Allen vs Rapid City Preview, Martinson’s Comments, Birthday Boy, Jacksonville’s President Speaks Out and More

Tonight is game one of a home stand that will see Allen play nine of its next 10 games in the confines of the CUTX Event Center. With the exception of a back and forth trip to Tulsa on February 5, the Americans will be at home until they go to Kansas City on February 15.

– Tonight Allen entertains Rapid City, the team just ahead of the Americans in the Mountain Division standings. These teams have been heading in opposite directions recently. Allen has lost seven of its last eight games while Rapid City has won five of its last six games.

– This will be the fifth meeting of the season between Allen and Rapid City. The Americans won two of the first four contests. Here were the results;

• Rapid City 4 @ Allen 1 (December 5)
• Allen 5 @ Rapid City 4 (November 20)
• Allen 1 @ Rapid City 6 (November 19)
• Allen 6 @ Rapid City 5 (November 17) SO

– If you look at head to head games what sticks out is Allen scored one goal in each of the losses and a combined 11 goals in the two wins. Head to head totals favor Rapid City in goals (19 vs 13), shots (148 vs 117 and PIMS (61 vs 48). The exception in the head to head stats is power play, Allen has the advantage at 21.7% (5-23) versus Rapid City at 12.5% (2-16).

– If you look at home and away special teams stats, Allen at home has a power play percentage of 20.4% (11/54) and penalty kill percentage of 71.9% (16-57). The Americans penalty kill has been very good recently, even through the current losing streak. Allen hasn’t given up a power play goal in the last six games. Rapid City’s road power play percentage is 20.7% (12-58) and its road penalty kill is 85.7% (9-63).

– Not sure scoring first is important for the Americans, even though on a league wide basis the team that scores first wins about 70% of the time. Allen is the only team in the league below .500 when scoring first. The Americans record is actually better when they don’t score first (8-7-0-0) than when they do score first (6-7-2-1). Rapid City’s record when scoring first is 13-4-2-2.

STEVE MARTINSON’S COACH’S CORNER

– Had a chance to talk to coach Martinson this morning. Here is the latest:

“Gavin Gould will not be in the lineup tonight, he is out with an injury.”

“Phil Beaulieu will be in the lineup tonight and will see time on the point on the power play.”

“Kolten Olynek (forward) will also be in the lineup tonight for his first professional game.”

“Hayden Lavigne will get the start in goal.”

“There will be some changes on the power play with Gould out and Beaulieu on the point. We continue to work on improving our power play.”

“We need to take advantage of all the home games we have in the next few weeks to get things turned around.”

OTHER COMMENTS

– Newfoundland, who will be in Allen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plays in Wichita tonight. The Growlers have lost two straight. The other Mountain Division teams in action tonight are Kansas City at Idaho.

– Happy birthday to Jumbo Jack Combs who turns 34 today. Jack shares a birthday with Wayne Gretzky, aka “The Great One” who turns 63 today. Sometimes people forget Gretzky played briefly in Jack’s hometown of St. Louis. The Blues acquired Gretzky from Los Angeles in February 1996 in an effort to make a final push for the Stanley Cup. Paired with Brett Hull, Gretzky played 18 regular season games with the Blues, but lost in the second round of the playoffs.

– If you have been following the incident related to an accusation of a racial gesture that happened in Jacksonville over the weekend, that resulted in the release of Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta, here is an update. The local TV station did a story about the incident that includes comments from the team president:  https://youtu.be/uG98Mu2MtYo

DID YOU KNOW: Spencer Asuchak is climbing the ladder in all time ECHL games played. Here is the ECHL Stats post from this morning:

Most career ECHL games played (regular season & playoffs) by players still active (playing) in the ECHL:861: Michael Pelech, Atlanta759: Justin Taylor, Kalamazoo632: Derek Nesbitt, Atlanta540: Shawn Szydlowski, Fort Wayne529: Adam Pleskach, Tulsa453: Spencer Asuchak, Allen (currently on loan to AHL)447: John McCarron, Florida

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