Allen Events Center opens to fanfare, loss for Americans

ALLEN, Texas — On a beautiful Saturday night in North Texas, hockey fans from throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex attended the long awaited home opener of the Central Hockey League’s Allen Americans. Unfortunately, the visiting Corpus Christi Ice Rays took home two points with a commanding 4-1 victory to avenge a 6-5 loss to the Americans the night before on their own home ice.
 
Allen resident and Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson opened the game by singing the national anthem in front of a near capacity crowd of 5,808. It was a night of firsts at the Events Center, including the first goal to be scored, by the Ice Rays’ Justin Quenneville at the 11:33 mark of the first period. Allen forward Britt Dougherty and Corpus Christi’s Tyler Sheldrake dropped gloves six seconds later for the venues’ first hockey fight.
 
It would be 16 minutes into the middle frame before the next score, a power play goal by the Ice Rays’ Jereme Tendler, who fired the puck over the shoulder of Allen goalie Charlie Effinger for the 2-1 lead. The Americans responded less than two minutes later with a power play goal of their own when Justin Bowers found the back of the net on a wrap around to get his team back into the game.
 
Down by one entering the third period, the Americans’ penalty kill faltered and the Ice Rays’ Chad Costello gave his team a 3-1 lead. The final nail was driven in on an even-strength goal by Ryan Garbutt at the 14:12 mark.
 
Tempers flared and discipline fell by the wayside in the final moments of the game as members of both teams broke into a fight resulting in a combined 72 minutes in penalties, including five misconducts on four players.
 
Despite the loss, Americans players gathered together to sign autographs after the game and received lots of encouragement from their new fan base.  
 
The Americans’ record is 5-2-1 and with 11 points, they remain in third place in the league’s Southern Conference. After beginning their season with a 4-0-0 start, the Americans have struggled a little bit as of late, but as head coach Dwight Mullins pointed out recently, it’s not just a winning record and a playoff berth the team is playing for.
 
“I think what’s nice about our organization is that we can focus on some other things that will help lead us there that you get when you’re a first year team,” Mullins said. “Right now we’re, playing for respect.”
 
With 56 games remaining in the regular season, they’ll have every opportunity to earn it.
 
Contact the author at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com
 
Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com