Allen Wins Final Game, Finishes 15-0-1-0, Video Highlights, Martinson Comments, Personal Records

In was a meaningless game as far as the standings were concerned but the Allen Americans kept their streak alive by beating the Wichita Thunder last night 4-2 before a huge crowd of 8499 at Intrust Bank Arena. Allen has not lost a game in regulation since February 19. The Americans finished the season with the #1 seed in their division and the #2 seed overall and will take on the Utah Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.


- Goal scorers for Allen were Tyler Barnes (11), Josh Brittain (11), Spencer Asuchak (26) and Gary Steffes (21). A great set of video highlights are posted at ECHL Rewind including all of the goals and several great saves by the goalies. Pay close attention to the Chad Costello pass to Spencer Asuchak on what was the game winning third goal. It was Costello's 700 point as a pro and how fitting it was an assist on a no look pass right on the stick of Asuchak. Here is the link: http://www.echl.com/


- Steve Martinson described the game this way, "We got the win, I liked the third period when we outshot Wichita 21-8 and scored two goals and best of all we came out of the game with no injuries."


- Here is the Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/americans-close-regular-season-with-a-4-2-win-over-wichita/


- Here is a story from the Wichita Eagle that recaps the game and talks about the future of Thunder captain Ian Lowe. http://www.kansas.com/sports/other-sports/wichita-thunder/article143669109.html


- As the regular season ends for Allen it is important to reflect back on exactly what they have accomplished. This team ended up with the most wins ever (49) and 104 points which is two less than the 106 they had in 2014-15. They scored the most goals ever (294) and had the highest power play percentage 24.4% since joining the ECHL.


- The most remarkable thing about the team's success is they were 8-11 at the end of November. Since that point the Americans record is 41-6-4-2. I never reported this in the blog but after Allen lost two games at home to Rapid City on February 18 & 19 and Colorado was in the midst of what would be a 17 game winning streak I asked coach Martinson about the team's chances to get first place in the Mountian Division. He said, "Barry, we have 16 games remaining and I think we will win all 16. Colorado better keep winning or we will catch them." As it turned out Martinson came one overtime loss in Missouri from accomplishing his goal and finished the final 16 games with a record of 15-0-1-0. After the win in Wichita last night Martinson had this to say about the season, "Anytime you get over 100 points it is a real good season."


- When you have a team that scores 294 goals, has a goal differential of +91, a team plus/minus of +334 and 14 players with 10 or more goals there are lot's of individual accomplishments worthy of note. Here are a few examples.


- Chad Costello won the ECHL scoring title for the third straight season and will be honored today by the league with the CCM Leading Scorer Award. Chad not only won the title he won it by 34 points (122-88). He had more assists (89) than anyone else in the league had points. Winning the scoring title by more than 20 points has happened just six times in the history of the league and Chad has three of the six.


- Joel Chouinard will also be honored today with the AMI Graphics Plus Performer of the Year for leading the ECHL with a plus/minus of +47. That is the highest plus/minus in the ECHL since Allen joined the league. It is also the all-time Allen record for plus/minus.


- Players having career years this season in Allen include Greger Hanson with 76 points (35 goals 41 assists), Spencer Asuchak with 66 points (26 goals 40 assists), Bryan Moore with 51 points in 44 games (27 goals 24 assists) and David Makowski with 50 points in 42 games (16 goals 34 assists).


- Riley Gill also had the best year of his pro career. He finished the season with a record of 32-7-2-0 including a personal best and league leading seven shutouts. He had a GAA of 2.22 and save percentage of .935. Riley was also perfect in shootouts stopping all five attempts he faced.

- I will have a complete Playoff Preview tomorrow but a reminder to encourage your friends to come out and watch playoff hockey. I will have a drawing for free tickets to the first two playoffs games (April 12 & 14) for anyone that has never attended an Americans playoff game. Just have them email me at janssenfamily@msn.com and provide their name, which date they are interested in and whether they want two or four tickets. I will have the drawing Tuesday morning, notify the winners and leave the tickets at will call. 

 

 

- If you know anyone that needs playoff tickets they are available through Ticketmaster. If you use the special promotion code "goalie" you can get center ice seats for just $27 and end zone seats as low as $16.

- Here is the first round Allen vs Utah playoff schedule. All times are local.

Game 1 - Wed. Apr 12, 2017 - 7:05PM  |  UTA  @  ALN

Game 2 - Fri. Apr 14, 2017 - 7:05PM  |  UTA  @  ALN

Game 3 - Wed. Apr 19, 2017 - 7:05PM  |  ALN  @  UTA

Game 4 - Fri. Apr 21, 2017 - 7:05PM  |  ALN  @  UTA

Game 5 - Sat. Apr 22, 2017 - 7:05PM*  |  ALN  @  UTA

Game 6 - Mon. Apr 24, 2017 - 7:05PM*  |  UTA  @  ALN

Game 7 - Tue. Apr 25, 2017 - 7:05PM*  |  UTA  @  ALN

 *if necassary

DID YOU KNOW: Chad Costello is on the ECHL all time single season scoring top ten list twice with 125 points in 2014-15 and 122 points this season. All the other players on the top ten list played more than 20 years ago. Chad finished with a career high 89 assists this season which is the third highest total in the history of the league.