Allen coach Steve Martinson has said repeatedly his goal is to have entertaining hockey and win home games down the stretch no matter what the standings say. Mission accomplished yesterday as 3377 fans saw the Americans beat the Rapid Rush 3-1 on Pucks 'N Paws night at the Allen Event Center (AEC).
- Playing with just five defensemen and missing Joel Chouinard, Etienne Boutet, Chase Lang (injured) along with Alex Breton and Riley Bourbonnais who are on loan to the the AHL, the Americans found a way to win. Even more impressive is Allen was playing their third game in 48 hours while the Rush hadn't played a game since last Thursday.
- With Allen missing so many players and playing shorthanded combined with the fact Rapid City was averaging 1.67 goals per game over their last six games it was no surprise this was a low scoring game.
- Allen did some good things in this win. They out shot Rapid City 32-30. It was only the 16th time in 61 games Allen has out shot their opponent. The Americans scored the first goal of the game for just the 24th time in 61 games. The Americans record when they score first is now 13-6-4-1.
- It took Allen 98 seconds to get on the scoreboard. Josh Atkinson scored his third goal of the season on a great shot from the faceoff circle. Rapid City tied the score late in the first period on a 5-on-3 power play. It was their only goal of the game. There was no scoring in the second period. Braylon Shmyr scored the game winner, his 15th goal of the season, at the 3:14 mark of the third period. Zach Pochiro scored an empty net insurance goal with 28 seconds remaining in the game to give Steve Martinson the 999th win of his coaching career.
- Here are the Sporfie highlights of Allen's goals:
Josh Atkinson - A few things to look for on this replay. Josh came over the boards on a shift change and heads to the faceoff circle uncovered just in time to take a pass from Adam Miller. Josh beats the goalie cleanly with a high blocker side shot. Adam Miller makes this play by dumping the puck rather than trying to carry it in the zone. He wins a puck battle in the corner and makes a perfect pass to Atkinson.
Braylon Shmyr - Another goal that was generated by dumping the puck into the zone. This time Gary Steffes dumped the puck and then beat the defense behind the Rush net. The goalie felt the pressure from Gary and rimmed the puck right to Shmyr who took a shot before the goalie could get back in the net. A dump the puck game winner.
Zach Pochiro - A great individual effort by Zach leads to this empty net goal. Zach has a goal in six straight games, three of them have been empty net goals. Pochiro leads the ECHL with 32 goals. Zach needs four goals in the last 11 Allen games to move into third place all-time in goals in a season. It will be hard for him to catch #2 Chad Costello (41 goals) and #1 Gary Steffes (44 goals).
Here is the full highlight package from the game last night:
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
"We had a slow start tonight but we found some legs. Rapid City was rested up and they skate hard and work hard. We got better as the game went on. We had eight shots halfway through the game and ended up with 32 shots. With 24 shots in the last half of the game we have something to build on."
"We should get Chouinard back for the game on Wednesday and Dalton Thrower hopefully soon as well."
"Boutet got hurt in the third period in Tulsa and we had to go with five defensemen tonight. When you play five defensemen it does make a bit of a difference because you don't get in sync with certain guys."
"We got two goals tonight by dumping the puck. On our first goal Miller dumped the puck in and went and got it and made a great pass to Atkinson."
OTHER COMMENTS
- The win last night was important in Allen's quest to get out of the Mountain Division cellar. They now trail the Rush by just four points but Rapid City has two games in hand. Allen has a great chance to pass Rapid City and Wichita. Rapid City has a brutal schedule with their next six games against Utah followed by five straight against Idaho. Allen doesn't play Rapid City again but you have to expect they will get some help from Utah and Idaho. The Americans play Wichita four more times (2 home, 2 away) so they control their own destiny in passing the Thunder.
- Alex Breton was a healthy scratch for Springfield (AHL) yesterday as they lost to Providence 5-1. Alex played on Friday but was a healthy scratch on Saturday and Sunday. Springfield doesn't play again until Friday.
- Riley Bourbonnais played in all three games this weekend for the Iowa Wild. In three games Riley had no points, no shots and was -1. Iowa's next game is Friday.
- Tulsa beat Kansas City last night so the magic number for Allen to be eliminated from the playoffs remains eight points. Here are the current Mountain Division Standings with games remaining in parentheses:
74 points - Tulsa (12 games remaining)
72 points - Idaho (14 games)
71 points - Utah (15 games)
62 points - Kansas City (16 games)
53 points - Wichita (14 games)
52 points - Rapid City (13 games)
48 points - Allen (11 games)
- I know it is hard for many to attend midweek games but you should make an exception on Wednesday. It is a chance to see hockey history as Steve Martinson goes for his 1000th win as a pro hockey coach. He will become only the third coach in pro hockey to reach 1000 wins and the first US born coach to accomplish that feat.
- I have four FREE premium level club tickets (second level) for the Allen game on Wednesday (March 6 at 7:05 pm) against Kansas City. I will have a drawing for the tickets tomorrow (Tuesday ) morning, notify the winner and leave the tickets at will call. If you are interested let me know by email (janssenfamily@msn.com). All I need is your name and whether you are interested in two or four tickets. The tickets are on the upper level in the end of the rink where the Zamboni enters the ice. Good luck!
DID YOU KNOW: Over his 23 year coaching career Steve Martinson has coached five different teams in four different leagues and won 10 championships. Martinson won five championships with the San Diego Gulls in the WCHL (West Coast Hockey League), one championship with the Rockford IceHogs in the UHL (United Hockey League), two championships with Allen in the CHL (Central Hockey League) and two championships with Allen in the ECHL.
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