THE GRIZZLIES BEAT THE AMERICANS AGAIN!

*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.

In a better effort than the previous game, before a crowd of 3966 at the Maverik arena, the Americans were unable, once again, to cave those grizzlies.  However, in a much better performance by Allen, your Americans did not go down without a fight!  One exchange of blows between J.P. LaFontaine and Jason Binkley resulted from a scrum in front of the Utah bench.  Fontaine and Binkley were given 5 minute majors, Vincent Arseneau and Utah's Barry Almeida and Gentry Zollars were assessed roughing penalties as a result of the fracas.   

Congratulations to Chad Costello for picking up his 500th career point assisting on Allen's second goal.  Chad barely missed getting the 501st on a break away in the third period. Only an NHL caliber stop by Utah goalie Chris Rawlings kept Costello from scoring.

Game Recap:

• Gary Steffes opened the scoring in the second.  He scored on a pass from Justin Courtnall to Chris Crane that bounced off a Utah defender and was seized by Gary, scoring from the right face off circle.
• Utah did not let this go unanswered and scored at the 4:06 mark of the second, and again at 7:24 on a power play.
• Allen tied the score at 13:34 of the second when a shot by Eric Roy rebounded to Chad Costello in front of the net.  Chad got the puck to Casey Pierro-Zabotel just left of the goal crease.  Costello continued in front of the Utah goalie and Zabotel put the biscuit in the oven.
• The third period was Allen's worst.  They were out shot 20-5 and out scored 2-0 with the last goal into an empty net.
• Utah's Ryan Moore had 2 assists last night giving him a total of 7 points in the last two games against Allen.
• For the second consecutive night, Utah's goalies was given the third star of the game.  Chris Rawlings attained his first victory of the season stopping 26 of 28 shots.
• It was Allen's first loss when scoring first.
• Since the 2nd period of the game at Tulsa on Nov. 22nd, Allen has been playing without Ian Schultz, Justin Baker, Dave Makowski, Tristan King, Daniel Doremus and Greger Hanson.  This has created a big void in the lineup. 
• This loss drops Allen to 5-5 in the last 10 games.

Coach Martinson's post game comments:

• We had problems because they pressured our D (defense)
• We got out skated in the third, plain and simple
• They put pressure on us
• We had too many passive forwards in the third

We would like to remind and encourage all to bring new, unwrapped  Teddy Bears for the Teddy Bear toss on Saturday, December 5th benefiting the Scottish Rite Hospital and 444 Angel.

Former Allen player Kale Kerbashian was activated, by Rapid City, from injured reserve on Friday, 11/27. Rapid City is Allen's opponent for the upcoming game on Friday.

Unless something changes between now and Friday, the next blog will be a game preview for Friday night.

Did you know: Ice hockey is an adaptation of the Native American game of lacrosse.  In fact, many of the first rules were borrowed directly from the game.