Allen vs Thunder Preview, Zion & Kerbashian Return, CHL Memes

- It is hard to believe the Allen Americans are in the homestretch of the regular season. It seems like yesterday all of the new and old faces were at training camp. Tonight starts the final seven games of the season and they will be played in a grueling eleven days, luckily six of the games will be at home. The opponent tonight is the Wichita Thunder and at first blush it might appear Allen has a big advantage as Wichita is mired in ninth place in the standings and are five points out of the final playoff spot. But if you look closer Wichita has a lot on the line as the team they are chasing is Arizona and they close the season with three games against the Sundogs so they are still very much in the race for the last playoff spot. Wichita has been playing well going 2-0-3 in their last five games while Allen is 3-1-1 in their last five games. The Thunder have split six games with the Americans this year and have won two of three games at the Allen Event Center. And after the dramatic way the championship series ended last year as Wichita had the Presidents' Cup in their grasp and saw it slip away in overtime there is always plenty of motivation when the Thunder come to the AEC.

- Stopped by practice yesterday and as expected Kale Kerbashain, Jon Zion, & Jarret Lukin were practicing but Garrett Klotz was not. According to coach Martinson both Zion, who hasn't played since March 7th and Kerbashain, who has not played since February 23rd, will return to the line up tonight. 

- Look for a high scoring game tonight as the winning team in all six of the previous meetings between Allen and Wichita has scored four or five goals.

- Leading scorers in the six games against Wichita this year are Kale Kerbashain with 11 points (3 goals 8 assists) and Jonathan Lessard with six points (4 goals 2 assists). Keep an eye on #18 for Wichita who is RG Flath. Flath always plays well against Allen and has five goals in the six games played this year.

- The special teams key for the game is the Allen power play which has been very good recently and is now ranked #3 in the league against the Thunder penalty kill which is ranked #9 in the league. If Allen can win the special teams battle with a successful power play they should win the game. 

- Here is the comparison between Allen and Wichita:

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                                  Allen Americans            Wichita Thunder   
RESULT OF LAST GAME               OTL  3-4 vs DEN            OTL  3-4 vs TUL   
GAMES PLAYED                      59                         59                
RECORD                            34-20-5                    25-27-7           
POINTS                            73                         57                
HOME RECORD                       16-8-3                     12-16-3           
AWAY RECORD                       18-12-2                    13-11-4           
SHO RECORD                        4-4                        6-4               
LAST 10 GAMES                     7-2-1                      3-4-3             
LAST 5 GAMES                      3-1-1                      2-0-3             
OCTOBER                           5-0-1                      1-2-2             
NOVEMBER                          7-6-0                      3-9-2             
DECEMBER                          5-4-1                      7-4-0             
JANUARY                           8-1-2                      7-4-0             
FEBRUARY                          5-7-0                      5-6-0             
MARCH                             4-2-1                      2-2-3                         
SCORING FIRST                     20-6-3                     12-8-3            
LEADING AFTER 1ST                 15-6-0                     11-6-2            
LEADING AFTER 2ND                 20-2-3                     13-4-2            
TIED AFTER 1ST                    10-4-3                     9-13-2            
TIED AFTER 2ND                    11-4-2                     7-9-3             
TRAILING AFTER 1ST                9-10-2                     5-8-3             
TRAILING AFTER 2ND                3-14-0                     5-14-2            
WHEN OUTSHOOTING OPPONENT         16-11-1                    12-17-3           
1 - GOAL GAMES                    13-3-5                     14-7-7            
GOALS FOR PER GAME                3.68                       2.98              
GOALS AGAINST PER GAME            3.31                       3.22              
SHOTS FOR PER GAME                33.15                      30.86             
SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME            32.68                      29.63             
POWER PLAY RECORD                 60 - 302   19.9%           49 - 264   18.6%  
PENALTY KILLING RECORD            53 - 311   83.0%           47 - 235   80.0%  
SH GOALS FOR                      9                          5                 
SH GOALS AGAINST                  9                          12                
PIM AVERAGE                       22.68                      14.22

Courtesy of CHL Memes

Courtesy of CHL Memes

DID YOU KNOW: If you look at goals scored this season the Americans have outscored their opponents by one goal in the first period and twenty two goals in the second period, The have actually been outscored in the third period by one goal. Here are the goals scored by period:

SCORING BY PERIODS    1ST  2ND  3RD  OT  TOTAL  
Allen                 61   80   71   5   217    
Opponents             60   58   72   5   195