrendering the lead. Allen still has a losing record when scoring first, 8-9-5-2 (.479). That is better than giving up the first goal to Jacksonville, who is #5 in the league when scoring first, 22-3-4-1 (.817).
- Jacksonville is another one of those teams Allen does not want to play catch up with. Allen's record when trailing after the first period is 2-23-2-0 and when trailing after the second period is 2-28-2-1. You combine that with Jacksonville's record of 17-2-3-1 when leading after the first period and 24-0-3-1 when leading after the second period and you can see why Allen can't be playing from behind.
- Here are some other keys to success in this series:
Get pucks behind the Icemen's defense and avoid neutral zone turnovers.
Win the special teams battle.
More scoring from the forwards.
Continued good goalie play.
- Here is coach Ferguson's scouting report on Jacksonville:
"They are a well balanced team with scoring throughout the lineup, especially with a couple of point per game AHL guys."
"They like to control the middle of the ice defensively, with their big defensemen."
"The challenge for us will be to get to the net and find some rebounds."
"They have a good, quick goalie on the smaller side, so we need to take away his eyes and create traffic in front of him."
"We need to stay out of the penalty box. We can't give their skill guys too many looks on the power play."
- It will be a two referee game tonight. Trevor Wohlford (#38) and Hayden Verbeek (#57) will work the game. Yes, Verbeek is from the famous hockey family. His uncle is Pat Verbeek who played in over 1400 NHL games. Hayden had a good pro career himself. He played in 90 AHL games and 31 ECHL games (Maine, Adirondack, Toledo).
- Some interesting results in the Mountain Division last night. Wichita was on the road playing Toledo and was outshot 43-17 but earned a valuable point with a 2-1 overtime loss. Meanwhile Idaho, who has been toiling in fifth place for a long time, went on the road and beat Kansas City 5-0, scoring all five goals in the first two periods. Many have been predicting Idaho would make a run into a playoff position. Could this be the start of that move? Here are the standings for the four teams battling for three playoff spots:
70 points - Tulsa
68 points - Tahoe
67 points - Wichita
65 points - Idaho
- There are just two games on the ECHL schedule tonight. Jacksonville at Allen is interesting from the ownership dynamic. The other game is Rapid City at Tahoe. Rapid City is hanging on to playoff hopes by a thread, with 55 points. They must sweep Tahoe who they play three times to have a chance. Tahoe is in a battle to make the playoffs and will be very motivated. The Knight Monsters play great at home with a .712 point percentage. Rapid City is .444 on the road.
- Allen's maximum points if it wins all 17 remaining games is 72 points. Once teams ahead of them in the standings reach 73 points, even if Allen wins, the Americans will be mathematically eliminated. The Americans are already eliminated from first place and could easily become the first ECHL team to be eliminated from the playoffs by the end of the weekend if they get swept.
- Allen's playoff hopes are long gone. The Americans only hope is to
avoid having the worst record in the Mountain Division, which will be a
challenge. Last place will belong to either Allen or Utah. Both have
difficult remaining schedules. Last place will likely be decided by how
they play against each other. Allen will play Utah four more times, once
at home and three times on the road.
- Allen will wear its red jersey tonight, black jersey tomorrow night and Texas jersey on Saturday. There will be a live auction of the Texas jerseys after the Saturday game. It is a small sample size and Allen's home record is horrible, but here are the point percentages by jersey:
.333 - Texas jersey
.250 - Black jersey
.222 - Red jersey
.200 - Grey jersey
.200 - Specialty jersey
With 10 home games remaining the point percentages will change, but thus far the numbers are the same as last season. The Texas jersey has the best record and the specialty jerseys have the worst record.
DID YOU KNOW: NHL/AHL contracted skaters on each ECHL team. Excludes goalies and players on 14 day IR. Overall numbers are dwindling:
10: SC
8: REA
7: CIN, GVL, *KC, ORL, SAV
5: JAX
4: ADK, *FLA, IND, TAH, TUL, UTA, WHL, WIC
3: ATL, BLM, KAL, RC, WOR
2: ALN, FW, IDH, NOR, *TR
1: IA, MNE, *TOL
*Division leaders - You can see you don’t need a roster full of NHL/AHL contracted players to be successful. The numbers above do not include goalies and what the four division leaders do have in common is two good NHL/AHL contracted goalies.
The Allen Americans got the monkey off their back yesterday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Americans finished .500 for the weekend with a record of 1-1-1-0. Allen's defense and goalie play has been great recently giving up just eight goals in the last four game. The problem has been the offense which hadn't scored four goals in a game since the end of January.
- The Americans were strong from the opening puck drop. The shot total was 11-3 when J.C Brassard scored the first and only goal of the opening period at the 5:36 mark. Patrick Polino threaded a perfect cross ice pass to Brassard who was charging in from the point and took the shot from the faceoff dot. The goalie partially stopped the puck, but it trickled in. Allen would never surrender the lead from that point forward.
- Allen increased its lead to 2-0 midway through the second period when Jay Powell, who was seeing his first action of the series, took a nifty pass from Kyle Crnkovic in the high slot and scored his first goal of the season. It looked like Allen would take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission until Tahoe's leading goal scorer, Simon Pinard, who is tied for #3 in the league with 26 goals, got the Knight Monsters on the scoreboard with just over a minute remaining in the period.
- As the third period started with Allen leading 2-1 it was easy for doubt to creep in given the Americans had blown several third period leads during their 12 game losing streak. The back breaker goal came from Quinn Warmuth who picked up the puck inside the defensive blue line, skated unchallenged through the neutral and scored unassisted from the top of the faceoff circle. The goal was Quinn's second in the series and fourth of the season.
- J.C. Brassard ended the game as he started it scoring his second goal of the game and fourth of the season. Watch the replay of this empty net goal as Brassard shot the puck from inside the blue paint right in front of the goalie. It was a bullseye of a shot. You see those between period contests where you have to shoot from the red line to try to score into the net that has a slot just wider than the puck. Brassard would have made that shot and he did it from the length of the ice.
- Here are the video highlights and it is worth using the 10 second rewind button multiple times to see the great passing, great shots, individual effort and bullseye empty net goal. Also take a look at the reaction of the Allen players who thought a goal had been scored. It got behind the goalie but did not cross the goal line. (20 second mark of the highlights). https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-mar-2-2025
- I had a chance to check in with coach Ferguson after the game last night and again very early this morning. The team's wake-up call was something like 2:30 am Tahoe time. Here is what he had to say:
"Our compete level has been there for a long time, so it was great to see it finally pay off. Credit to our guys, they played the right way the whole weekend. Today we finally got rewarded."
"We have been preaching to our defensemen over and over again to get shots through and they have done a great job of that. And tonight they got rewarded."
"Richardson was great in net, it was great to get him a win."
"All in all we went .500 against the best home team in the Western Conference, which is a good feeling."
"We are excited to get back on home ice this week after two weeks away."
"We talked about finding that seam in their defense on Brassard's goal. It was nice to see it come to fruition."
"The guys were very relieved to end the losing streak!"
- I can't remember the last time Allen had a game where it scored multiple goals and all were scored by defensemen. The Americans only scored seven goals in the three games in Tahoe, but the Knight Monsters only scored six. Of the seven goals scored by the Americans, five were scored by defensmen. It is great to get four goals from defensmen, who have struggled to score all season. Prior to this series the defensemen had a total of 16 goals in 52 games. To get five goals in three games is outstanding. The flip side to all of the goals by defensemen is the forwards scored only two goals in the three games. As a group the forwards have scored only 20 goals in the last month (13 games) an average of just 1.54 goals per game. That will have to improve if Allen expects to win consistently the last 17 games of the season.
- Allen did not score a power play goal in Tahoe going 0-3 in all three games. Tahoe scored power play goals in the first two games of the series which were the difference in the games. The Allen power play was ranked as high as #3 earlier in the season, but has fallen to #21 (18.1%) after this weekend. The penalty kill is ranked #17 and has fallen to 79.9% after going 2-9 (77.8%) in Tahoe. The Americans will have to improve on special teams to win consistently in the last 17 games of the season.
- Next up for the Americans is taking on a non division foe, the
Jacksonville Icemen on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Not sure how the
players feel about the series, but there is no doubt in my mind
ownership wants to beat the "shining star" of the Zawyer empire more
than they want to beat any other team.
OTHER COMMENTS
- It is getting down to crunch time in the Mountain Division with teams having between 16-18 games remaining. Here are the standings by point percentage with games remaining for each team:
Idaho plays only four teams the rest of the season, The Steelheads fate will be decided by playing six games against the best team in the division (Kansas City), five games against the worst team in the division (Allen) and six games against Tahoe.
Wichita plays 10 different teams in its last 18 games with 14 of the games on the road.
Tulsa probably has the easiest schedule of the group. No games against Kansas City and six games against Allen (4) and Utah (2).
- The ECHL goal scoring champion is coming down to two players. Brandon Hawkins (TOL) and Cade Borchardt (KC) are tied with 32 goals. No other player has more the 26 goals. Hawkins has a commanding lead in points. He has 72 points, #2 is Michal Stinil (WIC) has 61 points.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about the many goalies this season with a GAA below 2.50. The last Allen Americans goalie to have a GAA under 2.50 was Jake Patterson in 2020-21. Jake played in 27 games that season, had a record of 18-6-2-0, a 2.31 GAA and a .927 save percentage.
What a difference one season makes. Last season just two ECHL goalies finished with a GAA under 2.50. So far this season there are 14. Six of the 14 have GAA’s under 2.20. (minimum 1080 minutes played). Here are the top six in GAA:
