Allen Loses, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Costello Comments, ECHL Saturday Attendance and More

 

If you only read the Idaho headline, "Steelheads Score Eight Goals in Victory Over Allen" you would miss the story of a game with many ups and downs. The Americans lost 8-5 to Idaho last might before a sellout crowd of 5006 at Idaho Central Arena. Here is a recap of what went well and what didn't:

↑ Allen scored the first goal of the game for the second night. The ECHL record for teams scoring first thus far this season is 18-3-1-0 9 (.841), so scoring first was a great sign.

↓ Allen allowed a goal with 30 seconds remaining in the first period to end the period with a tied score of 1-1.

↑ Allen's first period goal was scored by Grant Hebert shorthanded.

↓ Allen was outshot in the first period 18-6. After being outshot 14-5 in the first period on Friday the total for the two games in first period shots was 32-11.

↑ Allen killed 11 straight penalties over the two games and scored three shorthanded goals before finally allowing a power play goal in the third period last night. Anytime a penalty kill unit can have two games with 12 penalties to kill and out score the opponent 3-1  it is an outstanding accomplishment. As the Idaho broadcaster said after Allen's second short handed goal last night, "Allen should keep a player in the penalty box all the time."  

↓ Idaho seemed to blow the game open with four straight goals in the second period to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Three of the four goals came in a span of just over two minutes, 132 second to be exact.

↑ Allen kept grinding, got one goal back (Jordon-Ty Fournier) by the end of the second period to make the score 5-2. Liam Finlay scored twice early in the third period (1:33 & 3:00) including a shorthanded goal to get the Americans back in the game 5-4. 

↓ Allen finally gave up a power play goal at the 7:52 mark of the third period to give the Steelheads a 6-4 lead.

↑ Allen responded 31 seconds later on a Colby McAuley power play goal to cut the score to 6-5 with over 11 minutes remaining in the game.

↓ Allen could not get the equalizer and gave up two goals (one an empty net) in the last 23 seconds of the game to make the final score 8-5.

↑ Allen came away from Idaho with two points, more points than they earned in eight regular season games against Idaho last season.

↓ Allen was out shot 42-28 last night and 87-47 for the two games. The Americans are now ranked last (#28) in the ECHL in shots allowed per game (44.00). 

- A recap of the goal scorers for Allen last night, Grant Hebert (1), Jordan-Ty Fournier (1), Liam Finlay (1&2), Colby McAuley (1).

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams and the video highlights that include all 13 goals:

• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/10/americans-earn-a-split-in-idaho-drop-8-5-decision-on-saturday
   

• Idaho Steelheads: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2023/10/steelheads-score-eight-goals-in-victory-over-allen
   
•  Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-idaho-steelheads-oct-21-2023
  

 

CHAD COSTELLO COACH'S COMMENTS

"We have a lot to build on with this group."

"When we want to defend as hard as we want to score we will be a great hockey team."

"We had some bad luck with injuries, but our roster additions this week will help" (FYI, Allen played with five defensemen last night as Ryan Gagnon and Donovan Sebrango sat out with injuries).

"Taking the positives and learning from the negatives will be our approach going forward."   

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Allen came away from the two games against Idaho with two points, an outcome most fans and even the team would have been happy with before the games were played. Don't forget Idaho has 16 players back from the team that set an all-time ECHL record last season in points (119) and points percentage (.826). Idaho has not lost back-to-back regular season home games since December of 2019. Anytime you can split a series in Idaho you have had a successful road trip. 

- Having practice time early in the season is so important and this week will provide a lot of practice time with Allen not playing again until the home opener on Saturday versus Atlanta. When you consider several players haven't had a single practice with the team and lessons learned from the games in Idaho, practices this week will be very beneficial. 

- It is only a couple of games so a small sample size but watch out for the Allen penalty killers this season. Against Idaho they were excellent at killing penalties (1-12, 91.7%) while scoring three shorthanded goals. Three ECHL teams have one shorthanded and the other 24 have none. The last two seasons Allen has scored six shorthand goals (2022-23) and seven shorthanded goals (2021-22) in 72 games. In the Kelly Cup championship years the Americans scored 13 shorthanded goals (2014-15) and nine shorthanded goals (2015-16). Some teams have a knack for creating offense while still being good penalty killers. This Allen team could be one of those teams.

 

- Some good starts and bad starts thus far in the ECHL. There are four 2-0 teams (Newfoundland, Kansas City, Trois Rivières, Rapid City) and three 0-2 teams (Maine, Wichita, Reading). 

 

- There are just three games on the ECHL schedule today, all played in the afternoon. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2023/10/echl-today-oct-22  

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: It was a big night in attendance around the ECHL last night. Idaho doesn't appear on this list but it should be noted both games this weekend were sellouts. The arena capacity for hockey is 5002. 

What a Saturday night around the ECHL. 13 games drew close to 80,000 fans for a per game average of 6126. Here are the seven teams that drew more than 6000 last night. Stick taps to all the sales and marketing staffs:

 

11378 - Jacksonville*

9493 - Fort Wayne

6640 - Cincinnati

6577 - South Carolina

6526 - Utah*

6440 - Atlanta*

6081 - Worcester*

 

*Teams that won before their big Saturday night crowds.