Wild 2nd Period Dooms Allen in 7-6 Loss to Bees
February 15, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Allen Americans News Release
HIDALGO, Texas- The Allen Americans fell to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees Tuesday night, 7-6 in front of 3,877 at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo.
Bruce Graham scored on the power play five minutes into the game to give the Americans a 1-0 lead, Kip Brennan and Nino Musitelli assisted on the play. Rio Grande Valley tied things up 11 minutes later with an Aaron Lee short-handed goal at 16:06. Colton Yellow Horn extended his point streak to 6 games with a short-handed goal of his own in the last second of the first period. When Yellow Horn's shot crossed the goal line, just one second remained in the first period.
The Bees grabbed the advantage with two goals to start a wild 2nd period. Zak McClellan scored 1:17 into the period to tie the game at two. Nick Sucharski and Darcy Campbell grabbed assists on the play. Campbell scored a power play goal just over five minutes later to give his team a lead at 3-2.
The Americans roared back however, when Bruce Graham scored his team-leading 25th goal of the season, on the power play at 14:46 of the second. Shortly after, David Nimmo scored an unassisted short handed goal to give the Americans a 4-3 lead.
Still in the second, the Americans led by one with less than a minute to play, until Bo Cheesman's tally at 19:20 tied the game at 4. McClellan tallied his second of the game with just 17 seconds remaining in the second frame to give his team a 5-4 lead going into the 3rd.
A wacky second period then gave way to a third period which saw the Bees stake claim to a 2-goal lead, only to see the Americans get back within one at 6-5 with a Nino Musitelli power play marker at 9:45. Aaron Lewicki scored to give the Bees a two-goal cushion with less than four minutes to play in the third period, with Tomas Klempa getting the assist. With an extra attacker on the ice, the Americans got a goal from Jarret Lukin with over a minute remaining in the game to make it a 7-6 contest. A comeback attempt with Goaltender Scott Campbell out of the net was not in the cards, however, as the Americans could not tie the game up before the buzzer. Rio Grande Valley's 7-6 victory over Allen is their second victory against the Americans in club history, and the second in 3 days.
Julian Pagliero stopped 22 of 28 Allen shots to get the win for the Bees.
Before the game, the Americans announced the signing of Defenseman Jonathan Zion, who will wear number 2 for Allen. Zion, 29, played most of this season with the Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL in England. A 4th round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Zion registered 9 goals and 24 assists in 39 games with Nottingham during 2010-11.
With the loss, Allen falls to 34-10-1 on the season, still 16 points ahead of second place Texas. The Americans will now head to Bossier-Shreveport Friday night, and Texas Saturday night.
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