Oh yeah...

Neal Prokop took the ice this week

I forgot to talk about the overage situation:

(Real quick if you're behind on the times, Ams forward Neal Prokop returned to the team after season ending leg surgery in the playoffs last year. That puts the Ams at 4 overagers [20 yr olds] which means the Ams have to cut one in less than two weeks)

So Neal played two games this week and notched an assist in each before being scratched in favor of Zak Stebner on Saturday. By the way, in 13 games for the Americans, Stebner has added 7 assists. (just so the record is clear)

I had originally figured that we would see stebner released or traded, being a WHL journeymen, being traded between five teams the last several years. Prokop nrings so much to the table as far as leadership and consistency goes, I highly doubted that we would see him go. THen i got to thinking about it...We traded to get Stebner for a reason. We have a young defensive group this year. Stebner was our way to add talent and experience for a long season and hopefully postseason. Last year Stebner beat the Americans in the WHL finals as amember of the Calgary Hitmen.

The Americans were still scoring goals without Neal. Thats the rough side of it. Could the defense survive without Stebner? Maybe...Grist is getting better it seems with every game, Yuen is becoming a staple in the group, and Schmidt is...well...doing his thing.

Some are saying that Prokop got some playing time so trader Bob could work his magic with other teams, giving them an opportunity to see that he is legit coming off of the injury.

Like I said before, I dont know how its going to come down, nor would I want Bob Tory's job at this point.

If you're looking for my opinion, at this point I'd have to say to hold on to Stebner. We brought him in for a reason and we could still use him. He adds depth to a defense that needs it. I hate it because Prokop was huge for us last year and he could be productive, but I'm not seeing Tory toss away Stebner because Neal made a quick recovery.

Maybe we can get Jessicas opinion on what she thinks we should do.

Americans complete statement weekend

For those critics that have slumped the Americans to the side in recent weeks: Pay attention now.

The Americans are coming off one of their best weekends of hockey this season earning 4 out of 4 points with two big wins over Kootenay and Portland. The two teams are a combined 38-12 and hold two spots among the CHL's top 10. Easily their best game of the year on Friday night against Kootenay, they looked to at least match that with the game on Saturday. For 40 minutes they did just that, building a 2-0 lead on hard work, clean passing, and selfless play. The guys gave up their bodies to block shots (something they've done well over the last couple of weeks) and were willing to pass to set up chances. Both teams had several chances all throughout the game, posts were dinged and goals were reviewed.

The third was not a good one for the Americans. Honestly they looked tired, and they let it get to their game. Passes did not connect, and Portland took advantage spending most of the period in their offensive zone. They crawled back into it tying the game up at 2 a piece and the Americans decided they would just continue to try and hold them off. They did and to OT we went, just thankful that we'd atleast get a point. Jessica kept me optimistic through the whole thing. My initial thought as the horn sounded to signal the end of regulation was, "As if Portland needed another point..."

We had a couple of chances in OT but came up empty so we went to the shootout. Owsley has been good in shootouts this year, going 5 for 7. You just always wonder when going up against a strong individual team like Portland if you've got enough to stop them. Ty Rattie was stopped on his first attempt, and Hughesman blanked on the other end. Sven Bartschi of Portland couldnt slip under Owsleys pads. That put Brendan Shinnimin on the ice:

Click here for video of the goal (tried to embed but it didnt work)

And that would hold as your game winner folks. Hype that, wins always feel good. especially as you begin to climb back into a division race. The guys have the next couple nights off before hosting another resurgent team in the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday night at Toyota.

Three Stars:
1. T.C - 30 Drew Owsley
2. T.C - 19 Jordan Messier
3. POR - 28 Brendan Leipsic


--------------------------------------------------------

 Check this out for last night:

 LOSS to Kelowna 3-2

  LOSS to Medicine Hat 5-2

 LOSS to Kootenay 6-2




 Every team in the US Division lost last night except for Tri City. I like that...A lot...

-------------------------------------------
US DIVISION STANDINGS

Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	28	21	5	0	2	44	0.786	111	77	0-1-0-1	6-3-0-1	591
2	Tri-City Americans	26	15	9	1	1	32	0.615	95	87	3-0-0-0	4-5-0-1	397
3	Seattle Thunderbirds	24	11	6	3	4	29	0.604	70	68	0-1-0-0	5-2-1-2	424
4	Spokane Chiefs	25	12	9	2	2	28	0.560	94	73	2-0-1-1	5-1-2-2	498
5	Everett Silvertips	26	11	11	1	3	26	0.500	67	76	0-3-0-0	5-5-0-0	394

Solid effort leads to win

The Americans played a complete game against the central divisions Kootenay Ice last night. Owsley eanred a shutout in a 4-0 workman like effort for the entire team. Seriously, everyone seemed to be at their highest level last night, and those words were echoed by the coach:

"From start to finish, our most complete game all year," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "I thought we had everyone on the same page. It was a good result against a good team -- a physical team." (herald)

And physical they were. My goodness the first period was a boxing match, with a couple of fights and lots of aggresion from both teams. Sitting where we were I couldnt see who did it, but an Americans player did dump an Ice player into their own bench. All the way over. I love that, and love that our team did not back down against rough play. Wilgosh scrapped, with his porno mustache, and Sam Grist threw his body around like a 20 yr old. These guys played a great game. 

I want to point out that teams are going after Shinnimin one way or another. Its something to keep an eye on. Last night Kootenay's Kevin King was in Shinnimins ear all night and spent most of the first trying to get Shinni to fight. It was annoying because there were cheap shots taken that refs weren't bothering to help out on. Shinnimin is a threat to score (He tallied twice last night btway) and teams are going to do everything they can to keep him off the ice. He seems to be handling it well, like he expects it now. So we'll keep an eye on that. 

-----------------------------------

Tonight is a big one. First time taking on the league leading (and dominating) Portland Winterhawks. Their resurgence has them at the top of the US division by 13 points over the Americans. There seems to be a chink in the armor that has been found though. Portland has lost 2 of their last three, including a 7-2 loss last night to Chilliwack. They will still be without right winger Seth Swenson, who is serving his last game in a suspension handed down by the league for his role in a melee fight in kamloops.

-By far the biggest threat for Portland is standout Nino Nedeiretter, who played 9 games with the New York Islanders (scoring his first NHL goal). Since returning he has scored 7 times and assisted on 7. (14 games) 

The Americans will also be tasked to hold back Ty Rattie, number 4 on the WHL Points list (15G, 25A) 

 

Keys to the game:

1) Drew has to be on it again tonight. Hopefully the shutout momentum carries over. 

2) Spencer Humphries had what seemed to be an uncharacteristic bad night last night. Lots of turnovers, he'll need to be sharper. 

3) SCORE! Americans will have to score goals tonight to keep pressure off of Drew. Look for Hughesman and Wilgosh to get on the board tonight. 

--------------------------------------------

Overage situation clouded again:

From Examiner.com:

"Tri-City Americans GM Bob Tory confirmed Monday that overage F Neal Prokop will make his season debut Wednesday when the teams takes on the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent.

Prokop has been out since suffering a broken femur during the Americans' first-round playoff series last spring against Chilliwack.

His return is the latest lineup shuffle to a team that has been scuffling recently, losing six of its last seven games.

With Prokop returning to the lineup, that means the Americans have four 20-year-olds on the roster -- one more than the league maximum of three, but the team has an injury exemption.

After Wednesday, the Americans will have 14 days to release or trade one of their overagers -- captain Kruise Reddick, alternate captain Tyler Schmidt (about to become the franchise's all-time leader in games played by a defenseman) or recently acquired D Zak Stebner." (examiner)

I cant believe it, I'm happy, but...wow! The guy broke his femur, and broke it bad. Here's a rewind from the Tri-City Herald after it happened:

"The surgery was supposed to be 21/2 hours, but it ended up being 4," Prokop said. "The doctor said he had a hard time getting the (titanium) rod into my bone. He said I had a really hard bone. He showed me the scratches on his hand."

Prokop said he isn't sure how long the rod in his leg is, but by the incision, he estimates about 10 inches.
Americans athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman got a look at the X-rays and said the break was a transverse fracture in the upper third of the femur toward the hip.

A transverse fracture is a break across the bone, at a right angle to the long axis of the bone.
"It's a pretty significant break," Cheeseman said. "Fortunately, he didn't go into shock."

I know that i didn't expect him to be back so soon. I dont think Tory did either, otherwise I dont think he would've made the trade for Stebner earlier in the year. This is just going to make things awfully uncomfortable for the next 2 weeks because someones gotta go. There are 4 overagers on the team Reddick, Schmidt, Stebner, and now Prokop. By process of elimination im pretty sure Tory wouldnt dump his captain, so Reddick stays. Schmidt is an alternate so he's probably not gone either. That leaves Prokop and Stebner in the mix.
 

I believe Stebner has been a great addition since he got here, seems he worked his tail off to get into the system and log more and more playing time.

Prokop was such an integral part of the teams success last year all the way up to the broken leg and past it, as the team rallied around his absence to play harder.

I dont know whats going to happen nor do I want to think about what should happen. I wish we could keep everyone, wouldn't that be nice? Bob Tory makes some crazy deals and trades and we'll just have to wait it out and see. I'm excited for Neal to get back on the ice with the guys, I'm sure everyone is happy to have him back.

Ams cant find way past Simpson.

There's a reason Kent Simpson was named to Team WHL for the Subway Series. Everett's goaltender stopped 37 of the 39 shots he faced in a 4-2 win over the Americans, and earned the first star. The Americans were playing their third game in as many days, and coming off a big win the night before against Spokane they were looking to continue the momentum. Instead they ran into Simpson, and couldnt find the chink in the armor they needed to get the win.

"We weren't sharp when we wanted to shoot, and when we did shoot, we didn't have traffic in front," Hiller said. (examiner)

That seemed to be the biggest problem. Simpson isn't going to give up easy goals. you wont see a shot from the point, or from an odd angle go in. There had to be someone there to put it in, and when those chances arose no one was around. There were a few chances where we'd have guys in the slot but the passes weren't connecting.

The game started with some suspect officiating as Shinnimin was called for trip just minutes into the game. Honestly, we were sitting right in front of where it happened, the dude just lost an edge and fell down. there was no trip. But thats fine...whatever. Right after Shinnimin gets out, he skates down the ice and apparently hooks a guy. I cant speak to that, it was on the other end of the ice in our blind spot so thats that. Everett would take advantage on the one

With 10 seconds left on the PP, Drew gave up a rebound in the crease and McRae got his first of the season to put the Silvertips up 1-0.

Turnovers in the offensive zone plagued the Americans as they failed to get quality chances the remainder of the period. Then there was a checking from behind call made on Drydn Dow, which looked awfully similar to a play earlier by Everett that wasnt called...just saying.

The second started and it was more of the same:


"After taking their one-goal lead into the first break, Everett extended it at the 6:20 mark of the second period.  After a nice, individual effort to dig the puck out of the corner, Josh Winquist found Tyler Maxwell in the slot, who beat Drew Owsley to make it 2-0." (Americans)

Just another issue of a man being left alone in the crease, an error by the defense in which Hiller had this to say: 

"The goals we gave up were pretty easy, weren't they?" Hiller said. "They were just standing right there. It was more mental than physical tonight. We need to play with more urgency; that's the bottom line. With the puck and without it, we need more urgency." (examiner)

Where was the urgency they showed last night?? just odd to go from such a high level to dropping off the way they did last night. Hughesman stepped up to address the issue:


"There's no excuse for that type of effort," said Ams forward Adam Hughesman, who scored his team-leading 14th goal on a second-period power play. "We're not going to blame it on anything but ourselves.
"Just because we won one game doesn't mean anything. We have to play all the way through the season. It's frustrating to go out there with no intensity, no physical play, nothing like last night."

 (examiner)

So there you have it. The Ams will have today off, (maybe the team will make some snow angels), and get a practice day before heading to Kent to take on Seattle. Standings have tightened up a bit, Spokane beat Portland to hand them just their 4th loss this year. Hell, we lost 4 in a week...


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Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	25	20	4	0	1	41	0.820	103	65	0-1-0-0	8-2-0-0	545
2	Seattle Thunderbirds	21	10	5	3	3	26	0.619	60	56	0-1-0-0	5-2-2-1	394
3	Tri-City Americans	23	12	9	1	1	26	0.565	83	81	0-1-0-0	3-6-0-1	372
4	Everett Silvertips	23	11	8	1	3	26	0.565	61	63	3-0-0-0	6-4-0-0	362
5	Spokane Chiefs	22	11	9	1	1	24	0.545	79	65	1-0-0-0	6-2-1-1	447

Americans Light the Lamp

And light it they did, smoking the visiting rival Spokane Chiefs 8-3 in front of a noisy crowd of nearly 6,000 on Saturday night. (of course when you hand out 1,000 cowbells that'll happen) The win snaps a 5 game losing streak, the first of its kind since the 2005-2006 season. There was a fear of bus legs as the guys had to travel from Chilliwack after a tough 4-3 loss on Friday night. The Ams dispelled that theory by coming out strong in the first, definitely showing what they had worked on the previous week. Lots of speed, aggressiveness and desperation for the puck saw great results in the 1st period, leading to four goals. It also helped that Spokanes defense seemed sluggish and got less then stellar goaltending from James Reid. The same goalie who shutout the Ams 5-0 just a week ago was a sieve giving up the four goals on just 13 shots. Normally I write up more about each goal, but the fact that there were 8 it got a little ridiculous, and you don't have an entire month to read. Here's the quick breakdown from the Americans website:


"Tri-City hit the ground running Saturday, and never looked back, using two two-goal bursts to  pull away in the first 20 minutes.  At the 6:56 mark, and on the power play, the Americans got on the scoreboard first when Patrick Holland redirected a Justin Feser shot past Spokane starter James Reid.  On the ensuing face-off, Wilgosh drove hard to the net, putting back a David Conrad rebound seven seconds later, to quickly put the Americans on top 2-0.

Spokane, however, found a response just past the midway point of the period.  With the puck loose at the near post, Mike Aviani kept banging away, eventually nudging it past Owsley to pull the Chiefs to within one.  But, it would be as close as Spokane would get in the game.

Just 30 seconds after Aviani’s goal, and back on the power play, Connor Rankin took a great, no-look pass from Adam Hughesman and beat Reid to puck Tri-City back on top by two.  Only 3:36 later, Holland found Shinnimin camped backdoor on Reid, who buried a near empty-net shot to make it a 4-1 game headed into the first break. " (Americans)

Okay, that first goal by Holland was pretty slick, backhanded redirect over the glove of Reid. I nearly missed the second goal because I was still typing in my notes. Wilgosh just proved his manliness on that one, deciding to just bust through everyone and he wouldnt be denied. 

I dont know though if I have seen a  more beautiful play than the one on Shinnimin's goal. I dont know what the heck happened to Spokane as it seemed Holland, Hughesman, and Shinni all came into the zone by themselves. They went tic-tac across the zone and I swear Reid didnt even see Shinnimin camped out on the far post cause the puck came right to him, and he had a wide open net. It seemed as though Shinniman was like, "Hey! Lookie what I got!" The Spokane fans behind us even acknowledged the plays beauty. 

Jessica was excited by Rankin's third goal of the game cause she had pretty much called that it was going to happen. 

The scoring continued in the 2nd: 

"Then, with 7:25 gone of the second period, Jordan Messier’s 13th goal of the season chased Reid from the game.

With his power play marker with 3:18 remaining in the second, Spokane’s Tyler Johnson made it a 5-2 game.  But, 42 seconds later, a seemingly innocent wrist shot by Drydn Dow from the left circle slipped past back-up Mac Engel, as Tri-City retook their four-goal lead.  Then, with 1:01 left in the frame, Feser broke out Wilgosh, who fired a backhander past Engel, making it a 7-2 game." (Americans)

What I loved most about this game is that every time (up to this point) the Chiefs had scored, the Ams took less than a minute to answer. They need to be able to do this, especially on the road. Its such a momentum buster for the other team. Just when they think they may climb back in it you shut the door on them. Do this on the road-and you frustrate and quiet the fans. 


"Spokane and Tri-City exchanged goals in the third period, as Tanner Mort scored just 49 seconds into the third before Shinnimin recorded his second goal of the game, seven minutes later, to cap the scoring." (Americans)  

 The guys really did play well, and it was a fun game. Now begins the rant part of this entry.We had a family of Chiefsf fans behind us, Husband, wife, and Im assuming their son who was probably around 22-25. All wearing chiefs jerseys, all of them super friendly. That's right, I said friendly when referring to Chiefs fans. We spent the majority of the game exchanging "playful banter", both of us laughing. Of course its easier when our team is winning, but it was a good time. 

The game came down to the waning minutes and as things started getting chippy on the ice, it got tense in the stands as well. The people sitting behind the family made some comment, something to the extent of, "Oh...I've never seen them score 8 points before", and the guy turned around and said, "Oh thats okay, I saw them score 0 last week" (referring to the shutout handed to us by Spokane) Thats pretty funny. I would've laughed. Most normal fans would. But instead of laughing, her D-bag husband decided to accidentally spill his beer on him which incidentally spilled on the little girl sitting in front of him. Clearly a line has been crossed at this point. And they start yelling back and forth. Well they take the guy out, and an Americans fan had walked up to talk to the Spokane fans about what had happened. The lady who made the stupid comment to begin with said something and the other Americans fan told her to shut up (I think) she then proceeded to tell him to "Go back to your trailer....traaaaaailer" At this point I wanted to run up to this lady and punch her. Instead I watched to make sure no one got into any fights and the Spokane people left and the game ended. 

-My problem is that now these nice Spokane fans have a bad image of what Americans fans are. What was mostly a good game went south when a stupid fan took it too far. Im sorry, if you cant control yourself when drinking, just don't bother coming. It's assholes like you that give the rest of us fans a bad name. Seriously, and to think that you're so above someone to call out "trailer trash" makes you look like an even bigger ass. and a douche. Ill just forevermore call the both of you Mr. and Mrs. Douche-Ass. I'm sorry that such a great game for us had to be ruined by the Douche-Asses. 



Applebee’s 3 Stars:
1, Brendan Shinnimin, Tri-City
2, Mason Wilgosh, Tri-City
3, Patrick Holland, Tri-City
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US DIVISION STANDINGS 

Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	24	20	3	0	1	41	0.854	102	62	4-0-0-0	9-1-0-0	531
2	Seattle Thunderbirds	21	10	5	3	3	26	0.619	60	56	0-1-0-0	5-2-2-1	394
3	Tri-City Americans	22	12	8	1	1	26	0.591	81	77	1-0-0-0	4-5-0-1	364
4	Everett Silvertips	22	10	8	1	3	24	0.545	57	61	2-0-0-0	5-4-0-1	346
5	Spokane Chiefs	21	10	9	1	1	22	0.524	76	64	0-1-0-1	5-3-1-1	441

 

Friday Notes

As the Americans gear up for a full weekend of hockey, it seems some good is coming from their week of practice:

"I think we are going through some adversity right now," said Reddick, who missed eight games with a concussion earlier this season. "We aren't scoring and we aren't playing to our ability. It's not time to press the panic button. It's time to reflect on the positive things, grit our teeth and make things happen."(herald)

Kruise goes on to talk about playing three games in as many days:

"It's nice when you are playing every three nights and keeping in game form," Reddick said, "but it's also nice to have this much practice time to work out the kinks. The fans might be concerned; they want to see us do well. We are going to turn this around."

That's exactly what you want to hear from a team captain. A guy willing to step up and say things aren't perfect right now. Acknowledging the fact that the fans are concerned but guaranteeing that it gets fixed. Smart guy.

I've talked about the struggles of Drew Owsley, and it seems like he's getting the help he needs:

"We are trying to keep things positive and relaxed," said Tri-City starting goalie Drew Owsley. "We have a good bunch of guys, we just need to execute better. The bounces aren't going our way and guys are gripping the sticks too tight. We just need that win to get us out of this."

Owsley sought help from one of the best in the business Wednesday, working with former NHL goalie and Americans owner Olie Kolzig.

"Any time Olie can come out and help me, I appreciate it," Owsley said. "He's been through it all and I'm struggling a bit. He's helped me tune things up a bit and he's given me some advice."

-Uhhhh yeah...anytime you can get advice from one of the best, you better take advantage. Drew's going to be just fine. He's a great goalie and has a great group of guys around him. Its way too early to start panicking. Looking forward to two home games this weekend. Should be a couple of good matchups. The guys are up north in Chilliwack to try and take care of a pesky Bruins team.




Not much time to write today, we're expecting someone to come pick up our couches, if they ever show up....

Wednesday Thoughts

Hitmen Loss Watch: 12 - ties a franchise record for most consecutive loses, set in 1996. Tough times for a team that won the WHL last year. They've started the trade process starting with Moose Jaw:

The Hitmen acquire 18-year-old left winger Danny Gayle, 18-year-old left winger Nathan MacMaster and 18-year-old goaltender Brandon Glover in exchange for 18-year-old forwards Cody Beach and Mackenzie Royer. (Hitmen)

This just goes to show how hard it is to stay competitive in a league that turns kids over to other leagues, including the NHL. A revolving door that makes it hard sometimes for team to keep up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

At the opposite end of that spectrum sits the Portland Winterhawks. This team is on a serious tear in the WHL right now.

Portland is 19-3-0-1 through 23 games played. They have 39 points, 15 more than second place teams Seattle and Tri City. it was not too long ago that this teamhad wrapped up a 17 win season in 06-07, an 11 win season the next year and last year a 19 win season.

Thats right, Portland has as many wins so far this year in just over a month, than they had last year TOTAL.

Just look at the formula: Take a team that is struggling, insert new passionate ownership with strong coaching, and recruit the best team players. VOILA! Does this sound familiar?

It should, because thats exactly what the Americans did when Stu Barnes, Olaf Kolzig and Top Shelf Entertainment stepped up to take ownership of a lousy, underachieving Americans team. They brought in Bob Tory as General Manager, Don Nachbaur as coach, and started recruiting players that were knowledgeable and passionate about the game. Tri City has now won three straight division banners and a western conference championship.

------------------------------------------------------------- US DIVISION STANDINGS: Rank U.S. Division GP   W   L  OTL  SL  PTS   PCT  GF   GA  STK P10 PIM 1 Portland Winterhawks    23  19  3 0 1 39 0.848 96 58 3-0-0-0 9-1-0-0  486 2 Seattle Thunderbirds 19  9 4 3 3 24 0.632 56 52 3-0-1-1 4-2-2-2  370 3 Tri-City Americans 20 11 7 1 1 24 0.600 70 70 0-3-0-1 4-5-0-1  319 4 Spokane Chiefs 19 10 8 1 0 21 0.553 72 54 3-0-1-0 6-3-1-0  412 5 Everett Silvertips 20 8 8 1 3 20 0.500 50 57 0-1-0-0 3-5-0-2  314

Alumni Update: Carey Price

CAREY PRICE. Looks like the former Ams goaltender may finally be stepping up to the role he was supposed to continue after his phenomenal NHL rookie season, backstopping for the Montreal Canadiens. The game last night between Montreal and Philadelphia was on VS. and not being a Canadiens fan myself, I still always hope that Americans alum always do well. I watched most of the third and I gotta tell ya, Price sure looks different this year, maybe because Halak isn't there to compete with him. Here's the game recap from Montreals site:

MONTREAL (AP) -Carey Price made 41 saves for his third shutout, Brian Gionta had a goal and two assists, and the Montreal Canadiens extended their winning streak to four with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Carey Price (#31) Makes one of his 41 saves in a 3-0 shutout.

Price stopped 13 shots in the first and 20 more in the second on his way to his seventh career shutout, his second in four games. He stopped 34 shots one week earlier in a 2-0 win over Vancouver which began Montreal's current streak.  (canadiens.nhl.com)

Three star selections

1st:

CAREY PRICE

2nd:

TOMAS PLEKANEC

3rd:

BRIAN GIONTA

Two Cents Tuesday (Wednesday Edition) - Pulling the Cord

Today's edition of Two Cent Tuesday (on a Wednesday) covers a major pet peeve of ours, People that leave the game early when their team is down. (Pulling the chord, popping the chute) or as Craig West describes on Ams radio, "Paratroopers are leaving the building". There's nothing worse than watching your team try to battle it to the end and then seeing half the arena spilling out to go warm up their cars. I can only imagine what it feels like for a player too, giving it your all and then having your fans leave you high and dry.

Now I know there are certain factors that may lead someone to want to leave early. I understand people that have children that are screaming, crying, pooping, whatever, or maybe want to save some time for the baby sitter by not sitting in traffic after the game. That's warranted. I highly doubt though that there are 2,000+ babies in that place that need attending to.

This goes for all sports. Baseball, Football, whatever. Just because your team is in danger of losing doesnt mean you should jump ship. Especially if you consider yourself a fan. We have never left a game early, I refuse. One thing, you never know what could happen. You know how long it takes to score a goal? Yeah, not very long. Anything could happen and I enjoy nothing more than sticking around and seeing something awesome happen after half the place has left. I dont remember the last time it happened, probably last year but I remember a game where we were down a couple goals with less than two minutes left and we had tied the game and won in OT. But when the goal came the parking lot was already deserted, except for the true fans that stuck around.

True fans are those that are willing to stick around whether the team wins-or loses. Hell, we pay good money for tickets to the games, why not stay for the whole thing. It really comes down to supporting your team. These guys play hard night in and night out and they deserve to have their fans stand behind them.

One ting I've overheard people say while leaving is, "Well they didn't show up to play tonight, why should I stay?"

- Because its your team, your money, and pride. Take pride in your team and dont be a fair weather fan.

From Urban Dictionary:

Fair Weather Fan: A fan of a sports team who only shows support when the team is doing well. During hard times they usually bandwagon other teams. They basically have no real loyalty to the team, but still manage to get better seats than you at the game. Strangely they mysteriously vanish at the first sign of trouble.

And thats my Two Cents. agree? disagree? post a comment below.


-Chase

The Slide Continues...

The Ams losing streak now sits at 4 after suffering a weekend worth of losses. Friday night the Ams lost to Everett:

SILVERTIPS 5, AMERICANS 2

Josh Birkholz exploded for five points with three goals and two assists while Luke Siemens turned aside 45 of 47 shots he faced to lead the Everett Silvertips to a 5-2 win over the visiting Tri-City Americans on Friday.

Scott MacDonald notched two goals and an assist for the Silvertips (7-7-1-3), who built up a 3-0 lead after the first period en route to snapping a three-game losing skid and a two-game goalless drought.

Kruise Reddick and Nils Moser – with his first of the season – scored for the Americans (11-6-1-1), who see their losing skid hit three games while falling to 7-5-1 on the road.  Drew Owsley and Chris Driedger combined for 22 saves in the loss. (whl)

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Then there was the loss last night to Spokane:


SPOKANE 5, AMERICANS 0


Kenton Miller had a three-point night, James Reid picked up 20 saves and five different skaters recorded a goal as the Spokane Chiefs (10-8-1-0, 21 pts)Tri-City Americans (11-7-1-1, 24 pts) in front of 9,816 fans at Veterans Memorial Arena.  With the win, Spokane has now won three straight and has climbed back into the division race after starting the season with a 2-5 record.  Meanwhile, the road-weary Americans dropped their fourth straight game, something the club has not done since January 4-9, 2008.  However, despite the losing streak, Tri-City still holds a 7-6-1-0 road record this year in spite of playing 70% of their games away from home to start the season. (tca)

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Ams get a cheesy cat fail for the weekends effort.

What does this all mean? Well, not only are the standings closer (take a look below) but it also means that they go into another week without games with 0 momentum. nada. It's frustrating. dropping games to division rivals, and the scores weren't even close. We got outscored 10-2 this weekend. and it was both goalies, drew and chris. Something is different about Drew, the 'lights out' factor doesn't seem to be there. we've seen it a couple of times this season but definitely not recently. 
It's hard to judge when you're not at the game. I'm not near about to panic but a win in Chiliwack on Friday followed by a win at home against Spokane would be nice. Spokane hasn't beaten us at home
this year, and I would like to keep it that way.


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US DIVISION UPDATE: 

Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	21	17	3	0	1	35	0.833	86	53	1-0-0-0	9-1-0-0	453
2	Seattle Thunderbirds	19	9	4	3	3	24	0.632	56	52	3-0-1-1	4-2-2-2	370
3	Tri-City Americans	20	11	7	1	1	24	0.600	70	70	0-3-0-1	4-5-0-1	319
4	Spokane Chiefs	19	10	8	1	0	21	0.553	72	54	3-0-1-0	6-3-1-0	412
5	Everett Silvertips	19	8	7	1	3	20	0.526	49	54	2-0-0-0	3-5-0-2	305

Two Cents Tuesday

Today's topic covers something I love. Jerseys. More specifically, specialty jerseys. You mostly see unique thirds in the NHL, and now thirds are worn more in the junior ranks with most teams in the WHL having thirds. Today however, we're talking about promo jerseys. Thats right, those silly one off nights where anything goes and the jerseys can sometimes be, well..."special".



       This comes up because  the Saskatoon Blades of the Eastern Division (13-5-0-0) are set to wear a special jersey for their game against Portland on the 12th. . In anticipation of the following weekend's PBR Canadian Cup National Finals in Saskatoon, the Blades, along with Wrangler jeans, have created quite the unique jersey to celebrate the event. check it out:  

While its not actual denim it will include the white stitching lines to make it look legit, including the fake pockets and such. I know some people think that special jerseys are lame or just a gimmick. I love these. I think they're hilarious and for a one night deal, its awesome.


"Some people aren't necessarily loving these things," Blades staffer Michael Scissons said with a smile, "but we never went out to design the nicest jersey in the world. We went out to design an event-specific, fun jersey. We knew that it wasn't going to rank in the top-10 nicest jerseys of all-time."

-The jerseys are going to be auctioned off after the game for a good cause, though I couldnt find what the cause was. I think they're awesome.

I wish the Americans did more of this. We always do the pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness and fundraising (which is awesome). Last year they did the special nuclear night, which featured a pretty slick jersey. (shown on the right) The only jersey that has been...scary...was the NASCAR jerseys from a couple of years ago. (shown on left) Seriously I see those things roaming the Toyota Center and they're a little frightening. Thats half the fun though for these types of nights. Plus if you dont like them, dont buy them, which is too bad since generally the profits go for a good cause. Seriously its like one night, get over it. I'm not suire if there is anything special coming our way this year, I wish there was.


When thinking about jersey auctions and where the money goes to, it seems like doing a night to support The Carson Kolzig Foundation, the foundation started by former Americans goalie and now part owner in the team Olaf Kolzig, would be a great way to support a local charity. It would also allow us as fans and a community to give back to a man who (to be honest) helped save our team, and a big part of our community. The story on The Carson Kolzig Foundation can be found here, it's a good one.

Special nights like these fundraise thousands of dollars in auctions to go to these charities and what not.

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No games yesterday to report on.

WHL Notes

GIANTS SHUT DOWN SILVERTIPS

Mark Segal made 25 saves to record his first shutout of the season as the Vancouver Giants skated to a 3-0 win over the visiting Everett Silvertips in Western Hockey League action on Sunday.

Neil Manning notched a goal and an assist while Michael Burns and Matt MacKay also scored for the Giants (11-7-1-1), who scored twice on the man advantage in the opening period of the game.

Luke Siemens turned aside 27 of 30 shots he faced in a losing cause for the Silvertips (6-6-1-3), who suffer their second straight defeat and have dropped seven of their last eight contests.


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WARRIORS 2, THUNDERBIRDS 1  S/O

Quinton Howden scored the decisive goal in a shootout to lift the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 2-1 triumph over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday.

Dylan Hood scored the only goal in regulation for the Warriors (10-8-0-1), knotting the game up at 1-1 with his eighth of the season with under six minutes remaining in the third period.  Thomas Heemskerk made 29 saves through regulation and overtime, and wasn’t beaten in the shootout to backstop the Warriors to their sixth straight win.

Marcel Noebels scored the lone marker for the Thunderbirds (6-4-2-3), who have seen six of their 15 games this season decided in a shootout.  Calvin Pickard turned in a 43-save performance through regulation and overtime, but was beaten once in the shootout for the loss. 

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For those of you keeping track at home, thats two losses for US division opponents. Seattle did manage a point from the effort however. Here are the updated standings:

Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	17	14	2	0	1	29	0.853	66	41	8-0-0-0	9-1-0-0	386
2	Tri-City Americans	18	11	5	1	1	24	0.667	68	60	0-1-0-1	6-3-0-1	259
3	Seattle Thunderbirds	15	6	4	2	3	17	0.567	40	40	0-1-0-1	3-2-2-3	301
4	Spokane Chiefs	17	8	8	1	0	17	0.500	63	51	1-0-1-0	6-3-1-0	340
5	Everett Silvertips	16	6	6	1	3	16	0.500	41	48	0-2-0-0	2-5-1-2	280

Red Deer runs Past Americans 5-3

Tri City fans were given a show last night. Simply put, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, predicted as a top five draft prospect in next years NHL draft, was as advertised. Nugent-Hopkins and the Red Deer Rebels came into town and swept away the Americans to earn their first win on their trip through the US Division. The Americans fall to 11-5-1-1 and dropped their second straight home game.

The game started with both sides getting chances, the Rebels went on the power play after an early hooking penalty by Brooks Macek, but were not able to get anything set up and the Americans kept the game at 0's. Errant passes again plagued TC's offense as it seemed nothing was connecting between the blue lines. Tri City would get a PP chance of their own when Nugent-Hopkins was called for roughing at the 15 minute mark. There were a few great chances but the most promising aspect was the play of Captain Kruise Reddick, who made his return from an early season concussion. With the puck about to cross the offensive blue line, Reddick made a diving play to keep the puck in. It set up another chance for the offense.

Kruise really played hard, was heavily involved in a lot of plays, and seemed to be all over the ice. Definitely a workmans effort. Glad to have him back.

The Americans kept Nugent-Hopkins handcuffed in the first, not allowing many scoring chances. They  kept him marked almost exclusively, an effective way of shutting down a talented forward. The first period ended with the game still at 0-0, Ams outshot the Rebels 13-6, though didn't seem like that as the game was played pretty even

The second period was when things started to snowball. Rebel defenseman Aaron Borejko took an interference penalty 1:30 into the period, and the Ams capitalized less than a minute later. With Stebner controlling from the point, he went tic-tac to Feser, then Sutherland who found Macek in front of the net who slipped one in for the first tally of the game. It was Maceks' 4th goal of the year. Jessica is claiming ESP on this goal as she was just about to tell me that we were going to score.

The Americans continued to keep pressure in the offensive zone but were having a little trouble with miscommunication behind the net in their own zone. There was a stretch of about a minute where we literally couldn't get out from behind or own net, even with possession of the puck. The rebels got a big chance in front of the net and it seemed everyone was in front of the net trying to push the puck through. Messier ended it all with a penalty for a high sticking. While on the PP, Yuen played great and showed some aggression when he took offense to a check he received from Nugent-Hopkins and gave him a nice couple of shoves back after the whistle. No goals were scored on the power play but you could definitely feel the momentum shift.

Less than a minute off the PP, the Rebels came into the zone on a 2-2 and RD Captain Colin Archer fed Matthew Dumba who fired a shot from the point that 5 holed Drew to knot it up at 1. The next goal was a nasty one 4 minutes later when RD forward Dalton Siwak walked in all alone into the slot and fired a one timer to make it 2-1. The wheels officially came off when Humphries and Moser combined for a 5-3 power play. Humphries went for a roughing and a misconduct, and Moser with a tripping call. There was a lot of time before the whistle as the Ams struggled to touch up on the puck with Red Deer circling around.

Red Deer forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

The 5-3 didn't take long, and Nugent-Hopkins showed everyone why he is such a high prospect. It took three passes to get it to him and with the Ams in a triangle formation, he walked (literally just mosied up to the net) and ripped a rocket glove side over Drew just 13 seconds in making it 3-1.

"I thought the 5-on-3 call on Moser was a little suspect," Ams associate coach Scott Beattie said of the first call, a trip on Nils Moser that appeared to be a clean open-ice hit. "But that 5-on-3 changed the whole face of the game. It really changed the momentum. (examiner)

The Rebels had now scored three unanswered and I turned to Jessica and said, "These guys need to get pissed"

-And that they did. On an ensuing faceoff, Kruise Reddick chopped low on his opponent, letting us all know the team was frustrated, and a clean hit by Wilgosh was contested by Rebels' Brett Ferguson who got into it with Willy. Wilgosh pretty much owned Ferguson and Ferguson would take a few penalties on the fight including the instigator, major, and a misconduct. The game turned chippy and the Americans looked like they had regained the momentum that was lost, and the crowd was definitely back in it. The Power play opportunity went without much pressure, and the period would end with Red Deer ahead 3-1.

Onto the third and the Ams would head to the box less than 2 minutes in. Hughesman was called for a hooking, and again the Americans struggled to contain Nugent-Hopkins as he let a shot go from the faceoff circle all by himself that found twine. The kid seriously is super talented and knows how to handle the puck.

10 excruciating minutes went by with the Americans gaining several scoring chances, all coming up empty. With 8 to go, Yuen entered the zone surrounded by two or three defenseman, and shook them all loose, and found Jordan Messier at the far post to poke it in. The score now 4-2, the Ams were showing life and the crowd was now back into the game. Unfortunately it wouldnt last long as Sam Grist went off for a tripping call less than a minute later and the RD took advantage scoring to steal momentum away.

The most frustrating part of the next 8 minutes is that Red Deer goalie Darcy Kuemper continually knocked the net off on his own, which should be a penalty, but went uncalled. The Ams would take the zone, apply a little pressure, and magically the net would come off. I'm okay with officials missing a call once, maybe twice...but when it happened the third time with NOBODY by the net I was pretty hot, along with the 5,000+ fans attending. There would be a time out called, and when Kuemper started to skate back out, i offered my own praise of boos, which to my enjoyment the crowd followed. I STARTED A RINK WIDE BOO!! I felt good about what I had done.

Red Deer would give us another chance with a PP just under 5 to go, and coach Hiller took advantage and pulled Owsley to get a 6-4. After a clear just missed the net the Ams took back control of the zone with Hughesman standing in front of the net all by himself. It took a while for the puck to get to him but when it did, oh man, Hughey had to make some moves standing in front of Kuemper but eventually got the puck past.

From there the game would remain 5-3 and the Americans came up short on a tough effort. Red Deer finished 3-of-7 on the power play (Tri-City was 2-of-5). The high energy crowd did stick around until the end which was good to see. We knew going into the game we would get a good one and that we did.


"For sure, this will be a long week to reflect on this game," Reddick said. "We're just going to have to let it go, and come back next week even stronger." (examiner)

My Three Stars (chosen before official announcement):
1: RD Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2: TC Brooks Macek
3: RD Darcy Kuemper

Actual Three Stars

1: RD Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

2: RD Darcy Kuemper
3: TC Brooks Macek

I snuck over to the Red Deer bench after the game before the stars were announced. As Nugent-Hopkins came back off the ice I snagged a high five from him (not on my team but damn the kid could go #1 in the draft next year!) Afterwards I realized I totally should have asked him for an interview, which would've been pretty awesome.

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 Around the US Division: 

Brad Ross scored his eighth goal of the season as the Portland Winterhawks doubled up the visiting Everett Silvertips 4-2 on Saturday.

Oliver Gabriel, Sven Bartschi and Ryan Johansen also scored for the Winterhawks (14-2-0-1), who roll to their eighth straight victory and remain comfortably in first place in the Western Conference.  Keith Hamilton turned in a 34-save effort to record his fifth win of the season.

Taylor Cote scored his first WHL goal and Clayton Cumiskey also scored for the Silvertips (6-5-1-3), who were scoreless on four power play chances in the contest.  Kent Simpson made 30 saves in the defeat.
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Steve Kuhn broke a 1-1 tie with his third goal of the season 14:05 into the third period to lead the visiting Spokane Chiefs to a 3-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday.

Collin Valcourt and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Chiefs (8-8-1-0), who wrap up their East Division road swing with a 3-2-1 record.  James Reid made 20 saves to pick up the victory.

Cody Eakin scored his 10th goal of the season for the Broncos (10-10-0-0), who suffer their third straight loss on home ice.  Austin Smith turned in a valiant 47-save performance in a losing cause.



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US DIVISION STANDINGS: 

Rank	U.S. Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Portland Winterhawks	17	14	2	0	1	29	0.853	66	41	8-0-0-0	9-1-0-0	386
2	Tri-City Americans	18	11	5	1	1	24	0.667	68	60	0-1-0-1	6-3-0-1	259
3	Spokane Chiefs	17	8	8	1	0	17	0.500	63	51	1-0-1-0	6-3-1-0	340
4	Seattle Thunderbirds	14	6	4	2	2	16	0.571	39	38	0-1-0-0	4-2-2-2	280
5	Everett Silvertips	15	6	5	1	3	16	0.533	41	45	0-1-0-0	2-4-1-3	256