Allen,
Texas—The City of Allen is now known as the City of Champions, mainly because
for the last three years, not only has the High School won State Championships,
but now the Minor League Hockey Team that resides there, has done the same!
The Allen
Eagles, High School Power House in football for the state of Texas has claimed
three championships in a row, and the last year, moved up in classification as
6-A.
This past
October, the CHL (Central Hockey League) folded and seven teams moved over to
the well established, older league, known as the ECHL (East Coast Hockey
League) including, the Allen Americans.
With this
move, the schedule was such, that the Americans, and the six other teams, would
play the majority of their games against each other, with a smattering of ECHL
opponents thrown in now and then, but when it came to the playoffs, that would
be a whole different can of worms.
And so it
goes, the Americans proceed as a TWO TIME defending CHL champion in this new
league, and has to fend off not only their old foes, such as the Tulsa Oilers,
or the Missouri Mavericks, but new battles with Ontario Reign.
It was
against the REIGN that the Americans had to go through them to get to the
finals, and in doing so, showed this NEW LEAGUE, that this CHL “BEER LEAGUE”
Team can hold their own against the OLDER ESTABLISHMENT!
AND SO IT
BEGAN, the best of seven series that is known in sports as the FINALS, for a
Hockey crown, in this particular case, the Kelly Cup!
It was an
odd format, mainly because of travel and cost, so it was a 3-3-1 series, and
neither team really had the home ice advantage, with visiting teams taking 2 a
piece on the other’s ice, and winning one to protect, but it call came down to
ONE game on Allen’s home ice, and the stats don’t lie!
Steve
Martisen, the head coach and general manager of this Allen Americans team, has
never lost a game seven on home ice since he has been coaching, 18 years behind
the bench, in different leagues, and now NINE championship rings and banners to
his claim!
This game
seven started out with intensity, with the Americans scoring twice in the
opening 20 minutes, then in the second period, three more times, including with
time running out in the period on a power play to go up 5-0. The final period,
one more goal to seal the deal, and the South Carolina Stingrays, the NUMBER
ONE DEFENSIVE TEAM in the league with a LEAGUE MVP on their team in the nets,
get ran off after it was 4-0!
The
Stingrays, a former Kelly Cup Champion themselves, thought that they could come
into Allen and take care of business, but for the first period, all hey saw
were white sweaters beating down their defensive line, and finally getting to
the net minder, not once, but twice within 3 minutes of each other.
Once the
sixth goal was scored, the celebration in the stands started for real, with
chants of “THREE PETE” going up and the countdown at 10 seconds, and then the balloons
dropped from the ceiling, it was the party that six thousand fans had been
waiting for!
The
Americans have proven that this team, is a team of the Decade in Hockey, the
only team in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex to have won championships for the
last three years, that is considered a professional team.
The
Rangers came close, but didn’t pull it off, the Mavericks won in 2011, the
Stars last won in 1999, the Cowboys in 1996, FC Dallas hasn’t won a
championship but came close, the Frisco Rough Riders won in 2004 the Texas
League Championship, but it’s the ALLEN AMERICANS that hoisted the championship
cup THREE TIMES in THREE YEARS- and in a City north of Dallas, they lay claim
to the CITY OF CHAMPIONS!
Just a thought!
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