Confession of Barry the Blogger, Allen Finishes Preseason 2-0, Sporfie Highlights and Faceoff Rules

It is a great feeling when you try and write a blog everyday during the hockey season when you miss a day (like yesterday) and don't hear any complaints. Instead several readers left messages asking if I was okay. I am fine unless you count a bruised ego as an injury. Here is what happened yesterday.

It was a simple plan, get up early (3:00 am), head out to the hunting lease (60 miles northeast), get in a couple of hours of hunting, head back home to finish the blog for the day and have it published by 11:30. Yes, there was some rain in the forecast (20%) but the odds were in our favor.

I have been hunting for over 60 years and in my 20's and 30's there wasn't a road you couldn't conquer when pursuing ducks, geese or pheasants. I could regale you with numerous stories about spending hours digging out after getting stuck in the snow on the back roads of Minnesota because in your youth the decision is always, "we can make it through there."

There were a few differences yesterday on the back roads of Texas when it was decision time. First, I am now 71 and haven't been stuck in many years but I will concede my hunting buddy yesterday is 31 and in that "we can make it mode." Second, there is no snow to get stuck in here in Texas but there is mud and you guessed it we succumbed to the "Texas gumbo." It was slippery when we arrived but that "we can make it" attitude prevailed and my buddies four wheel drive truck got us to our hunting spot. I walked about a half a mile across a plowed corn field, sinking in mud to my ankles to get to the perfect patch of weeds to set up. After about 30 minutes the rains came, we got soaked and after an hour had not taken a single shot. It was back across the field to the truck trudging through the mud and standing water. As we headed down the road on our way out it was clear we were in trouble as that Texas gumbo, a sloppy slurry muck had us mired in something that made snow seem sticky and gritty.

I will save you the details but after an hour of packing branches under all four tires, moving a few inches or feet, repositioning the muddy branches again and again we made it out. At one point the truck was perpendicular to the road. We were close to walking to the ranch a couples mile down the road to ask for help as he had a big John Deere tractor but in a flashback to my younger days and the never give up attitude of my hunting buddy we made it out on our own. I have never seen so much mud on two human beings that were not trying to get muddy and the inside of the truck definitely needs a spa day.

As we were driving home I couldn't help but harken back to my younger days when incidents like yesterday were great memories once they were over. I know it is one we will never forget but it is a lesson learned, when you are told the dirt roads look like you can drive on them after big rains, but don't try it!

I spent the rest of the day cleaning and drying all of my hunting equipment, my clothes (had to wash them in a pail before putting them in the washer) and my boots. It took an hour just to clean my shotgun. So there you have it, a confession from Barry the Blogger why there was no blog yesterday.



ALLEN AMERICANS PRESEASON

- The Allen Americans finished the preseason 2-0 with a 3-2 win over Kansas City on Saturday. It was a back and fourth game with the game winner scored by Allen's rookie defenseman, Alex Breton with 9.8 seconds left in the game.


- If you haven't had a chance to see the Sporfie replays of the Allen goals here they are:

J.C. Campagna - J.C. takes a pass from Ben Duffy and rifles a shot from the face-off dot that clangs off the post. The Mavericks defenseman tries to clear the puck out of the air but puts it in the net. https://sporfie.app.link/usjh1HtYNQ

Dante Salituro - Great pass right on the tape by Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Dante buries the puck off the post into the net. https://sporfie.app.link/sjgL7ce0NQ

Alex Breton - The thing to watch on this goal is how Alex moves to his left to use Pierro-Zabotel and his defender as a screen to score the game winner. It was a power play goal plus one of the Kansas City players was playing without a stick. https://sporfie.app.link/5c8ZZPt4NQ


- The preseason is now in the rear view mirror. Here are a few takeaways:

Allen outscored Kansas City 7-5 in the two preseason games with seven different players scoring for the Americans, a good sign.

Allen was 2-9 (22.2%) on the power play and 3-14 (78.6%) on the penalty kill. The penalty kill percentage is not a concern because the Americans- haven't worked on that but giving up 14 power play opportunities in two games is too many.

Allen generated 69 shots in the two games including 20 in the second period on Saturday. It appears this group will not struggle in getting shots which was an issue at times last season.


- The Americans had a team building activity on their day off yesterday and today will start a different type of practice. To start with there will fewer players practicing as coach Martinson starts to trim the roster. He will concentrate more on systems practices and special teams over the next few days.


- I mentioned this on Saturday but it is worth mentioning again. Coach Martinson will be very busy on and off the ice the next few days. Look for numerous transactions between now and Wednesday when opening day rosters are due in the league office. Players released, players traded and players assigned to Allen from Iowa.



DID YOU KNOW: Had a reader ask why the linesman asks players to leave the face-off circle as it seems some are much stricter than others. I am not an expert but I will give it a try. The linesman is looking at several things when preparing to drop the puck. He can kick guys out of the face-off circle (and even call a penalty) if the players don't line up with their feet outside the hashmarks (see video below for example). The linesmen are also watching the players outside the face-off circle to see if they are encroaching and can kick the player taking the faceoff out in this case. The order players put their sticks down for the face-off (home team goes second) and the way they take the face-off can also result in being kicked out. Here are the situations in the rule book (rule 76.3) that state the linesman will have the offender replaced if:
One or both centers are not positioned for the face-off
One or both center refrain from placing their stick on the ice
Any player has encroached into the face-off circle
Any player makes physical contact with an opponent
Any player that lines up for a face-off in an off-side position

 As with any set of rules, judgement comes into play so you may see some linesmen more strict than others. Hope this helps.