AMERICANS SPLIT 2 GAME SERIES- GAME RECAPS

*Please note: While Barry is on vacation, the views below do not reflect those of Barry or the Allen Americans Organization.

Hope everyone had a great Easter.  It sure was one heck of a weekend with Allen splitting the results with Missouri.  Saturday was an exciting night to be in the stands at the AEC.  Allen came out hungry for a win and succeeded the task.  Not so hungry on Sunday as Allen served up Easter dinner for the Mavs.  Hopefully next weekend the hunger pangs we suffered on Saturday are not satisfied until after the 2nd game.  Missouri decided to let their 2 leading scorers and their team captain stay at home for these 2 match-ups, and it will be interesting to see who they put on the ice next weekend.  We have a week of practice and  I am sure Coach will be working hard to correct our mistakes.

Allen's newly acquired goalie, Jake Hildebrand, made his first 2 professional starts and what a start he had.  Jake made 78 saves on 82 shots for a GAA of 2.01 and a SV% of .951.  Welcome to Allen, Jake.

Jake Hildebrand (courtesy of scenebyKimberly.com)

Chad Costello continued his league leading assist streak expanding it to 14 dating back to Feb. 16th.

Gary Steffes, one of Allen's hardest working players, scored his 20th goal in Saturday's game. And what a beautiful goal it was!

Former Allen American, Scott Howes picked up his first point in a Mavericks uniform with an assist in Sunday's game.

While it appears Allen should wind up with a 4th or 5th seed in the Western Conference, they have yet to secure a playoff spot.  With just a few more wins Allen can stay on top of Tulsa, Quad City, and Colorado,  regardless of the results of their remaining games.

With the Saturday Military Appreciation Night jersey auction there was no press conference. Below are the comments after Sunday's game.

Coach Martinson's Post-Game Comments: (Sunday)

• We were out-skated; lost battles; and were weak on the back check.  
• need to get in better shape, I don't like the weight of some of our players
• anticipate a player or two to be sent down by the weekend
• Jake Hildebrand did a great job in goal, most of the goals allowed were not his fault
• I wanted to pull the goalie on the 5 on 3 power play but did not get a stoppage in play
• we will not have 3 goalies on our playoff roster
• I have been on the phone and I anticipate more players to be coming prior to the playoffs
• we did not win battles against Mavs defensemen that were smaller than us
• need to be more "greasy", need to win more battles 
• hoping to get Nikita Jevpalovs back for at least 2 more games to be eligible for the playoffs, San Jose knows he needs 2 more games, 
• need some additional speed to play on the Costello line
• Kyle Neuber played well, fought a real tough guy tonight, he has made some good hits and made some good passes
• played Reggie Traccitto some as forward in the third period, he played a lot as forward with Brampton

There will be no blog on Tuesday or Wednesday.  We hope to have Friday night's game preview and a player profile on Thursday.  However, this post will not be available until late afternoon on Thursday due to a prior commitment.

Did you know:  The decision to install higher plexiglass panels in all hockey arenas was taken after a player-spectator brawl in 1979.  After a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers, Mike Milbury of the Boston Bruins jumped over the glass, tore off a boisterous spectator's shoe and proceeded to beat him with it. His actions resulted in a 6 game suspension.