Good Start, Bad Ending for Allen, Game Recap, Martinson's Comments, Baribeau Wins AHL Debut, Combs Heads to Germany and More

It was a game that started out well for Allen but ended horribly as the Americans lost 5-2 to the Tulsa Oilers on Sunday before a crowd of 4106 at the BOK Center. The Americans scored the first and only goal of the opening period and with a record of 8-1 when scoring first and 8-1 when leading after the first period, things looked good for Allen. When the Americans increased their lead to 2-0 at the 7:34 mark of the second period it looked like they were well on the way to their fourth straight win in Tulsa this season. However, from that point forward the wheels came off for the Americans as the Oilers scored five unanswered goals to win the game handily.


- Special teams proved to be the difference in the game. Allen had twice as many power play opportunities as Tulsa going 1-8 while the Oilers were 2-4. The Americans had the best road penalty kill in the ECHL going into the game giving up just one power play goal in 23 opportunities. Giving up two power play goals to Tulsa proved to be the difference in the game.


- Allen seemed to wear down as the game went on. They were out shot 14-7 in the third period and outscored 3-0 though one of the goals was an empty net goal.


- Goal scorers for Allen were Tyler Sheehy (6) and Gabe Gagne (9). Olivier Archambault assisted on both goals.


- Former Allen defenseman Miles Liberati had three assists in the game and is now averaging a point per game with 16 points (5G, 11A) in 16 games.


- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans:  https://allenamericans.com/americans-close-out-two-game-set-in-tulsa-with-a-5-2-loss/


- Here is the game recap issued by the Tulsa Oilers:  https://tulsaoilers.com/oilers-bounce-back-big-defeat-allen-5-2/


- When I checked in with coach Martinson after the game he was short and to the point, "Too many turnovers and mistakes on the penalty kill led to quality scoring chances for Tulsa. We wasted a good start tonight."



OTHER COMMENTS

- It is important to keep the loss on Sunday in perspective. Allen is in the midst of playing nine of ten games on the road. Thus far they are 2-1 and will now head to Idaho where they take on the Steelheads on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Allen's road record of 5-2-1-0 is one of the best in the league. They need to clean up the issues from the game on Sunday and they will be fine.


- Goalie Dereck Baribeau got his first AHL start last night for the Iowa Wild. He stopped 30 of 32 shots to earn his first AHL win as Iowa came came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat San Antonio 3-2. The game had a distinct Allen flavor as three of the six defnesemen that played are under contract with the Americans, Josh Atkinson, Matt Register and Turner Ottenbreit. None of them figured in the scoring but Atkinson had five shots and Register had three shots.


- Jack Combs has left the Wichita Thunder and has already arrived in Germany. He will be playing for a team in Bad Nauheim, Germany, in the DEL2, which is the second level league in Germany. Bad Nauheim has a population of about 32,000. The team is currently in third place in a 14 team league. Below is the press release from Jack's new team as translated in Google translate. These always seem lose something in translation, for one Jack is happily married.

I know Jack is taking a lot of grief from many quarters on this move but I have a different take. I think when Jack was talking to ECHL teams everyone was well aware that he would help whatever team he signed with get off to a good start and when a team in Europe was in need of a scorer they would come calling and he would make the move. I know when Jack signed in Allen in 2014-15 and had 56 points (22G, 32A) in 32 games, coach Martinson was fully aware Combs would leave for Europe. Combs was signed to help Allen get off to a good start. When he left, Allen had that great start (25-5-1-2) and the Americans were well on the way to their first Kelly Cup championship. Jack did exactly what he was hired to do in Wichita. In just 15 games he became the  team's leading scorer with five goals and 10 assists. A team that wasn't given much of a chance at the beginning of the season has a .548 winning percentage and is currently in a playoff spot in the Mountain Division.    

Here is the press release:

The Red Devils respond to the failures of Tyler Fiddler, Cody Sylvester 

and Zach Hamill. Just tonight at 02:00 clock, as the employees of the office

from the start of the rink construction in Offenbach returned,

the signed, temporary contract of the former Bremerhaven and Iserlohner 

Torjägers ago. Combs is currently in St. Louis with his girlfriend.

Jack Combs is on his way to Bad Nauheim today and is expected tomorrow 

morning at 5:00 in Frankfurt. The 31-year-old, 183 m tall and 91 kg heavy

Combs comes with plenty of experience from 220 ECHL games with 278 points

(132 goals / 146 assists), and 165 AHL games with 79 points(40 goals / 39 assists)

in the spa town.

His first European stadium in 2016/2017 was the DEL Club Bremerhaven, where he 

scored the most goals in the DEL main round with 27 goals. A strong 45 scorer

points in the end for the outside striker to book. After that, the scorer moved

to Iserlohn, where he was also successful with 34 points (22 goals / 12 assists). 

Last season, Combs started the season a little later at the Swiss NLB Club Kloten.

There, too, he again proved his scorer qualities with 24 points in 25 games.

"We have been monitoring the market in recent weeks and have been directly 

involved on Friday night to find solutions for the team as quickly as possible.

Of course, the failures weigh heavily, so it was important to us to expand the 

squad in a timely manner through quality. Since Jack Combs and Bill Lochead

have an advisor from our immediate Nauheim environment, we quickly came to an

agreement ", says EC Managing Director Andreas Ortwein.

"Jack is a real scorer, who will certainly make us better and gives us new 

opportunities, especially in powerplay. I'm glad it worked and that we now have

immediate support for the team, "said Head Coach Christof Kreutzer.

"We're also exploring the market and trying to get another player to 

prepare for the next four to six weeksof games," says Matthias Baldys, outlining

the current activities of the sporting leadership.

Whether the top scorer can start tomorrow in Landshut for the ECN, 

depends on the formalities to be done. Of course, the EC managers are trying

everything to make this possible.

So at the moment we have nothing but to say: "Welcome, Jumbo-Jack"!

- Jack Combs will be able to visit his best friend, Chad Costello, who plays for Krefeld in the top German league, DEL. Krefeld is about 150 miles from Bad Nauheim. Chad's team is in 12th place in the 14 team DEL. Chad is having another great season leading the league in scoring with 27 points (11G, 16A) in 23 games.



DID YOU KNOW:  I posted this on my ECHL Stats & Information page this morning which you can see if you like my ECHL Stats & Information Facebook Page or follow on Twitter at @ECHLStats.

No ECHL player has averaged an assist per game over a full season since Chad Costello did so three straight seasons (2014-17) averaging 84 assists per year and 1.17 assists per game. The remarkable stat about Costello’s three years is he never missed a game in those three seasons. Here are the top players in average assists per game this season (minimum 16 games):

.94 - Joseph Duszak, Newfoundland Growlers
.94 - Dan DeSalvo, South Carolina Stingrays
.90 - Peter Quenneville, Rapid City Rush