Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Allen vs Missouri Game Recap With Video Highlights & Steve Martinson's Post Game Comments

The Allen Americans beat the Missouri Mavericks 2-1 last night before a crowd of 4672 at the Independence Events Center. Allen improved their record against the Mavericks to 4-0 and were led by Tyler Ludwig who started at forward and got his seventh goal of the year and the game winner by Gary Steffes which was his twentieth goal of the year. It was definitely a gut check game for Allen as a short bench to start the game got even shorter during the game. The Americans battled illness and injury and held Missouri scoreless for the last 33 minutes of the game to preserve the victory. The two teams will meet twice this weekend (Saturday & Sunday) in Allen.

STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS

- Tonight was a very good character win for the team. The guys battled through some real adversity to obtain that win. We knew we would be short a player but illness and injury only made things worse. At one point we had only eleven guys for that five minute stretch with two players in the penalty box for fighting. 

- We were out shot 28-20 but both Aaron Dell and Riley Gill were very good in goal.

- We had a couple guys get hurt in the game. We will have to wait and see how serious the injuries are when we get home.


OTHER COMMENTS

- The game winning goal was significant for all three players involved. It was the twentieth goal of the season for Gary Steffes (one goal behind league leaders Jack Combs & Adam Pleskach) and the 100th goal of his professional career. Chad Costello had an assist and it was his 400th professional point. Aaron Gens had the other assist to keep is scoring streak alive as he has an assist in four straight games. It was Aaron's 60th point of his professional career and 24th point of the season which leads all Allen defensemen and is second in the ECHL scoring race for defensemen.

-  With the win Allen now has 49 points and has increased the Central Division lead to twelve points over three teams tied for second (Wichita, Quad City, Tulsa).

- Missouri has now lost five straight home games and their overall record is once again below .500 (14-15-1-2). They are six points out of a playoff spot. 

- The flu bug has been traveling through the Allen locker room so hope it doesn't get any worse than it has so far. Jack Combs did not play last night but will hopefully be back for the weekend games.

- Special teams have been a key in Allen having a perfect 4-0 record against Missouri this year. The game winning goal last night was a power play goal and in the four games against the Mavericks this year the Americans have scored four power play goals. The Mavericks have yet to score a power play goal against Allen as they were 0-4 last night and in the four games are now 0-19.

- Riley Gill got the win in relief as he had to enter the game unexpectedly when Aaron Dell had to come out of the game with just over five minutes remaining in the first period and Allen trailing 1-0. Gill stopped all 16 shots he faced in the game. Riley is now tied for the ECHL lead in wins with 17.

- Here are the video highlights of the game courtesy of the Missouri Mavericks:




DID YOU KNOW: Gary Steffes has a goal in every game played against Missouri this season. He has a total of five goals in the four games.

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