Doug Love
U.S. Division

Tri-City rebounds with two good efforts

Written by Brandon Rivers on

The Tri-City Americans (7-5-0-1) stumbled out of the gate last week, but came back with two hard fought games against the Prince Albert Raiders and Prince George Cougars, resulting in three points in the standings.

The Ams sit three points back of the Everett Silvertips for the U.S. Division lead and two points behind the Portland Winterhawks for second – 13 games into the 68 game season.

Edge Lambert (photo-Chris Mast)

Last week:

Tuesday, October 22nd: Brandon 10 Tri-City 2

It was a night to forget for the Americans as the Wheat Kings let out their frustration during a challenging U.S. Division road trip.

Lynden McCallum and Edge Lambert traded goals in the first period for their sides but after that it was all Wheaties.

After 40 minutes it was 8-1 Brandon.

Paycen Bjorklund got Tri-City back on the score sheet in the third, but Brandon added two more to give us a 10-2 final.

Former Tri-City defenseman Dom Schmiemann had his first career three assist game and it came against the team he played 63 games with.

16-year-old goalie Mason Dunsford made his first WHL appearance in relief of starting goalie Beck Warm. He stopped 12-of-17 shots. Warm turned away 19-of-24 himself.

Connor Bouchard assisted on both Tri-City goals.

“Obviously really disappointed with the Brandon game. Although these things happen in junior hockey, you need to take a look in the mirror after a performance like that,” Tri-City governor and general manager Bob Tory said.

The last time the Americans had given up 10 goals was 12/31/14 against the Spokane Chiefs.

Sasha Mutala (Photo-Chris Mast)

Friday, October 25th: Prince Albert 3 Tri-City 2 SO

It was a much better effort three nights later at the Toyota Center for the Americans.

Warm rebounded with 17 first period saves as the Raiders came out flying after a poor effort in Portland on their U.S. trip.

Tyson Laventure finally found the net behind the overage goalie in the second but Tri-City came back with markers from Sasha Mutala and Kyle Olson to take the lead with 6:51 left in regulation.

Regulation being the operative word there as Aiaksei Protas solved Warm to tie the game and force overtime.

Ilya Usau beat Warm in the shootout and Olson, Mutala and Bouchard could not find the net. Bouchard beat Raiders goalie Boston Bilous with his move but backhanded a shot just over the net.

Rookie 16-year-old forward Tyson Greenway notched his first WHL point with an assist on the Mutala goal.

Greenway, a 6-foot-1, 175 pound fourth round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam draft by Tri-City has impressed his GM with his play this season.

“Tyson Greenway has played hard all season and is developing into a very good WHL player,” Tory said.

Warm stopped 46-of-48 in the shootout loss.

Talyn Boyko (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Keith Dwiggins)

Saturday, October 26th: Tri-City 5 Prince George 2

The Americans got back into the win column the following night.

Talyn Boyko, who missed Tuesday’s game with an upper body injury made his second start of the season and again impressed. He stopped 39-of-41 shots to notch his second win.

In his two starts, the 17-year-old netminder has stopped 70-of-74 shots.

“Talyn had another strong performance.  Games like this will do nothing but give him added confidence as he develops a foundation to build upon,” Tory stated.

Bjorklund got the scoring started with his second goal of the week. After P.G. tied the game, markers in the second period from Samuel Huo and Mutala got the Ams off to a 3-1 lead.

Then after Filip Koffer got the Cougars closer, Nick Bowman and 16-year-old defenseman Marc Lajoie put the Cougars away.

Bowman had an assist as well. The goal was his first with the Americans.

Bouchard had two more assists and now has three multi-point games this season.

17-year-old rookie defenseman Ian Ferguson had his first WHL point with an assist in the game.

“For Ian Ferguson it was good to see him get into back-to-back games after seeing limited playing time early in the year.  Ian is a good skater who competes hard and is adjusting to the WHL from the Tier 1 Elite level last season in Dallas. He will be a good WHL d-man as he gains experience and confidence,” Tory said.

The effort on Friday and Saturday was a god sight for Tory after Tuesday’s big loss.

“The good thing was that we came out and played hard in two consecutive games. Both the Prince Albert game and the Prince George games were physical and required high compete levels to be successful.”

Nikita Krivokrasov (Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire)

This week:

Friday, 11/1/19 vs. Seattle

Saturday, 11/2/19 vs. Vancouver

The Americans play their last two games at home before embarking on a three-game Alberta road trip the following week.

They get the Seattle Thunderbirds, who they are 2-0 against so far this season and the Vancouver Giants who they have yet to play against so far. The last two times they played the Giants were OT losses last season.

The American Way…

-Early last week, the Americans announced that Jarrod Newell had been released from the active roster and would be joining the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL. After 44 games with the Americans last season, he played in just one this season.

“With eight d-men, we needed to get the number down so that we could get a regular rotation going. Jarrod is a good kid who will get playing time in Junior A and will affiliate with our hockey club. Certainly he will be back in the WHL before too long,” Tory said.

-That decision brings their blue line down to seven and their roster to 26 as they have three goalies and 16 forwards.

-The Weekly Report also came out this week and three forwards were listed. Nikita Krivokrasov is listed as out week-to-week with a lower body injury after missing the games on Friday and Saturday. Blake Stevenson is down to day-to-day and Parker Bell is also out day-to-day with an illness.

-In alumni news, the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen announced they have signed former Americans captain Beau McCue. McCue played in 270 regular season and 14 playoff games for Tri-City, notching 170 regular season and five playoff points.