It has finally arrived, the long and arduous season for the Allen Americans is coming to an end with one last three game series against the Tulsa Oilers, starting tonight. While Allen is playing for the proverbial "pride and jobs for next season" the Oilers will be playing for a spot in the Kelly Cup playoffs. Tulsa has fallen from second placed to fifth place in the division by going 3-7-0-0 over the last 10 games. The Oilers are one point behind Idaho and Wichita with three games remaining and need a sweep against Allen. No doubt Allen will see a very desperate team this week.
- Allen is already guaranteed to have the worst season in franchise history even if the Americans sweep Tulsa in this three game series. The only other season that comes close to this season was 2018-19. In 2018-19 Allen was tied for the worst record in the ECHL(.389), but had 25 wins, including 15 at home. This season the Americans current point percentage is .312. Allen has 16 total wins and only seven wins at home. The seven home wins is the second fewest home wins in the 37 year history of the ECHL. Here is the record book listing for fewest home wins in a season. With seven home wins and three remaining you can see the Americans will have to sweep Tulsa to stay off this list altogether.
- 5 - Greenville Grrrowl (2003-04)
- 7 - Allen Americans (2024-25) - three home games remaining
- 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)
- Here are the head to head stats in the nine game against Tulsa this season:
- Allen's record is 2-5-2-0, including 1-2-1-0 at home.
- Tulsa has outscored Allen 38-23.
- Tulsa has shutout Allen twice.
- Tulsa has outshot Allen 371 to 261. Average per game is 41.22 vs 29.00.
- Tulsa has scored first in five of the nine games and won them all.
- Allen is 6-30 (20.0%) on the power play.
- Tulsa is 4-26 (15.4%) on the power play.
- As you would expect the overall season stats heavily favor Tulsa who has a .594 point percentage compared to Allen's .312. Here is a comparison:
- Tulsa averages 3.2 goals per game, Allen 2.4
- Tulsa allows 2.9 goals per game, Allen 4.2
- Tulsa takes 36.9 shots per game, Allen 29.8
- Tulsa allows 30.3 shots per game, Allen 38.3
- Tulsa's power play percentage is 20.4%, Allen's is 17.0%
- Tulsa's penalty kill percentage is 81.3%, Allen's is 79.5%
- Tulsa's point percentage when they score 1st is .797, Allen's is .483
- The keys to the games in this series would mirror Allen's performance in its win over Tulsa just eight days ago on on April 1st. If the Americans can match that effort in any of the three games against Tulsa, they will win.
- Allen scored first
- Allen led after the first period
- Allen led after the second period
- Allen outshot Tulsa
- Allen won the special teams battle
- Allen got great goaltending
- Allen allowed only two goals
- Injuries have taken a toll on the Americans. If you look at the number of players on the 14-day injured reserve only one ECHL team (Adirondack) has more than Allen (9 vs 8). Here is Allen's list:
- Harrison Blaisdell
- Liam Gorman
- Mike Van Unen
- Anson Thornton
- Kamerin Nault
- Brain Chambers
- Will Gavin
- Artyom Kulakov
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen's season will come to an end on April 12. A far cry from Allen's second Kelly Cup championship when the Americans game seven, 6-1 win over South Carolina, came on June 14, 2016.
- There is only one point separating Tulsa (82 points) from Wichita and Idaho (83 points) with three games remaining to decide which two teams make the playoffs. Games this week are Tulsa at Allen, Wichita at Tahoe and Idaho at home against Kansas City. How do these three teams stand if a tiebreaker is required to decide who makes the playoffs?
First tiebreaker is regulation wins:
- 29 - Tulsa
- 27 - Wichita
- 27 - Idaho
- 36 - Tulsa
- 35 - Wichita
- 35 - Idaho
Third tiebreaker is goal differential:
- +36 Wichita
- +26 Idaho
- +19 Tulsa
- It is the last week of the ECHL season and five playoff teams still need to be decided; three in the Mountain, one in the Central and one in the North. Tahoe is the only team that can clinch a playoff berth tonight.
- South Carolina's winning streak has reached 15 games and is the fifth longest winning streak in the 37 year history on the ECHL. The Stingrays three remaining games are on the road against Norfolk (2 games) at Greenville. If South Carolina wins all three it would finish at #2 all time with 18 straight wins. South Carolina also holds the #1 spot all-time at 23 wins (2015).
- If Allen gets swept by Tulsa the Americans final point percentage will fall under .300 (.299). The last time an ECHL team finished a season with a points percentage below .300 was in 2016-17 (.292 - Elmira Jackals).
- The ECHL regular season champion (Brabham Cup) is not yet decided, but South Carolina will clinch the championship if Florida loses tonight. The Brabham Cup curse is alive and well. The last time the regular season champion went on the win the Kelly Cup was Alaska in 2014.
There are nine games on the ECHL schedule tonight with all eight Mountain Division teams in action. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/04/echl-today-april-9
One thing to note is teams on the list with fewest home wins, is none of them exist anymore…
ReplyDeleteWant to send a special thank to Joe Ernst for making this season possible. Another special shout out to BJ Adams too. Looking forward to next season and getting back on track with good leadership.
ReplyDeleteI second this.
DeleteJoe Ernst and Zawyer - what a train wreck.
Destroyed a culture.
Destroyed a fan base.
Pi$$ed off a club legend by not only ridiculously firing him, but not paying him less than $100k which consisted of salary, rent and benefits. What a total prick move.
Alienated Aaron Gens.
Pi$$ed off a multitude of players and former players.
This season can’t end soon enough.
I appreciate everyone’s work at the club during a challenging season, and especially appreciate the openness of JM, Brett Ferguson and the players.
Go Red in 25/26
agree. Let's turn the page and this offseason will be a completely new bunch of players. Good thing about ECHL is unlike AHL and NHL, teams can get way better in one offseason. Go red 25-26
DeletePlayers love playing here in Allen. Great community and quality of living outside hockey. In order to rebuild and bring back the quality of hockey we expect, owners have to be willing to pay for the Martinson’s/Costello’s of the industry. Ferguson is not the guy to attract players and was unable to coach/motivate the players. Need an experienced coach or next year will be the same. Ferguson may be a nice guy but lacks what it takes to coach and manage at this level. Was over his head. Unfortunately was put into this position. Bringing in the right person back could also bring fans back to the seats. Here’s hoping. 🤞
ReplyDeleteStrongly agree. Do they have the courage to do that though?
DeleteThe problem is the newbies do not know the history/tradition behind this team/organization. That is a big problem!
Deletehistorically bad season...directly reflects on historically bad ownership.
ReplyDeleteOwnership, here is what your hand picked coaches have done: BJ Adams 10-17-5-0; Brett Ferguson 6-25-3-3. Sure hope you have lots of changes in mind starting with the coach!
ReplyDeleteGrossly misrepresented. Clueless
DeleteI don’t think coaches make as big of a difference as you guys think. They are certainly important but ultimately the players are the product on the ice. I believe Allen has a good base of forwards to move forward but the back end and goaltending can certainly be improved upon. Defensively, they cannot advance the puck forward through clean breakout passes, neutral zone regroups, and just simply give up way too many odd man rushes. This has certainly impacted the offensive capability of the forwards and made them struggle to create anything because they chase the puck all night as our dmen do not help possess.
ReplyDeleteCoaches made the difference this season for sure
DeleteI will say nobody should be coaching a professional hockey team alone. Not having 2 coaches is wild, you cannot coach at this level alone and be successful. Need other voices and eyes
Delete🤣🤣 coaches don’t matter …. Shut up. Well since we really didn’t have one this season…. And in last place yay you’re right lol
DeleteIf you don’t think coaches matter, then why have them? They TOTALLY matter.
Delete2016 was Allen's SECOND Kelly Cup Barry -
ReplyDeleteOops! My wife is the proofreader, but the fact checkers are the blog readers. Thanks for letting me know. It is easy to correct mistakes, just one place covers all platforms.
DeleteI wonder how we received those championships in the past? The coach absolutely had something to do with it! Who was that?
DeleteYou’re correct, you said “ I don’t think coaches make as big of a difference as you guys think.”
ReplyDeleteAgain, then why have them? Coaches completely matter well beyond making a big difference. Hate to pull up Football, but San Diego Chargers were 14-2 with Schottenheimer. Fired by owners because he didn’t get to the Super Bowl. Said anyone can get us to the Super Bowl with Tomlinson, Gates, Rivers, Seau. Bring on the loser Norv Turner. Quickly wrecked the Ferrari he inherited, destroyed the team and they moved to Los Angeles. Yeah, coaches don’t make a big difference at all.
Football 🤣
Delete🤣🤣🤣
DeleteRight 🤣 what a dumb statement. Definitely never played any sport with that statement.
Delete8-1 Tulsa in the 3rd
ReplyDeleteTulsa took it easy the third period - saving up for the next two ass whippings
DeleteAgain ...no adjustment from coach.
ReplyDeleteOnly a few inspired players..."top" players just going through the motions with no desire, but continually put out. No accountability. No heart by the captains. No fight!
But like our lone fan said, coaches don’t make a big difference. Lol funniest statement tonight.
DeleteBut totally agree with why there were no changes or adjustments made.
What would your adjustments be?
DeleteNo adjustments is the reason you need a real coach and not a video coach. For those asking what your adjustments would be go ask a real.coach and you will get a good idea.
DeleteUmmmm it’s not that hard to find one, hmmmm change the goalie. Now that we stated one, coaches still matter. Troll on
DeleteOh it’s not that hard, but the adjustment you give is change the goalie? 🤣
DeleteThe Deer in the headlights look! Scared players afraid to do the wrong things on the ice...
DeleteActually I know alot about hockey and can comment based on experience. Adjustments would take the form of working on systems that lead to better gap control while protecting the defensive zone. In addition changes would be make to forechecking to force clubs to make unwanted turn overs in their own zone...much like teams have done to us ...change from a 1 2 2 and try other offesive attacks. Next the shabby power play would work on putting inspired players that work for the team and not individuals, doing this would get fresh legs out that move the puck better east to west to catch the goalie moving. Andrushuck is a good player but at some point he is not the number 1 in every situation..pp pk regular shift....maybe if he and Watts would skate and come back defensively they wouldn't be in the mega negitives with their plus minus. The new goalie stood on his head the game before but didn't get a chance to follow that up. There is to much preferential treatment to players that lack desire. Duarte shows desire, along with some of the 3rd and 4th liners. The coach has not made in game adjustment and barely looks awake on the bench like he is fearful that the top players will be pissed off if he makes a decision that goes against them...but supports the team. Hope to see better next year :)
ReplyDeleteVery True
DeleteThank for coherent informative information as opposed to what we normally see posted.
ReplyDeleteExcellence needs to start from the top down through the players...Lets start promoting excellence for a change!
ReplyDelete