ALLEN, Texas – It was kind of back to “practice” for the Allen Americans yesterday after a weekend where they split two games with the Utah Grizzlies. You can call it practice, but in reality, it was more like a bunch of friends saying, let’s meet at the pond at 10:30 am, divide up sides and have some fun.
No coaches, no pressure, just a bunch of guys that love hockey and were having some fun. It was a rematch of the Lefties vs Righties and from what I observed a good time was had by all.
– While the players were on the ice, the coaches were going through the video of the Utah games to prepare for the rest of the week. Don’t think it was very difficult to find clips of defensive breakdowns, turnovers, and not getting pucks in deep that will be the focus of practice this week.
– The good news for Allen is they are off to a 3-1 start, which is good enough for the fifth-best winning percentage in the ECHL. Head coach Steve Martinson has emphasized despite the good start there is plenty of work to be done. Here are some stats that point out that there is much room for improvement.
– Allen is the only team in the top 10 in winning percentage that has a negative goal differential. The Americans have scored 17 goals but allowed 20 goals. Their team plus/minus is -20.
– Over the first four games, Allen has been outshot 136-115 and are dead last in average goals allowed per game (5.00).
– With the bad, there is certainly some good news as well. Allen’s shooting percentage of 14.8% is ranked third in the league, trailing only Indy (15.3%) and Toledo (15.0%). The Americans have also shown the ability to come from behind which was the case in all three of their wins.
– If you want to take in the Allen Americans practice the time is 10:00 each morning this week. Practice will be in the main rink.
Catching Up With Former Allen Players
– Here is an update on how some former Allen players are doing this season. In some European leagues, there is a tournament or other games that are not part of the regular season but are official games. In those cases, I have included the total games. Info courtesy of Elite Prospects.
Tanner Eberle – 17 points (10G, 7A) in 17 games (England)
Chad Costello – 17 points (7G, 10A) in 13 games (Germany)
Alex Lavoie – 17 points (7G, 10A) in 16 games (Norway)
Kale Kerbashian – 9 points (5G, 4A) in 13 games (Slovakia)
Zach Pochiro – 9 points (4G, 5A) in 10 games (Denmark)
Riley Bourbonnais – 9 points (3G, 6A) in 9 games (Denmark)
Colton Yellow Horn – 6 points (0G, 6A) in 9 games (Austria)
Chris Crane – 5 points (3G, 2A) in 5 games (Wichita Thunder – ECHL)
Jonathan Lessard – 4 points (3G, 1A) in 9 games (France)
Miles Liberati – 3 points (1G, 2A) in 3 games (Tulsa Oilers – ECHL)
Vincent Arseneau – 2 points (1G, 1A) in 5 games (Utica Comets – AHL)
Casey Pierro-Zabotel – 1 point (0G, 1A) in 4 games (Adirondack Thunder – ECHL)
Dyson Stevenson – 0 points (0G, 0A) in 2 games (Utica Comets – AHL)
Thomas Frazee (Atlanta), Dalton Thrower (Jacksonville), Josh Thrower (Atlanta) and Bryan Moore (Cleveland – AHL) have not played because of injury and/or being a healthy scratch.
Waivers Explained
– I have had many questions about waivers after Allen goalie Evan Weninger was released and then re-signed over the weekend. I will devote an article to this subject with all of the nitty-gritty details about waivers if I can track them down, but short of that, here is the cliff notes version.
– Waiver is a method for a team to release a player and offer their contract (SPC) to other teams.
– Once a player is released and placed on waivers, it cannot be revoked. Some sports and leagues have revocable waivers but that is not allowed in the ECHL.
– Once a player is placed on waivers, teams have 24 hours to make a claim. The timing varies a little bit (weekday vs weekend) but it is about 24 hours. The waiver order is set by the standings but only updated once per week. The last-place team has the first choice to claim a player and then the option goes down the list in standings order.
– If a team is successful in claiming a player they go to the bottom of the list until the next week when the order is reset in standings order. If a player is not claimed they become an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team, including the team that just released them.
Did You Know?
How does Allen’s 3-1 start compare with other seasons? Here is the Americans record after four games each season since joining the ECHL.
2019-20: 3-1-0-0
2018-19: 1-2-0-1
2017-18: 3-0-1-0
2016-17: 3-1-0-0
2015-16: 2-2-0-0
2014-15: 2-2-0-0
