Allen Americans Weekly Notes
April 5, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Allen Americans News Release
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS GAME RECAPS
GAME 1 - FRIDAY, MAR. 26 vs. LAR (L 4-3): The Americans lost their first playoff game in franchise history after two late goals from Laredo. Forward Liam Huculak netted the club's first goal and lead of the 2010 post-season at 4:34 of the opening frame before Mike Looby knotted the game at 9:32. With 42.5 seconds before the first intermission, an open Darryl Smith flipped the puck top shelf to give Laredo a 2-1 advantage. Rookie Tobias Whelan scored his first career playoff goal at 5:31 of the second when he beat Laredo netminder Pier-Olivier Pelletier to a puck in between the circles. Exactly one minute later, defenseman Erik Adams shot Bruce Graham's rebound into the cage to give Allen a 3-2 advantage heading into the third. Laredo had two straight goals from Looby and Neil Trimm to overcome the Americans. Chris Whitley made 28 saves.
GAME 2 - SATURDAY, MAR. 27 vs. LAR (W 3-2): Allen won their first playoff game in franchise history after a three-goal second period. Laredo jumped out to an early lead after Todd Griffith backhanded a shot into the cage less than three minutes into the game. The Americans had the score tied up at 10:10, but the referee waived off the goal due to an interference penalty by Allen's captain, Jarret Lukin. Just 1:16 into the second, Colton Yellow Horn made the Bucks pay after they could not clear the traffic in front of the net. Then, forward Nino Musitelli skated into the Bucks' zone and went top shelf to give Allen its first lead of the night four minutes later. With 7:38 remaining in the middle frame, Musitelli poked a rebound around Buck Pier-Olivier Pelletier's pad on the power play to give Allen a two-goal cushion. Ryan Lehr brought Laredo within one at 5:48 of the third. Chris Whitley made 30 saves.
GAME 3 - TUESDAY, MAR. 30 @ LAR (W 4-1): The Americans won their second game in a row Tuesday. Allen took a 2-0 lead in the first period and shut out Laredo in the opening frame for the first time in the series. Justin Bowers scored the first goal at 7:17. Then, linemate Bruce Graham followed that with one of his own at 11:13. Laredo's Todd Griffith cut Allen's lead in half at 6:53 of the second, but any momentum the Bucks got in the middle frame was squashed when Captain Jarret Lukin found Erik Adams rushing the net. Adams beat Laredo backstop Pier-Olivier Pelletier for his nineteenth career playoff point. The Americans limited the Bucks to three shots in the final period. With 32.8 seconds remaining in the game, Bowers sealed the deal with an empty-net goal. Chris Whitley made 24 saves.
GAME 4 - THURSDAY, APR. 1 @ LAR (L 4-3): Americans Captain Jarret Lukin opened scoring in the game, netting Allen's first post-season shorthanded goal in franchise history a little over one minute into the contest. The 1-0 lead lasted two minutes until Brent Cullaton scored. Laredo grabbed another lamp lighter at 13:27 when forward Todd Griffith banked his sixth point against Allen. Laredo scored its first power play goal of the series at 1:29 of the second when Neil Trimm scored. Three minutes later, Erik Adams notched his third goal against the Bucks to cut Laredo's lead in half. Griffith regained the Buck's two-goal cushion at 16:21 after his second goal of the night to bring the score to 4-2. Colton Yellow Horn was the only one able to find the back of the net at 13:58 in the third, but one goal more goal was needed to push the game into overtime. Netminder Chris Whitley saved 24 shots.
GAME 5 - SATURDAY, APR. 3 @ LAR (L 5-1): Laredo forward Evan Schwabe scored on the game's first shot at 1:16 of the opening period, and Sylvain Deschatelets followed that up with his first goal of the series at 13:50 on the power play. Forward Brent Cullaton scored Laredo's third straight goal 3:06 into the middle frame. Allen replaced backstop Chris Whitley with David McKee immediately after the goal to shake things up. Even though McKee was strong in net, Mike Looby found a way to score to put Laredo up 4-0. The Americans rebounded with good puck movement on a power play that led to a goal by Bruce Graham. The tally put Allen on the board and made the score 4-1 before the second intermission. Cullaton grabbed his second of the night in the third to bring the final score to 5-1. Whitley made 11 saves in 23:06, and McKee stopped 12 shots in 36:54. Allen outshot Laredo 42-28.
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS UPCOMING GAMES
GAME 6 - TUESDAY, APR. 6 - Allen vs. Laredo at 7:30 p.m. *GAME 7 - WEDNESDAY, APR. 7 - Allen vs. Laredo at 7:30 p.m. *If necessary
Shorthanded Star: Captain Jarret Lukin scored the first shorthanded goal of the series and the first post-season shorthanded tally in club history April 1 in Game Four just 1:05 into the game. The goal was also Lukin's first playoff goal.
Outshot Opponent: The Americans outshot Laredo in all three road games. In the Americans' 4-1 victory March 30, Laredo was outshot 33-25. Allen fired off 12 more shots than the Bucks April 1 (40-28) and put up 42 shots to Laredo's 28 April 3.
Two-Goal Trend: The Americans have lost three games in this series when they have allowed two goals in a period. Allen gave up two goals in both the first and third periods March 26 in a 4-3 loss and two tallies in both the first and second periods in April 1's 4-3 loss and April 3's 5-1 fall.
Four Out of Five Ain't Bad: Defenseman Ryan Fairbarn and forward Bruce Graham have points in four of out five games in the series. Fairbarn had a helper in Games One, Two, Three and Five. The blueliner finished the regular season with 40 points, which ranked fourth on the team in scoring and tenth in the league among defenseman. Forward Bruce Graham, who led the Americans in scoring this season with 79 points, has six points in the series (2-4=6).
Bowers in a Groove: 2010 CHL All-Star Starter Justin Bowers registered five points between Games Two and Three. In Allen's 3-2 win March 27, he tallied two helpers, while notching two goals and an assist in March 30's 4-1 victory. He also assisted Bruce Graham's goal April 3 to bring his post-season point total to six, which ties him with Graham for the most playoff points on the team.
Graham Gets Game-Winner: 2010 CHL All-Star Bruce Graham scored Tuesday's game-winning goal. Graham led the team with nine game winners during the regular season.
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