Americans fall in conference semi-final opener

ALLEN, Texas – Sometimes sweeping a series and having an extended layoff can benefit a bruised and battered team, but it can also lull one out of the sense of urgency necessary to win these early five game series. The layoff apparently did both for Allen as they were able to heal and rest up some players still hurting from the latter part of the season, but when they hit the ice for Thursday night’s Berry Conference semi-final game one, they were far from their peak standard.
 
For the first half of the contest, the Americans looked very much out of sync, missing passes and fanning on shots, very uncharacteristic of this club. Many fans in attendance were pretty vocal about the team wearing the white sweaters rather than their traditional red. Allen has been rather unlucky when they’ve donned the white uniforms at home all season and Thursday night proved no exception. As the game wore on, the Americans began to come back to form however, but it was just a bit too late to mount the comeback they needed. At the start of the game, all indications were that it would be an even match – both teams started off strong with a pair of shots each in the opening minute. It slowly slipped away from the Americans after the first five minutes and it was Odessa who dominated play for the majority of the opening frame.
 
Allen netminder Chris Whitley was the saving grace for his club early on, looking very solid in net and handling  Odessa’s shots confidently. The Jackalopes seemed determined to get on the board first, more than doubling up the Americans’ shots 16-7 in the first 20 minutes.
 
Finally, the relentless Odessa assault would break through the staunch defense of Whitley, notching two goals just 32 seconds apart. First on the board was Sebastien Thinel at 13:17, assisted by Todd Robinson and Mike Ramsay. Robinson picked up another point when he fed a pass to a wide open Ramsay, who wired one past Whitley to give Odessa a 2-0 lead.
 
Bruce Graham stepped up in the waning minutes of the first period to breath some life into his struggling team when he split a pair of Odessa defenders and put one past Joel Martin’s on the short side. The Americans did seem to get some pep in their step for the remainder of the first but would again stall for the first half of the middle frame.
 
At the 2:27 mark, Garrett Gruenke fired a wrister through traffic that found its way past Whitley and opened up the lead by two for Odessa again.
 
The Americans finally got things going midway through the second period, applying a good amount of pressure on the Odessa net, but Martin was up to the task, denying Allen any tallies in the second despite out shooting Odessa 13-8.
 
The final twenty minutes of the match saw a resurgent Americans team on the ice, finally starting to get their groove back. They out shot the Jacks 12-6, but only managed to light the lamp once.
 
With under three minutes to go in regulation, the Americans pulled Whitley for the extra attacker and applied steady pressure in the offensive zone. Dave Bonk brought his club to within one when he popped a loose puck past Martin with 2:19 remaining in regulation.
 
Allen was unable to find the back of the net again to bring the game even as time ran out. The Jacks were on top of their game all night and capitalized on the slow Americans start but once Allen got going, Odessa did all they could to hang on to the lead. The Americans looked to be back on track and will be looking for payback in game two on Sunday evening.   
  Contact the writer at maurice.fitzgerald@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com