Allen's Bounce Back Win, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coaches Comments, Rubber Match Preview, ECHL All-Star Game and More

 

The Allen Americans bounced back in style last night. After losing to Rapid City by five goals (10-5) on Wednesday the Americans won by five goals last night. Allen held Rapid City to just two goals in a 7-2 victory before a crowd of 2887 at the CUTX Event Center. Allen's December record now stands at 4-5-0-0. When allowing fewer than four goals the December record is 4-1-0-0. Team defense and goaltending were both great in the game.

 

- Gavin Gould got the party started with an unassisted goal at the 5:33 mark of the first period. He intercepted a clearing attempt by the Rush goalie from behind the goal and put the puck into an open net. Later in the period Gould found Easton Brodzinski open in the slot with a nifty pass from behind the net and Allen had a 2-0 lead which it took into the first intermission. It was a good sign because Allen's record when leading after the first period is 7-0-1-0 and Rapid City's record when trailing after the first period is 1-8-1-0.

 

- Allen added to its lead in the second period with two power play goals. Blake Murray scored early in the period and Colby McAuley scored his league leading (tied) eighth power play goal late in the period to give Allen an insurmountable 4-0 lead after the second period.

 

- Leevi Meriläinen lost his shutout on a power play goal at the 1:27 mark of the third period but the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Rapid City cut the score to 5-2 at one point in the period but Allen added two more goals to make the final score 7-2. Allen outscored Rapid City 3-2 in the third period on goals by Hank Crone, Blake Murray and Easton Brodzinski. 

 

- Goal scorers for Allen were Gavin Gould (1), Easton Brodzinski (6,7), Blake Murray (5,6), Hank Crone (6) and Colby McAuley (15). Here are some stats on these goal scorers:

• Blake Murray was selected as the #1 star of the game with a three point night (2G, 1A). Since Murray arrived in Allen five games ago he has seven points (4G, 3A). He has a point in all five games.
  
• Hank Crone had a three point night (1G, 2A) to extend his point streak to seven games. In those seven games Hank has 14 points (3G, 10A). 
• Colby McAuley has 15 goals on the season to lead the team. Eight of his 15 goals have come in the last seven games. He also has 11 goals in the last 12 games. 
• Easton Brodzinski had two goals last night and now has seven goals in the last seven games after scoring no goals in his first 14 games.
   

- Goalie Leevi Meriläinen stopped 38 of 40 shots for a save percentage of .950. One of the two goals he allowed was a power play goal. 

- Allen's power play was 2-4 last night after going 2-5 in the loss on Wednesday. The Americans are now ranked #5 in the ECHL in power play percentage at 25.8%. 

 

- Winning or losing ECHL games by 5+ goals is rarity and having it happen in back to back games is even more rare. Allen has been inconsistent all season and nothing says inconsistency more than losing 10-5 followed by winning 7-2. Which Allen team will show up this afternoon. It will be a great opportunity for the Americans to show what they can do before a big crowd on Teddy Bear Toss day. If you didn't have a chance to read my story about the history of the Teddy Bear Toss, it is a good read and has a local connection. Here is a link to the story: https://allenamericansblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-history-of-teddy-bear-toss.html   

 

- Here is the game recap from both teams and the video highlights: 

• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/12/offense-comes-alive-in-7-2-win-over-rapid-city
• Rapid City Rush: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2023/12/rush-fall-7-2-to-americans
  
• Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/rapid-city-rush-vs-allen-americans-dec-22-2023 
   

-  As I mentioned yesterday if there is one key to Allen winning it is allowing three or fewer goals. If they can accomplish that this afternoon the team will meet coach Costello's goal of winning two of three games in every series. With that said here are some other keys to this rubber match game. 

• Score the first goal of the game. Leaguewide the team that scores first gets 73.6% of the points.
• Leading after the first period is critical. Allen and Rapid City have a combine record of 16-3-2-0. Odds are heavily in favor of the team leading after the first period.
• The team that wins the special teams battle will likely win the game. Allen is 4-9 (44.4%) on the power play in the first two games. 

 

COACHES COMMENTS

 - I had a chance to stop by the coaches office after the game and get their thoughts on the win and what they said to the team after the 10 -5 loss on Wednesday:

"I challenged the team to play harder, play more as a team, play more physical and with more pace.".....Costello

"I delivered this message in a certain way which was different than in the past and the team responded well and everyone contributed".....Costello

"Leevi played great in front a group of hard working forwards and defensemen.".....Costello

"I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but if we play like we did tonight I like our chances in getting back in the fight for the playoffs.".....Costello

"It takes time for some of these young players to develop and become consistent pros. With 20-25 games of development you are starting to see what they can do.".....Gens

"We are starting to get healthy and could see a couple of more players back soon. There is also a chance we could get players assigned by Belleville after the Christmas break".....Costello  

OTHER COMMENTS

- It is small progress but Allen's win last night along with Utah's loss to Idaho has the Americans out of last place in the Mountain Division:

• .788 - Idaho
• .732 - Kansas City
• .580 - Tulsa
• .462 - Rapid City
• .423 - Wichita
• .365 - Allen
• .333 -Utah

- Five Allen players are averaging over a point per game this season. Unfortunately two of the four are no longer playing:

• 1.50 - Hank Crone
• 1.17 - Colton Hargrove
• 1.17 - Matt Marcinew
• 1.04 - Colby McAuley
   

Blake Murray is averaging 1.40 points per game in the five games he has played in Allen but overall is at 0.76. Defenseman Kris Myllari is averaging 0.92 points per game which is ranked #3 among all regular ECHL defensemen.

 

-  It is another busy night around the ECHL with 12 games on the schedule. Kansas City is the only idle  Mountain Division team. Here are the previews: https://echl.com/news/2023/12/echl-today-dec-23
 

DID YOU KNOW: The 2024 Warrior/ECHL All-Star Classic takes place on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.

In this year’s All-Star event, the host Savannah Ghost Pirates will take on a team of ECHL All-Stars representing the other teams in the League, as well as feature several Skills events which will count as a goal towards the winning Player’s team score. The 2024 ECHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place between periods of the game, with results counting towards the cumulative score. The first two periods of the game will be 5-on-5 while the final period will consist of 3-on-3.

 

All-Star players will be announced in early January following a vote of ECHL coaching staffs, captains, and media.

 

Savannah’s record is 9-14-3-1 (.407) which is the third lowest point percentage in the ECHL. Have to wonder how the Ghost Pirates will perform against the All-Stars.