How good is the 2019-20 version of the Allen Americans? Last night they beat Rapid City 5-2 for their 22nd win of the season, the most in the ECHL. The Americans won despite playing with 14 skaters and one of them, Gary Steffes, was just plucked out of retirement after not playing a game for 258 days. Most importantly, Allen overcame the Saturday night specialty jersey curse which is proof positive this is a special team.
- Allen wasn't as dominant as in their win over Rapid City Friday night. The Americans out shot Rapid City 47-30 on Friday, Rapid City out shot Allen 40-28 on Saturday. What Allen did do well was score the first two goals of the game, go 2-7 on the power play and and 0-6 on the penalty kill. Jake Paterson was outstanding in goal stopping 38 of 40 shots for a save percentage of .950.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Greg Campbell (1), Jared VanWormer (11), Tyler Sheehy (13), Josh Brittain (7) and Jordan Topping (9). Another game where Allen's depth shows with five different goal scorers.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/19922-2/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Rapid City Rush. If you want a goal by goal recap of the game with great detail this is for you: https://www.rapidcityrush.com/en/news/2019/rush-fall-in-series-finale-before-holiday-break
- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals. You have to watch the Brittain goal a few times to appreciate the effort:
- When I stopped by coach Martinson's office after the game he was not a happy camper which was a surprise given his team had just beat Rapid City 5-2 and I walked into his office just in time to see Martinson's son, Logan, score a goal in his NAHL game, which the coach had playing on his monitor. There was a lot on Martinson's mind as the team prepared to leave for Wichita where they will play the lone game in the ECHL the day before the Christmas break. While every other team is now on their Christmas break, Allen is the only team having to travel. There were many other issues on Martinson's mind the least of which was having to play Wichita shorthanded. Brett Pollock will be back from his one game stint in San Diego where he had two assists and was named the #3 star of the game but Gary Steffes is done with his two game emergency help. Bottom line is Allen will play with 14 skaters again today.
Coach Martinson did want to share his thoughts on the incident that happened early in the first period that led to Rapid City's Taylor Crunk being ejected from the game. I quote Martinson, "I was a bit surprised they sent out Crunk, who has no points, to instigate a fight right off the face off. First, we don't have any players that can't play and contribute so we don't want anyone to fight him since he can barely check anyone. Second, we only had 14 guys and are playing four games in five nights. They send Crunk out by himself to switch out the wing just to start a fight. Are their coaches that dumb to think we would waste a player on fighting him. I guess they are that dumb since he cross checked and tried to jump Doetzel. We should have had a seven minute power play. The penalty Crunk took really helped us in getting a very important power play goal after a bit of a sluggish start."
- Tyler Sheehy keeps on rolling. He had a goal and an assist last night to extend his point streak to 11 games. Even more impressive is he has multiple points in nine straight games which ties Chad Costello for Allen's all-time record. Tyler had the game winning goal in both games against Rapid City.
ALLEN VS WICHITA PREVIEW
- It will be a tough task for Allen this afternoon (4:05 pm) as they play their fourth game in five days and third in 48 hours. The Allen at Wichita game is the only ECHL game scheduled today. It would be nice to go into the Christmas break with a win but no matter what happens in Wichita the Americans will enter the break with the most points in the league.
- Allen has won three straight and is 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games. Wichita is 4-6 in their last 10 games. Allen beat Rapid City at home by identical scores (5-2) on Friday and Saturday. Wichita also played at home beating Tulsa 4-1 on Friday and losing 3-1 to Utah on Saturday.
- Statistically Allen has the clear advantage. The Americans average 4.00 goals per game compared to 2.9 for the Thunder. Allen gives up an average of 3.1 goals per game, Wichita 3.8. The Americans have the better power play 13.4% vs 10.8% and the better penalty kill 82.5% vs 77.2%.
- Allen is 3-0-1-0 against Wichita this season and won the only game played in Wichita 3-2. The Americans have always played well in Wichita with a record of 19-6-1-2 since joining the ECHL.
- Everyone is tired and beat up after a grueling December schedule but they need one more gut check before getting three days off. I have a feeling goalie Zach Sawchenko will have to help steal this game.
- Whatever happens today in Wichita, a few stats to put this season in perspective. Allen has just three regulation losses since October 26. Allen has 22 wins. In all of last season the Americans won just 25 games. Allen got their 22nd win this season on December 21. Last season the 22nd win came on March 9.
- Steve Martinson can get within one game of second place on the coaches all-time pro wins list with a win in Wichita today. Here are the top three:
1244 - Scotty Bowman
1027 - John Brophy
1025 - Steve Martinson
DID YOU KNOW: Tyler Sheehy should be a lock for the ECHL player of the month for December. He still has four game to play but so far is has scored in every game in December and has eight goals and 15 assists for a points per game average of 2.1. Tyler deserves a call up to Iowa so hopefully he will get a chance at the next level. I know coach Martinson wants to make sure he plays rather than sits if he gets called up. Stay tuned.
I know I'm not alone in staying and thinking of how much more fun this season is compared to last season. As you mentioned just recently, I think our boys have that special intangible element that a team need to be successful. This weekend I witnessed what I didn't see last season. A team who is confident in where their team members are on the ice without having to look and verify that they are there. I saw no look passes that were made with confidence and on target.
ReplyDeleteI know us fans are having fun and I think our boys are having fun.