The Allen Americans conclude their seven-game homestand tonight with a solo game against the Wichita Thunder. When this homestand began on January 30, I thought a realistic goal was to win five of the seven games, which is a points percentage of .714. A win tonight will accomplish that goal. It won't be easy, given the state of the Allen roster, as the Americans will play shorthanded tonight. Here is the latest on the roster:
- Brayden Watts returns after missing the game on Saturday.
- Trevor LeDonne returns to the lineup after being out since January 2.
- Andre Anania will miss the game, serving a one-game suspension.
- Spencer Asuchak is out of the lineup for a few weeks.
- Jake Chiasson will miss the game, but will return for the weekend.
- Colton Hargrove will play wearing a full face shield called a bubble.
- Matt Register won't play tonight, but he is practicing, and a vet spot is open with Asuchak out.
- Troy Murray is close to returning to the lineup.
- Look for a right shot forward to be added to the lineup for the weekend.
The game tonight will be the seventh of 10 games between Allen and Wichita this season. The Americans' record against Wichita is 6-0-0-0. Allen's only two shootouts this season have been against Wichita. The games against Wichita have been high-scoring affairs for the most part: 7-6, 5-4, 4-0, 6-4, 6-4, and 3-2. Over the seven games, Allen has averaged 5.2 goals per game.
Here are some comparison stats between Allen and Wichita:
- Allen's record is 24-16-4-0 (591), Wichita's is 18-17-3-4.
- Allen is 5-4-1-0 over the last 10 games, Wichita is 5-4-0-1.
- Allen is 14-6-1-0 at home, Wichita is 6-10-1-0 on the road.
- Allen's goal differential is +18 (159-141), Wichita's is -4 (131-135).
- Allen's team plus/minus is +38, Wichita's is -45.
- Allen's team save percentage is .910, Wichita's is .909.
- Here are more statistical comparisons between the two
teams.
- Goals scored average: Allen (3.6) - Wichita (3.1)
- Goals allowed average: Allen (3.2) - Wichita (3.2)
- Shots for average: Allen (33.0) - Wichita (33.8)
- Shots against average: Allen (35.8) - Wichita (34.4)
- Power play percentage: Allen (20.1%) - Wichita (18.0%)
- Penalty kill percentage: Allen (85.2%) - Wichita (82.7%
- Here are some other relevant stats to this series:
- Allen is ranked #4 in penalty minutes (636), Wichita is ranked #27 with 394 minutes.
- Allen has scored first in 48% of its games with a record of 16-2-3-0 (.833)
- Wichita has scored first in 52% of its games with a record of 12-6-2-2 (.636).
- Allen has been involved in 6 overtime games with a record of 0-4 in OT and 2-0 in shootouts.
- Wichita has been involved in 10 overtime games with a record of 2-3 in OT and 1-4 in shootouts.
- Allen is 17-0-1-0 when leading after the 2nd period, Wichita is 12-2-1-1.
- Allen is 3-13-1-0 when trailing after the 1st period, is 3-7-0-2.
- Conclusions from these stats tell you that the team that stays out of the penalty box, scores first, and plays with the lead has a big advantage. Neither team plays well from behind.
- If you are looking for a player to watch tonight, it could be most of the Allen team. Nine players have averaged more than a point a game against Wichita, led by Watts and Sedley, averaging 1.50 points per game. Katic has scored five goals in five games, and McAuley has scored four goals in four games. The leading scorers for Wichita in the games against Allen have been #12 Peter Bates (2G, 4A) and former Allen American, Kyle Crnkovic, (3G, 3A).
- The best indication of how this game will go tonight is what happened a month ago when these teams played four straight games, two in Allen, followed by two in Wichita. Allen scored 22 goals in the four games (5.5 average). Allen won the last game 7-6. That was the game in which Allen was down 3-0 halfway through the first period. Odds are this will be a high-scoring affair.
- Allen has had a distinct advantage against Wichita when it comes to special teams. The Americans have the #1 home penalty kill percentage in the league at 89.3%, and Wichita's road power play is ranked #29 (11.9%). In the six head-to-head games, Allen scored at least one power-play goal in each game for a total of 9-30 (30.0%). Wichita was 3-26 (11.5%).
- With all the lineup changes, you will likely see lots of line combinations in the game tonight. I expect the top line (Crone-Hargrove-McAuley) to stay the same. Katic and Gildon as well as Watts and Blaidell, will be together. Martinson could move someone like Gursoy to play with Katic and Gildon, and you can also expect to see some players double-shifting. On the backend, you can expect Prefontaine and Sedley to remain together as the top pair, LeDonne and Costantini to be the second pair, and Warmuth and Decker to be the third pair. Not sure who will get the start in goal, but Coach Martinson has historically rewarded a shutout with a start in the next game unless it is a quick turnaround. I expect you will see Costantini in goal tonight after his 31-save, 4-0 win on Saturday.
OTHER COMMENTS
- As I was putting together my ECHL Stats post this morning (see DID YOU KNOW section below) on the number of NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to each ECHL team, it struck me how the number of players assigned is definitely not a great predictor of success. There are teams with few assigned players doing well, and teams with lots of assigned players doing poorly. This is just a snapshot in time, but here are the top and bottom six teams in the ECHL (by points percentage) with the number of assigned players currently:
- TOP TEAMS
- .795 Kansas City - 4 assigned players
- .744 Atlanta - 4 assigned players
- .717 Idaho - 6 assigned players
- .690 Toledo - 5 assigned players
- .682 Florida - 7 assigned players
- .682 Wheeling - 10 assigned players
- BOTTOM TEAMS
- .321 Tulsa - 7 assigned players
- .341 Iowa - 9 assigned players
- .357 Greensboro - 6 assigned players
- .405 Norfolk - 5 assigned players
- .424 Utah - 5 assigned players
- .453 Jacksonville - 1 assigned player
- The Mountain Division is home to three of the four best and worst home and road records in the ECHL.
- HOME RECORD
- .842: Atlanta (16-3-0-0)
- .250: Utah (3-12-3-0)
- ROAD RECORD
- .842: Kansas City (15-2-1-1)
- .222: Tulsa (4-14-0-0)
- Here is the odd stat of the day. The Utah Grizzlies have a .250 home points percentage and a .536 road points percentage.
- Idaho's Brendan Hoffmann is on pace to score 50 goals this season. He has 32 goals with 26 games remaining. The closest a player has come to scoring 50 goals in a season since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014-15 was in 2022-23 when rookie Hank Crone took the ECHL by storm with 49 goals and 105 points to win the league's Rookie of the Year and MVP honors. How close did Hank come to 50? He scored seven goals in four games to reach 49 with three games remaining in the season. He was held scoreless in the last three games, including the last game of the season at home against Wichita. The ironic thing is Hank scored the game-clinching shootout goal in that game, but of course, shootout goals don't count in individual player totals. Allen won the game 5-4.
- Here is an interesting story about 34 former ECHL players participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics representing 11 different countries: https://echl.com/news/2026/02/echl-has-34-former-players-five-officials-in-2026-winter-olympics
- There are only seven games around the ECHL tonight. The only other Mountain Division team in action other than Wichita at Allen is Kansas City visiting Jacksonville. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/02/echl-today-feb-11
DID YOU KNOW: NHL/AHL contracted players on each ECHL team, excluding those on 14-day IR:
Let’s see who steps up tonight!
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