The Shocking Truth About Cans of Whoop Ass

Scott Langdon named captain of San Francisco Bulls Photo by chlphotos.com

I'm sure most of you reading this post have already read about or seen the brawl that took place in the third period last night. If by chance you haven't seen it you can find it on YouTube, "Allen Americans vs Ft. Worth Brahmas Line Brawl" or "Brahmas Hockey Fight" so I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about it other than to say the penalty total for the game was Allen 25 infractions for 150 minutes and Ft. Worth 10 infractions for 50 minutes. I saw lots of comments on social media about "cans of whoop ass" and it struck me that there were two flavors in the whoop ass cans last night and I for one, prefer the flavor that gets you two points in the standings. After Brian McMillin started the scoring with a power play goal in the first period (the third in the last 27 attempts)  the Brahmas proceeded to open up their can of whoop ass by scoring six unanswered goals.

The Americans can of whoop ass came at 6:28 of the third period and resulted in game misconducts for Dell, Berube, Penner, Hendrikx, and Martinson. Clarke got a game misconduct later in the period. I can't say the fighting came as a surprise as the situation (losing 6-1) along with Martinson's comment the night before that when you play a team three times in a row you need to be very physical the first game, especially if it is in their building. Coach did say very physical "within the rules" so I am not saying he predicted a brawl, just a physical game."

I have to say, speaking for myself only, that this type of fighting is unfortunate and embarrassing. I enjoy a hockey fight as much as anyone and feel it has a place in the sport but when things get out of hand like last night I think it hurts the sport.  I like hockey fights but much prefer those that follow the informal rules that exist that says don't pick a fight with the other teams skill guys unless they want to go, stop fighting when a player goes down, and don't gang up on one guy. I don't pretend to understand or even know the details as to how this particular incident happened but I for one wish it hadn't.

Regardless of your opinion on what happened last night I can't imagine missing the rematch today at 4:05 at the Allen Event Center. If you aren't planning to attend the game I think you should reconsider. And for those of you not residing in North Texas make sure to listen to Tommy Daniels broadcast the game (live streaming on KLAK 97.5).

OTHER ITEMS:

-  Trevor Hendrikx and Alex Penner with their 37 penalty minutes now share the single game record for the Americans which was held by Jim McKenzie at 34 minutes.

- Happy 24th birthday to Anthony Maiani whose birthday is today and Brian  McMillin who turns 25 on Tuesday. Too bad they have to work (play a hockey game) on their birthdays.

- I included a picture of Scott Langdon above as he was recently named captain of his ECHL team, San Francisco Bulls. A nice honor for Scott who was Mr. Reliable when he played for Allen (2010-2012). Here is what his coach, Pat Curcio had to say about him.“He’s a guy who always plays with his heart on his sleeve,” Curcio said. “He does whatever it takes to win the game: he fights, sticks up for his teammates, blocks shots. Winning means more to him than anything else and that’s the kind person I want our young guys to follow.”

- Bruce Graham had three goals and two assists this weekend as his Nottingham Panthers added two more victories to their league leading total. Bruce now has 32 goals which leads his team and is third in the league.

- Colton Yellow Horn had two assists Friday night and a goal Saturday to keep putting up points for the Manchester Monarchs. Yellow has at least one point in six out of seven games since being called up to the AHL on February 10th. He has eight points (2 goals 6 assists) in those seven games.

- Nino Musitelli is on a hot streak for the ECHL Toledo Walleye. Nino had a goal in his first two games for Toledo but then went 12 games without getting a goal. With a goal last night he has now scored a goal in three straight games.