Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Roster Update, Team Statistical Leaders, Team Rankings, Past All-Star Game Results & More

It was back to practice for the Allen Americans yesterday as they prepare for three games in four days starting with the Wichita Thunder on Friday and then Missouri on Sunday and Monday. The roster is starting to look a little thin. Dyson Stevenson, Riley Gill, Kale Kerbashian and Aaron Gens are out with injuries. Travis Brown was injured in his first game after being recalled by San Jose and will be out for several weeks. He will be returning to Allen for his rehabilitation. Jake Marchment was recalled by San Jose yesterday.

- Everyone else should be ready to go by Friday even though at this time of year everyone is not 100%. Harrison Ruopp should be back in the lineup for the first time since December 14. If you add it all up you get nine forwards and seven defensemen available for Friday unless something changes.  If coach Martinson goes with seven defenseman someone will be called on to help out at forward.


 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS

- It has been a while since the statistical leaders have been included in the blog. There has been a dramatic change in the numbers recently. In the last 10 games Allen's record is 9-0-0-1 and they have outscored their opponents 57-18.  Below are the team leaders in various statistical categories with the league rank in parentheses:

Points:
62 - Chad Costello (1st)
45 - Greger Hanson (4th)
35 - Spencer Asuchak (20th)

Goals:
20 - Chad Costello (6th)
20 - Greger Hanson (6th)
15 - Spencer Asuchak (17th)

Assists:
42 - Chad Costello (1st)
25 - Greger Hanson (10th)
20 - Spencer Asuchak (31st)

Plus/Minus:
+26 - Joel Chouinard (1st)
+17 - David Makowski (6th)
+13 - Dyson Stevenson (18th)

Penalty Minutes:
156 - Derek Mathers (1st)
81 - Mike Gunn (13th)
66 - Dyson Stevenson (25th)

Shots On Goal:
156 - Greger Hanson (1st)
118 - Chad Costello (13th)
96 - Spencer Asuchak (34th)

Points By Defensemen:
22 - Joel Chouinard (8th)
16 - Eric Roy (25th)
16 - David Makowski (25th)


- Riley Gill is ranked #1 in GAA (2.12), #1 in save percentage (.938), #4 in wins (15), #1 in shutouts (5), #7 in minutes (1246) and #3 in saves (710).

- In addition to leading the ECHL in overall points and assists Chad Costello is #1 in power play points (21) and #2 in power play assists (17).

- Derek Mathers leads the league in penalty minutes with 156 which is 22 more than second place. Derek has 18 major penalties, second place has 10. According to the website dropyourgloves.com Derek has 17 fights this season which is six more than anyone else in the league. He has not lost a fight all year but four have been rated a draw 

- Greger Hanson is on pace for a career year. He has 20 goals and 25 assists in half a season. The most points, goals and assists Greger has ever had was in 2014-15 when he had 67 points, 31 goals and 36 assists. Hanson is on pace to finish this season with 88 points, 39 goals and 49 assists. 

- Spencer Asuchak has never scored more than 21 goals in a season going all the way back to his junior career. He already has 15 goals and is on pace to finish the season with 30 goals.


TEAM RANKINGS

Here is how Allen ranks in the ECHL in most every category the league tracks. The list shows   the category, the rank and the raw number. Some numbers are average per game.

League Standings: #3 (22-13-1-1)
Penalty Minutes: #1 (20.41)
Overtime & Shootout Record: #3 (5-1-1)
Record When Scoring First: #5 (17-2-1-1)
Overall Power Play %: #10 (18.1%)
Home Power Play %: #10 (20.0%)
Road Power Play %: #14 (16.3%)
Overall Penalty Kill %: #8 (85.7%)
Home Penalty Kill %: #15  (84.1%)
Road Penalty Kill %: #5 (87.4%)
Shorthanded Goals For: #11 (4)
Shorthanded Goals Against: #27 (8)
Goals Scored Per Game: #3 (3.76)
Goals Against Per Game: #2 (2.73)
Shots For Per Game: #6 (32.92)
Shots Against Per Game: #21 (33.89)
Attendance: #11 (4184)


- The last time the stats above were posted in the blog was just over a month ago (December 5). A couple of examples can explain how far the team has come in a month. On December 5 Allen was ranked #19 (2.91) in goals scored, today they are #3 (3.76). They were #14 (3.13) in goals allowed, today they are #2 (2.73). The power play on December 5 was ranked #23 (10.6%), today it is ranked #8 at 18.1%. Finally, on December 5th Allen had a team plus/minus of -8. Today it is +153. That is a lot of progress in a short period of time.


- Allen's Attendance (4184) continues to lag behind last season. After 17 homes dates in 2015-16 Allen was averaging 4675 per game. Attendance is down 491 per game which equates to a 10.5% decline. Leaguewide attendance is down 4.4% compared to the same period last season. 




OTHER COMMENTS


- All three Mountain Division teams with a better winning percentage than Allen will be in action tonight. Colorado is in Boise to take on Idaho and Alaska is at home against the Orlando Solar Bears. If Idaho loses to Colorado, Allen will pass the Steelheads and move into third place in the division in winning percentage. If Idaho beats the Eagles in regulation there will be a three way tie for first place with 46 points (Allen, Colorado, Idaho).


- The All-Star break is coming up next week but as they have done in the past coach Martinson and the players have agreed to delay the break until February. Just coming off the Christmas break and having a lot of days between games this month it makes sense to delay the days off for the All-Star break.


- Jersey reversal date is coming up on January 20. The white jerseys will become the road jersey and the red the home jersey. There are always a few exceptions to this rule but get ready to see red as the predominant jersey at the Allen Event Center the rest of the season.


- J.P. LaFontaine was traded yesterday by the Elmira Jackals to the Toledo Walleye. That is a trade that is literally going from worst to first in one day. Elmira has the worst record in the ECHL (19 points) and Toledo has the best record (53 points). Best of luck to J.P.



DID YOU KNOW: The last three times the ECHL All-Star game was held (2015, 2013 & 2011) it was the All-Stars vs the host team. The host teams did not fare well as in 2015 the All-Stars beat Orlando 8-4, in 2013 the All-Stars beat Colorado 7-3 and in 2011 the All-Stars beat Bakersfield 9-3. With the 2017 All-Star host being the Adirondack Thunder who are in fourth place in their division it will probable be another beat down for the host team. The game is non-traditional to say the least with five minutes of four on four and ten minutes of three on three hockey toward the end of the game. The skills competition (fastest skater, hardest shot, skills relay) will add points/goals to the final score. If you are interested in all of the format details you can find them at this link: http://echlthunder.com/news/press_releases/index.html?article_id=616 





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