Mavericks: Middle Of The Road

It’s the start of a new year for the Flames’ ECHL affiliate in Kansas City! After missing the Kelly Cup playoffs in last year’s crazy shortened and re-aligned season, they’re now back at it to try again.

The Mavs kicked off the early stretch of the year by going .500 through their opening six match ups, and they hadn’t managed to get ahead of the curve since. The whole month of December had been another middling stretch, going 6-5-0 in eleven games played on the final month of the calendar. The New Year has brought new hope, but KC’s January record has only brought seven wins on their last twelve contests with a bunch of division games they could’ve taken advantage of. They split a six game set against Wichita 3-3, and beat the Oilers and Americans but dropped one to the Steelheads. All that being said, they are only one spot out of the last playoff spot in the Mountain Division, sitting eight points back of Rapid City but with three games in hand.

GAME BY GAME:

DEC 31st- KC Mavericks 4 vs Wichita Thunder 3 – WIN (OVERTIME)

JAN 1st- KC Mavericks 4 @ Wichita Thunder 3 – WIN (OVERTIME)

JAN 7th- KC Mavericks 4 vs Wichita Thunder 2 –WIN

JAN 8th- KC Mavericks 1 vs Wichita Thunder 2 –LOSS

JAN 9th- KC Mavericks 6 @ Tulsa Oilers 1 –WIN

JAN 11th- KC Mavericks 1 vs Wichita Thunder 2 –LOSS

JAN14th- KC Mavericks 5 @ Iowa Heartlanders 4 –WIN (OVERTIME)

JAN 15th- KC Mavericks 3 vs Allen Americans 2 –WIN (SHOOTOUT)

JAN 21st- KC Mavericks 4 vs Newfoundland Growlers 9 –LOSS

JAN 22nd- KC Mavericks 4 vs Newfoundland Growlers 2 –WIN

JAN 23rd- KC Mavericks 4 @ Wichita Thunder 5 –LOSS

JAN 26th- KC Mavericks 4 @ Idaho Steelheads 9 –LOSS

THE SQUAD:

Mavs outstanding d-man Marcus Crawford was named to the ECHL All-Star Game, representing the ECHL against the host Jacksonville Icemen. The All-Stars won the contest 14-7 on January 17th, with Crawford being named Most Valuable Player of the game with three goals and an assist for the winning side. Crawford has been on a tear and currently sits in second place for defenseman scoring league-wide, with a 0.84 points per game pace scoring 32 points in 38 games.

For the forward group, Nick Pastujov is leading the team in scoring and is currently 7th in the ECHL scoring race. He has 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 total points, including the beauty seen here:

Penalty trouble continues to lend a hand in the Mavericks struggles in the standings, as they sit on top of the league in PIMs by a wide margin at 847 minutes on the year. They are a full 187 minutes ahead of the league’s second worst offenders, the Wheeling Nailers, at 664.

UP NEXT:

More divisional action fills the schedule in the near future, including a five game set with the Allen Americans in the second week of February. Mark your calendars for a two-game set against Rapid City on February 4th and 5th, where the Mavs will host @ Cable Dahmer Arena as they try to catch the Rush for the last Mountain Division playoff spot. Keep your eye on Matchsticks & Gasoline as they try to turn things around!

by MilhouseFirehouse