Steffes Scores Late to Help Allen Get Past Wichita

Wichita, KS (Dec. 30th) - Gary Steffes scored the go-ahead goal with just over a minute left in regulation and Allen (18-12-1-0) slipped by Wichita (7-19-1-3) on Wednesday night by the final score of 4-3 at INTRUST Bank Arena. The two teams battled back-and-forth before Steffes recorded his second of the night as time was winding down. Wichita drops to 0-3-1-0 against Allen in the season-series.

Joey Sides had a goal and an assist while Brandon Martell and Andy Huff also found the back of the net.

Sides gave the Thunder an early lead in the first, getting to a loose puck and put one past Riley Gill to make it 1-0. Chris Crane answered four minutes later as he came in on his off-wing and beat David Shantz with his fifth of the season.

The Americans took their first lead of the contest early in the second as Chad Costello fired home a wrist shot near the left circle and made it 2-1 with a power play goal. Midway through the frame, Brandon Martell blasted one from the left point that got through traffic and tied the game at two.

In the third, Steffes scored his first of two in the period with a redirection on the power play that made it 3-2 at the 5:07 mark. Huff pulled the Thunder even at 11:20 when his shot hit Gill, popped up in the air and went over the line to make it 3-3. With just over a minute to go, the Americans came up the ice on the rush and Steffes beat Shantz to the short-side that would hold up as the game-winner.

Sides finished with his first multi-point game of the season, adding a goal and an assist. In his first game since early December, Martell notched his fifth tally of the season. Huff added to his team-lead in goals with his eighth of the year. Shantz suffers the loss, stopping 28 of 32 shots. Gill gets back to .500 with his seventh win of the year, stopping 36 of 39 shots he faced.

Wichita went 0-for-3 on the power play. Missouri was 2-for-4 on the man advantage.

Wichita plays its final game of 2015 tomorrow against the Missouri Mavericks at 7:05 p.m.

Individual tickets for all games are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 855-755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com.

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About the ECHL

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have started their career in the ECHL have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL had affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2013-14, marking the 17th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

-Thunder-