Allen vs Norfolk Series Preview, Tonight's Lineup, Mountain Division Has ECHL Best Offense & Worst Defense, Alex Breton Update, Overseas Deadline & More

 

Allen Americans fans are in for a rare treat this week as a team outside the Mountain Division visits the CUTX Event Center. This typically happens a couple of times per season and is an opportunity see Eastern Conference style hockey. The opponent this week (tonight, Friday, Saturday) will be the Norfolk Admirals. Norfolk visited Allen during the 2019-20 season for two games and were swept by the Americans (3-2 in overtime and 5-0).

 

- If you look at the North Division standings, Norfolk is in 7th place, 15 points out of a playoff spot, but don't let that fool you. No team in the North Division has more wins over the last 10 games than Norfolk. The Admirals are 7-3-0-0 over the last 10 games. They had a seven-game win streak in January when they were in last place in the division, and six of the wins were against the top three teams in the North Division:  #1 (Wheeling), #2 Reading, and #3 (Adirondack). 

 

- Both teams have faltered a bit recently and are looking to get back on track tonight:

• Allen has lost four of its last six games, and after playing one of its best games of the season against Rapid City on Saturday (3-0 win), played one of its worst games on Sunday in a 6-3 loss to the Rush). 
• Norfolk has lost three of its last four games, beat Trois Riviéres 5-2 on Friday, and lost to the Lions 6-3 on Saturday. 

 

Here are some comparison stats between Allen and Norfolk:

• Allen's record is 22-15-4-0 (.585), Norfolk's is 15-22-2-0 (.410). .
• Allen is 12-5-1-0 at home, Norfolk is 5-11-1-0 on the road.
• Allen's goal differential is +12 (149-137), Norfolk's is -23 (116-139).
• Allen's team plus/minus is +17, Rapid Norfolk's is -113.
• Allen's team save percentage is .908, Norfolk's is .897.

 

- Here are more statistical comparisons between the two teams.

• Goals scored average: Allen (3.6) - Norfolk (3.0)
• Goals allowed average: Allen (3.3) - Norfolk (3.6)
• Shots for average: Allen (33.4) - Norfolk (27.9)
• Shots against average: Allen (36.4) - Norfolk (30.1)
• Power play percentage: Allen (20.5%) - Norfolk (16.8%)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen (84.1%) - Norfolk (76.6%)

 

- If you look at the stats above, Allen dominates in almost every category. However, it has been the tale of two seasons for Norfolk. The Admirals' record through the end of December was 7-19-2-0 (.286). Since January 1st, Norfolk's record is 8-3-0-0 (.727). Since January 1st, Allen's record is 8-5-1-0 (.607).

 

- Allen gave up two power play goals on Sunday, but still has one of the best home penalty kill percentages in the league, ranked #5 (87.5%). Norfolk is ranked #29 in road penalty kill percentage (69.5%). Allen's home power play percentage is ranked #22 (15.9%), and Norfolk's road power play percentage is ranked #25 (15.2%), 

 

- Norfolk has the worst record in the ECHL when trailing. The Admirals haven't won a single game all season when trailing after the first period (0-12-0-0) or second period (0-16-0-0). Good starts and playing with the lead will be big keys in this series.

 

- Goaltending will be another key in this series, and you can expect to see a lot of each team's NHL-contracted goalie. 

• Isaac Poulter, Winnipeg contracted, has played in 11 of the last 12 games for Norfolk and has won 8 of them. His save percentage over the 21 games he has played this season is .909. 
• Jaxson Parsons, Ottawa contracted, recently returned to Allen and had a 34-save shutout on Saturday. He has a .920 save percentage in his six games played for Allen. I would expect Parsons to start in goal tonight and get the majority of the minutes against Norfolk.
• David Tendeck left the game on Sunday with an injury and won't be available this week. Marco Costantini will serve as the backup tonight. Marco's save percentage is .915 over 23 games he has played this season.   

 

-  The player to watch in this series for Norfolk is #94 Brady Fleurent. He is leading the Admirals in points with 34 (15G, 19A) this season, and also led Norfolk in points last season when he averaged over a point per game (1.07). Another player to keep an eye on is former Allen American Grant Hebert, #93. Grant has 14 points (5G, 9A) in the last 10 games.

 

- Allen has had balanced scoring from all three lines, but the points leader has been Colton Hargrove. He has points in 10 of the last 12 games and multiple points in nine of the 12 games. His total over the last 12 games is 20 points (6G, 14A) for a points per game average of 1.67. 

 

- Here is the lineup for tonight. Coach Martinson is going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, Parsons starts in goal. The Americans have released defenseman Michael Greco. He is heading back to the Athens Rock Lobsters (FPHL).

Forwards

67 Crone - 7 Hargrove - 92 McAuley

26 Asuchak - 29 Watts - 18 Blaisdell 

9 Katic- 91 Gildon - 11 Chiasson

14 Gursoy                 6 Simmons-Fischer

 

Defense

86 Anania - 40 Touré

8 Prefontaine - 23 Sedley

2 Warmuth - 22 Costantini - 21 Decker

 

 

Goalies

31 Parsons 

33 Costantini (backup) 

 

 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

 

- When you look at the stats, the Mountain Division has been proven to be a good offense, bad defense type of division, especially compared to the divisions in the Eastern Conference. Here are the stats: 

 

• The Mountain Division has the #1, #2, #3, #4, #6, and #7 teams in the ECHL in   average shots taken per game.
• The Mountain Division has the #30, #29, #28, #27, #26, and #25 ranked teams in average number of shots allowed per game.
• The Mountain Division has the top four ECHL teams in average goals scored per game. 
• The Mountain Division has just one team (Kansas City) in the top 17 in average goals allowed. Kansas City is #3, allowing 2.34 goals per game.
• The Mountain Divisions' other seven teams all allow more than 3.00 goals per game. 12 ECHL teams allow more than 3.00 goals per game, and seven of them are from the Mountain Division.

 

- Here is a breakdown by division for how teams rank in goals scored and allowed. The number in parentheses is the total for the division:

 

• Goals Scored
• North - #12, #14, #17, #19, #20, #22, #26, 30   (160)
• South - #7, #8, #11, #18, #23, #24, #25   (116)
• Central - #5, #6, #9, #16, #21, #27, #28   (112)
• Mountain - #1, #2, #3, #4, #10, #13, #15, #29   (77)

 

• Goals Allowed
• North - #4, #7, #8, #13, #15, #16, #27   (90)
• South - #1, #2, #9, #11, #12, #17, #25, #26  (103)
• Central - #5, #6. #10, #14, #22, #24, #29  (110)
• Mountain - #3, #18, #19, #20, #21, #23, #28, #30  (162)

 

There are 15 teams in each conference. If you add all of the numbers together for each conference, the lowest number is the conference that does the best on average. My assumption before putting this together is that the Western Conference teams, on average, score more goals and the Eastern Conference teams allow fewer goals. Here are the results: 

 

• Goals Scored
• 276 - Eastern Conference
• 189 - Western Conference

 

• Goals Allowed
• 193 - Eastern Conference
• 272 - Western Conference 

All of these convoluted numbers show that the Western Conference does indeed score more on average than the Eastern Conference. More dramatically, the numbers show the Mountain Division has the best offense by far and the worst defense by far of the four divisions. 

 

 

 

- There are nine games on the ECHL schedule tonight, with seven of eight Mountain Division teams in action. Tulsa is idle. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/02/echl-today-feb-4  

 

 - I was asked if Alex Breton, who was the ECHL Defensemen of the Year when he played for Allen in 2020, is still playing. Yes indeed, he is still playing. Alex plays in the top league in Germany, which is one of the best leagues in Europe. Alex plays for ERC Ingolstadt. He is second on the team in points, averaging over a point per game. He has 45 points (14G, 31A) in 44 games. He leads all DEL defensemen in points. His team is in third place in the 14-team league. FYI, Alex was the DEL Defenseman of the Year in 2024-25.

  

DID YOU KNOW: For the 2025-26 season, the ECHL has changed the overseas player transfer deadline to March 2 (typically mid-February) and the end of the regular season to April 19 (from April 12) because of the brief strike that postponed 41 games that had to be rescheduled.