Mavericks: Closing The Gap

Summary:

When we last checked in with the Kansas City Mavericks, they had hit a bit of a bump in the road. They’d dropped three straight games, including the first loss of the season on home ice, and were sitting seven points back of the division lead. Luckily they snapped out of their mini-funk, and were able to take three wins in their last five games, plus sneak out with a single point in a shootout loss on the road against the Indy Fuel. Even though they successfully collected 7 of a possible 10 points in this last stretch, the Mavericks are still only holding down third place in the ECHL Mountain Division. However, they got some help with the Utah Grizzlies only collecting two points in the time being, and the Tulsa Oilers only scrounging up one, the Mavs have significantly closed the gap in the push to the division lead.

Game By Game:

Dec 1st: Tulsa Oilers 4 @ KC Mavericks 6 WIN

Dec 4th: KC Mavericks 3 @ Indy Fuel 4 LOSS (SO)

Dec 7th: Allen Americans 2 @ KC Mavericks 6 WIN

Dec 8th: Allen Americans 3 @ KC Mavericks 4 WIN

Dec 12th: KC Mavericks 1 @ Idaho Steelheads 5 LOSS

The Squad:

Having now racked up 11 points in his last 10 games (5 Goals, 6 Assists), Jared Vanwormer has locked in a stranglehold on the lead in team scoring at 27 total points. Last year’s team leader in regular season scoring was Mark Cooper, and on the opposite side of that red hot Vanwormer spectrum he has now been held pointless in the last ten games. He’s now been leapfrogged for second on the Mavericks by Rocco Carzo’s 3G & 4A in the last five. The Dziurzynski brothers still round out the team’s top 5 in scoring.

In the crease, goalie Nick Schneider was re-assigned to the Mavs on December 12th, sent down from Stockton by the Flames. He currently sits at five ECHL starts on the year with only two wins, along with a 3.17 GAA and a 0.890 SV%. KC’s other prospect goalie for the Flames, Mason McDonald, got another pair of starts to move him into the team lead at 11 and the lead in wins with 8. In the meantime, Ben Halford leads the team statistically with the best GAA and SV% of the three so far.

Up Next:

KC will remain out on the road for two more games, to complete their three game series against the Idaho Steelheads. The ‘Heads sit only a single point back of the Mavs at 4th place in the division, so it’ll be important they salvage as many points in the next two games as possible. They’ll add one more road game to that stand against the Wichita Thunder, who sit in 6th. That will end their second longest road trip of the season, behind the five straight they’ll play away from home to close out the regular season. Check back with M&G in two weeks to see how the Mavs finish off the road trip!