THE AMERICANS TAKE THE FIRST OF TWO AGAINST WICHITA

Americans Box Score

Wichita, Kansas – The Allen Americans, ECHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators (NHL), and Belleville Senators (AHL), defeated the Wichita Thunder on Friday night at Intrust Bank Arena 4-3 in front of 6,316.

The Americans jumped on Wichita for two goals in the first 7:26 of the h0ckey game. Hank Crone (17) and Colton Hargrove (12) each scored for the Americans to put Allen up 2-0. Wichita fought back with two of their own before the end of the period and the score was tied 2-2 after twenty minutes of play. The Americans had the advantage in shots 13-6

The Americans started the second period on the power play, and it didn’t take long to break the tie. Hank Crone (18) scored twenty seconds into the second frame to put Allen back on top 3-2. The score remained that way until 9:04 of the second period when Quinn Preston put a backhander into the Allen net for his 13th of the season and the game was tied again 3-3. Allen held the advantage in shots on goal 25-16 after two periods.

The third period was a back-and-forth affair until Colton Hargrove put the Americans on top again with his second of the game and 13th goal of the season to make it a 4-3 Allen lead. The Americans held off a charging Wichita team in the final minute and a half to get the win and hand Wichita just their fifth regulation home loss of the season.

Postgame Sound:

Chad Costello: “A huge road win by the guys tonight. I thought the first period was one of our best of the season. It was great to see Perry (Chase) win in his first game. Big game tomorrow for our team.”

Colton Hargrove: “We have to keep it going! We know how good we can be when we play a full 60-minute game. We tend to fall asleep at the wheel every now and then when we get a lead, so if we can limit that and stay consistent with our effort then we’ll be a very hard team to beat.”

Hank Crone: “I thought we played a complete road game tonight, and we outplayed them from the start. Our penalty kill was great. This is a tough building to play in but we stepped up our game tonight and got it done.”

Three Stars: