The Tri-City Americans were set up for a hard weekend. They were playing two tough road games against the Seattle Thunderbirds and Spokane Chiefs, both of which have potent play makers who can put the puck in the net.
Over the two games though, only one puck got into the Americans net behind overage goalie Beck Warm.
He stopped 69-of-70 shots and posted two straight U.S. Division wins.
First, he stopped 31-of-32 shots in a 3-1 road win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Then, he stunned the Spokane faithful, stopping all 38 shots and ruining the Chiefs home opener with a 3-0 shutout win.
The shutout was the third of his career. All of them have come on the road.
“Our team played really well this weekend. And it goes to show that we can play with any team in the league right now. We just play super simple and we work hard and it definitely definitely pays off,” Warm said of the two wins.
“Beck is doing what Beck does. He has consistently provided us with good goaltending his whole career. He is focused, mature and is one of our key leaders in the dressing room, Tri-City governor and general manager Bob Tory stated.
The fact that the Americans have blazed out to a 3-1 start with all of the wins coming in the competitive U.S. Division is all the more impressive when you factor that they are without team captain and overage forward Kyle Olson and import, overage forward Krystof Hrabik. The two were expected to be big leaders on and off the ice.
No Hrabik and Olson means Warm and fellow overager, defenseman Dom Schmiemann have to step up even more.
I definitely think it’s important for me and Schmiemann to step up and be really big leaders on this team. I think it all starts in practice and stuff and just showing the guys how hard you have to work every day in practice and battles. We’re definitely definitely taking a step forward there,” Warm said.
Warm was named the Eli Wilson WHL Goaltender of the Week for his play.
“It’s pretty special. It’s definitely an honor to to get that and I’m just looking to keep doing that for us this season.”
Warm has a 1.97 GAA and 0.941 save percentage through four games.
He has started every game for the Americans since returning from Washington Capitals training camp.
“it was a great couple of weeks out there. I took away how hard everyone works every single day and everyone shows up every single day. It was definitely a really cool experience,” Warm said.
“it was really cool to face guys like (Alex) Ovechkin and (Nicklas) Backstrom and whatnot – the kind of guys you grew up watching so yeah, it was really cool to be part of.”
Beck has more to get excited about this season as his twin brother, defenseman Will Warm was traded to the Victoria Royals. This means that the two will get to face each other as many as four more times. Beck did not start the the two times they faced each other.
“I’m really excited. It’s always nice to play him. So yeah, I’m really, really excited to to play Vic,” Beck said.
Victoria visits Tri-City on Friday, October 11th.
Beck will be looking to continue his hot start and frustrate his Brother’s team like has frustrated his U.S. Division foes so far this season.
The American Way…
“We had a good weekend obviously. Winning on the road in the US Division is not an easy task. We had a good week of practice leading up to the games. The coaches did an excellent job preparing the team for both two very good opponents,” Tory said of the weekend sweep.
-Samuel Huo has found the scoring touch. The 2001-born forward already has three goals in just four games. All have come on the power play. He had two in Saturday’s win over the Chiefs.
“Sam has been off to a good start and has established some chemistry with Sasha Mutala. He had a very good off season training and is stronger and more experienced than last year. He has picked up a step with his skating and is playing with confidence,” Tory said.
-Mutala is tied for second in league scoring with eight points. He is tied for the lead in insurance goals with two.
-Tri-City plays their last of five straight road games to open the season Wednesday night in Kelowna. They then make kick off their home opener on Saturday against Spokane. They play three straight and won’t go back on the road for 16 days.
-With two assists on Saturday, Nick Bowman has the most assists in a season for him since 2017-18 when he had six with Edmonton. He’s also won 32 faceoffs, the most since that same season when he won 70.
-Schmiemann’s goal Saturday was his first since March 6th. The shutdown d-man now has seven in his career.
-Olson is still with the Rochester Americans of the AHL – the Buffalo Sabres affiliate. Those Americans won over the Toronto Marlies on Sunday. Rochester cut 10 players from their training camp roster including releasing two players from their amateur try outs. Olson was not in that group. He still has yet to sign with Rochester though. The Americans open AHL play on Friday.
-Hrabik is still one of 14 forwards with the San Joe Sharks AHL affiliate – the San Jose Barracuda. He netted his second of the preseason on Saturday in a 4-3 loss to Colorado.
