Watching That Game Was Like..., Martinson's Comments, Stats & More

Watching that game was like watching the movie Lincoln and speculating how it would end.

Watching that game was like watching a thoroughbred get euthanized after breaking it's leg.

Watching that game was like watching a game of tennis, where one player forgot their racquet.

Watching that game was like watching paint dry while listening to nails on a chalkboard while getting your teeth pulled. Yes, it was that bad.

Watching that game was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

Watching that game was like watching a fork inside of a blender.

Watching that game was like shoving razorblades in my peephole.

Watching that game was like when your mom told you go to pick a belt for you to get whipped with.

Watching that game was like playing a hockey game on the play station with a broken controller.

Watching that game was like removing teeth with an ice pick: slow, painful, & full of mistakes.

Watching that game was like watching a team that was put together the morning of game day.

Take your pick as one of these has to capture how you felt if you watched (or listened to) the Americans lose last night to the Brampton Beast by a score of 6-2. Special teams, as is so often the case, determined the outcome of the game as the Beast scored three power play goals plus a shorthanded goal while the Americans went 0-11 on the power play. Lack of discipline in taking penalties led to numerous 5 on 3 opportunities for Brampton and they made them count. 

STEVE MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

- The penalties we took tonight were the story of the game. We give them three, five on three goals. The first goal was a pass across, then the three five on three goals and then the shorthanded breakaway goal. Taking penalties in the offensive zone and taking penalties that are obvious like hitting a guy in the back of the head really cost us. You just can't take bad penalties. We know what is a penalty and what isn't and we are taking too many bad penalties. You can be physical without taking penalties. 

- When we were on the power play 5 on 3 it looked like rather then the team thinking this is a chance for us to get back in the game the mindset was, "this is a chance for me to score."

- We had plenty of shots (45-26) but their goalie was seeing just about every shot that we took. We work on it everyday to have the players get in the tough areas so the goalie doesn't see the shot but that didn't happen enough tonight.

- We didn't win battles off the face off, we didn't win battles down low, we didn't win battles along the boards and we simply did not compete hard enough.

- This isn't a matter of practice, we have to decide what we want to do here.  I think it is a matter of focus. I have said it many times you can't have the attitude, which some of our players have, that we will be there when it counts, we were there when it counted last year and we will do that again. I have been in championships at every level of hockey from the NHL, AHL, CHL, & IHL, as a player and a coach and you cannot flip a switch. You can't just turn it on when playoffs roll around.

- Are we expecting the young guys to lead or will we be led by the veterans? Bootland gets tossed when you really need him in the game. You need your veteran guys in a game like this. This comes down to who are we looking to take us in the right direction. When the going gets tough out on the ice who is leading the charge. 

- I'll say this about what happened toward the end of the game with Klotz. Jason Pitton jumps Phil Fox who is not a fighter and he is willing to fight Mike Berube but then whenever Klotz challenges him he doesn't want to fight. I don't apologize for what happened as Klotz's challenged several of their fighters who wouldn't fight. If you kick the beehive and end up getting stung don't come crying to me about it. They were crying on the bench after Klotz went after VanderVeeken. Do they think we don't have any pride when it is 6-2 in our rink.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- Data may not back this up but doesn't it seem like every time there is a big crowd in the house Allen has a poor game. The official attendance last night was 5039, the largest crowd of the season. And as one of the super fans, Mike Stiney, reminded me after the game, it seems like we are 0 for forever when there is a post game skate.

- The upcoming break (no activities December 23-25) may actually help the team get their batteries recharged, get away from hockey, and come back ready to go. The team will not have a practice this week other than the pregame skate on Thursday before the game in Tulsa. Remember, because Tulsa is so close the team will travel on game day. The team will head for St. Charles immediately after the Tulsa game on Thursday. They will play St. Charles Friday night and then leave right after the game for Allen and play Tulsa again Saturday night at the AEC. To put it in mileage terms it goes like this. Allen to Tulsa Thursday morning (230 miles), Tulsa to St. Charles Thursday night/Friday morning (397 miles), St. Charles to Allen Friday night/Saturday morning (606 miles). In summary, three games in three nights, 1233 miles, 24 hours worth of bus time.  The life of a minor pro hockey team!

- Even though the game had long been decided it was nice to see Garrett Klotz get his first goal with Allen and Jamie Schaafsma get his second goal of the season. 

- With the 0-11 on the power play last night the power play percentage dropped from 20.1% to 18.6% for the season and drops the Americans to #4 in the CHL. The penalty kill, which gave up three goals in nine chances, also had a drop from 86.2% to 85.0% which is #3 in the CHL. 

- Rapid City defeated Denver last night in Denver 6-5 for their 11th consecutive road victory which sets an all time CHL record. The Americans are now ten points behind the first place Rush and are alone in fourth place in the CHL standings.

- Missouri, Wichita & Quad City were the other winners last night. Looking ahead to next week the two best teams in the league (Rapid City & Missouri) play three games in three night (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) in Rapid City. 

- Even Santa's mom had a miserable time at the game last night. Her exact comment was, "That was not a fun night at all." Not sure if she was talking about the beat down the Americans took on the ice or the beat down her son (Santa)  took at the hands (or hips) of usher Elaine, the dancing queen.

DID YOU KNOW: Darryl Bootland played junior hockey (Toronto St. Micheals) with Chad Woollard (all time leading Brahma scorer), who played with Phil Fox as a Brahma, who played with Greger Hanson in college (Northern Michigan University- NMU), who was recruited by NMU along with Erik Gustafsson ( NHL Phildelphia Flyers), who plays with Jakub Voracek who played with Rick Nash (NHL Columbus Blue Jackets) who played with Adam Pineault in Columbus who played with Sergei Fedorov in Columbus who played with Darryl Bootland with the Detroit Red Wings. Not sure what the hell this proves other than all hockey players are connected if you look deep enough.