I mentioned yesterday that there would likely be some changes to the alumni roster, and that has been the case. The good news is Darryl Bootland will be able to attend the alumni game. The bad news is that Riley Gill and Ben Owen will have to miss the alumni game. Riley is the head coach, and Ben is an assistant coach for one of the Allen High School hockey teams. They have a game scheduled at 3:00 pm on Saturday. From what I was told, they will be at the Allen game, but will miss the alumni game.
- Before I get into the details of the Allen vs Tulsa series preview and the three games against the Oilers (tonight, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon), I want to bring everyone up to date on the roster changes over the last week.
- David Tendeck - Last Sunday, it was announced that Tendeck was traded to Tulsa for forward Mitchell Russell, whom Tulsa had acquired from Savannah on February 25. Russell did not report to Tulsa, so he was suspended. Russell was in Savannah before Tulsa, and Savannah is a Zawyer property. Allen can't trade with Zawyer teams because there are minority owners of the Americans who also own minority interests in other Zawyer teams. Initially, the league mistakenly let the trade go through, but it was corrected to a future-considerations trade the next day. Why did Martinson trade Tendeck to Tulsa? "I wasn't going to hold him back from an opportunity to play, and it was the best opportunity, factoring in the costs and the benefits." Martinson has been doing a lot of recruiting of college players as their seasons have ended, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a college goalie take over that third goalie spot down the stretch.
- Colby McAuley - Colby was injured when hit by a puck in Allen's last home game (2/21) and missed the three-game series in Kansas City. He is good to go and will be in the lineup tonight.
- Lukas Sillinger - Lukas was also injured in Allen's last home game, his second game with the Americans. He has been cleared to play and will be in the lineup tonight.
- Andre Anania - Andre was loaned to Iowa on 2/25 and returned to Allen on 3/2. He missed the last two games in Kansas City and did not play in Iowa. He will be back in the Allen lineup tonight.
- Sam Stange - Sam Stange was recalled by Springfield (AHL) on Monday and will miss his first game tonight. He played eight games in Allen and scored five goals. You add the three goals in four games with Florida earlier, and his season total is eight goals in 12 games. The good news is Sam has qualified for the ECHL playoffs. Hopefully, Stange will return to Allen at some point in the regular season and for the playoffs.
- Avery Smith - Coach Martinson brought Smith back from Topeka (FPHL), just in case he needs some additional toughness against Tulsa. The Oilers' Keegan Iverson was suspended for five games for leaving the penalty box to join an altercation on Wednesday, so he will miss the Allen series. They still have Cade McNelly and Dakota Seaman, who add toughness. McNelly has a goal in one game in his 64-game ECHL career. Unfortunately, it was a hat trick against Allen on January 17. The Americans lost 5-2. Seaman, who played six games with Allen last season, has no points and 20 penalty minutes in 16 games with Tulsa this season. I just got the lineup, and Smith will not be in the lineup tonight.
- Allen's record against Tulsa this season is 7-4-1-0. The Americans lost three straight to start the season, then reeled off five wins and have split the last four games. The three home games this weekend will be the last between these teams.
- Here are some comparison stats between Allen and Tulsa:
- Allen's record is 29-19-5-0, Tulsa's is 17-30-5-0
- Allen is 6-3-1-0 over the last 10 games, Tulsa is 5-3-2-0.
- Allen is 15-7-2-0 at home, Tulsa is 5-16-1-0 on the road.
- Allen's goal differential is +21 (181-160), Tulsa's is -56 (132-188).
- Allen's team plus/minus is +35, Tulsa's is -153.
- Allen's team save percentage is .914, Tulsa's is .896.
- Here is the more traditional statistical comparison between the two teams. The league rank is in parentheses:
- Goals scored average: Allen 3.4 (#6) - Tulsa 2.5 (#28)
- Goals allowed average: Allen 3.0 (#15) - Tulsa 3.6 (#26)
- Shots for average: Allen 33.4 (#3) - Tulsa 32.3 (#8)
- Shots against average: Allen 35.1 (#28) - Tulsa 34.8 (#27))
- Power play percentage: Allen 20.3% (#9) - Tulsa 17.5% (#21)
- Penalty kill percentage: Allen 84.1% (#8) - Tulsa 74.2% (#29)
- Here are the cumulative stats against Tulsa.
- Allen has outscored Tulsa 43-33
- Tulsa has outshot Allen 399-394
- Allen is 28.3%% on the power play (13-46)
- Tulsa is 19.2% on the power play (5-26)
- Allen scored 1st in 7 of the 12 games.
- Allen took 48 penalties (119 minutes), Tulsa took 69 penalties (202 minutes)
- If you look at all of the stats above, it is clear that Tulsa has outperformed when playing Allen this season. The Oilers overall points percentage is .375. Against Allen, it is .458. The Oilers have 17 wins this season, 30% on them (5) have been against Allen. It should also be noted that if you look at points earned in the last 10 games, the top three in the division are Kansas City (17), Allen (13), and Tulsa (12). Tulsa comes into the Allen series having won four of its last five games, with the only loss coming in Kansas City on Wednesday. Bottom line is Tulsa plays well against Allen, and the Oilers have been playing good hockey lately. This looks like it will be a great series.
- As usual, special teams will play a key role in this series. Allen has the advantage in overall stats and head-to-head stats. The most stark stat is road vs home penalty kill. The Americans have the #1 ranked home penalty kill percentage (88.8%), and the Oilers have the #30 ranked road penalty kill percentage (68.7). Tulsa has taken a lot more penalties than Allen in the 12 head-to-head games (69 vs 48). If the Americans can take advantage of special teams, it will be a big help.
- Across the ECHL, the team that scores first wins 75% on the points. Allen is one of the best in the league with a points percentage of .848 (18-2-3-0) when scoring first. Tulsa's record when scoring first is 11-8-1-0 (.575). As usual, the first goal will be key in this series.
- Playing with the lead is also a key to this series. Here is Allen's record that tells the story of why the Americans can't be playing from behind in this series.
- 10-1-2-0: leading after 1st period
- 19-0-2-0: leading after 2nd period
- 14-4-1-0: tied after 1st period
- 7-4-1-0: tied after 2nd period
- 5-14-2-0: trailing after 1st period
- 3-15-2-0: trailing after 2nd period
- The game tonight will be a two-referee game. The referees will be Jamie Pavia (#26) and Logan Gruhl #29). The linesmen will be Daniel Barnes (#76) and Aaron Schacht.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Anyway you slice it, the Americans will be the favorite in all three games this weekend. A sweep would give Allen some distance between themselves and fourth-place Tahoe. On February 14, Kansas City and Idaho had checked out over the rest of the division. Allen was tied for third place with Tahoe, but trailed Idaho by 16 points and Kansas City by 22 points. Today, Allen is two points ahead of Tahoe and 24 points behind Kansas City. However, what looked like an impossible 16-point deficit to Idaho has shrunk to nine points, and the Americans have two games in hand. Thanks to a slump by Idaho, which has lost six of the last eight games (4 of them at home), what was an impossible task a few weeks ago is now just a long shot for the Americans.
- Wichita at Indy
- Idaho at Norfolk
- Utah at Bloomington
- Wheeling at Rapid City
- Tahoe at Kansas City
- Tulsa at Allen
Megan Hayward should sell her shares in Zawyer teams, or relinquish her shares in the Americans. We should not have any owners with interests in Zawyer teams.
ReplyDeleteI agree the Americans don't need to be associated with the curse of Joe E. in any way! This kind of stuff keeps coming back to haunt this team!
DeleteI dont think it's just Megan Hayward.
DeleteLaSonjia Jack did hold shares in Jacksonville, and may very well still hold them. I'd surely hope Myles sold his shares in Jacksonville.
What a train wreck.
Zawyer screwed us once, and they are still screwing us.
Joe Ernst is screwing us in perpetuity.....
Is Marco hurt? This is the third game in a row he hasn’t played.
ReplyDeleteProbably going with the hot goalie for now!
DeleteNo injuries.
DeleteParsons is not hot. He’s up a down. Marco is consistent.
DeleteWhere’s Asuchak?
ReplyDeleteHe was injured a few weeks ago. Something with his ankle.
DeleteWhoever came up with the idea for the promotion tonight should be fired immediately. Coming off two huge wins and home fans ready to celebrate but instead we have to be part of some stupid movie production and can’t evn celebrate a goal properly. If the team needs money so bad that we have to do such a stupid promotion during a playoff chase then we have serious issues.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone over 30 really care about any of the foolish promotions? The players are obviously not focused on playing well when being forced to wear those silly promo uniforms all the time. How about promo nights without specialty jerseys being worn by players during the games! Specialty jerseys for warm ups only perhaps!
DeleteBarry what is the Americans record when wearing specialty jerseys?
Good point. The team should never do anything to make money. They should give the players their 20% raise in the CBA from the money tree that grows behind the arena!
DeleteWhat’s the deal with Troy Murray? Never playing again? Really wish there was more toughness on the 4th line and 3rd pairing.
ReplyDeleteLosing to Tulsa is unacceptable. Period.
ReplyDeleteWe expect better, gentlemen.
How about they do a showing of the movie on the arena screens some afternoon the center isn’t busy..: charge reasonable ticket price, open a couple of concession stands.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know the legal hurdles…. $$ for the team…
$$$ for the City of Allen with $6.50 bottles of water.
Delete