- Allen gave up leads of 2-0 and 3-1 which is a rare occurrence
- Allen had a 2-0 lead after the first period. Their record in these games was 13-1-0-1
- Allen scored the first goal of the game. Their record when scoring first was 26-1-1-1
- Prior to last night Rapid City had only won two games all season when trailing after one period
- Allen went into the overtime period with a record of 7-2 in overtimes
- Rapid City went into the overtime with a record of 1-8 in overtimes
- Before last night Riley Gill had won ten straight games going back to the middle of December
- Prior to last night Allen's record against the Rush over the past two years was 7-1-0-0
- All you can say after seeing the stats above is the large crowd/specialty jersey curse is alive and well in Allen. One streak that did continue last night was the visiting team has won all five games Allen and Rapid City have played this season.
- Goal scorers for Allen were David Makowski (12), Gary Steffes (14) and Zach Hall (9). Unfortunately the Americans have not posted the highlights to ECHL Rewind as of this morning. Hopefully they are posted later but typically that does not happen.
- After a good first period Allen had a 2-0 lead on goals by Makowski and Steffes. The Americans gave it all back in the second period as they were out shot 20 -7 and allowed three Rush goals. Allen's typical good third period did not materialize as they were out shot 11-7 and no goals were scored. Rapid City won the game 91 seconds into the overtime on a goal by Hunter Fejes. A melee broke out after the overtime goal that lasted several minutes and included a scrum with everyone from both teams involved. More on that later.
- Here is the Allen Americans press release describing the game courtesy of Tommy Daniels: https://allenamericans.com/americans-fall-to-rush-in-overtime/
- Here is a recap of the game from the Rapid City point of view courtesy of the Rapid City Journal: http://rapidcityjournal.com/sports/fejes-ot-goal-lifts-rush-past-allen/article_35ca50a6-346c-5b43-ba4b-6fc069ddb365.html
- Allen and Rapid City have a rematch this afternoon (4:05 pm) and it will be the last time they play this season as the Rush will not make the playoffs. It should be an interesting game to say the least.
- Jamie Murray will be in goal for Allen and you can expect Greger Hanson and Josh Brittain to also be in the lineup as they return from their two game stint with the Chicago Wolves (AHL). They both played last night as Chicago beat Texas in Cedar Park by a score of 4-1. Neither player factored in the scoring as Josh had zeros across the board in the boxscore while Greger had two penalty minutes and was a +1.
- Officials scheduled for the game today are referee Mike Sheehan (#11) and linesmen Chase Wilkinson (#68) and Christopher Williams (#0).
OTHER COMMENTS
- I had a chance to review the video of the melee that took place after the game was over. Here is what I saw. As Riley Gill is starting to skate off after the winning goal is scored a Rush player skates by Gill and says something. Gill reacts by slashing the player behind the legs. Then another Rapid player reacts by spearing Riley Gill. The post game penalties reflect this as Gill was given a two minute slashing penalty and Rapid City was given a five minute major and game misconduct for spearing. A game misconduct for spearing does not come with an automatic suspension but supplementary discipline can be applied at the discretion of the Commissioner. My guess and it is just that, there will not be a suspension. The official boxscore shows the spearing penalty being assessed to Hunter Fejes who scored the game winner. I think that will be changed to Anthony Collins (#48) as it is clear on the video he is the player that speared Gill. Here is a video of part of the post game melee but it does not include what started everything.
- Lost in all of the negative parts of the game was the fact that Chad Costello had two assists and reached the 100 point mark for the third straight season. If you read the "Did You Know" section of the blog yesterday it describes what a rare accomplishment this is as only three other players players in the history of the ECHL have three 100 point seasons. Scoring a 100 points in a season was fairly commonplace in the late 1980's and early 1990's when most scoring records were set. But to score a 100 points in today's style of hockey is quite a feat. The best way to describe what Chad has accomplished is in the last seven years there have been close to 4000 players on ECHL rosters and scoring 100 points in a season has been achieved just three times, all by Chad Costello. C'MON MAN!
- Costello and Makowski have scored at least one point in 12 straight games. Zach Hall has a goal in all three game since he returned from an injury.
- The Allen Americans and more specifically Steve Martinson have a great relationship with the San Jose Sharks and San Jose Barracuda. It is nice to see all three teams in first place in their respective divisions.
- The jersey auction after the game last night was one of the better ones this season. It could be the popularity of the jersey, the fact that a portion of the proceeds were going to a veterans charity (Folds of Honor) or some other reason. Here are the top ten from the jersey auction.
$1100 - Bryan Moore
$1000 - Derek Mathers
$1000 - Mike Gunn
$900 - Gary Steffes
$900 - Aaron Gens
$900 - Riley Gill
$900 - Greger Hanson
$900 - Dyson Stevenson
$900 - David Makowski
- In Mountain Division action last night Colorado won their 11th straight game beating Alaska 6-2 and Idaho won in Utah 3-2 in a shootout. Missouri won their sixth straight game beating Quad City 2-1. Here are the current standings with games remaining in parentheses:
73 points - Allen (17 games remaining)
72 points - Colorado (20 games)
63 points - Idaho (20 games)
57 points - Alaska (23 games)
55 points - Utah (21 games)
55 points - Missouri (22 games)
44 points - Rapid City (21 games)
DID YOU KNOW: Here is a look at the number of ECHL 100 point scorers over time. Again, it points out how dominate Chad Costello has been among his peers. It also shows how much more scoring there was in the late 80's and early 90's. Here are the number of 100 point scorers since the ECHL was established:
2011 - 2017: three (Chad Costello has all three)
2004 - 2010: six
1997 - 2003: 20
1989 - 1996: 40
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