Allen beats Odessa decisively

ALLEN, Texas – The Allen Americans’ opening play in Game Three of the Southern Conference Final was in stark contrast to Saturday night’s first period, where Odessa dominated them. Taking a lesson from that experience, Allen went end to end at full throttle, throwing big hits and making big plays that led to two quick goals in the first five minutes, setting the tone for Wednesday night’s contest.
 

Bruce Graham put the Americans on the board first when he roofed a wrister over Jackalopes goaltender Joel Martin’s shoulder at the 3:39 mark off a pass by Nino Musitelli. Less than a minute later, the Americans broke into the Odessa zone on a two on one, Graham drew the defenseman and Martin’s attention to him before sending a pass across the ice to Musitelli, who lasered a shot past Martin. The goals were their fourth and sixth of the playoffs respectively and Musitelli would go on to have another excellent night, adding three assists to his goal.
 
Odessa came back to answer on their own at 9:03 when Jeff Pierce was found all alone at the left post on a pass by Collin Circelli and slammed the puck home to cut Allen’s lead to one. Looking to fire their teams up, Allen’s Brandon Straub and Jacks’ Garrett Gruenke doffed the mitts to have at it. Straub got the better shots in before taking Gruenke to the ice and then a trip to the bin for five minutes each.
 
Odessa worked hard late in the first period on the forecheck, forcing turnovers in the Americans’ end for some chances while Allen seemed a bit lax and out of step after their strong showing in the first half of the period. The period moved by quickly as there was only one minor called aside from the fighting majors.
 
Just over two minutes into the middle frame, the Jackalopes would get the man advantage and their dangerous power play went to work. The Americans had other plans in mind however as they completely shut down Odessa’s top ranked power play and blanked any opportunities they tried to setup, repeatedly taking the puck away and dumping it down the ice at will. With the exception of one man advantage midway through the third period where Odessa was able to setup and shoot at will, Allen clamped down and shut down the high flying Odessa power play all night.
 
When they were at even strength, the Americans looked impressive at both ends of the ice, generating some good offensive tries while quickly backchecking and limiting Odessa’s rebound attempts. This hustle would provide two more late period goals in the second to stretch their lead to three. Christian Gaudet picked up Mike Salekin’s rebound, spun and fired it home at the 16:48 mark and Justin Bowers snapped a shot past Martin two minutes later.
 
Odessa Head Coach Paul Gillis decided that Martin had seen enough red lights for one night and started Juha Toivonen between the pipes as the third period began. Allen tested Toivonen early and he responded with three quick saves, hoping to boost his team’s confidence. The Jacks moved the puck well, breaking out quickly, weaving through the neutral zone and pressing hard in the Americans end. Keeping the pressure on led to another Americans penalty and Odessa’s power play was finally able to get some work done with several shots attempted, but none could best Americans goaltender Chris Whitley.
 
As the power play expired, Odessa’s Jeff Pierce once again tickled the twine to cut the Americans lead to two. Any feeling of resurgence by the Jacks was dashed 37 seconds later when Jordie Benn’s shot from the left point snaked past Toivonen with just under ten minutes to play to give the Americans a 5-2 lead.
 
A half minute later, Colton Yellow Horn was laid out by a knee-to-knee hit from Kenny Bernard that went unnoticed by the official and no call was made. Yellow Horn was helped from the ice by the trainers. From that point forward, the game got really heated as both benches were jawing back and forth and Mike Salekin and Garret Gruenke ended up dropping the gloves.
 
Play cooled down after the referee spent some time at the benches trying to keep the lid from blowing off the kettle and things would stay relatively cool until the final seconds of the game. First to go were the Americans’ Nathan O’Nabigon and Odessa’s Troy Ofukany before Allen’s Liam Huculak and the Jacks’ Mike Lesperance. Four more unsportsmanlike conduct penalties added to the mix in the final three seconds before the buzzer sounded.
 
The two teams will meet again Friday night at the Allen Event Center for Game Four in a series that is quickly heating up.
 
Contact the author at mauricefitzgerald@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com