Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Regular Season Wrapup

- With the regular season completed it is time to take a look back and see what transpired. The one overriding factor when looking back after five years is how successful the Allen Americans franchise has been. Americans fans are spoiled because the team has been successful from day one. If you remember in 2009 because the Allen Event Center wasn't completed the team played the first seven games in franchise history on the road, started with a four game winning streak and were 5-2 on the road trip. Going to the Presidents' Cup finals that first year set the bar high and it has been high ever since with two Governor's Cups and the Presidents' Cup last year. So the bottom line is Americans fans have as great organization, a great facility, a great community and a great group of young men to cheer for in Allen.

- The 2013-2014 regular season was a difficult one because of the many injuries that occurred and the games lost to injury. The team completed the season with 83 points and finished in third place in the standings, both all time lows. However, the 39 wins this year matches the number of wins the team had the past two seasons. The all time record for wins and points was set during the 2010-2011 season when Allen had 47 wins and 97 points.

- The team finished with 1498 penalty minutes which is second all time to the 1571 penalty minutes the team had last year. The 2010-2011 team had the fewest penalty minutes with 1184.

- When you look at individual records Spencer Asuchak, Garrett Klotz, Alex Lavoie and Tyler Ludwig have established some that may stand for a long time.
  Asuchak led the CHL in shorthanded goals with five and now holds the Allen single season record. No Americans player had ever scored more than three shorthanded goals prior to this season.
  Klotz broke the single season penalty minute record with 257 minutes surpassing the old record held by Garrett Clark of 223 minutes.
  Lavoie set all of the Allen rookie scoring records and by a wide margin. His 76 points (25 goals 51 assists) will be difficult to beat. He was named CHL Rookie of the Year by the most lopsided vote in any of the year end award categories.
  Ludwig now owns all of the single season and career scoring records for defensemen. This year he broke his own record for most points with 55 and he blew away the goal scoring record by scoring 20 goals.

- Here are the team leaders for this season:

The "Ironmen" for the year were Spencer Asuchak, Mike Berube, and Daniel Tetrault who played in all 66 games. This is quite an accomplishment to be there for your team every night through all of the battles.

Goals: Lessard (28), Lavoie (25), Asuchak, Schaafsma, Hanson all with 21
Assists: Lavoie (51), Asuchak & Tyler Ludwig (35)
Points: Lavoie (76), Lessard (57), Asuchak (56),
Plus/Minus: Schaafsma (+25), Berube (+14), Tyler Ludwig (+13)
PIM: Klotz (257), Bootland (145), Hendrikx (114)
Power Play Goals: Ludwig (12), Lessard (9), Tetrault (7)
Power Play Assists: Lavoie (19), Ludwig (18), Hanson & Kerbashian (12)
Shorthanded Goals: Asuchak (5), six tied with one
Game Winning Goals: Lessard & Kerbashian (5), McMillin, Lavoie, Ludwig & Hanson (4)
Shots: Lessard (215), Hanson (191), Ludwig (170)
Shooting Percentage: Fox (17.4%), Lavoie (14.9%), Bootland (13.4%)
GAA: Pitton (2.75)
Save Percentage: Pitton (.916)

OTHER NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

- Mike Berube had more points (22) than any other season he has played in Allen.

- Brian McMillin had 31 points (13 goals 18 assists) this year in only 39 games which is one more points than he scored in the regular season last year in 58 games.

- Who would have guessed in training camp the three leading scorers this year would be three of the youngest guys on the team, Two rookies (Lavoie and Asuchak) and a second year pro (Lessard).

- Daniel Tetrault, the oldest player on the team not only played in all 66 games this year, he climbed to 12th on the all time list of games played in the CHL. He now has 583 games played in the CHL.

- Jamie Schaafsma, who struggled to score at the beginning of the year came back with a vengeance and ended up with more points this year (55 points) than he had last year (47 points). Jamie also showed his versatility by playing defense when injuries took a toll on defensemen. 

- As mentioned earlier injuries certainly took a toll this year and to key players. Jarret Lukin got injured at Thanksgiving and never returned to the lineup, Trevor Ludwig got a serious skate cut on his arm on January 3rd that put him out for the season, Phil Fox started the season with knee surgery and ended the season with a separated shoulder that limited him to 39 games this year, Darryl Bootland was limited to 45 regular season games but at least is not out for the season like the others.

Let's Hope There is More Confetti to Come - Courtesy CHL Memes


DID YOU KNOW: The best thing the Allen Americans have going for them is good luck charm Jamie Schaafsma. Jamie has been in the championship finals for the last five years playing for four different teams. Let's hope that streak stays alive.









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