It is game day for the Allen Americans as they visit the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado to take on the Colorado Eagles. It will be the seventh and final meeting between Allen and Colorado with each team winning three times in the previous six games. Both teams come into the game playing well. The Eagles have won their last five games and the Americans are on a three game winning streak and have scored points in their last five contests.
It will be interesting to see how the game tonight plays out.
There were 20 fighting majors in their first four games but no
fisticuffs in the last two. The last two times these teams played (both in Allen) there were only 12 combined penalty minutes in each game.
- Here is a comparison between Allen and Colorado:
ALLEN COLORADO
Team Record 32-19-3-2 (69 points) 30-23-2-0 (62 points)
Division Ranking 2nd - Central 3rd -West
Conference Ranking 4th - Western 7th - Western
League Ranking 8th 14th
Home Record 16-6-2-1 20-7-2-2
Road Record 16-13-1-1 10-16-0-0
Past 10 Games 5-3-1-1 7-3-0-0
Last Game 4-3 W (Wichita) 3-1 W (Fort Wayne)
Goals For 172 171
Goals Against 160 143
Power Play 21.4% (46/215) 17.5% (34/194)
Penalty Kill 87.0% (28/216) 86.1% (33/238)
Most PIM's Stevenson (87) Bootland (215)
Leading Scorer Costello (21-55-76) Daavettila (19-42-61)
- Here is how Allen and Colorado rank in the ECHL in some statistical categories:
Penalty Minutes Per Game: Allen 3rd (16.23) - Colorado 1st (20.56)
Goals Scored Per Game: Allen 9th (3.07) - Colorado 5th (3.11)
Goals Allowed Per Game: Allen 15th (2.86) - Colorado 7th (2.60)
Shots For Per Game: Allen 25th (27.73) - Colorado 20th (29.29)
Shots Against Per Game: Allen 14th (30.00) - Colorado 2nd (26.76)
Power Play Percentage: Allen 1st (21.4%) - Colorado 8th (17.5%)
Penalty Kill Percentage: Allen 1st (87.0%) - Colorado 7th (86.1%)
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The game tonight features the top two scorers in the ECHL. Keep your eye
on Allen's #13 Chad Costello (76 points) and Colorado's #45 Trent
Daavettila (61 points).
- Head to head in the six games Allen has played Colorado, the leading scorer for the Eagles is #29 Jesse Mychan with four goals and four assists. Costello is the leading scorer for the Americans with two goal and four assists.
- There are definitely some interesting statistical contrasts between Allen and Colorado that could very well determine the outcome of the game. Allen has trouble generating shots (ranked 25th) while Colorado is great at not allowing shots (ranked #2). Allen has the best power play in the ECHL at 21.4% but on the road they are even better at 23.9% while Colorado has a lower penalty kill percentage at home (83.2%) than they do on the road (88.5%).
- Colorado has scored the first goal in all six previous games against Allen. Sure would be nice to see that streak broken given the fact Allen has the best record in the ECHL (24-2-1-1) when scoring first.
- Colorado has won their last five home games and allowed only seven goals in the five games. Goals allowed in the five games were 0, 2, 2, 2, 1.
- Allen has struggled on the road recently losing seven of their last nine road games.
- The officials scheduled for the game are referee Jeremy Tufts (#6) and linesmen Josh Pergande (#78) and Jon Shaw #76).
OTHER COMMENTS
- In Central Division action last night Wichita beat Missouri 3-2 in a shootout. It was the first win of the season for the Thunder who now have a record of 1-11-0-1 against the Mavericks. Tulsa lost to Evansville 6-2 to remain eight points in back of Allen. Missouri became the first ECHL team to clinch a playoff spot last night.
- The Midwest Division has become quite a battle between Fort Wayne and Cincinnati for the top spot. Last night Cincinnati beat Quad City 6-2 while Fort Wayne lost to Rapid City 8-6. Cincinnati is the hottest team in the Western Conference (8-1-0-1) while Fort Wayne has been struggling (4-4-1-1). What was once a comfortable lead for Fort Wayne is now down to just one point.
- Make sure to keep an eye on the San Jose Barracuda game this afternoon as they take on the Bakersfield Condors in a game that will start at 1:15 PM PST. Joel Rumpel is scheduled to get his first AHL start. Good luck to Joel! UPDATE: Aaron Dell got the start for San Jose and Joel was the back up. The teams play again tomorrow (Sunday) so let's hope Joel gets the start.
- Don't forget ECHL TV is free for all games tomorrow (March 6th) so you can check out the Allen vs Rapid City game at no cost. You can find the details at http://www.echl.com/
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Thanks to Kevin for today's question.
Q: I was watching the highlights from Allen's 2014 championship against Denver and was wondering what happened to AJ Gale after his injury in game two? Did he ever play again after that game?
A: That was quite a hit that put Gale out of the series. The hit was made by Ross Rouleau who was a friend and teammate of Gale's with the Texas Brahmas in 2009-10. I actually had a chance to talk to Gale about the hit in the press box when he was sitting out after the injury and he told me Ross made a clean hit and it was just a good hockey play. If you recall there was no penalty called on the play. Gale's professional career ended after the 2013-14 season but he did join a famous AAA Senior Men's team at the end of last season (2014-15) for their playoffs. According to eliteprospects.com Gale played eight playoff games and had eight goals for the Bentley Generals (Bentley, Alberta) as they finished runner up for the Allan Cup which is awarded to the national senior men's amateur ice hockey champions of Canada. The Allan Cup has been competed for since 1909. Incidentally, Bentley is the same team Ian Schultz signed with after he left Allen to go home.
DID YOU KNOW: Riley Gill will make his first start in goal for Allen tonight since January 17. Did you know Riley is one of just three goalies that have won multiple Kelly Cups with different teams? In addition to winning with Allen last season he won with Reading in 2013. Riley is all over the ECHL all-time record book. He is second all-time in playoff games in his career (60), playoff minutes played ((3492) and playoff games won (36). Riley also ranks second all time in ECHL playoff shutouts in one year with four which he accomplished in Reading in 2013.
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