Allen, Texas – The Allen Americans defeated the Missouri Mavericks 4-3 on Saturday clinching a playoff spot for the third straight year in a row.
The Americans opened the scoring in the first when Jason Deitsch pumped one in the net on the right side beating former Americans netminder Charlie Effinger to make the score 1-0 Allen. The Americans outshot the Mavericks 9-6 after one period of play.
The Mavericks evened the score in the second when Brandon Coccimiglio fired one in the net from the slot area to tie the score at 1-1. Six minutes later Jason Deitsch added his second of the night, and thirteenth of the season from Colton Yellow Horn and Joshua Hepditch. It was Colton Yellow Horn’s 200th career point. However the Mavericks weren’t done as rookie forward Andrew Courtney tied the game for the second time on the night. Courtney beat Rejean Beauchemin with a shot from just in front of the left face-off-circle to make it 2-2. The Americans held a 26-20 shot advantage after 40 minutes.
Kris Hogg gave Missouri their first lead in the third period with a power-play goal at the 1:07 mark, Ed McGrane and Dave Pszenyczny assisting on the goal. The Americans responded with a game tying goal of their own when Mark Nebus netted his 13th. The score remained tied until just a little over four minutes to go in regulation when Jason Deitch picked up his third point of the night, finding Keith Johnson wide open to the right of the Missouri net. Johnson buried the puck for his 12th goal of the season to give Allen a 4-3 lead. The Americans would hold on as Missouri spent the last two and a half minutes killing off an Allen power-play and the Americans would go on to win by that same score and clinch their third straight playoff birth.
