School Day Preview vs Greensboro, Asuchak Returns, Today's Lineup, Allen Win Clinches Playoffs, Goalies Assigned to ECHL, Players on IR and More

 

The Allen Americans can clinch a playoff spot today with a win over Greensboro in the third School Day game of the season (10:30 am CDT). The first two School Day games have been big hits on and off the ice. 

• November 5 - Allen beat Wichita 6-4, led by a Mark Duarte hat trick, before a Wednesday morning crowd of 6250, of which 5000 were children. It was a milestone game for Coach Martinson, his 400th win in Allen.
• December 3 - Allen beat Utah 3-2, led by a Hank Crone hat trick. Once again, it was a big crowd (6112) of mostly school kids when the 6-7 craze was in full view. Here is what I wrote in the blog after that game. You can only imagine what happened in the game yesterday when the kids heard player introductions, and Hank Crone 6-7 was in the starting lineup. The noise was off the charts. It only got louder when Hank scored a natural hat trick (3 straight goals). Each time PA Announcer, Lee Hastings, announced a Crone goal in a drawn-out 6-7, it got louder and louder. By the time Hank scored his third goal to give Allen a 3-1 lead, the 6-7 brought a level of noise as loud as I have ever heard in the arena, including the championship years.  
• The question of the day is, who gets the hat trick today to lead Allen to victory?

 

- It is always enjoyable when teams outside the Mountain Division visit Allen. It typically happens twice per season. This season, it was Norfolk, and now Greensboro (1st-year franchise). Last season, it was Worcester and Jacksonville, and in 2023-24, it was Atlanta and Adirondack:

 

- Here is a preview of the three games against Greensboro today, Friday, and Saturday. Here are some comparison stats between Allen and Greensboro:

• Allen's record is 35-23-5-0, Greensboro is 18-38-6-1. 
• Allen is 6-4-0-0 over the last 10 games, Greensboro is 3-6-1-0.
• Allen is 18-9-2-0, Greensboro is 9-21-3-0 on the road.
• Allen's goal differential is +36 (225-189), Greensboro's is -67 (164-231).
• Allen's team plus/minus is +85, Greensboro's is -272.
• Allen's team save percentage is .913, Greensboro's is .882.

 

- Here is the more traditional statistical comparison between the two teams. The league rank is in parentheses: 

• Goals scored average: Allen, 3.57 (#3) - Greensboro, 2.60 (#24)
• Goals allowed average: Allen, 3.00 (#15) - Greensboro, 3.67 (#30)
• Shots for average: Allen, 33.52 (#2) - Greensboro, 29.41 (#19)
• Shots against average: Allen, 34.63 (#28) - Greensboro, 31.08 (#20)
• Power play percentage: Allen, 20.7% (#10) - Greensboro, 15.1% (#26)
• Penalty kill percentage: Allen, 83.7% (#11) - Greensboro, 77.1% (#27) 

 

- If you look at the stats above, it is clear that Allen is the better team. How do the Americans turn that advantage into three wins against the Gargoyles? 

• Keep up the recent scoring. Allen has averaged six goals per game over the last four games (7,6,7,4). 
• Score first. Allen is 24-3-2-0 (.879) when they score 1st, enough said.
• Get off to good starts. Allen's goal differential by period is -7 (1st), +34 (2nd), and +8 (3rd). 
• Win the special teams battle. Allen has the #1 home penalty kill percentage (89.0%), Greensboro has the #28 ranked road penalty kill percentage (73.5%) 
• Play with the lead. Allen is 25-0-2-0 when leading after the 2nd period.  

 

- If any of the games go to overtime, here are the records:

• Allen: 3-5 in overtime, 3-0 in shootouts
• Greensboro: 1-6 in overtime, 2-1 in shootouts  

 

- It is hard to say who the players are to watch for Greensboro. They have been sellers recently, trading players for futures/players for next season. Five of the Gargoyles' top six players in points are gone, including their captain (Logan Nelson) and assistant captain (Patrick Newell). The leading scorer (Tyler Weiss) was recalled and assigned to another ECHL team. In their place, Greensboro has recently signed a bunch of college guys. I was talking to the Greensboro broadcaster yesterday after practice, and he shared that the Gargoyles have 16 rookies on the roster. 

 

- Who has been hot for the Americans? 

• Andre Anania is in the midst of a 9-game point streak (2G, 10A) and a 6-game assist streak.
• Harrison Blaisdell has a 4-game goal streak, scoring 6 goals in the last 4 games.
• Michael Gildon has 10 points (4G, 6A) in a four-game point streak.
• Brayden Watts has six assists in the last five games.
• Danny Katic has a 5-game assist streak.
• Colton Hargrove has a three-game goal streak (3G, 2A). 

 

- Allen's lineup today includes the return of Spencer Asuchak, who has been out since February and Chase Maxwell, who has missed the last four games with an upper body injury. Hank Crone will not play in the Greensboro series. Sam Sedley is back from a quick call-up to Belleville. Marco Costantini gets the start in goal. Coach Martinson has said all three goalies will play in this series, but that can change based on the situation. Here is the lineup for today. 

Forwards

11 Barbashyov - 7 Hargrove - 92 McAuley 

9 Katic - 91 Gildon - 29 Watts

26 Asuchak  - 18 Blaisdell - 77 Sillinger

19 Maxwell - 44 Jax Dubois - 14 Gursoy

 

Defense 

8 Prefontaine - 23 Sedley 

86 Anania - 22 Costantini

21 Decker - 2 Quinn Warmuth

 

Goalies

33 Costantini

32 Mirwald (backup)

 

- The game will be a one-referee game. The referee will be Grant Hendrich (#5). The linesmen will be Daniel Barnes (#76) and Joey Kramer (#90). 

 

- Here is the game preview from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/04/game-morning-preview-americans-host-gargoyles-at-1030-am 

  

OTHER COMMENTS

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 As of this morning, I have written 2843 blogs and had 4,362,672 page views, and it is still a lot of fun because of you, the readers! Thanks!

 

- Allen is the only Mountain Division team playing today. Last night's results helped Allen be in a position to clinch a playoff spot with a win this morning:

• Tulsa beat Rapid City 5-0 
• Idaho beat Kansas City 4-3 in a shootout. Idaho scored with one second remaining to tie the score. 
• Cincinnati beat Tahoe 4-3 in overtime 

 

- Here are the maximum points each team could earn if they won all remaining games: Current points are in parentheses:

• 120 points - Kansas City (106)
• 96 points - Idaho (87)
• 93 points - Allen (75)
• 82 points - Tahoe (70)
• 76 points - Wichita (60)
• 74 points - Rapid City (60)
• 71 points - Utah (59)
• 67 points - Tulsa (51)

 

- There are five games on the ECHL schedule today. The Americans' School Day game is the only morning start. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/04/echl-today-april-2 

 

- Here is Allen's record at the end  of each month this season:

• 2-2-1-0 -  October 
• 6-7-3-0 - November
• 14-10-3-0 - December
• 22-14-4-0 - January
• 29-19-5-0 - February
• 35-23-5-0 - March

 

- This was my ECHL Stats post as of Tuesday. Notice Greensboro has two NHL-contracted goalies. The ECHL serves as a development league, especially for goalies. The numbers vary, but this week, 22 NHL contracted goalies and 23 AHL contracted goalies are assigned to ECHL teams. Here are the teams with NHL & AHL contracted goalies assigned. Rapid City had its AHL-contracted goalie recalled yesterday, and is the only ECHL team without a NHL/AHL-contracted player currently on its roster.

 

NHL - 17 teams (5 have 2)

Adirondack

Allen

Bloomington

Fort Wayne(2)

Greensboro (2)

Idaho

Iowa (2)

Jacksonville

Kalamazoo

Maine

Norfolk

Orlando

Toledo(2)

Tulsa

Utah(2)

Wheeling

Worcester 

 

AHL - 18 teams (5 have 2)

Adirondack

Atlanta(2)

Cincinnati

Florida

Greenville

Indy (2)

Kalamazoo

Kansas City (2)

Norfolk

Orlando

Reading

Savannah(2)

South Carolina

Tahoe

Trois Rivières (2)

Wheeling

Wichita

Worcester

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL stats post today is about players on 14-day IR. One of Allen's players is Troy Murray. There was a question in the comments section about his status. Troy is out for the season and went home a few weeks ago. FYI, Braidan Simmons-Fischer was injured and is also out for the season. He was on loan to the Iowa Wild (AHL).

 

Injuries can have a big impact on team success, especially as the playoffs approach. Here are the number of players currently on 14-day injured reserve for each ECHL team:

 

9: JAX, IND, UTA

8: SC

6: BLM, FW, KAL, MNE, TUL, WOR

5: ADK, *FLA, GVL, REA

4: IDH, NOR, ORL, TAH

3: ALN, ATL, GSO, IA, *KC, RC, SAV

2: CIN, TR, *WHL, TOL

0: WIC

 

*Division leaders