The Curse Continues, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Martinson’s Comments, Josh Winquist Profile, Jersey Auction Results, Save Percentages and More

If you are a believer in the long held, Allen Americans, Saturday night, big crowd (4790), specialty jersey (Police/Fire) curse, the Americans 4-3 loss to Wichita last night was certainly proof. Allen got off to a great start, scoring the first goal of the game at the 4:42 mark of the opening period. Then the curse kicked in as Wichita scored three special teams goals in just over four minutes. The Americans gave up two power play goals and a shorthanded goal, their league leading 17th shorthanded goal of the season. Wichita took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission and never relinquished it the rest of the game.

– Credit to the Americans as they were able to tie the score 3-3 on two Spencer Asuchak goals in the second period, but that is as close as they got. Just like Friday night in Wichita, the Americans could not get the lead after tying the score in the third period. Last night the Thunder took a 4-3 lead with 11 minutes left in the game, but the Americans could not respond.

– In the game preview yesterday, there were three keys to the game and Allen met two of the three but the one it missed was really missed:

• Good start – Allen scored the first goal early in the first period.
• Outshoot Wichita – Allen outshot the Thunder in all three period for a game total of 38-24.
• Win special teams battle – A big fail as Allen gave up two power play goals on just three opportunities for a 33.3% penalty kill percentage. Allen was 1-5 on the power play but gave up a shorthand goal so a net zero on the power play.

– The goal scorers for Allen were Jackson Leppard (15) and Spencer Asuchak (16,17). Chad Costello assisted on all three Allen goals. The Americans had a total of nine points in the game (3G, 6A) and the line of Costello-Asuchak-Leppard had eight of them. Here are the video highlights:  https://youtu.be/-1JQScx_WhM

– Game Recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-americans-fall-short-in-loss-to-wichita/

– Game Recap from the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/en/news/crinella-reaches-milestone-in-4-3-win-at-allen

COACH’S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON

“It was a frustrating game with the goals we gave up in the first period, but the team worked hard to get back in the game.”

“It was the go-ahead goal in the third period that was especially frustrating. All we can do now is get back up on the horse next week in Cincinnati.”

“We will have a stronger lineup next week with Winquist and Troock available for sure. Not sure if any of the others will be available, it will be a day-by-day assessment.”

“After a day off today, we will have a light practice tomorrow as the players need time to recuperate. We will practice on Tuesday and then leave Wednesday morning for Cincinnati.”

JOSH WINQUIST PLAYER PROFILE

– Allen acquired forward Josh Winquist in a trade with Reading yesterday for future considerations. Winquist is a six foot, 180 pound left shot center who is 28 years old. He has been a pro for eight years. He has played in 140 AHL games with 81 points (31G, 50A) and 171 ECHL games with 172 points (53G, 119A).

Josh played his junior hockey in the WHL, five years with the Everett Silvertips. He will make the 14th player on the Allen roster who played junior hockey in the WHL.  When Winquist finished his junior career (2013-14), he owned the Silvertips record for goals in a season (43) and was tied for the most points (93). Winquist’s first pro contract was with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL). His best AHL season was with Bridgeport in 2016-17, he had 32 points (15G, 17A) in 53 games.

In 2019-20, Josh played for Toledo and had 50 points (14G, 36A) in 48 games. One of his teammates on that Toledo team was Branden Troock.

Winquist is described in scouting reports as a good two way players with great vision. His strength is his ability (described as uncanny in one report) to always make the smart play and his knack for finding the back of the net. Here is a video interview with Josh from a few years ago when he had just signed with the Utah Grizzlies. The video will give you some idea of what he is like on and off the ice. Always a good way to get the know a new player. https://youtu.be/rM9S5EVKirQ

Winquist is driving to Allen and is expected to arrive on Monday.

OTHER COMMENTS

– Next week will be critical for the Allen Americans as they head to Cincinnati for games against the Cyclones on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Cincinnati is in fourth place in the Central Division and like the Americans, have been inconsistent. Since the end of December, the Cyclones have won five straight games, then lost five straight, then won three straight and then lost four straight. Like Allen, the only thing consistent is two steps forward followed by two steps back. Should be an interesting series.

– At the current pace Allen would end the season allowing 26 shorthanded goals. How out of the ordinary is allowing so many shorthanded goals. Here are the ECHL teams with the most shorthanded goals allowed for each season since Allen joined the ECHL:

• 16  2014-15 (Wheeling)
• 15  2015-16 (Greenville)
• 14  2016-17 (Utah)
• 15  2017-18 (Jacksonville)
• 20  2018-19 (Greenville)
• 16  2019-20 (Jacksonville)
• 17  2020-21 (Rapid City)
• 17  2021-22 (Allen, thru 47 games with 25 games remaining)

– The specialty jerseys (Police/Fire) the Americans wore last night were auctioned off right after the game. Not sure of the reasons but it was the lowest prices ever for a live jersey auction. It could be fans didn’t like the jersey, they didn’t want to stay for the auction after being at the arena since 4:30 to watch the Police/Fire game, the jersey market is getting saturated with so many specialty jerseys or they miss the players not coming out for the live auctions like in the past. In the past some players would take the microphone to help sell their jerseys. Those were the days when $1000 dollars for the most popular jerseys was commonplace. Thanks to my friend, Kristi Clark, for staying to the bitter end to capture the prices. From what I understand some jerseys couldn’t get the minimum bid of $250. Make no mistake, the team still makes money selling jerseys at $250 a pop, but the auctions now provide an opportunity for fans to get jerseys at reasonable prices. Here are the jerseys that sold last night:

• $550  Asuchak
• $400  Skeoch
• $350  Zach Hall
• $350  Biscuit
• $250  Costello
• $250  Combs
• $250  Roy
• $250  Myllari
• $250  Gould
• $250  Campagna
• $250  Beaulieu
• $250  Butt
• $250  Peressini
• $250  Kearley

– The specialty jerseys that weren’t sold after the game last night will now be put up for auction online (DASH) so still a chance to get a jersey at a reasonable price.

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL stats post today is about goalies with the best save percentages. It takes 900 minutes at this point in the season to be a qualified goalie for statistical purposes. Allen has used six different goalies this season and only one is qualified (Hayden Lavigne). Here are the six Allen goalies, in save percentage order, with minutes played in parenthesis:

• .972 – Chase Perry (61 minutes)
• .927 – Antoine Bibeau (693 minutes)
• .908 – Luke Peressini (296 minutes)
• .898 – Hayden Lavigne (1008 minutes)
• .880 – Frank Marotte (709 minutes)
• .863 – Alexis Gravel (120 minutes)

Here are the best ECHL goalies by save percentage. Four of them are rookies. These are qualified goalies, which requires a minimum of 900 minutes played:.931 – Tyler Parks, Atlanta**.927 – Brad Barone, Orlando.921 – Billy Christopoulos, Toledo.921 – Samuel Harvey, Fort Wayne*.921 – Lukas Parik, Rapid City*.919 – Daniel Mannella, Tulsa*.919 – Jake Kupsky, Idaho*.919 – Evan Buitenhuis, Wichita.919 – John Lethemon, Greenville*Rookies**Tyler Parks also leads all goalies in GAA at 2.14

The post The Curse Continues, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Martinson’s Comments, Josh Winquist Profile, Jersey Auction Results, Save Percentages and More appeared first on Allen Americans Hockey Club.