Game Recap
In the lone game of the week, the Americans, in their home opener, fell 2-1 in a very hard-fought contest between the Kelowna Rockets with 4,136 fans in attendance.
All three goals were scored by the two sides in the second period, the first being by Tri-City.
For the lone Tri-City goal of the night, defenseman Austin Zemlak got his first goal as an American.
Zemlak gathered the puck in the slot after it bounced around the front of the net. Zemlak then sneaked a wrist shot through traffic that beat the blocker of Rockets netminder Jake Pilon at 3:36.
Just over halfway through the second period at 10:17, Kelowna would answer the call and tie the game on the power play following a Jake Sloan Elbowing penalty.
After Kelowna worked the puck down to the near side of the net, chaos ensued. However, Michael Cicek of the Rockets swooped in and took the puck before carrying it right in front of the net and banging it home past Lukas Matecha.
A few minutes later, following a great forecheck by Kelowna, the Rockets would snag the eventual game-winning goal and conclude scoring.
After Kelowna worked the puck away from the boards following a great forecheck, Michael Cicek sauced the puck over to Caden Price of Kelowna, who came streaking into the zone. From the left circle, Price fired a shot that deflected off something in front of the net at 14:49 and gave Kelowna a 2-1 lead that stood for the rest of the game.
The Rockets, however, came out victorious on Saturday night mainly because of goalie Jake Pilon’s play in his first start of the season. Pilon faced relentless pressure from the Americans for the first two periods and stopped 31 of 32 shots in the game overall, which got him first-star honors.
Game Notes
With the loss, Tri-City has lost their fourth straight game against the Kelowna Rockets and fell to 1-2-1 on the season. The last time Tri-City beat Kelowna was November 7th, 2023, at home. Cruz Pavao, then fifteen, scored the game-winning goal.
Before the game, the Americans honored former American players Jon “Nasty” Mirasty, a feared enforcer who played 11 seasons of professional hockey and is an actor on the TV show Shoresy, and Terry Ryan.
Ryan is considered to have scored the biggest goal in franchise history, a game-seven overtime goal against Spokane in the 1995 playoffs. From 1992 to 1996, Ryan played 218 games for the Americans; after that, playing in eight NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens and had a luxurious professional hockey career. Currently, Ryan is an actor on the hit TV show Shoresy.
Yet again, Tri-City outshot the opposing side; tonight’s shot tally was 32-19 in favor of Tri-City.
Special teams wise Tri-City went 0/3 on the power play, putting their season percentage at 11.8% and 2/17 overall. This is last in the WHL.
Tri-City killed off two of its three penalties, the fewest amount of time the Americans have spent on the penalty kill in a game this season. The penalty kill is 77.8% overall this season.
Defenseman Terrell Goldsmith played in his first game for Tri-City after being at the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club training camp. Goldsmith did not record any points or penalties.
Injuries
Just before Michael Cicek’s game-tying goal Saturday night, Grady Martin took something to the face that forced him to the locker room before returning to the game later with a cage.
Ismail Abogouche should be back soon. Abogouches’s four-game suspension, which carried over from last season, is up, and the injury is almost healed.
What’s Next
Tri-City has its busiest week of the season so far next week and will look to return to winning ways.
The first game is on the road against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday, October 8th at 7:05 p.m. The Thunderbirds have had a rough start to the season at 1-4-1.
After that, Tri-City will come home for a weekend series against the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday, October 12th, at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday, October 13th, at 4:05 p.m. The Blazers are currently 2-3 to start the season.
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