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| Aaron Dell with one of his 27 saves on the way to a 4-0 shutout on McDonald's Jersey Night photo courtesy chlphotos.com |
No press conference after the game last night so here are some of my musings:
- In his rookie season with just 34 games played Aaron Dell is already the career leader for the Americans with three shutouts. He leads the CHL in GAA with 2.18 and save percentage at .924 which would both be all time records for the Americans if he continues that pace.
- Some bad news on the injury front as Mike Berube left the game with a lower body injury that looked like it will keep him out of the line up for a while. Saw him dressed in street clothes after the second period and he was limping noticeably.
- Adam Pineault did not play in the game and it makes you wonder if he tried to come back to early from the groin and rib injuries he was dealing with. It was originally announced he would not return until last night but he was in the line up on Tuesday. My vote would be to go slow, be cautious, and have Adam at 100% come playoff time.
- Garrett Clarke leads the team in penalty minutes with 168 which puts him in second place all time for penalty minutes in a season. For you trivia buffs the all time single season record is held by Brandon Straub who had 185 minutes in the 2009-2010 season.
- Mr. Under The Radar (Anthony Maiani) proved it again last night as his two goal performance and great all around play couldn't get him one of the three stars. COME ON, MAN!!
- The three stars of the game were #1 Dell, #2 Deitsch, & #3 Lukin who all had great games.
- In addition to a goal last night Brian McMillin had only his fourth penalty of the season. If there was such a thing as the Lady Byng Trophy (given in the NHL to the player who exhibits outstanding sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability) in the CHL Brian would be a worthy candidate.
- Separated by just one point, the Americans regained the top spot on the Sher-Wood Coaches Poll taking it away from the Wichita Thunder. The Americans were the #1 team on the first five polls this season before the Thunder took the top spot in the last two polls. Allen finished with 84 points on the most recent poll, while Wichita garnered 83 points. The poll is released on or near the beginning and middle of each month throughout the regular season. Each first place vote receives 10 points, second place votes earn 9 points, etc.
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| Jason Deitsch notches 500th point - photo by SceneByKimberly.com |
- I know there was a lot of chatter around social media yesterday concerning the McDonald's themed jerseys the team wore last night and some of it was unfavorable. My thoughts are this is a great fund raiser for the Ronald McDonald house, it is done all over the place in minor league hockey, and judging by what the jerseys went for at the auction after the game it was a huge success. I heard Darryl Bootland say he has even played on a McDonald's sponsored night with the special jerseys and the entire sheet of ice dyed yellow.
- I stayed for a little of the jersey auction and didn't keep close tabs so I could have the numbers a little off but most of them went from $400 - $800 dollars. The highest amount I heard was for the jersey worn by Jim McKenzie (blood and all). Darryl Bootland, who took the microphone from Tommy Daniels and auctioned his own jersey also got top dollar as did the jersey worn by Aaron Dell. A great cause for a great sponsor of the Allen Americans.
- I thought we had another disappointing crowd (3927) for a Friday night game against what many people feel is the best team in the league and no conflicts with the Stars & Mavericks. I sure hope we can get more people to the AEC when the playoffs start.
- Hope to see everyone at the game tonight and please let me know if there is any story you would like me to cover. I'm currently working on a player profile with Drew Daniels, a story on the team bus and a story about this blog as we pass our 20,000th page view sometime today.
I agree that even if one didn't like the jerseys, the cause is so good that I say just deal with it! However, the jerseys grew on me over the night. I didn't think I was going to like them as much as I did!
ReplyDeleteI really like all of your player profiles and updates on players each week.
I heard Penner was in the house last night. Is he staying around the area for a while do you know?
As always, Barry, another great read! Thanks so much for all your work, as I find this blog both informative, and helpful in understanding some of the actions that are taken. Congrats on the 20,000 hits.
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