It was an exciting and entertaining game at the Allen Event Center (AEC) last night from beginning to end as the Allen Americans beat the Wichita Thunder 3-2 in a 16 shooter shootout. A Friday night crowd of 1986 weren't even settled in their seats and late arrivals missed the action as just 28 seconds after the opening puck drop the tone for the game was set. At least they waited until the game started as these teams have been known to fight in warmups. When the dust settled after 28 second there were four fighting majors, a game misconduct penalty to Wichita, a total of 34 penalty minutes and Allen with a full two minutes of 5-on-3 power play time. What could have been a great start for Allen turned into a momentum booster for Wichita. The Americans didn't come close to scoring on the power play and managed just two shots on goal.
- Wichita followed up its 5-on-3 penalty kill by scoring its first power play opportunity at the 6:22 mark of the first period and had all the momentum going their way. That is until the 13:50 mark when Spencer Asuchak deflected in a shot from Matt Register from his usual spot right at the goal mouth. The power play goal was Spencer's 15th goal of the season. That was the end of scoring in the first period so the teams headed into the first intermission tied at 1-1.
- Asuchak scored his second goal of the game and 16th of the season early in the second period (5:04) on a one timer from the slot. Steve Owre made a great pass on the play. It was the only goal of the second period and gave Allen a 2-1 lead after the second period. It was a good sign because the Americans record when leading after the second period is 22-1-1-0. The flip side of this stat is how good Wichita has been in the third period. The Thunder lead the ECHL in third period goals with 67 and also has the best record in the league when trailing after the second period on the road (3-4-1-1).
- It looked like one of Wichita's patented third period comebacks when it tied the score 2-2 midway through the third period. The ECHL's leading scorer, Anthony Beauregard, was left uncovered and made the Americans pay. It was the only goal of the period.
- Allen clearly had the better chances in overtime outshooting Wichita 6-3 with several grade A chances. The game went to a shootout and it was a marathon. The goalies were the stars of the shootout stopping the first 14 shooters. Allen had seven players miss before Zane Franklin, taking his first shootout attempt as a pro, finally scored. After Franklin scored, Jake Paterson had to stop Wichita's eighth shooter to seal the victory.
- Here are the video highlights from the Allen Americans YouTube channel with the fights, the goals and the shootout game winner by Franklin. The highlights go black at the 1:30 mark but return at the 5:20 mark:
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/americans-win-playoff-type-battle-against-wichita-in-a-shootout/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/en/news/thunder-falls-in-eight-round-shootout-vs-allen
- As typically happens things settled down after the first period. There were 54 penalty minutes in the first period, four in the second period and none in the third period.
- Allen outshot Wichita 38-23 for the game and held Wichita to no more than seven shots in each period which says how good the team defense was. Jake Paterson came up big when the defense did break down and was flawless in overtime and the shootout.
COACH'S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON
"It was an entertaining game for the fans and it is always good to win games like that. I thought we outplayed Wichita."
"Zane Franklin's body language when he jumped out said 'don't worry I got this' and he delivered. Zane is always a confident hockey player."
"We have had a lot of roster turnover this year and we are now playing with many younger players. Most have been captains or leaders in their junior/college careers and know how to play team hockey. They will jell faster because of their previous experience. It is like we have a WHL all-star team on the roster."
"We have lost a lot of physical players when you consider Laberge, Mychan, Beaulieu, McAuley, Kneen, Ottenbreit, Doetzel, Reddekopp and Lochead are not in the lineup." Injuries, loans and callups effect every team but have effected us a lot more than Wichita."
"Frank Marotte will start in goal tonight."
"I am adding a physical player to the lineup for the game tonight."
Here is Steve Martinson's post game interview with Tommy Daniels:
- The key for the game tonight for Allen would be more of the same. Expect another physical game with both teams finishing checks and neither backing down. When you give up only 23 shots in 60 minutes of regulation time and seven minutes of overtime you are playing good team defense. Scoring the first goal of the game and better execution on the power play would be two areas for improvement from last night. The other area that needs improvement is scoring even strength goals. You can't expect to win when you only score one even strength goal per game which Allen has been doing frequently.
OTHER COMMENTS
- I heard and saw a lot of comments that the game last night was like playoff hockey and in some ways it was being a low scoring back and forth type of game. However, for me it reminded me of the CHL days around 2012-14 when Allen and Wichita were staunch rivals and had great teams with both skill and toughness. Six fighting majors, a few roughing penalties and a game misconduct penalty for a secondary altercation all in the first period doesn't sound like playoff hockey to me. It has CHL, Wichita vs Allen circa 2013, regular season written all over it to me.
- Everyone knows the Martinson family is all about hockey. Coach Martinson's daughter, Lily, is in Philadelphia (West Chester, PA) playing in the Tier 1, 19U National Tournament. Lily's team (Dallas Stars Elite) has won their first two games in pool play beating a team from Illinois (Team Illinois) 3-2 and a team from California (Anaheim Lady Ducks) 3-0. They will play their third and final game in pool play tonight against the other undefeated team in the pool from Minnesota (Shattuck St. Mary's). Two teams from each of four pools move to the tournament so Lily's team will move on as the #1 seed or #2 seed depending on the results of the game tonight. It will take three wins once the eight team tournament begins tomorrow (two games Sunday and the championship game on Monday). The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree as Lily is the captain of her team and already has a full ride scholarship waiting for her at Providence College.
- Rapid City beat Kansas City last night and Utah lost to Tulsa so the Rush are now solidly in the fourth and final playoff spot. Rapid City continues to play the best hockey in the Western Conference with a record of 8-2-0-0 in its last 10 games.
DID YOU KNOW: Had a question about the most shooters in an Allen shootout game so went back and looked at all 37 shootouts since the Americans joined the ECHL. Here is what I found:
- The 16 shooters last night ties the Allen record for most shooters. On February 21, 2016 in Tulsa the Americans missed eight straight shootout attempts and lost to the Oilers 3-2. Missing their shootout attempts that night is a who's who of Allen alumni including (in order) Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Gary Steffes, Chad Costello, Tristan King, Eric Roy, Greger Hanson, Chris Crane and J.P. LaFontaine.
- In the 2014-15 season when a minimum of five shooters went in shootouts for each team, Allen had three games go to 14 shooters or seven rounds but with a minimum of five rounds that wasn't anything special.
- Since April 9, 2016 Allen has been involved in 24 shootouts and the 16 shooter shootout last night was only the third time with more than eight shooters.
- This season now has the record for most shooters in a shootout win (16) and also the record for the fewest shooters in a shootout win (4). On February 9, 2021 against Utah at the AEC the Americans won 2-1. It took just two Allen shooters to win the shootout. Jake Paterson was in goal, Conner Bleackley and Corey Mackin scored in round one and two, Paterson stopped Utah's first two shooters and it was over.
- FYI the ECHL record for most shooters in a shootout is an amazing 42 which has happened twice. Check out the details on my ECHL stats page.
- Allen's shootout record this season is now 4-1. Other than Indy who is 1-0 in shootouts, Allen has the best shootout record in the ECHL.
Last nights game was the first game in a long time that I’ve seen the boys play 60 minutes of solid hockey. They never let up, played good defense for the entire game, and stayed aggressive. To keep a team like Wichita to only seven shots in a period shows what good defense our boys played last night. If they can do that again tonight, not only will it be another exciting game but we should walk away with another victory.
ReplyDelete