*Please note: while Barry's name remains at the bottom of this blog, he is on vacation and the information/views posted in his absence do not reflect Barry's views or the views of the Allen Americans organization.

A Deserving Award for Chad

 We were going to wait until after the game for our next post but with the announcement by the PHPA yesterday we wanted to add our congratulations to Chad Costello.

Yesterday the Professional Hockey Players Association announced that the ECHL players had voted Chad Costello of the Allen Americans as the inaugural recipient of the 2014-2015 PHPA-ECHL Most Valuable Player Award.

As we know, Chad finished second to SC goalie Jeff Jakaitis in MVP voting by the league.  Being voted the best by your peer group is an honor of utmost esteem and is well deserved and well earned by Chad.  Throughout the year Chad has shown integrity both on the ice and off.   He is quick to credit his teammates for his success and always displays humility about his outstanding accomplishments this year.

Chad’s award, coupled with Gary Steffes’ Heart, Hustle and Desire award (also awarded by ECHL players) is an honor to the entire team and coach Martinson.  Allen has been accused by many uninformed fans in other cities of being a team of “bullies and thugs”.  As American fans we have known that not to be true and now the ECHL players themselves show recognition of our players’ skills.  The awards also serves to demonstrate that the ECHL players recognize Allen and the other CHL teams as part of the ECHL and deserving to be in the league.

In ECHL playoff news, Toledo staved off elimination in the Eastern Conference finals with a 5-4 victory in North Charleston. Troy Schwab let the attack for the Walleyes with two goals and an assist.  The series is now 3-1 in favor of the Stingrays.  Toledo will need another victory tonight to send the series back to their home ice.

Did you know:  Does size matter in the ECHL?  The shortest player in the ECHL is the Toledo Walleyes goalie, Jeff Lerg who is 5’6” tall.  He also tips the scales at 155 pounds.