Martinson Post Game Comments, Shootout Woes, Dell & McKenzie Shine & Stats

The bottom line is the Allen Americans lost to the Arizona Sundogs last night in a shootout by a score of 4-3 before a crowd of 2064 at the Tim's Toyota Center. The real story is how they lost the game as Allen was leading after the second period by a score of 3-2 and based on past history was in great position to win the game. Allen's record when leading by a goal after the second period was 13-1-2 while Arizona's record when trailing by a goal after the second period was 1-14-1. Past history didn't work as the Sundogs scored the only goal of the third period to tie the score and send the game to overtime. The game ended in a shootout as Arizona goalie Andrew Engelage stopped all five Allen skaters to secure the victory.

STEVE MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

- I thought their goalie was really good tonight. (The Americans stopped Andrew Engelage's consecutive minute scoreless streak 57 seconds into the second period. The scoreless minute streak for Engelage came to an end at 227:22, the second longest in league history. Mark Guggenberger still holds the record at 238:31).

- There were so many slashes in the game I thought someone was going to get a hand or arm broken.

- Another example of a big hit automatically being called a penalty as Rouleau has a great hit and then gets jumped after the whistle.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- The Americans goals were scored by Alex Lavoie (17),  Jonathan Lessard (16) and Garrett Klotz (3). Scoring streaks that were kept alive in the game were Tyler Ludwig (8 games), Kale Kerbashian (5 games) and Jonathan Lessard (5 games).

- The Americans shootout record is now at 3-3 but a closer look shows the team struggling to score in shootouts recently. Allen had four shootouts in the first seven games of the season but only two since. Since November 1st the two shootouts were last night when the Americans were 0-5 and December 7th when they were 0-4. For the entire season the team is 6-31 in shootout attempts. Interestingly, the player with the best percentage in shootouts, Tyler Ludwig who is two for three, didn't get a chance last night. Here are the seasonal totals on shootouts:

Jamie Schaafsma:    0/6
Alex Lavoie:            0/5
Kale Kerbashian:      2/5
Darryl Bootland:      1/4
Tyler Ludwig:          2/3
Jonathan Lessard:    0/3
John Snowden:        1/2
Jarret Lukin:            0/1
Phil Fox:                  0/1
Greger Hanson:       0/1

- With the one point earned last night Allen maintained second place in the CHL standings even though both Rapid City and Missouri won their games. Here are the top four:
Rapid City: 48 points
Allen:         46
Missouri:    45
Denver:      42

- Allen is dealing with the same issue this weekend as last weekend against Denver and that is limiting the damage done by the Arizona top line ( Brandon Coccimiglio & David Rutherford). Didn't work too well last night as both players were involved in all three Arizona goals in regulation. Coccimiglio had two goals and an assist and Rutherford had three assists. Slowing them down will be key to winning the game tonight.

- In Allen's last five games the plus/minus leaders are Kale Kerbashian and Alex Lavoie with +6.

- In the last 10 games Mark Guggenberger is 4-0-0 with a 2.35 GAA while Bryan Pitton is 3-1-2 with a 3.02 GAA.

- A disappointing crowd of 2064 last night when you think about the way Arizona is playing (five game win streak) and goalie Andrew Engelage going for a CHL record. Saturday night crowds are always larger than Fridays so you should see an increase tonight. It does make one wonder about the financial viability of teams that draw fewer than 2500 fans per game. Owners typically do not stick around very long when loosing that much money. Even Arizona who has stayed around while averaging less than 2500 over the last five years has to be looking for light at the end of the tunnel. The average attendance in the CHL has been in decline the last three years from 4042 (2011-2012) to 3706 (2012-2013), to 3475 so far this year.

- The longer the league delays announcing the two new franchises the more likely there will be big changes happen in the off season. It takes many months to crank up a new franchise and the CHL is already past the optimal lead time for any new teams entering the league for next season.

- In the former player news from last night Aaron Dell had a shutout as his Utah Grizzlies (ECHL) beat Idaho 3-0. Aaron is now 9-3 on the season with a GAA of 2.21 and save percentage of .914. Jim McKenzie help his Iowa Wild (AHL) team defeat Lake Erie by a score of 6-1. Jim had two assists in that game.



DID YOU KNOW: The Rapid City Rush have been in three shootouts this season, they have won all three and have scored seven goals in ten attempts in the three shootouts.