Trail’s Todd Robinson of the Allen Americans scored 2:47 into the first overtime to give the Texas town its first Presidents Cup Championship in a 3-2 thriller over the Wichita Thunder on Saturday night in Allen.
Wichita twice led the series 1-0, and 2-1, and Allen was down in each of its three series in this year’s playoff, so the Americans knew what coming back was all about.
And although the Americans trailed 2-0 after two periods of Game 7 they didn’t panic.
“We were pretty calm actually,” forward Brian McMillin told the Allen Star. “We’ve been down this road all year, kind of taken the long route to get to wherever we need to be, so we were confident we could do it again.”
Jarret Lukin, the longest tenured Allen Americans player scored 7:13 into the third, winning a battle for the puck in front of the Thunder net and putting it past Wichita goalie Torrie Jung to cut the lead to 2-1. With just 2:19 left on the clock, the Americans would score again when Trevor Hendrikx blasted one home from outside the circle to even the score at 2-2.
“We got off to a slow start. I guess we’ve got all summer to figure out why we keep starting our games slowly,” coach Steve Martinson said with a chuckle before adding, “but I’m a big believer in percentages and if you keep getting those pucks in deep and to the net, it is going to pay off. Just look at the third period; we were getting shots, putting guys in front of the net and good things happened.”
Robinson would complete the comeback for the Americans in the overtime period taking a long pass from defenceman Mike Montgomery on the right-wing boards, and firing his sixth goal and league-leading 22nd point of the playoffs past Jung for the victory.
McMillin was named the finals MVP while Robinson was selected as the Game 7 first star. McMillin had twelve goals for Allen in the post-season and finished right behind Robinson in scoring.
Wichita beat Allen 3-2 on Friday night to send the series to a deciding Game 7.