Shootout Success, Martinson Post Game Comments, Jersey Auction Results, Today's Year End Awards

The headline on the game with Wichita yesterday is Allen wins 5-4 in a shootout to move into third place in the standings and eliminate Wichita from the playoffs before 8203 fans at the Intrust Bank Arena. But the real story of the game was how Allen had a 4-2 lead on goals by Maiani, McMillin, and two by Lessard only to have the Thunder score twice with an extra attacker in the last 40 seconds of the game. The first extra attacker goal came with Ross Rouleau laying on the ice after being high sticked right in front of the referee who made no call. When Dallas Ehrhardt, the quietest guy on the team who is not a complainer, questioned why he did not call the high sticking, the referee chose to give Dallas an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. It was the only penalty the referee called in the last 25 minutes of the game. With the six on four extra attacker Wichita scored with eight seconds remaining in the game to force overtime. The game went to a shootout with Tyler Ludwig getting the game winner. Despite the win, it was disappointing to see the referee have such a big influence on the outcome of the game in the last minute of play.

STEVE MARTINSON POST GAME COMMENTS:

- Had the chance to spend about fifteen minutes on the phone with coach Martinson after the game and to be honest it was difficult to get him to talk about anything other than the officiating. In an effort to save him some money by being fined by the CHL I will not share most of what he had to say. He was not happy with how the first period situation with Erick Lizon was handled and was livid about what transpired in the last minute of regulation.

- The positives in the game far outweighed the negatives. We played with a lot of speed and were in total control of the game until the last 40 seconds when the referee took control.  It was good to get the two points tonight and move into third place in the standings. We now have a chance to finish in second place in the standings and the outcome is in our hands. If we win out we will finish second.

- Wichita had a big shot advantage in the third period (19-3) but most of the shots were from the perimeter. We made the decision to stay back and not have an aggressive forecheck. I also told the guys to avoid hits as we can't afford any more injuries and with the history with Wichita and the fact they are not making the playoffs I didn't want any confrontations.

-  Kale Kerbashian hurt his hand and will have it X-rayed when we get home. Until that happens we won't know how long he will be out.

- Garrett Klotz hit Lizon with some big, hard punches in retaliation for Lizon jumping Daniel Barnes. Barnes did a good job of filling in for our injured players and he came close to scoring several times. Barnes lives locally, his regular job has him on the ice and he trains so he has been a great asset for us when we need a player.

- With all of the injuries and in an effort to get in the best position for the playoffs there will be roster changes Monday & Tuesday. Stay tuned.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- The shootout last night was the best performance of the year by the Americans in  a shootout. After Greger Hanson missed in the first round Bruce Graham, Tyler Ludwig, and Spencer Asuchak all scored and  Bryan Pitton stopped three of four Thunder shooters to secure the victory. Tyler Ludwig got the game winner and has the best shootout percentage on the team at 60% (3-5). It was also nice to see Spencer Asuchak score when Coach Martinson rewarded him for his recent great play by giving him his first shootout opportunity.

- Tyler Ludwig's game winning goal was his 20th of the season. Every goal he scores sets a new record for goals scored by a defenseman. The goal was his 52nd point which breaks the single season scoring record for defensemen of 51 that Tyler set last year.

- Allen only had one power play opportunity in the game and Jonathan Lessard scored his first goal on that power play.

- The top line of Graham, Hanson and Schaafsma were held scoreless so all three of them had scoring streaks snapped. Spencer Asuchak now has the team leading six game scoring streak and has fifteeen points (7 goals 8 assists) in the last six games.

- Jonathan Lessard with two goals was named the games #1 star and Brian McMillin (1 goal 2 assists) was the #3 star.

- With the Wichita loss the playoffs have been set and now only the seedings remain to be determined. If the playoffs started today:
Missouri (1) vs Arizona (8)
Denver (2) vs Brampton (7)
Allen (3) vs Tulsa (6)
Rapid City (4) vs Quad City (5)

- The year end awards announcements continue today as the CHL will announce the All-CHL Team and the CHL All-Rookie Team. At a minimum Lavoie & Asuchak should be on the All-rookie Team and Tyler Ludwig on the All-CHL team.

- Had someone ask about the specialty military jersey auction that took place after the game on Saturday. I have said many times the support that fans give to these auctions never ceases to amaze me. And it is a handful of fans that deserve the most recognition as they buy jerseys over and over again.  Here is what the jerseys went for. Thanks to super fan Leonard for recording this information for me:

McMillin - $600
Rouleau - $400
Lukin - $500
Klotz - $600
Pitton - $600
Maiani - $800
Berube - $900
Kerbashian - $700
Tyler Ludwig - $800
Ehrhardt - $600
Trevor Ludwig - $700
Schaafsma - $1000
Hanson - $700
Hendrikx - $600
Lessard - $600
Asuchak - $700
Fox - $500
Graham - $700
Barnes - $400
Levine - $400
Bootland - $1200
Zion - $700
Matvichuk - $500
Lavoie - $800

Courtesy of CHL Memes

Courtesy of CHL Memes

DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans record in their last fifteen games is 12-2-1.