Practice Update, Roster Update, Allen Trades J.C. Campagna, Home Opener Activities, Former Players Update and More

After the opening weekend to the ECHL season when the Allen Americans went 1-1 with a 5-1 loss to the Kansas City Mavericks on Friday and 4-0 win over the Wichita Thunder on Saturday followed by a day off on Sunday, it was back to practice on Monday.


- Coach Martinson took the good and bad from the weekend to tailor practice working on everything from systems issues to a fun three on three cross ice contest to close out the day.


- Kevin Sundher, who stayed home over the weekend was back at practice and should be available for the weekend. Mike Gunn and Thomas Frazee, who were injured in the game against Kansas City on Friday are listed as day to day did not practice yesterday.


- Coach Martinson is still trying to make adjustments to the roster to get the right mix of size, speed and toughness. Yesterday he traded J.C. Campagna to the Fort Wayne Komets for cash or future considerations depending on which team's social media account you follow. I do know from talking to Martinson in the past that coaches/general managers sometimes do trades with official and unofficial components. Have no idea if it is the case in this trade but the concept of I will do you a favor now and maybe you do me a favor down the road is part of the coaching fraternity, especially between experienced coaches that know each other.


- It is that time of year when there is a lot of activity on the trade wire around the ECHL. Most, if not all, teams have needs they feel will strengthen their roster so trade activity will be front and center over the next few weeks. Some teams will have to trim their rosters by one player when the active roster reduces from 21 to 20 after the first month of the season.


- Another factor to keep in mind is the movement of players between the AHL and ECHL. At this point the movement has been primarily from the AHL to the ECHL. As injuries start to pile up in the AHL/NHL there will be a need to recall contract players and others from the ECHL.


- It all makes for a balancing act for Steve Martinson with too many players one week and not enough the next. Right now Allen has 23 players on the roster (13 forwards, 10 defensemen, 2 goalies) which includes two on injured reserve (Eric Roy & Chad Butcher). The maximum roster after the first month of the season is 22 if no players are on IR. You can take it to the bank there are more roster moves in the works. The question is how many and will they add players or subtract players. It could be players from the AHL to Allen, players from Allen to the AHL or trades that add or subtract from the roster. Stay tuned.


OTHER COMMENTS

- The home opener on Saturday will be special for a number of reasons. It is the 10th anniversary and for the first time ever at the Allen Event Center, the ice will be painted pink. The "Pink in the Rink" home opener is presented by UT Southwestern Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. Other activities:

The team will be wearing specialty jerseys that will be auctioned after the game
There will be a post-game skate with players
There will be a college game prior to the Allen vs Wichita game as Dallas Baptist University takes on Texas A&M at 2:35 pm (doors open at 2:05) and one ticket gets you in for both games.
Join in the 10 year celebration pregame party from 4:30-6:30.

There are still tickets available and it should be great hockey and great fun all for a good cause. 


- Friday night was a tough one for the Allen Americans as they lost to Kansas City 5-1. For the Mavericks the home opener was special for another reason as their captain, Rocco Carzo, returned to the lineup after missing most of last season with a serious knee injury. It was fitting he scored the first goal of the season for the Mavericks. Here is a story about Carzo's return and what it meant to him, his family and the team. A good read. http://www.examiner.net/sports/20181013/carzos-return-sparks-mavs-to-rout


- Former Allen player Garrett Clarke won a game for his Romanian team (Brasov) on Sunday with a shootout goal. His team is in fourth place in an 11 team league. Clarke has played in 10 games and has six points (2G, 4A). Here is his shootout game winner.

DID YOU KNOW: A reader asked which former Allen players are doing well overseas thus far this season. Here are former Allen players averaging at least a point per game. Stats courtesy of eliteprospects.com.

Alex Guptill - Alex has 17 points (10G, 7A) in 14 games playing in England
Chad Costello has 15 points (4G, 11A) in 10 games playing in Germany
Colton Yellow Horn - Colton has 11 points (6G, 5A) in 10 games Austria
Nicholas Miglio - Nick has eight points, all assists, in seven games playing in Germany
Anthony Calabrese - Anthony has seven points (3G, 4A) in seven games playing in Germany

A Look at the 2018-19 Allen Americans Schedule, Who They Play, When They Play, Promotional Schedule and More

With everyone's focus turning back to hockey and Allen's home opener coming up on Saturday I thought today would be a good day to revisit the 2018-19 Allen Americans schedule. It is probably more information than you would ever want to know about the schedule but it will give you many different views of what coach Steve Martinson and the team will be dealing with. The schedule looks improved from a travel standpoint with only one trip to Rapid City, one trip to Idaho and two trips to Utah. The only road trip outside the Mountain Division is a trip to Wheeling for one game and then on to Reading for three games.


- One of the goals of the ECHL when preparing the schedule is to balance cost along with having a schedule that avoids teams playing each other too many times. Allen will be playing 11 different teams this season compared to 13 last season.  Five of the 13 teams Allen played last season they only played on the road (Atlanta, Florida, Fort Wayne, Jacksonville, Indy). This season only one team (Wheeling) will be on the road only. 

- Below is a complete list of Allen's 72 games by opponent comparing last season and the 2018-19 season. Teams with an asterisk are Mountain Division foes.

                     2017-18                                                    2018-19
13 games - Tulsa (7 home 6 away)*                  14 games - Wichita (5 home, eight away)*
12 games - Wichita (6 home 6 away)*               13 games - Tulsa (5 home, eight away)*
10 games - Idaho (4 home 6 away)*                  11 games - Utah (6 home 5 away)*
8 games - Kansas City (4 home 4 away)           10 games - KC (5 home, 5 away)*          
8 games   - Rapid City (5 home 3 away)*           6 games - Rapid City (3 home, 3 away)*
6 games - Colorado (4 home 2 away)*               6 games - Idaho (3 home, 3 away)*
6 games - Utah (4 home 2 away)*                      5 games - Reading (2 home, 3 away)
2 games - Fort Wayne (0 home 2 away)             3 games - Cincinnati (3 home, 0 away)
2 games - Orlando (2 home 0 away)                   2 games - South Carolina (2 home, 0 away)
2 games - Florida (0 home 2 away)                    1 game - Wheeling (0 home, 1 away)
1 game   - Indy (0 home 1 away)                        1 game - Worcester (1 home, 0 away)
1 game - Atlanta (0 home 1 away)
1 game - Jacksonville (0 home 1 away)

Note there is much more emphasis on divisional play this season as Allen will play 60 of their 72 games (83%) against Mountain Division foes.


- Here is a breakdown of the schedule by day of the week. Notice 24 prime home dates (Friday & Saturday) this season compared to 21 last season.

              2017-18                                                    2018-19
Sunday - 10 (5 home, 5 away)                      8 - (4 home, 4 away)
Monday - 2 (1 home, 1 away)                       1 - (1 home)
Tuesday -  3 (1 home, 2 away)                      6 - (4 home, 2 away)
Wednesday - 10 (7 home, 3 away)                9 - (5 home, 4 away)
Thursday - 1 (1 home 0 away)                      1 - (1 away)
Friday - 21 (10 home, 11 away)                    24 - (13 home, 11 away)
Saturday - 25 (11 home, 14 away)                23 - (11 home, 12 away)



 Allen has always tried to get more road games early in the season to avoid conflicts with football plus early season road trips help bring the team together. Seven of the Americans first eight games are on the road. However in March 11 of 12 games are at home. The following lists the games by month.

                          2017-18                                             2018-19
October - 7 games (3 home 4 away)                 8 games (1 home 7 away)
November - 12 games (6 home 6 away)           13 games (6 home, 7 away)
December - 13 games (8 home 5 away)           15 games (7 home, 8 away
January - 12 games (5 home 7 away)               11 games (3 home, 8 away)
February - 11 games (4 home 7 away)              11 games (8 home, 3 away)
March - 14 games (8 home 6 away)                  12 games (11 home, 1 away)
April- 3 games (2 home 1 away)                        2 games (0 home, 2 away)
  

- One of the many things the team looks at when the schedule comes out is how many times they have to play three games back to back to back. Three games in three days is stressful especially if there is travel involved. Players are more prone to injuries in these situations. In 2017-18 that happened six times. In 2018-19 Allen will play three games in three days eight times. Here is the list of three games in three days with home (H) or away (A) in parentheses.  Notice only twice is travel involved.

October 26, 27, 28 - Rapid City (A), Rapid City (A), Rapid City (A)
November 9, 10, 11 - Kansas City (H), Kansas City (H), Wichita (A)
December 14, 15, 16 - Reading (A), Reading (A), Reading (A)
January 11, 12, 13 - Wichita (H), Wichita (A), Wichita (A)
January 25, 26, 27 - Tulsa (A), Tulsa (A), Tulsa (A)
February 15, 16, 17 - Worcester (H), Reading (H), Reading (H)
February 22, 23, 24 - Utah (H), Utah (H), Utah (H)
March 1, 2, 3 -  Tulsa (H), Tulsa (A), Rapid City (H)


-  Four games in five days is really brutal and that happened three times last season. This season the Americans will play four games in five days twice but they both take place in consecutive weeks. Allen will play eight games in 13 days between December 4th and 16th. This will be the toughest stretch of games all season when you factor in the travel.  Here is the list of four games in five days.

December 4, 5, 7, 8 - Rapid City (H), Rapid City (H), Kansas City (A), Kansas City (A)
December 12, 14, 15, 16 -  Wheeling (A) Reading (A), Reading (A), Reading (A) 


- Five of the 11 teams on Allen's schedule this season didn't make the playoffs last season. Of Allen's 72 regular season games 41 (57%) will be against the five teams that did not make the playoffs.


- Allen will play six teams with a winning percentage higher than the Americans winning percentage last season (.542) including three teams (South Carolina, Idaho, Reading) with a winning percentage above .600. However, 54 of Allen's 72 games (75%) are against teams with a lower winning percentage than the Americans. Note that only two teams on the schedule this season (Utah & Rapid City) had a winning percentage below .500 last season.  Here is a complete list in winning percentage order with the number of games Allen will play each team this season in parentheses:

.722 - South Carolina (2)
.667 - Idaho (6).
.604 - Reading (5)
.569 - Worcester (1)
.563 - Cincinnati (3)
.549 - Wheeling (1)
.542 - ALLEN
.528 - Wichita (14) 
.514 - Kansas City (10)
.514 - Tulsa (13)
.493 - Utah (11) 
.389 - Rapid City (6)


- The easiest part of the schedule for Allen will be a period between February 8 and April 4 when Allen will spend 56 days at home. During this stretch the Americas will play 18 games, 17 at home and one in Tulsa which is up and back the same day.


- The schedule as it relates to playing Tulsa and Wichita is much more balanced this season than in the past when the Americans seemed to play Tulsa a lot early in the season and Wichita later. The Americans play Tulsa and Wichita at least once every month of the season. Allen's last two games of the season will be on the road against Wichita.


- The Americans promotional schedule is bigger and better than ever. The games with asterisks will be specialty jersey nights. Here is the link with all of the details including autograph nights, post game skate nights, giveaway games including the Steve Martinson Bobblehead and much more. https://allenamericans.com/promotional-schedule/  

*October 20 - Pink in the Rink
November 2 - Ladies Night Hockey in Heels
*November 3 - Marvel's Superhero Night
November 9 - Canada Day Eh?
November 10 - Veterans Night
November 16 - Faith and Family Night
November 30 - Jurassic Arena Night
*December 1 - Nickelodeon Night
December 4 - Education Day Game
December 21 - DC Comics Night
*December 22 - Christmas/Seinfeld Night
January 11 - It's a Small World Night
January 30 - Biscuit's Birthday
February 1 - Circus Night
*February 2 - Star Wars Night
February 15 - Single Awareness Night
*February 16 - Harry Potter Night
February 17 - Dr. Seuss Night
*February 23 - Military Appreciation Night
February 24 - Princess and Pirate Day
March 3 - Pucks and Paws
March 6 - Back to the Future Night
March 8 - Fight Night
*March 9 - Live From Allen, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT
*March 17 - St. Patrick's Day and Autism Night
March 22 - Children's Book Night
*March 23 - Police vs Fire Night
*March 29 - Fan Appreciation Weekend
March 30 - Fan Appreciation Weekend  


- Here is a link to the complete 2018-19 Allen Americans schedule: https://allenamericans.com/schedule/



DID YOU KNOW: The first game on the first Allen schedule was October 16, 2009. The Americans played on the road in Arizona and won the game by a score of 1-0. Christian Gaudet scored the lone goal at the 18:40 mark of the first period assisted by Bruce Graham and Nino Musitelli. Charlie Effinger was in goal and earned the 33 save shutout. The backup goalie that night was Chris Whitley who would go on to be the #2 all time in games played in goal for Allen (79 games). The #1 goalie all time in games played for Allen is Riley Gill (124 games played).

Shutout Win for Allen, Game Recaps, Martinson Comments, Great ECHL Attendance Continues and More

The turnaround from the Allen Americans poor opening night performance on Friday was swift as they went into Wichita last night and shutout the Thunder 4-0. Goalie C.J. Motte was the #1 star of the game with a 35 save shutout. It was the first shutout for Allen since the 2016-17 season. Goal scorers for Allen were Spencer Asuchak (1), Braylon Shmyr (1), Zach Pochiro (1) and Dante Salituro (1).

- Allen was able to dominate in puck possession by beating the Thunder to the puck and winning puck battles. The Americans accomplished all three keys to the game.

1. Allen scored first early in the opening period on Spencer Asuchak's first goal of the season and they won the first period taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

2. The Americans were doubled up on shots Friday night allowing 43 and taking 21. Last night against the Thunder, Allen had 34 shots on goal and allowed 35. A big improvement.

3. The third key was to win the special teams battle and the Americans technically accomplished that goal. Allen killed all seven Wichita power play opportunities and managed to get a shorthanded goal in the process by Zach Pochiro. The Americans were 0-3 on the power play after going 0-3 on Friday so that needs some work. A bigger concern is the Americans are taking too many minor penalties as they lead the ECHL with 18 in two games. More importantly Allen has given up 13 power play opportunities while only having six of their own.


- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/motte-and-the-americans-shutout-wichita-4-0/


- Here is a game recap that I highly recommend you take the time to read and watch. It includes a video recap from Matt Harding and Matt Will from Team Sin Bin. In a six minute video they provide a game analysis, a post game interview with Wichita coach Malcolm Cameron and video highlights of all four Allen goals. Job well done. https://thesinbin.net/motte-and-salituro-help-allen-get-win-number-one/



STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS

- We played a much better game tonight up and down the entire lineup.

- We used our speed in transition through the neutral zone and into our offensive zone. The team skated really well tonight.

- A big difference from Friday night is we were winning puck battles all over the ice.

- It was a complete turnaround from our game against Kansas City.



OTHER COMMENTS

- After the second day of the ECHL season there is just one team with four points, the Utah Grizzlies are 2-0-0-0. There is only one team that is 0-2-0-0, the Rapid City Rush.


- C.J. Motte leads all ECHL goalies in shots against (78) and saves (73). With his 35 save shutout last night Motte's save percentage is now at .936.


- So far it is turning out to be the year of the shorthanded goal. There were 11 last night after three on opening night. Projected over the entire season it would be over 700 shorthanded goals compared to a typical season when there are 250-300 shorties . You can see how the power play units are struggling early in the season when they have scored only 35 power play goals but given up 14 shorthanded goals.


- How important is home ice early in the season? There have been 19 games played thus far in the ECHL and the home team is12-5-2-0. The road teams record is 7-10-0-2.


- Some special team units are performing very well. Utah is 5-13 (38.5%) on the power play to lead the ECHL in power play goals. Several teams have yet to allow a power play goal but Fort Wayne is the standout of the 100% penalty kill group having killed 12 straight.


- The Americans returned to Allen after the game last night, will take the day off today, have a few days of practice before busing back to Wichita on Thursday for a rematch with the Thunder on Friday (7:05 pm). Both teams will head to Allen after the game where they will meet again in the Americans home opener on Saturday (October 20).


- The Vincent Arseneau watch continues for Allen fans. He was a healthy scratch again last night as his Utica Comets team beat Toronto 7-4. Arseneau has sat out all four Utica games thus far.



DID YOU KNOW: Great ECHL attendance continued on day two. Hats off to these Saturday night crowds:

10,934 - Wichita Thunder
10,240 - Tulsa Oiler
9049 - Orlando Solar Bears
8967 - Jacksonville Icemen
7377 - Cincinnati Cyclones
7130 - Norfolk Admirals

After 19 games ECHL average attendance is a lofty 6709. It is a great start to hopefully improve on average attendance from last season which was 4424.  

Opening Night Fail Game Recap, Martinson's Comments, Allen vs Wichita Preview, Three Keys to Victory, ECHL Opening Night Attendance

It was only the first of 72 games for Allen and you can't read anything into one game but there is no way to sugarcoat the poor performance by the Americans in their 5-1 defeat in Kansas City last night. The game had a familiar ring from last season with shots being one sided and losing the special teams battle. For good measure the Americans also gave up the first goal of the game, something they did in both preseason games against the Mavericks last weekend.


- The Americans were out shot in all three periods, 11-7 in the first, 21-9 in the second and 11-5 in the third for a total 43-21. You won't win many games when your opponent takes twice as many shots.


- Allen lost on special teams going 0-3 on the power play and giving up two power play goals to Kansas City. The Americans were 2-6 (66.7%) on the penalty kill.


- Allen gave up the first goal of the game which statistically gave them only a 20% chance of winning the game. The first goal was even more predictive around the ECHL last night. There were six games in the league last night and the team that scored first won five of the games, the sixth lost in overtime. After opening night the ECHL the first goal record is 5-0-1-0.


- Here is the press release issued by the Americans recapping the 5-1 loss to Kansas City,   https://allenamericans.com/americans-fall-in-season-opener/


- The loss to the Mavericks was the worst opening night loss in team history from a goal differential perspective losing by four goals but the worst opening night loss in team history is still the 9-6 loss at home on opening night in 2014-15. However, the Americans went on to win the Kelly Cup that season.


- How bad are the stats for the Americans after one game? Only 12 teams played last night, here is how the Americans rank.

Power Play - last (tied)
Penalty Kill - second from last (tied)
Goals For - last (tied)
Goals Against - last
Shots For - last
Shots Against - last
Plus/Minus - last



- Casey Pierro-Zabotel scored Allen's lone goal to tie the game in the first period. He was assisted by Alex Breton and Thomas Frazee. The game got out of hand in the second period as Kansas City scored three unanswered goals and out shot the Americans 21-9.


- The Americans took the short trip (200 miles) to Wichita after the game where they will take on the Thunder tonight (7:05 pm). Wichita played at home last night and beat Idaho 3-2 in a shootout.


- Allen split 12 games with Wichita last season but have dominated the Thunder since the teams joined the ECHL back in 2014. The Americans overall record against Wichita is 39-10-4-3 and when the teams have played in Wichita the Allen record is even better at 20-5-1-2.


- Here are three keys to victory against Wichita tonight.

1. Get off to a good start. Score the first goal and/or win the first period. Wichita had 17 shots in the first period last night against Idaho, Allen had seven against Kansas City. There can't be that kind of gap tonight.

2. Eliminate neutral zone turnovers which turn into shots for the opponent. Allen had 21 shots in their opener while Wichita had 42. That ratio has to be different tonight for Allen to be successful.

3. Win the special teams battle. Wichita didn't have a power play goal against Idaho (0-4) but they also didn't allow one (0-4). Allen was 0-3 on the power play but allowed Kansas City two power play goals (2-6). Allen needs to stay out of the penalty box. In their first three games (two preseason & one regular season) the Americans have had 12 power play opportunities but have given up 20 to their opponent. That is not a winning formula.


- Mike Gunn left the game last night with an upper body injury. Coach Martinson told me he is day to day and hasn't ruled out the possibility Gunn could be in the lineup against Wichita.


- The referee scheduled for tonight is Jacob Rekucki (#20). The linesmen will be Chris Provost (#50) and Chuck Schamel (#97).



STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS

"I thought we had good puck possession in the first period but we didn't get enough shots on net."

"Our power play just wasn't smart, we have some work to do there."

"After the first period we were just outplayed, pure and simple."



OTHER COMMENTS

- Other than the Allen blowout loss to Kansas City there were some tight games around the league last night. Newfoundland was at home for their first game for the new franchise and beat Florida 3-2, Toledo won 4-3 in overtime on the road in Greenville, Fort Wayne won 3-1 in Indy, Wichita beat Idaho at home 3-2 in a shootout and Rapid City lost 4-2 in Utah. There is a full slate of games (13) on tap in the ECHL tonight.


- It is only one game but the ECHL penalty minute leaders are David Makowski (20 minutes) and Bryan Moore (10 minutes). Makowski had five minor penalties (two roughing, slashing, high sticking, tripping) and a 10 minute misconduct. Moore was given a 10 minute match penalty for slew-footing.


- There were three shorthanded goals in the six games last night. Greenville, Utah and Toledo all tallied a shorty. If that pace were to continue all season there would be 500 shorthanded goals. In reality there will be around 250 shorthanded goals in the ECHL this season.


- The Allen Americans AHL affiliate the Iowa Wild beat the Texas Stars at home 4-3 in a shootout last night to remain undefeated. The Wild are now 3-0.

- For those on Vincent Arseneau watch he was a healthy scratch for Utica (AHL) again last night as his team lost 4-3. Arseneau has sat out all three Utica games thus far. As a reminder Allen has his ECHL rights so if Utica decided to assign him to the ECHL it would be to the Americans. 


- After the frustrating Allen loss last night how about a blooper reel. This one from the NHL 2013-14.

DID YOU KNOW: Impressive opening night attendance in the ECHL. There were six games played with an average attendance of 7230. Congrats to all the hard working sales & marketing staffs and to the fans for their great support.

 10,037 - Greenville Swamp Rabbits
 9530 - Wichita Thunder
 6875 - Utah Grizzlies
 6287 - Newfoundland Growlers
 5800 - Kansas City Mavericks
 4856 - Indy Fuel

Allen vs Kansas City Preview, Roster Update, Alternate Captains Named, Former Americans on ECHL Rosters, Opening Nights Since 2009-10 Revisited & More

The long wait is finally over. Allen Americans fans have waited 170 days between the disappointing game seven loss in the playoffs to the regular season opener tonight against the Kansas City Mavericks (7:05 pm). It is that time of year when all 27 ECHL teams are excited about their team and have high hopes on what is to come. Tonight starts the journey to see if what looks good on paper will look good on the ice.

- Allen and Kansas City played twice in preseason with the Americans winning both games. It is difficult to draw conclusions from the preseason games because both teams were missing key players each night. With that said, a couple of thoughts from the preseason.


- Allen won both preseason games but fell behind 3-0 in the first game and 1-0 in the second before making a comeback. Falling behind is not the recipe for success. Last season the Americans were 26-6-1-0 when they scored the first goal of the game. When they didn't score first their record was 9-23-5-2.


- Good starts were a positive last season with Allen outscoring opponents in the first period 70-54 for a goal differential of +16. The Americans were outscored (82-80) in the second period and the third period (88-79) last season. The first goal and winning the first period will be important for both teams tonight.


- Allen finished the two preseason games 2-9 (22.2%) on the power play and 3-14 (78.6%) on the penalty kill. The penalty kill was an Achilles heel for the Americans last season, finishing ranked #20 at 81.6%. Preseason is a small sample size and the penalty kill group had not been fully established so there is not much you can take from the results, however, the penalty kill will be something to watch tonight and during the early part of the season.


- Past isn't prologue but are here the head to head results between Allen and Kansas City since the teams joined the ECHL.

26-11-4-0 - Allen's overall record against Kansas City
11-7-1-0 - Allen's record in games played in Kansas City
15-4-3-0 - Allen's record in games played in Allen
3-4-1-0 - Allen's record against Kansas City last season.


- Both teams will be looking to make a big improvement from last season. Kansas City had a record of 34-32-4-2, missed the playoffs, finished sixth in the Central Division and finished 31 points behind division champion Toledo. This season the Mavericks have moved to the Mountain Division. Allen had a record of 35-29-6-2, finished third in the Mountain Division, finished 24 points behind eventual Kelly Cup champion Colorado and made a first round exit in the playoffs. It is only one game but a win tonight is important for both teams to build confidence in their new and hopefully improved team.


In case you missed it yesterday here is the opening day roster for the Allen Americans which totals 24 players. Goalie Andrew D'Agostini was released and forward Ben Duffy was traded to Norfolk to get the roster to 24.

ACTIVE ROSTER (20 players)

Goalies
Jeremy Brodeur
C.J. Motte

Defensemen
Josh Atkinson
Alex Breton
Joel Chouinard
Mike Gunn
Miles Liberati
David Makowski
Tate Olson
Josh Thrower


Forwards
Spencer Asuchak
J.C. Campagna
Thomas Frazee
Pavel Jenys
Chase Lang
Casey Pierro-Zabotel
Zach Pochiro
Dante Salituro
Braylon Shmyr
Jordy Stallard


RESERVE (2 players)
Dalton Thrower
Kevin Sundher


INJURED RESERVE (2 players)
Eric Roy
Chad Butcher

 A couple of things to keep in mind when looking at the list. First, players can be moved from the reserve to the active roster anytime so a change could happen as early as today. Second, injured reserve (IR) players must stay on IR a minimum of 14 days. Finally, there are 20 players on the active roster and only 18 can dress for the game so there will be two healthy scratches tonight.


- C.J. Motte is expected to makes his first start for the Allen Americans. Motte was just assigned to Allen by the Iowa Wild who signed him to an AHL deal in the off season. There are a lot of stats you can look at to determine how good Motte has been from a great college career (Hobey Baker finalist) to his time in the ECHL. What stood out to me was how he performed in his limited action when he has had call ups to the AHL. Here is the list:

2014-15 - four games with Bridgeport with a GAA of 2.49 and .917 save percentage
2016-17 - two games with Charlotte with a GAA of 0.75 and .976 save percentage
2017-18 - three games with Chicago with a GAA of 2.30 and .922 save percentage
2017-18 - six games with Iowa with a GAA of 2.13 and .926 save percentage


- One question I have been asked as opening night arrives is who will join captain Joel Chouinard and player/assistant coach Casey Pierro-Zabotel as alternate captains. I asked coach Martinson that question and he shared with me he has selected Spencer Asuchak, David Makowski and Mike Gunn to wear the "A's" this season. Congrats to all!


OTHER COMMENTS

-  If you didn't see the notification put out by the Americans the season ticket books for full season ticket holders have arrived. Any season ticket holder (full, half, partial) can pick up their season tickets at the Team Store today (Friday) and next week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The hours for Saturday are noon to 5:00 pm. On Sunday pickup hours will be 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.


- The ECHL announced opening day rosters for all teams yesterday. Here is the link: https://www.echl.com/news/2018/10/echl-announces-2018-19-season-opening-rosters


- Here are the former Allen Americans that made the opening day rosters around the ECHL. The players with an asterisk were in the just completed training camp with Allen but have only played for the Americans in preseason.

Adirondak - Peter MacArthur
Brampton - Reggie Traccitto
Florida - Matt Foget, Mitch Vandergunst*
Fort Wayne - Jamie Schaafsma
Kalamazoo - Jake Hildebrand
Norfolk - Chris Crane, Ben Duffy*
Orlando - Mike Brodzinski, Alex Schoenborn, Colby McAuley
Rapid City - Steve Tarasuk, Garrett Klotz, Tyler Poulsen
Reading - Alex Krushelnyski
Toledo - Matt Register, Bryan Moore
Tulsa - Steve Kaunisto
Wichita - Dyson Stevenson
Worcester - Tyler Barnes


- Check out this story and video from the Hockey News that is called everything from the no goal seen around the world to the pants goal to the butt goal. https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-no-goal-seen-round-the-world-eihls-dwyer-explains-his-viral-pants-goal



DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans opening night record is 6-3. They are 3-3 at home and a perfect 3-0 on the road. No matter when you started following the Americans these games will bring back some memories. 

2009-10 - In the first game in team history Allen wins 1-0 in Arizona. Christian Gaudet scored the only goal of the game late in the first period assisted by Bruce Graham and Nino Musitelli. Charlie Effinger was in goal for Allen and Chris Whitley was on the bench. Allen started on the road the first season because the Allen Event Center was not completed. The Americans played their first seven games in franchise history on the road. They returned to Allen after those first seven games 5-1-0-1.

2010-11 - Allen opens at home against Texas, scores three goals (Alexandre Quesnel, Dustin Donaghy, Judd Blackwater) in the first four minutes of the game and coasts to a 5-2 win.

2011-12 - Allen opens at home against Tulsa and gets beat 4-1 with Jim McKenzie getting the Americans only goal with just over a minute left in the game. Most notable in that game was a Gordie Howe hat trick by Tulsa's Gary Steffes who had a goal, an assist and a fight with Allen's Scott Langdon.

2012-13 - Allen opens the season at home and shuts out Arizona 4-0. Scott Howes had two goals in the game. The other goal scorers were Adam Pineault and Darryl Bootland. Steve Silverthorn was in goal and the backup was a rookie by the name of Aaron Dell. Dell would play sparingly the first few weeks of the season but eventually take over the starting role and lead the Americans to their first championship. What ever happened to that Dell guy?

2013-14 - Allen opened the season in Wichita and beat the Thunder 4-3 in a shootout. Allen had a 3-0 lead midway in the game on two goals by Darryl Bootland and one by Jonathan Lessard but let Wichita come back. The hero in the shootout was Kale Kerbashian who scored in the fifth round to win the game.

2014-15 - The worst opening night ever for Allen as they opened at home and got beat by Tulsa 9-6. Greger Hanson was the lone bright spot for Allen with a whopping 11 shots on goal, four points and a hat trick. Aaron Dell was in goal for the Americans and gave up seven of the nine goals. Whatever happened to that Dell guy? Actually, it was Dell's only regulation loss in the 12 games he played for Allen that season. By the end of January he was in the AHL on his way to the NHL.

2015-16 - Another opening night loss as the Quad City Mallards came to the Allen Event Center and beat the Americans 2-1. Allen's lone goal was scored by Garrett Clarke with assists going to Justin Courtnall and goalie Joel Rumpel. You didn't see those three in the boxscore very often let alone on the same play.

2016-17 - It was an opening night win as Allen was at home and beat Missouri 6-3. Kale Kerbashian had two goals and Riley Gill was peppered with 47 shots.

2017-18 - It was an opening night like no other as the Americans went on the road and beat the Rapid City Rush 8-3. The eight goals is the most ever scored by the Americans in a season opener. The five goal margin of victory is the largest ever in a season opener and the first goal of the season was a shorthanded goal scored by Jonathan Lessard. Lessard and Zach Pochiro each had two goals for the Americans.

2018-19 Allen Americans Season Preview

Here is the opening day roster for the Allen Americans which totals 24 players. Goalie Andrew D'Agostini has been released and forward Ben Duffy has been traded to Norfolk.

ACTIVE ROSTER (20 players)

Goalies
Jeremy Brodeur
C.J. Motte

Defensemen
Josh Atkinson
Alex Breton
Joel Chouinard
Mike Gunn
Miles Liberati
David Makowski
Tate Olson
Josh Thrower


Forwards
Spencer Asuchak
J.C. Campagna
Thomas Frazee
Pavel Jenys
Chase Lang
Casey Pierro-Zabotel
Zach Pochiro
Dante Salituro
Braylon Shmyr
Jordy Stallard 


RESERVE (2 players)
Dalton Thrower
Kevin Sundher


INJURED RESERVE (2 players)
Eric Roy
Chad Butcher


When you have a successful franchise and a successful coach the expectations for the Allen Americans are always very high. You often hear players, coaches and fans around the league talk about how the upcoming season will be a push for the playoffs. The expectations in Allen never change, anything less than a championship is considered an unsuccessful season.


THE FRANCHISE:  This will be the tenth season since the Allen Americans franchise was founded. The team has never missed the playoffs, made it to the championship finals in the very first year and has won championships in four of the last six seasons. Allen's record since joining the ECHL (2014) is 173-84-19-12.


THE COACH: Steve Martinson starts his seventh season as the head coach of the Americans. He is a coaching legend in AA hockey winning 10 championships in 22 years. In his first six years as the coach in Allen he has won four championships. Martinson's playoff series record in Allen is 15-2.  Martinson will reach 1000 regular season career wins this season. He currently sits at 978.


LAST SEASON: Allen's record last season was 35-29-6-2. If you had to describe last season for the Allen Americans in one word that word would be inconsistent. The Americans won their first three games of the season by averaging over six goals per game and outscoring their opponents 19-8 but then turned around and lost five in a row. That pattern would repeat itself several times over the course of the season though losing streaks were more prevalent than winning streaks. There were four losing streaks (four or more games) and just two winning streaks of that length. The low point came from the end of December to the end of January when Allen lost 11 of 13 games.

If you look at the entire 2017-18 season it was a good start followed by a disastrous middle followed by a good finish. Here are the winning percentages broken into three monthly groups. To give you an idea of how bad January and February were the winning percentage (.326) was much lower than the winning percentage of the worst team in the ECHL last season (.382). Injuries, call ups and suspensions really cost the Americans after a good start. 

.641 - October, November, December
.326 - January and February
.647 - March and April

Allen finished the season with the lowest point total in team history (78) and remember the first five seasons in the CHL they only played 66 games rather than the 72 they play in the ECHL.

Special teams proved to be an Achilles heel most of the season for Allen. The Americans have always been at or near the top of the league in power play and penalty kill percentage. The stats last season were way below prior seasons. Here are the stats:

Power Play
17.1%  -  2017-18 (ranked #15)
24.4%  -  2016-17
21.1%  -  2015-16
21.9%  -  2014-15

Penalty Kill
81.6%  -  2017-18 (ranked #20)
84.4%  -  2016-17
86.6%  -  2015-16
86.3%  -  2014-15

After struggling to just make the playoffs the Americans went on the road in the first round and won two games in Idaho and then returned to Allen and took game three. With a 3-0 series lead the Americans had a historic collapse, losing the series 4-3 and exited the playoffs in the first round. It was only the second time in the 30 year history of the ECHL a team had lost in the playoffs after taking a 3-0 series lead.



OVERVIEW: Steve Martinson is as good a recruiter as there is in the ECHL. You don't win in AA hockey if you can't recruit. There isn't a single player that was part of all four Allen championships, the only constant was Steve Martinson. Turnover is part of the game and some good players that spent time in Allen last season are missing. Vincent Arseneau and Olivier Archambault are with AHL teams, Alex Guptill is playing in England and Bryan Moore is in Toledo. Martinson did what he does every off season and that is to find a new crop of players he can win with.

Martinson made it clear his approach to recruiting would be different from last season. Martinson's focus this season has been much more on having experienced players that are committed to playing in Allen combined with young players that want to move up.  Last season David Makowski, Spencer Asuchak and Thomas Frazee were all on AHL deals. This season they are not under AHL contracts. Add in player/assistant Casey Pierro-Zabotel who along with captian Joel Chouinard has not missed a game the last two seasons and you have a core group totally focused on winning another Kelly Cup for Allen.

Another focus for recruitment was to improve team speed and that has clearly been accomplished.

Finally, Martinson has found a new affiliate for the upcoming season in the Minnesota/Iowa Wild. It is a great relationship that will benefit all involved.




THE RESULTS: Everything has fallen into place much better than coach Martinson could have ever imagined. He has a core  group returning including Casey Pierro-Zabotel (#6 in the league in points, #2 in assists), David Makowski (#2 in points by defenseman and runner-up as league defensman of the year), Joel Chouinard (#4 in the ECHL in points by defenseman), Spencer Asuchak (longest tenured Allen player and best net front player on the team) and Thomas Frazee (helped Allen make the playoffs as the leading scorer the last 12 games of the season).

Add to the veteran core group is a talented crop of rookies and second year players. Forwards Braylon Shmyr, Chad Butcher, Jordy Stallard and Dante Salituro (assigned by Minnesota) were all the top scorer for their team in juniors.

Martinson recruited three defensemen who can skate and will make a difference on the blue line and will jump into the play. One of them, Alex Breton, was his team's second leading scorer last season as a defensemen.

Allen has received five players from Iowa, C.J. Motte, Dante Salituro, Pavel Jenys, Chase Lang and Josh Thrower. They will all have a chance to contribute.



WHO IS MISSING: The big piece missing is Vincent Arseneau. He is the type of players that is almost impossible to replace. He is an offensive weapon that strikes fear in opponents as the heaviest hitter in the league. Allen owns Arseneau's ECHL rights and he didn't play in Utica's (AHL) first two regular season games so there is hope he could be in Allen at some time but if not Martinson will look to add a player similar to Arseneau.


Two of Allen's top scorers are not back (Alex Guptill & Bryan Moore) but offense should not be a problem for this team. The Americans scored 235 goals last season. The current roster scored a total of 316 goals last season.


THE OLD AND NEW: The Allen roster this season is definitely different than in the past. The oldest players are 29 (Pierro-Zabotel & Makowski) while six are only 21 and another four are 22.. The Americans average age is 24.15 which makes them the fifth youngest team in the ECHL.



THE GOALIES:  A team is always as good as their goaltenders and Allen had the best in the business in Riley Gill who was injured in his second start last season and missed the remainder of the season. C.J. Motte and Jeremy Brodeur will be the goalies to start the season for Allen. Motte was just assigned to Allen by Iowa. He is the fifth goalie in the Minnesota Wild system so if there are any injuries in Iowa or Minnesota he will be called up. Last season Motte spent most of his time in Quad City. Playing for the last place team in the ECHL he had a GAA of 3.45 and save percentage of .910 in 28 games. He excelled when called up to the AHL. He played three games for the Chicago Wolves and had a 2.30 GAA and .922 save percentage. In six games with the Iowa Wild he had a GAA of 2.13 and a save percentage of .926. He will get a lot of work in Allen, starting with the season opener in Kansas City on Friday night. Jeremy Brodeur will be counted on just as he was last season when he compiled a GAA of 3.15 and save percentage of .917 in 39 games.


BOTTOM LINE: Offense should not be a problem for this team. The team has more speed than ever before. It all makes for a high octane entertaining style of hockey. I heard coach Martinson share his key to success after practice at the end of training camp and I couldn't agree more. If the team makes a commitment to getting back on defense and uses their speed at both ends of the rink it will lead to success. Allen fans can look forward to a turnaround from a disappointing season in 2017-18.  

Opening Day Roster Due this Afternoon, Four Players From Iowa Arrive in Allen, Player Profiles and More

The Allen Americans roster increased to 26 players yesterday as four players from the Iowa Wild roster were assigned to the Americans. Two of the players, left wing Pavel Jenys and center Chase Lang are under NHL contracts so the technical term for their assignment is, reassigned by Minnesota (NHL) to Allen (ECHL). The other two players, goalie C.J. Motte and defenseman Josh Thrower are under contract to the Iowa Wild (AHL) so their transaction is, loaned to Allen (ECHL).


- The Allen roster as of this morning includes three goalies, 10 defensemen and 13 forwards but that number will be reduced by this afternoon when the opening day roster is submitted to the league office (2:00 pm). General manager Steve Martinson has never kept more than eight defensemen to start the season so something must be in the works to reduce that number. There will only be two goalies on the opening day roster in my opinion and they will be C.J. Motte and Jeremy Brodeur.


- How many players on the opening day roster remains to be seen and nothing is certain until the list is made public. Remember, there can be 21 players on the active roster for the first month of the season as long as their cumulative salaries stay under the salary cap ($13,470). In addition there can be two players on reserve that don't count against the salary cap. The final category is injured reserve (IR). An unlimited number of players can be placed on injured reserve but once placed on IR they must remain for minimum of 14 days.


-  Here is the press release issued by the Allen Americans about the four players from Iowa that should be at practice this morning: https://allenamericans.com/americans-receive-four-from-iowa/


- Here is some additional information about Pavel Jenys, Chase Lang, and C.J. Motte. Allen fans are already familiar with Josh Thrower. Josh was invited to the Minnesota Wild prospect tournament in early September and earned himself a contract with the Iowa Wild (AHL) based on his performance.

PAVEL JENYS

Pavel Jenys

 Pavel is a 6'3" 210 pound, 22 year old who hails from the Czech Republic. He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the seventh round of the 2014 NHL draft. He is a left shot who is listed as a left wing on the Iowa roster. Over the last two seasons he has played in 94 ECHL games (Quad City and Rapid City) and had 51 points (29G, 22A) for a points per game average of .54. He has played in 17 AHL games for the Iowa Wild and had four points (1G, 3A). When you read scouting reports his strengths are his size which enables him to win puck battles in the corners, his ability as net front player, his quick and accurate shot. He has never been a top scorer on his team so look for Jenys to be contribute in more ways than just the scoreboard. He could thrive the the Martinson style offense and improve on his results in Rapid City last season when he had 35 points (17G, 18A) in 48 games. Here is the only video I could find of Pavel.

C.J. MOTTE

C.J. Motte

C.J. is a 6'0" 185 pound goalie from Michigan who is starting his fifth year as a professional. He played his college hockey at Ferris State University where he served as captain of the team in his senior season. He was a Hobey Baker (Heisman for hockey) finalist is in 2013-14 and was also an all-academic player in college. C.J. has a brother (Tyler) who is a forward for the NHL Vancouver Canucks. Last season Motte spent most of his time in Quad City. Playing for the last place team in the ECHL he had a GAA of 3.45 and save percentage of .910 in 28 games. He excelled when called up to the AHL. He played three games for the Chicago Wolves and had a 2.30 GAA and .922 save percentage. In six games with the Iowa Wild he had a GAA of 2.13 and a save percentage of .926. His great play in Iowa earned him an AHL deal and he will be their depth goalie if there are any injuries in Iowa or Minnesota. He will get a lot of work in Allen, starting with the season opener in Kansas City on Friday night.

Here is a shootout save Motte made a couple of years ago:

CHASE LANG

Chase Lang

Chase is 6'1" 193 pound, right shot center from British Columbia. The 22 year old was the sixth round draft choice of the Minnesota Wild in the 2014 NHL draft. He played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Last season he played 22 games with Iowa (0G, 2A) and 18 games for Rapid City (4G, 6A). Lang had good numbers in his junior career but has not transferred those numbers to his pro career. What Lang will bring to the Allen lineup is a two way player that will excel defensively and is a good penalty killer. Here is a video I found about Chase that is self explanatory:

DID YOU KNOW: With the addition of the four players from Iowa, the Americans average age is now 24.15 which places them as the fifth youngest team in the ECHL. The current roster has played 571 games in the AHL.