Saturday, April 15, 2017

Allen Loses 4-1, Series Tied 1-1, Martinson Comments, Costello Wins 3rd MVP, Gill Sets Another Record

To say it was a disappointing game last would be an understatement as the Allen Americans lost 4-1 to the Utah Grizzlies before a crowd of 5004 at the Allen Event Center (AEC). The Grizzlies tied the series 1-1 and head home for the next three games (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday).


- Utah out worked and out played Allen for two periods and took a 4-0 lead into the second intermission. If there is any consolation for the Americans they came to life in the third period and showed what they are capable of. Allen won the third period 1-0 and had many quality scoring opportunities while out shooting the Grizzlies 17-5. It was much too little and much too late. Allen's lone goal was scored by Josh Brittain on a great play and pass from Eric Roy.


- If you want to relive one of the worst games Allen has played in a while here is an almost 10 minute highlight or if you are an Allen fan lowlight video:



- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-fall-to-grizzlies-in-game-2/


- Here is the Utah Grizzlies recap of the game: http://www.utahgrizzlies.com/team-news/headline-news/?article_id=3304


COACHES CORNER

- Coach Martinson talks about what the team needed to do to win in his pregame interview with Tom Manning:





Here are Steve Martinson's post game comments;

-  That wasn't the start we wanted and I didn't like the first two periods. We didn't win any battles for pucks, we didn't get to many pucks first and we handed them a couple of scoring chances and they buried them.

- The positive is if we play they way we played in the third period the rest of the series we will be okay. It has been a few games since we have had to play that hard to win. We will have to use the third period as an example. I am going to take the positive from the game that we competed much harder in the third period.

- I couldn't tell from watching on my laptop whether that one goal was in but the goal judge said it was in and the players on the ice said it was in. After talking to the goal judge the referees overruled him and made the call it was no goal.

- The way they were trapping we needed to get the puck to the outside and enter the zone with momentum. We weren't skating until the third period and that was the difference.

- Their goalie played good tonight. We had some chances in tight, we were hammering pucks in the end and it seemed like we had some open net to shoot at but we just didn't get the puck in the net.

- You have to keep in mind this is only one game. I am sure you have all seen things in life where you can tell someone something but they don't change until they experience it. Tonight we experienced getting outplayed the first two periods. We have to be ready to go on Wednesday and play the way we did in the third period.

- I played our bigger defensive defensemen tonight because I thought we would have plenty of offense but we didn't have much offense tonight.

- We will be flying to Utah rather than taking the bus which will be nice for a change. We will leave on Tuesday.

- Zach Hall was on the ice for the first time today. He thinks he will be ready to play on Wednesday but we will have to wait and see.

- We need to do better on faceoffs. We will get another pure center when Hall returns. The goal Utah got off the faceoff looked like a set play and our defenseman didn't pick up the guy who got the rebound. 



OTHER COMMENTS

- To the surprise of no one Chad Costello won the ECHL MVP award yesterday as his contributions to his team are unparalleled. Here is the ECHL press release announcing Chad's selection. One thing this release doesn't mention is being an MVP includes being their for your teammates consistently. Chad played in all 72 games for Allen this season and even more remarkable is he has played in every regular season and playoff games since signing with the Americans in 2014. That is a total of 267 straight games. http://www.echl.com/allens-costello-named-2016-17-ccm-echl-valuable-player


- There have been more than few upsets thus far in the ECHL playoffs. The top seed in the South Division (Florida) trails #4 seed Orlando 2-0 having lost two games at home. Mountain Division #2 seed Colorado lost at home to Idaho 4-1 last night in their opening game.  The top seed in the North Division (Adirondack) lost 3-1 to Manchester in the first game of their series. Throw in the Utah win over #1 seed Allen and the underdogs have acquitted themselves very well thus far. There are five games on tap tonight including game two of the Colorado vs Idaho series.



DID YOU KNOW: With his start last night Riley Gill is now the ECHL's all time leader in most playoff games appeared in by a goaltender. Last night was Riley's 81st game. Gill also owns the most career playoff wins with 48. Next up in the record book is career minutes played. Riley has 4560 and is 281 minutes shy of the all time record.  



20 comments:

  1. We, as a team, didn't play a solid 60 minute game last night...but the referees didn't help our cause either. Are they just trying to let the boys play and not stop play? Or are they truly missing the infractions Utah is pulling. There were so many instances of holding by Utah that went unnoticed, hooking, slashing, etc. If we looked at a Utah player wrong, we were assessed a penalty.

    I hope the officiating is much more even keeled starting in Utah.

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    1. I absolutely hated the way the refs were overlooking purposely what Utah did to the Allen players. Bad game + worst ever refs = Allen loss. These refs go in my book as some of the worst I have seen...they went to the same ref University as Kenny Anderson and Tudor Floru

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  2. We can all complain about the referees and linesmen from the game last night and I have my opinion on the subject as follows:
    1. When the referee goes to the "duck hunting group" behind the opposing team's bench not once, but at least twice and asks them to stop and they continue(in my opinion) the unsportsmanlike conduct we were not going to get favorable calls from the referees. I know referee #2 was extremely animated when asking them to stop. I am confident that he said to himself "okay if you want to be like that, then so be it." So thanks for that. We do not need those types of "fans" in Allen.
    2. It does not make sense to have 1 referee for the entire season and then come playoffs have 2. They have not worked together for 72 games and then we expect them to be able to work together during the playoffs. It is like neither referee wants to make "the call" in fear of calling too many penalties. Therefore, either go to a 2 referee system entirely or stay with the 1 referee system throughout the playoffs.
    3. The rule book is the rule book and should be called as such whether it is the regular season or playoffs. It has never made logical sense to me that just because it is playoffs you throw the rule book out.
    4. The case for goal cameras was evident last night. Lets face it - they are not that expensive and should be part of the game replay or coaches challenge.

    And lastly, it was just one of those nights when our guys got outplayed. We were just unable to get the puck in the back of the net even though we had many opportunities. There goalie was sharp and lucky last night. So hopefully this was a wake up call for our team. Perhaps they should listen to the song "How Bad Do You Want It?" by Tim McGraw over and over and make that their battle cry.

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    1. Dianne Webster has the pics to show that the goal that nullified went in...

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  3. The officiating was awful last night. Those two refs have been bad in many games this season. We have had the noisy fans for the past several years all through the playoffs. I don't remember having the officials getting involved in that before. I'm not sure that is their issue to address. If it is in their rulebook, I will stand corrected. Bad officiating doesn't excuse poor play but it certainly doesn't help especially when some no-calls can end in injury.

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    1. NOTHING that occured in the stands last night violates any rule in their "rulebook" NOTHING!

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    2. The violations went to the Americans as those two blind refs overlooked many penalties. As per the fans, LEAVE US ALONE!!!

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  4. Maybe getting our butts kicked last night will mentally get us out of the Wichita,Tulsa, Missouri cycle we've been in for the last few months.
    Granted the referees were pretty bad but these are the playoffs and we either play three periods of hockey or we go home. We have the talent, we need the drive to make it five.

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  6. So is Utah interfering, holding, etc to slow Allen down?

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  7. J. Magargle...what in the hell are you babbling about? "We do not need those types of "fans" in Allen" So you're the expert on fans and what type we "need"???? What exactly did they do? If they committed some act that warranted some response why didn't it happen. Instead you are saying these guys were so unprofessional that they used 6 year old logic to get us back? WOW - you are a real work of art.

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    1. The response was very evident in the lack of calls from the referees. Maybe it isn't against the rules but common sense says you don't antagonize the opponent or the referees.

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    2. The response came from blind #$% refs who do not know how to call a game maybe those two $#%& cannot even read nor understand what they read. They probable took online classes in the Floru/Anderson University. The short ref had the Napoleon syndrome!!! No ref can tell the fans how to act...there is personnel in charge of that at the Allen Event Center.

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    3. BULLSHIT!!! You can "antanganize" all you want as long as you don't violate the rules...do YOU know the rules J Magargle? I didn't think so.

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  8. The 'hunting' fans that were sitting behind the Utah bench have been there for every home playoff game that I have attended for the last three seasons. I don't recall the refs ever saying anything about it in the past seasons.

    However, if it is in the rule book then, we as the fans, need to abide by the rules. As a fan, I understand the point in doing it but on the other hand it can be annoying (and I sit across the ice from them).

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    1. Last year allen kept the first row behind the bench empty to prevent fans from leaning over the bench. What are they doing that got the ref involved?

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    2. NOTHING Kevin - they just don't live in J Magargle's fantasy world with Skittle chitting Unicorns and penisless fans...

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  9. Please share the detail to watch Canada VS France ice hockey online. also share the ranking list of IIHF 2016.

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