Gutsy Win, Pitton Gets a Come On, Man, The Ironmen, Lavoie Sets Record & Mac The Mascot

You can call it a gutsy performance, a confidence builder or a character game as a shorthanded Allen Americans team beat the league leading Missouri Mavericks by a score of 4-1 before 5126 disappointed fans at the Independence Events Center last night. Playing with a lot of guys out of the lineup and several more who were playing hurt and would normally not play and one player (Anthony Maiani) who just got off a plane and hasn't played hockey in months Allen found a way to win the game against some long odds as the Mavericks have been the best team in the league for some time. As Tommy Daniels said to me after the game, "That was Allen Americans hockey."

A true team effort led by Bryan Pitton in goal (more on that later), goals by Lessard & Power, two goals from Tyler Ludwig, three assists from Alex Lavoie and special teams play that won the special teams battle against the best power play and penalty kill units in the league. The entire team and coaching staff deserves a big stick tap on this one.

COACH MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

- Pitton was really good in goal again for us tonight. He has played very well the last few games. If anything it has helped him knowing he will be in goal for the majority of our games.

- We had a little bit of a slow start at the beginning of the game but picked it up the second half of the first period. I was really pleased with the effort tonight.

- We had several guys playing hurt with injuries that make it painful to skate. They would not have played if we had a full roster. They really did take one for the team and did a good job.

- It will be nice to have a couple of days with this positive feeling before we take on Arizona on the weekend. We need to continue to play like we have the last three games until we get guys back. We should have a lot of guys available in the next week or two.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- Okay, I am calling an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for "goalie bias"  on whoever decides the three stars of the game in Missouri. Back on December 14 Bryan Pitton had a 40 save shutout  in Missouri and couldn't crack the three star list and I gave it a COME ON, MAN. Last night Pitton was again outstanding in goal. Here are just a few quotes I saw about his performance and these are from the Maverick's fans.
     "Mavs lose to the Allen Americans, and more so to Bryan Pitton who was as good as he may ever be, unreal tonight"
     "Mavs had their chances but Pitton has been marvelous"
     " I think it is safe to say Pitton is a much better option between the pipes for Allen"
     " Bryan Pitton just made one of the better saves I have seen all year with an indescribable glove save"
     "Their goalie made some good saves and that made the difference" - Sebastien Thinel
So for the first time ever on this blog, for not giving Bryan Pitton one of the three stars of the game, a double COME ON, MAN, - COME ON, MAN!!!

Bryan Pitton Leads Allen to 4-1 Victory - Photo by SceneByKimberly.com

- With Kale Kerbashain missing his first game of the season last night the Americans "Ironmen" are now down to four with only Asuchak, Berube, Lavoie & Tetrault having played in all 51 games. In the interesting stat category is the fact that the youngest (Lavoie at 21) and oldest (Tetrault at 34) players on the team are amongst the four ironmen.

- Happy birthday to Brian McMillin who turns 26 today. Brian had an assist last night and has scored a point in the last four games.

- Jon Zion had an assist on Tyler Ludwig's power play goal in the third period to keep his scoring streak alive. He has scored in all nine games he has played in. Seven of his twelve points have come on the power play.

- Alex Lavoie had three assists for the second game in a row and has extended his rookie scoring lead over Tulsa's Adam Pleskach to 16 points. Lavoie has scored multiple points in 21 games this year. A testament to his consistency is the fact he has not gone more than two games without scoring all year.

- With two goals again last night Tyler Ludwig is on quite a streak having scored eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in the last four games.

- Jonathan Lessard was one of the guys playing hurt and had a great game with the game winning goal, an assist and was a +3 for the game.

- A good way to end this post is with another Sebastien Thinel quote from last night, "Most of my career, whenever you are expecting a big game, it never ends up being that way. I  think that was the case tonight."

- No, here is even a better way to end the post for today. The Missouri Mavericks are a great franchise and the over 5000 fans that came out on a Tuesday night to see a make up game is certainly proof. But a hats off to the the marketing department and game operations staff for using the tripping incident between Allen's goalie Mark Guggenberger and Mac the Mavericks mascot to make it a fun entertaining part of the game. It even got coach Steve Martinson's attention who texted me the following, "Got a kick out of how "serious" the collision between the mascot and Guggenberger was. They had a skit that reminded me of talent day in high school. Very funny! They should have paid my fine to have that many fans on a rescheduled Tuesday night. We better not have anymore "bad blood" between these teams or they are going to have to get a bigger rink." Who says Martinson doesn't have a sense of humor.

Mac wearing a newly minted Trip Me, I DareYou T-Shirt

DID YOU KNOW: Alex Lavoie has more points (67) than any rookie has scored in the CHL since Allen entered the league in 2009-2010.