The Allen Americans beat Idaho 4-1 at Comerica Center last night before a crowd of 2340 to close out their two-game "home stand" and now head back on the road for the next seven games before the opening game at CUTX Event Center against Kansas City on November 20. Here is the road schedule.
- New Mexico - November 4, 6, 7
- Kansas City - November 13
- Tulsa - November 14, 15
- Wichita - November 18
- You wouldn't get many takers to bet the Americans would be 4-0 against Idaho and 0-2 against Tulsa after six games. Last season, Idaho had a record of 6-0-0-1 against the Americans. Despite the four wins, the Americans have some unfinished business with the Steelheads when they play next, which will be in Allen on January 8, 9, and 10.
- Last night Allen scored first, and that is always a good sign. The Americans were almost unbeatable last season when scoring first with an .889 points percentage. This season, they have only scored first in two of six games and won them both. Noel Nordh scored his second goal of the season on the power play at 15:37 of the first period. Allen took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
- Just 51 seconds into the second period, Riley Kidney gave Allen a 2-0 lead, scoring his league-leading (tied) sixth goal, which proved to be the game-winner. Kidney has the game-winning goal in two of Allen's four wins. Idaho cut the score to 2-1 when a pass from a player just getting out of the penalty box created a breakaway. Allen responded late in the period (19:18) to make the score 3-1 on Miko Matikka's third goal of the season.
- Allen added a fourth goal midway through the third period and the Americans shutdown the Idaho offense, outshooting the Steelheads 10-2 in the third period. Jesper Vikman stopped 27 of 28 shots for a .964 save percentage. Vikman has seen his save percentage rise from .844 after Allen's opening night loss in Tulsa to .910 after six games:
- Mathieu De St. Phalle had Allen's first penalty shot of the season and missed. There have been five penalty shots in the league so far; only one was successful. Last season, there were 52 penalty shots in the league; Allen had two of them. 15 of the penalty shots were successful (29%). Colton Hargrove scored one of the penalty shot goals.
- Here are the game recaps from both teams plus the video highlights:
- Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/10/game-recap-americans-sweep-idaho
- Idaho Steelheads game recap: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2026/10/steelheads-fall-short-in-4-1-loss-to-allen
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/idaho-steelheads-vs-allen-americans-oct-30-2026
- The Americans will now have a rare weekend off to spend time with the family and celebrate Halloween. It is well-deserved time off after five games in eight days with road trips to Idaho and Tulsa.
- Here are some stats where Allen players are at or near the top in the league:
- #1 - Riley Kidney (goals, 6)
- #1 - Cal Uens (major penalties, 3)
- #1 - Riley Kidney (game-winning goals, 2)
- #1 - Jesper Vikman (wins, 4)
- #1 - Jesper Vikman (minutes, 355)
- #1 - Jesper Vikman (saves, 161)
- #1 - Zackary Schantz (shorthanded goals, 1, shorthanded assists, 1, shorthanded points, 2)
- #1 - Luke Mistelbacher, (rookie shots, 21)
- #1 - Terrell Goldsmith (defensemen plus/minus, +7)
- #3 - Miko Matikka (shooting percentage, 50%)
- #4 - Cal Uens (rookie penalty minutes, 19)
OTHER COMMENTS
- As usual, the point gap between the top and bottom teams in each division is smallest in the Mountain Division, even this early in the season. There is a nine-point gap in the North (11-2) and South Division (10-1, a six points gap in the Central Division (8-2), and three point gap in the Mountain Division (8-5)
- Every team in the league has earned at least one point. The only team without a win is Orlando. There are still two undefeated teams: Trois-Rivières is 5-0, and Bloomington is 4-0.
- Here are the Mountain Division standings by point percentage since the number of games played varies. Who each team plays tonight and where is in parentheses:
- .800 - Tulsa (play at Wichita)
- .667 - Allen (idle)
- .667 - Rapid City (play at New Mexico)
- .600 - Wichita (Tulsa at home)
- .500 - Idaho (idle)
- .500 - Tahoe (play Kansas City at home)
- .429 - Kansas City (play at Tahoe)
- .357 - New Mexico (plays Rapid City at home)
- Hats off to the Americans front office for finding a way to have two "home" games when they found out they were being kicked out of their home rink for a month. Comerica Center is a fine facility, but these two games were not a success from a box office perspective:
- The school day games were very successful last season, averaging over 6100 per game. The attendance at the school day game on Thursday at Comerica was 2614.
- Last season the Veterans Day game at CUTX drew 5790. The Veterans Day game last night at Comerica drew 2340.
- These two small gates have put Allen behind the eight ball in average attendance. Hopefully it can be made up when Allen starts playing home games at CUTX.
- The Americans' average attendance is 2477 which is ranked #29 in the ECHL. Only Reading, at 2147 has a lower average attendance.
- There are 11 games on the ECHL schedule tonight. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/10/echl-today-oct-31
Never before in the history of the blog has the comment count been so low. #FREETHEBLOG #UNLOCKTHECOMMENTS #FREESPEECH
ReplyDeleteLow attendance, Low blog comments ... Please fix the madness.
Who is the new assistant coach on the Americans bench?
ReplyDeleteHe is Max Gratchev, who owns a well-known East Coast skills development company (MaxPro Hockey). He played for Martinson in Elmira in 2009-10. He helped out last season and is taking on a bigger role this season. He will be on the bench for home games, but will not travel with the team.
DeleteHis methodology blends Russian-style skating (fluid edges, agility) with North American power skating (speed, strength).
He is not just a general skills coach; he is very much in that category of high-end skating and skills development coaches, even if he doesn't brand himself strictly as a "skating coach" like some specialists do.
He works heavily on edge work and skating mechanics, and teaches skating within game situations. Not just isolated drills.
What is going on?
ReplyDeleteComments don’t get posted.
Blog is now not posting comments?
It’s dead, what is going on and why?
After months of dealing with 100s of comments that have nothing to do with the Allen Americans, and many more that have nothing to do with hockey operations, I decided to approve comments before they are posted. I don't intend to block any comments, good, bad, or indifferent, if they are about the on-ice product unless they are personal attacks on players or staff. Anything else will not be posted.
DeleteI know the comments section isn't quite the spectator sport it used to be! Some of the back-and-forth battles were entertaining, but things kept getting too far off the on-ice product. I've decided to keep the focus on what this blog was intended to be about in the first place: the on-ice product. Hockey talk is always welcome. The personal battles and unrelated stuff are no longer part of the show.
Right, but people post about the low crowd, and the post doesn't get posted. Zero personal attacks, just a comment.
DeleteRemember you bought the topic up, not posting comments on that that are legit, and not personal attacks, certainly seems questionable. Love the blog, but I think the censoring has gone too far when the post is simply a comment on the low crowds.
Hey, I posted some stats of former Americans playing overseas and that didn’t make the blog either.
Delete