Americans defeat Bucks 4-1

ALLEN, Texas – The atmosphere was electric at the Allen Event Center for the start of the seventh and deciding game of the Southern Conference semifinals. The Americans faithful appeared as a sea of red who brought a tidal surge of emotion and energy that they rode the crest of to victory; along with their first ever berth in the Southern Conference Final, winning by a score of 4-1.
 
Lots of things are said about game seven matchups; such as “do or die,” “go big or go home” and so on. Those sayings fit the Americans’ performances in Games Six and Seven. Having forced Laredo to a deciding Game Seven with a dominating performance Tuesday night, Wednesday night’s affair was domination part two and may be best reflected by, “not in our house”!
 

The first period opened strong defensively for both teams and aside from the lone goal by the Americans, stayed that way for the duration of the period. Allen came away with a slight edge in shots on goal at 7-6 but more importantly, they came away with the vital first score of the game. Nino Musitelli, who continues to impress with his outstanding two-way play, put the Americans on the board first with a nice backhand past Bucks goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier at the 16:41 mark.
 
Twelve seconds later, Bruce Graham was called for tripping and the Bucks had their third power play of the night. The highlight of this power play situation was the performance on the penalty kill by Allen Captain Jarret Lukin. Lukin led by example, almost singlehandedly killing the last 30 seconds of the penalty with tenacious forechecking in the Laredo zone. Lukin doggedly pursued the puck; refusing the Bucks the opportunity to go on the attack and in the process forced a couple of turnovers but Allen failed to convert shorthanded.
 
The second period belonged to Allen as they dominated the Bucks, keeping the play in their end for a majority of the frame. Tobias Whelan netted his first marker of the playoffs, stuffing a shot past Pelletier’s glove off a feed from Musitelli for his second point of the night at 10:33 of the second period. Laredo threatened late in the period as the ever dangerous Todd Griffith found himself open and fired a shot at Allen netminder Chris Whitley who deftly swiped it from the air.
 
The Bucks turned up the pressure at the start of the third while Allen appeared content with playing defensively to protect the lead. Once again, Todd Griffith put Laredo on the board with a rebound shot over a diving Chris Whitley at 4:30 for his fifth goal of the series. Seeing their lead diminished to one, Allen decided to forego concentrating on protecting the lead and went on a full scale attack.
 
Seven minutes after Laredo got on the board, Jordie Benn gave the Americans some breathing room with a wrister that beat Pelletier past the low glove side from the top of the right circle with 8:38 remaining. A minute later, Laredo got a critical power play as Graham was sent off for hooking. The Bucks were flying with the man advantage, doing their best to stretch the Allen defense and find the open seam to crash the Allen net but Whitley would have none of it as he denied the Bucks again and again.
 
Laredo’s desperation play with time quickly running out, led to a late penalty on Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel for tripping that sealed the Bucks’ fate. Bruce Graham ripped a wrist shot from the left circle past the stick of Pelletier causing the Allen Event Center to erupt as the fat lady began warming up.
 
As time wound down, the Bucks never gave up and continued to battle, hoping to mount a last minute comeback. The Americans continued to show that the best defense is a good offense, keeping the Bucks on their heels in their own zone. The boisterous crowd counted the seconds down aloud as time expired and Allen earned their first ever appearance in a conference final series.
 
Allen now moves on to face a tough Odessa team, who won their last four straight to advance to the final. The series begins Friday night in Odessa.
 
Contact the author at maurice.fitzgerald@prohockeynews.com