Mavericks: At Bottom Of The Mountain

The Flames’ ECHL affiliate, Kansas City Mavericks, aren’t exactly off to a rolling start to their 2019-2020 campaign.

The Mavs are 4-4-2 in their last ten contests and haven’t won in regulation in the last three at 0-2-1, which has them sitting dead last in the ECHL’s Mountain Division with 14 points at 7th place. That leaves them three points back of the Utah Grizzlies in 6th place at 17 points, and four points back of the Tulsa Oilers in 5th at 18 points. While KC has games in hand on Tulsa, they don’t have any on Utah, so it’ll be a tough push to start climbing their way up the standings. At a whopping 14 points behind the division-leading and league-leading Allen Americans, the only silver lining at the moment is that the team is only last in their division, but not in the league. A full six other teams sit behind Kansas City in the points race, so if you squint real hard, perhaps all hope isn’t lost.

Game By Game:

NOV 8th- KC Mavericks vs Utah Grizzlies 5-1 W

NOV 9th- KC Mavericks vs Utah Grizzlies 4-2 W

NOV 11th- KC Mavericks vs Wichita Thunder 4-2 L

NOV 13th- KC Mavericks @ Indy Fuel 4-3 L (OT)

NOV 16th- KC Mavericks vs Rapid City Rush 10-1 W

NOV 19th- KC Mavericks vs Allen Americans 10-1 W

NOV 22nd- KC Mavericks @ Idaho Steelheads 4-2 L

NOV 23rd- KC Mavericks @ Idaho Steelheads 3-2 L (OT)

The Squad:

As was the case for the final drive of last regular season, Rocco Carzo finds himself leading the team in scoring, albeit with a less-than-huge number in an offense that has proven to be somewhat anemic so far this season. Sitting just outside of the Top 5 of the team scoring race are brothers David and Darien Dziurzynski, returning for another season with the team and currently sitting 2nd and 1st respectively on the squad for PIMS at 37 and 23.

In the blue paint, The Mavs have been lead by Flames prospect Nick Schneider, who has had stints with the Flames’ AHL afiilfiate StocktonHeat but spent a good chunk of last year in the ECHL with KC. With the lion’s share of the starts at 14, Schneider has 6 wins so far and has seen a whopping 369 shots and seen 37 of those get past him. Hayden Hawkey and another prospect for the big club, Tyler Parsons, are bringing up the bottom end of the workload and have numbers reflecting such, with GAA’s both sitting above 4.

Up Next:

The Mavericks with have a shot at making up some ground, as they play four of their next six contests against divisional opponent the Wichita Thunder. While the Thunder are eight points and three spots ahead of the Mavericks, anything the team can muster against divisional teams within earshot will go a long way towards a rebound. Three of the four games will be played on the road at Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena, which makes it a tall task yet. The other two contests of the next six are against the Indy Fuel and Fort Wayne Komets, and will be hosted by Kansas City at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena. Check back with Matchsticks & Gasoline to see if the Mavericks can climb the figurative “mountain”, and the literal “Mountain” as well!

by MilhouseFirehouse