Roster Update, It’s Crunch Time, Player Profile – Defenseman Nick Albano, PIM Leaders and More

It is a new week and a new opportunity for the Allen Americans as they prepare to play four games in five days:

• Wednesday at home against Wichita
• Thursday at home against Tulsa
• Friday on road against Wichita
• Sunday at home against Wichita

– Allen now has 18 games remaining in the season. Here is a breakdown, including the opponent’s current points percentage:

• 5 games (2H, 3A) – Wichita (.500)
• 4 games (3H, 1A) – Kansas City (.483)
• 3 games (2H, 1A) – Tulsa (.518)
• 3 games (0H, 3A) – Toledo (.700)
• 3 games (3H, 0A) – Iowa (.518)

If the Americans win two thirds of the remaining games (12 of 18) they will finish with a points percentage of .549. Based on the current standings that would get Allen the #3 seed in the Mountain Division and the #12 ranked team in the ECHL. Allen hasn’t won 12 of 18 games all season so it will be a big ask to accomplish that, and even if the Americans can make that happen, going into the playoffs as a #3 seed does not normally bode well for a deep playoff run.

– The injury list is still long but hopefully the team will get some players back this week. Here are the players out with injuries:

• Gavin Gould
• Chad Butcher
• Ben Carroll
• Tyler Poulsen
• Andrew Jarvis
• Zach Hall
• D-Jay Jerome
• Branden Troock

NICK ALBANO PLAYER PROFILE

–  Allen acquired defenseman Nick Albano over the weekend in a future considerations trade with Worcester. He is a 25 year old, 6’1″, 190 pound, right shot rookie defenseman from Beverley, MA (Boston suburb). Steve Martinson has been looking to add a right shot defenseman for a while.

Albano has an interesting story as he was committed to play lacrosse in college but also played junior hockey and his love for hockey grew as his junior career took off. He credits his brother for convincing him to give up lacrosse and pursue hockey.  He wasn’t offered an opportunity to play by any Division I hockey schools so he played at Division III UMass-Boston. As a freshman he was named National Division III Rookie of the Year and an All-American. He was named All-American all three seasons he spent at UMass-Boston.

Pro scouts don’t normally spend a lot of time scouting D-III teams but Nick had a teammate, Colin Larkin (brother of NHL player Dylan Larkin) that garnered a lot of interest from NHL teams. Albano caught the eye of one of the scouts and was invited to the Boston Bruins development camp after his freshman season. It was a dream come true for a local kid that grew up as a huge Boston Bruins fan.

Some quotes about Albano:

“We had high expectations of Nick, he has exceeded those expectations quite a bit and really showed a lot of maturity as a freshman, He was a complete defenseman and his numbers reflect just how important he is to our team'”…..college coach Peter Belisle

“Nick is a skilled player that will make plays with the puck and works extremely hard to get it back when we don’t have it. I love the fact that he has second and third effort to his game.”….Worcester coach David Cunniff

“Nick is a skilled defenseman that has good feet and deception reminiscent of Les Lancaster. He should be a good fit in Allen.”…Allen coach Steve Martinson

His stats:

• College – 79 games, 85 points (21G, 64A)
• ECHL – 28 games, 18 points (5G, 13A)
• AHL – 14 games, 3 points (0G, 3A)

– Here is a get to know you interview with Nick when he signed with Worcester last August: https://youtu.be/XwWy6IOkH1U

OTHER COMMENTS

– Which Mountain Division teams have been playing the best hockey over the last 10 games? Here is the list with current points percentage in parenthesis:

• 7-1-0-2: Rapid City (.579)
• 6-4-0-0: Utah (.619)
• 5-3-2-0: Wichita (.500)
• 4-5-1-0: Allen (.509)
• 4-5-1-0: Kansas City (.483)
• 3-6-1-0: Tulsa (.518)
• 2-8-0-0: Idaho (.534)

– Another way to look at the standings is the number of games above or below .500:

• +14: Utah
• +9: Rapid City
• +4: Idaho
• +2: Tulsa
• +1: Allen
• 0: Wichita
• -2: Kansas City

This list shows how many games the bottom five teams need to win to catch the top two teams. When you consider the bottom five teams have between 12 (Kansas City) and 18 (Allen) games remaining, it will be difficult to catch the top two teams. It has come down to five teams battling for two playoff spots.

– The most exciting division races are taking place in the Eastern Conference where the top two teams in the North and South Divisions are in a tight battle and are playing the best hockey in the league. In the North Division, second place Newfoundland, 8-2-0-0 in the last 10 games, is trying to chase down Reading, 9-0-0-1. In the South Division, second place Florida (8-2-0-0) is trying to chase down first place Atlanta (9-1-0-0).

– The Allen player from the current roster with the most career penalty minutes is pretty easy to come up with, but the two players tied for second place might surprise you. Here are the top five in career penalty minutes with the Allen Americans (from the current roster):

• 507 minutes – Spencer Asuchak
• 118 minutes – Chad Costello
• 118 minutes – Darian Skeoch
• 82 minutes – Eric Roy
• 80 minutes – Dawson Butt

DID YOU KNOW: Six active ECHL players have 500+ penalty minutes since 2017-18:637 – Mike McKee, Tulsa536 – Yannick Turcotte, South Carolina530 – Travis Howe, Jacksonville518 – Garrett Klotz, Rapid City503 – James Melindy, Newfoundland500 – Justin Vaive, CincinnatiThe all-time PIMS leader among active ECHL players:1270 – Michael Pelech, Atlanta

The post Roster Update, It’s Crunch Time, Player Profile – Defenseman Nick Albano, PIM Leaders and More appeared first on Allen Americans Hockey Club.