 |
| Jarret Lukin - #1 Star of Game - Photo by SceneByKimberly.com |
- Was it just me or did it seem like a small crowd last night for a Friday night game after seven road games. The "official" attendance was 4102 but there must have been a lot of tickets out that were not used.
- Congrats to Jarret Lukin who was the number one star of the game with his game winning goal and some outstanding penalty kill work. His goal was the 68th as an Allen American which puts him in second place all time for career goals.
- The #2 Star was Jamie Schaafsma and #3 star was Steve Silverthorn.
- Disappointing to hear the drum group was asked to reduce the number of drums in their group after some fan complaints. Unfortunate timing since I just posted their story yesterday. Let's hope this gets resolved so we can have the full group back in action soon.
- Had a chance to meet Kale Kerbashian's mom and dad, Tim & Janne Kerbashian after the game last night, They are in town along with his girlfriend, Amanda, for a visit and to catch s few of his hockey games. If you haven't read Kale's player profile (published January 26th) take a look as he talks about the great influence his parents have had on his life and the support they gave him to play hockey.
- Was that Darryl Bootland on the ice with his son for "chuck a puck" clean up last night. I think so!
- While the penalty kill continues to be outstanding as Wichita was 0-7 the power play continues to struggle. With another 0-5 last night we are 2-26 (7.7%) in the last six games and since Brett Skinner left the point on the power play (12 games ago) we are at a paltry 11%.
Here is what coach Martinson had to say after the game last night:
- The penalty kill was good, Silverthorn was good and we are seeing more speed from our team right now.
- The Thunder have some good, big defensemen who will make mistakes when you throw the puck in deep. We miss guys like Pineault, Bootland and Grantham in a game like this as they are big, tough forwards.
- Jim McKenzie was the best player on the ice the very first game he played for the Americans. He does all the little stuff and leads by example. Nice tic, tac, toe goal by his line with Maiani to McKenzie to Lukin for a goal.
- I like McKenzie with Maiani as you need a big body corner guy who can also score with Maiani as he is our best puck distributor.
- The European guys I have put on our roster are big bodied, strong, physical players that will win battles for pucks. Hopefully, we will not need these guys but they are insurance in case we need them. Their names will not be known unless we activate them. If we do use the European players they will help us.
- At this time of year you have to make sure to have players available for unseen circumstances such as injury or AHL call ups. I have had calls from AHL teams about Adam Pineault, who unfortunately is injured right now. I have been talking to ECHL players who will not make the playoffs to see if they would come to Allen if we need some help down the road.
- Garrett Clarke has played well since returning from his injury. He gives us speed up front, is a tough guy and will finish his checks. He has also done a good job in drawing penalties against our opponents.
- In order to be successful against Ft. Worth over the next three games we need to be physical with their defense and as usual get pucks in deep. When you play a team three times in a row you need to be as physical as the rules allow, finish every check and finish every check hard. This is especially true in their rink which is smaller.
- Bootland and Pineault will not return to the line up until next weekend at the earliest.
- The Americans will not be affiliated with the Texas Stars next year.
- I am trying to play Maiani on the point on the power play to replicate what Skinner gave us as he can distribute the puck. We won't be a 25% power play but we should be somewhere around 18%.
- I am trying to be less aggressive in challenging referee calls as it tends to hurt more than it helps.
- Coach told the crowd about the background of the video clip that was shown in the arena and shared stories about his days as a player and some of his fights. Very entertaining. Any season ticket holder that doesn't stay after the game for the press conference is missing out.
I thought the drum corp was awfully quiet last night and I for one missed it! I don't know what the complaints are. If it is from people sitting close to them, they may have a point. I don't sit right by them and last night they were hard to hear at all. So I missed them!
ReplyDelete