It's Sunday afternoon hockey for the Allen Americans in Utah. After sitting around idle for two days, the Americans should be chomping at the bit to play the Grizzlies again after beating them 6-2 on Thursday. It was good news/bad news for the Americans while they were idle the last two days. Idaho won a game and lost in overtime at home against South Carolina to increase its lead over Allen to an almost insurmountable 12 points. Allen does have three games in hand, but needs to win out and get some help from Idaho. The good news is Tahoe lost twice in Rapid City (they play again this afternoon) and the Americans maintain a six-point lead over the Knight Monsters with two games in hand.
- Allen's Sunday record is decent (4-2-1-0), especially when you consider Sunday games are usually the tail end of three games in three days. This afternoon (4:10 pm CDT), both teams are well-rested, though the Americans will be playing shorthanded with just 10 forwards. After today, Allen won't play again until Thursday, when they open a three-game series against Greensboro. It will be back-to-back odd start times as the Thursday game is a School Day game with a 10:30 am puck drop.
- Allen hasn't won more than three games in a row since the middle of January. As the playoffs approach, the Americans have a chance to extend their current winning streak, which is at two games, against Utah today, the worst team in the league at home, (.339). Next week, there are three games against the #29-ranked road team, Greensboro (.328). A six-game win streak would match the longest of the season (accomplished once), close the gap on Idaho, and widen the gap on Tahoe.
- Inconsistency has been an issue with Allen this season, and has kept the Americans from moving from a good team to a great team. If you look at the March record, you can see this inconsistency. Allen's March record is 5-4-0-0. Here are the goals scored in the nine games:
- 1 goal - 2 times
- 2 goals - 1 time
- 3 goals - 1 time
- 4 goals - 1 time
- 6 goals -2 times
- 7 goals - 2 times
Allen has averaged over 4 goals (4.11) per game in March, but scored 3 or fewer goals in 4 of the 9 games.
- Allen has a potent offense (# 3 in the ECHL), and it has really shown up recently. The Americans scored 7 goals on Thursday, 13 goals in the last two games, and 17 goals in the last three games. That is an average of 5.67 per game. Coach Martinson has been playing with three lines recently, and that has been working; it will have to work again today. The roster will definitely grow before the Greensboro series; it is just a matter of how much.
- The keys to the game today would be pretty much what Allen accomplished on Thursday:
- Allen scored first.
- Allen took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
- Allen took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
- Allen outshot Utah.
- Allen won the special teams battle.
- Allen stayed out of the penalty box.
- Allen got great goaltending.
- Allen scored six goals.
When I asked Coach Martinson for improvement he would like to see in the game today, he said this, "The biggest thing I want to get straightened out is our forwards are swinging around too much. It makes it too hard to find them for a pass."
- The lineup this afternoon will be very similar to Thursday. The one difference for sure is that defenseman Sam Sedley will not be in the lineup. He was loaned to Belleville and played last night as the Senators lost 1-0 at home to Manitoba. Quinn Warmuth will take Sedley's place, pairing with Ty Prefontaine. With two days' rest, I expect Coach Martinson to go with the hot goalie, Jackson Parsons. I will post the lineup here and on social media when I get it later today.
UPDATE
- There are a lot of streaks on the line this afternoon. Some are not so obvious:
- Andre Anania is in the midst of an 8-game point streak and a 5-game assist streak.
- Harrison Blaisdell has a 3-game goal streak, scoring 5 goals in the last 3 games.
- Brayden Watts has an assist in the last 4 games and the last 9 road games.
- Danny Katic has at least one penalty in the last 7 road games, the longest ECHL streak this season.
- The same two referees who worked the game on Thursday, Kurtis Pare (#55) and David Lilly (#25), will work the game this afternoon. They called 9 penalties on Thursday; 4 of them were high-sticking penalties, including two double minors. That explains, in part, why Allen had 7 power plays to Utah's 3. Double minors count as two power play opportunities.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The best way to see the Mountain Division teams gaining and losing ground in the standings is by points earned in the last 10 games. Here is the latest:
- 18 points - Kansas City
- 13 points - Idaho
- 12 points - Allen
- 10 points - Utah
- 10 points - Rapid City
- 8 points - Tulsa
- 6 points - Tahoe
- 6 points - Wichita
- Here are the Mountain Division standings by points with games remaining in parentheses:
- Two more teams, Fort Wayne and Maine, can clinch spots in the playoffs today and join the 7 teams already qualified. Here is the list by division:
- North Division: Wheeling
- South Division: Florida, Atlanta, South Carolina
- Central Division: Toledo
- Mountain Division: Kansas City, Idaho
- It is a very busy day around the ECHL for a Sunday with 12 games on the schedule. Fans in Wichita will have the earliest start time (2:05 pm CDT), and fans in Orlando the latest (6:00 pm EST). Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/03/echl-today-march-29
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