- Allen extended their winning streak to five games, the longest of the season. They have won three in a row on the road which is also the longest of the season. To get two wins in Utah was quite an accomplishment as the Grizzlies were on a streak of 8-0-0-1 when Allen arrived in town and were the hottest team in the ECHL. It was also great for the Americans to atone for what happened in Allen three weeks ago when Utah won twice at the Allen Event Center.
- It is always a good game when you score seven goals (it was just the fourth time all season) made even better when seven different players scored. The goal scorers were Vincent Arseneau (18), Bryan Moore (17), Zach Pochiro (14), Mike Gunn (1), Casey Pierro-Zabotel (17), Alex Guptill (25) and Spencer Asuchak (10). There is a highlight package on ECHL Rewind that shows most of the goals and a few great saves: https://www.echl.com/
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-win-fifth-row-sweep-weekend-utah/
- Here is the game recap from the Utah Grizzlies: http://www.utahgrizzlies.com/team-news/headline-news/?article_id=3483
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
"We played great the first 50 minutes of the game. We were big, physical and fast."
"We made lots of plays, had a lot of hits and had plenty of fast skating goals."
"We had weak plays to give up a one timer in front of our net on a two on one and on another goal they had a double tip with multiple bodies in front of our net."
"Stephon Williams is going to San Jose and Jeremy Brodeur is returning to Allen so I wanted to give Williams some minutes in case he gets the chance to play in San Jose. That is the reason for the goalie change midway through in the third period."
"The new guys played well. Carrier worked hard and had lots of hits. Campagna adds size and speed and made several good plays."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Next stop for the Allen Americans on this marathon road trip is in Rapid City where the will play the Rush on Wednesday. The bus trip from Salt Lake City to Rapid City was just over 650 miles.
- Tulsa beat Wichita last night so the battle for the third and fourth spots in the Mountain Division now has Wichita in third (68 points), Allen in fourth (66 points), Tulsa in fifth (65 points) and Utah in sixth (62 points). Allen has one game in hand over the other three. Allen and Tulsa have eight home games remaining, Utah five and Wichita just two.
- There are now three teams that have clinched a playoff spot. Two from the South Division (Florida & South Carolina and one from the Central Division (Toledo). Fort Wayne (2 points) and Colorado (4 points) should be next and that could happen as early as today.
- One of the greatest hockey tournaments every season is the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament which concluded last night and has some connections to the Allen Americans. In Class A (small schools) Orono beat Alexandria 2-1 to win their first ever state title under a first year head coach. The Allen connection to this game is Gary Steffes, who now lives in Alexandria and knows many of the players. In the Class 2A (big schools) Minnetonka beat Duluth East 5-2 to win their first ever state title under a first year head coach. Minnetonka is an affluent suburb just west of Minneapolis and is a lake community surrounded by the ninth largest lake in the state (Lake Minnetonka. The high school was established in 1952 and in the lake living tradition they are known as the Minnetonka Skippers. Allen coach Steve Martinson grew up in Minnetonka and played on the high school hockey team in the mid 1970's. The first year coach for Minnetonka is Sean Goldsworthy, the son of Bill Goldsworthy who was the first big star for the Minnesota North Stars. Bill Goldsworthy who wore #8 for the Stars is one of five players to have his jersey number retired by the Dallas Stars organization. Steve Martinson's son, Logan, skated with a lot of the players on the Minnetonka team when he was in ninth grade and thought about living with Steve's brother and playing bantam hockey in Minnetonka.
- Here is the story about the Minnetonka victory from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. By the way the attendance for this high school game was 18,914. https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/10/class-2a-boys-hockey-minnetonka-beats-duluth-east-for-first-state-title/
- The Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament even has an all hockey hair team. It has become quite the thing all done in good humor:
DID YOU KNOW: If you look at average goals scored per game the top four players this season come out a little better than the top four last season but the big difference is the top four this season will play over 100 fewer games because of call ups, injuries and suspensions and in one case a trade. Here are the top four players this season and last season in average goals per game.
2016-17
.60 - Greger Hanson
.54 - Bryan Moore
.49 - Chad Costello
.41 - Spencer Asuchak
2017-18
.68 - Olivier Archambault
.50 - Alex Guptill
.49 - Vincent Arseneau
.47 - Zach Pochiro
Looking at Allen's goalie situation (and assuming that Gill's out of the mix), what they do with three goalies? It seems logical to me that AHL-contracted Williams would up in San Jose to back up Bibeau, with Paterson and Brodeur playing in Allen. Care to share your thoughts on this, Barry?
ReplyDeleteMike, it is uncertain what would happen if all three goalies ended up in Allen. If you remember there were three goalies on the roster at the end of the season and in the playoffs in 2016 (Gill, Hildebrand & Rumpel)so that could happen again. I doubt that is the ideal situation and I would guess the decision would depend at what point Martinson has to make it. Hope that helps. I also think you are correct in assuming Gill is out of the mix though no news from the team for many weeks.
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