The Allen Americans beat an undermanned Rapid City Rush team 5-2 last night before a crowd of 2032 at the Allen Event Center. The Rush had only 14 skaters (18 are allowed) because they have so many players on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Five of the 14 skaters were playing in their first game for the Rush. One of the keys to the game for Allen was a good start after being out shot 18-7 in the first period in their season opening loss to Tulsa last Saturday. Mission accomplished last night as the Americans out shot Rapid City 17-8 and outscored the Rush 3-0 in the first period. Rapid City was able to close the gap to 3-2 early in the third period before the Americans pulled away for the 5-2 victory. It was the second straight season Allen beat Rapid City in their home opener.
- Goals scorers for Allen were Jared VanWormer (1), Jesse Mychan (2), Les Lancaster (1) and Joe Garreffa (1). Zach Sawchenko stopped 32 of 34 shots (.941 save percentage) in the win.
- Here are the video highlights:
Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap/americans-prevail-in-home-opener/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Rapid City Rush: https://www.rapidcityrush.com/en/news/2020/rush-fall-in-first-road-game-of-the-season-to-allen
- Here is Steve Martinson's post game press conference:
- Special teams sometimes need time to get going. It has only been two games so stats don't mean much but this is an area that should improve. Allen is ranked #7 on the power play at 12.5% (1-8) and #11 on the penalty kill at 83.3% (1-6). In a 13 team league these are not stellar numbers but this early in the season one game can turn things around.
- One observation I noticed as watching the game last night was how quickly teammates jumped in to mix it up whenever there was a cheap shot. I saw so many guys sticking up for their teammates which wasn't always the case last season. That is a good sign going forward with Allen being a more physical team this season.
- Watching Zane Franklin last night I was reminded of a quote I saw about him from his WHL days, "Franklin is a pain-in-the-ass player that every team in the league would love to have." Zane was hitting and yapping all over the ice last night and the 5'9' was even willing to drop the gloves with 6'6" 250 pound Garrett Klotz until Cole Fraser stepped in to take on Klotz. I was impressed with Franklin's zeal and also with how Fraser jumped in against one of the toughest guys in the ECHL. In addition to leading the team in penalty minutes (14) Franklin is tied for #3 in points with a goal and an assist. He is going to be a fun player to watch for Allen fans. Here is Tommy Daniel's post game interview with Zane:
ALLEN VS RAPID CITY GAME TWO PREVIEW
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| Riley Gill |
- The game tonight will almost be overshadowed by the retirement of Riley Gill's #30 jersey. His #30 will join the Gary Steffes #12 in the AEC rafters. Here are few highlights of what I have written over the years about Riley:
Riley was always good for Allen in the regular season winning Goalie
of the Year, leading the league in save percentage and leading the
league in shutouts. Gill had two 30 win seasons during his time in
Allen. With all of his success during the regular season he was made for
playoff hockey. During his career he was in three Kelly Cup finals and
won all three, winning his first in 2013 with Reading when he was also the playoff MVP.
It is clear Allen's two Kelly Cups in 2015 and 2016 had something in common. A Hall of Fame coach in Steve Martinson, a Hall of Fame goalie in Riley Gill and a Hall of Fame forward in Chad Costello. During those years coach Martinson would talk about how Gill would be at his best in the playoffs. This quote from Martinson captures what Riley brought to the Americans. "It's nice to know you have a veteran back there who can step up when you need him, he gives you peace of mind." In 2015 Gill won game seven in the Western Conference finals over Ontario and game seven in the Kelly Cup finals over South Carolina.
The retiring of Riley Gill's #30 will be the first of other accolades to come his way in the future. In my view he is a lock to become an ECHL Hall of Famer. It will be difficult to beat his ECHL playoff records. Here are the ECHL career goalie playoff records that Riley ranks #1 all time:
90 - most playoff game appearances: Allen (51), Reading (20), Kalamazoo (19).
5094 - most playoff minutes played: Allen (2771), Reading (1274), Kalamazoo (1049)
53 - most playoff wins: Allen (30), Reading (14), Kalamazoo (9)
11 - most wins in Kelly Cup finals: Allen (7), Reading (4)
I want to add my congratulations to Riley and Angie (who has been there as a team with Riley the whole way) on this well deserved honor!
- As for the game itself Allen needs more of the same against to Rush who will again be shorthanded. The Americans had a great first period last night but seemed to let up in the second period and gave Rapid City a chance to get back in the game. Sometimes when a team gets ahead 3-0 early in the game, scoring becomes more important than playing a 200 foot game. Special teams will be another area of emphasis tonight. If the Americans play a smart, consistent game they should have no problem sweeping the Rush in this two game series.
- One of the strengths of Allen's team is their depth. Case in point is the top line from game one, who had six of nine points, didn't have a point last night. All four lines are capable of scoring and it can be a different line each night. After just two game 15 different players have at least one point.
- Early in the season coach Martinson typically likes to get the rookies playing time so I would expect Jake Gricius and Nolan Kneen, who sat out last night, to be in the lineup tonight. For Gricius it will be his first pro game.
- The referee scheduled tonight is #25 Andrew Bruggeman who was the referee last night. He disallowed one Allen goal after a long video review, ruling goalie interference on the play. It was clear coach Martinson disagreed with the call.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Zach Sawchenko has now played a total 14 games for Allen and has a record of 9-2-2-1 with a GAA of 2.32 and save percentage of .931.
- Coach Martinson's relationship with the San Jose management allowed him to get three players assigned to Allen (Zach Sawchenko, Jake McGrew and Joe Carreffa). These are three excellent players that have played great thus far for the Americans.
- The NHL and the player's association have a tentative deal to start their season on January 13. Training camps for the seven teams that did not participate in last season's playoff bubbles would open Dec. 31, and camps would commence Jan. 3 for the other 24 teams. It remains to be seen what if any impact this will have on ECHL rosters where up to eight NHL/AHL contracted players are assigned. Here is a story with the details of this tentative deal: Training camps for the seven teams that did not participate in last season's playoff bubbles would open Dec. 31, and camps would commence Jan. 3 for the other 24 teams.
- Two teams have jumped out to the ECHL points lead. Florida and Indy are both 3-0 and have double the points (6) of any other team. Florida has scored 16 goals and allowed six in their first three games to pick up were they left of last season when they led the ECHL in points when the season was canceled.
- There are just four games on the ECHL schedule tonight (Tulsa at Utah was postponed). Jacksonville is at South Carolina, Florida at Greenville, Orlando at Wheeling and Rapid City at Allen. One advantage if you have FloSports Hockey is how easy it is to surf all of the games quickly. I was able to checkout Greenville's game a couple of times last night to see former Allen players Bryan Moore and Jack Sadek. Moore leads the ECHL in penalty minutes with 21. Here is the ECHL Today with a preview of all four games on tap tonight. https://www.echl.com/en/news/2020/12/echl-today-dec-19
DID YOU KNOW: A good start to the season has been predictive of just how the good the Americans will be for the full season and the playoffs. Here is Allen's record after 10 games for each season since they joined the ECHL with playoff results in parenthesis:
2020-21: ????
2019-20: 8-2-0-0 (season canceled)
2018-19: 3-6-0-1 (out of playoffs)
2017-18: 4-4-2-0 (lost in round 1)
2016-17: 4-6-0-0 (lost in round 2)
2015-16: 7-3-0-0 (won championship)
2014-15: 7-3-0-0 (won championship)
I watched last nights game on Flosports. Allen looked good. Speed, excellent puck possession, handling skills and passing. Better than I have seen from them. But I had to keep reminding myself they were playing a depleted Rush team.
ReplyDeleteNote to video people. The aperture needs to be smaller, the image was too light. Also, zoom out a little more, they kept losing the puck when zoomed in. Lastly, try to keep the camera still, don't make a zillion minor camera position adjustments trying to stay on the puck. Stay zoomed out a little and keep the camera still. When it looks like the puck might go out of the frame move then stay in that position.
Sorry I don’t think Franklin played a good game at all last night. Stupid misconduct penalty and then as soon as he got out of the box took another two minute minor. Getting into it with Klotz would’ve ended very badly for Franklin. He needs to take Fraser out for dinner for saving his life!
ReplyDeleteMy hockey family and I were marveling at what a fast skater Joe Carreffa is..he is only 5’7” which is small for a hockey player in today’s world but he can skate fast circles around the other players. You would blink and he was gone...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Barry that tonight will be the first of several post hockey honors for Riley. When it is his turn to be inducted into the ECHL HoF, I would love to seem them induct him, Chad and Marty all in the same class. Of course, we’ll have to wait until Marty and Chad hang up their hockey skates...
And when that induction happens, it would be awesome for a large contingency of us to go to the induction ceremony...I’d ride a bus with a bunch of Allen fans to see that in person!!!!