Game One
The Americans, displaying unwavering resilience, refused to be counted out in their game against the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night. Despite a challenging moment when they were trailing 4-1 to the formidable Kelowna Rockets, they fought back and emerged victorious.
Following a tightly contested first period that left the game 1-1, Kelowna burst right out of the gates in the second, scoring three goals in three minutes, forcing Tri-City to burn their only timeout.
After American head coach Stu Barnes’s timeout, the game seemingly flipped, and Tri-City looked like a brand-new team.
Overager Brandon Whynott started the rally for Tri-City, netting his fifth goal of the year at 14:03 in the second period. Under two minutes later, rookie sensation Gavin Garland would make it a one-goal game, and momentum was all with Tri-City heading into the third period.
Sixteen-year-old Cruz Pavao, on the power play, tied the game just a minute into the third period. Whynott, from the side of the net, found Pavao, who slowly lurked towards the front of the net. Pavao was left unmarked and hammered home a one-timer to make it 4-4.
Another rookie, Shaun Rios, would give the Americans their first lead of the night. Rios was carrying the puck up the boards toward the blue line before suddenly letting a shot go that Kelowna netminder Jari Kykkanen simply did not see. The puck snuck through traffic, and Rios scored his second goal of the season. Kelowna was not finished though. At 7:12, Jaxson Kehrig’s shot in the slot was tipped off a few American sticks and fooled Lukas Matecha, and the game was tied.
However, Colorado Avalanche prospect Maximillian Curran would ultimately score the game-winning goal for Tri-City. At 11:44 in the third, Curran was in the right spot at the right time. As he sat back door, a Rockets defenseman fanned on the bouncing puck, and it landed right at Curran’s stick, who pounded the puck home as Tri-City would go on to hold a 6-5 lead to win the game.
Game Two
On Sunday afternoon, in almost reverse fashion, Tri-City was up 3-0 and cruising to a victory before an incredible surge from the Portland Winterhawks in the third period forced overtime, which Tri-City won.
A late first-period effort saw Tri-City take a 2-0 lead after goals from Cruz Pavao at 17:33 and Max Curran at 19:33. Pavao streaked in on the right wing and snapped a wrist shot five-hole on Winterhawk goalie Ondrej Stebetak who had a night to forget. Curran stripped the puck from a Winterhawk defenseman on the forecheck from close quarters and caught Stebetak off guard. Curran slipped the puck through the diving Stebetak, and it was 2-0 Tri-City heading into the first intermission.
Cash Koch nabbed his second goal of the campaign on only Tri-City’s eleventh shot of the game and kept the train rolling to make it 3-0 Tri-City just two minutes into the second period. For what seemed to be a harmless wrist shot from the left circle, it beat Stebetak’s glove, concluding his efforts in the net that night, as Marek Schlenker replaced him.
Stebetak had a rather embarrassing performance for the Winterhawks, letting in three goals on only 11 shots in 22 minutes.
Following the goalie change, Portland seemed to calm down, and the game evened out for the rest of the second period as Schlenker gave the Winterhawks life.
In the third, Portland seemingly caught Tri-City off guard and scored three on the Americans to force overtime. Two goals came from the power play after some unnecessary penalties from Tri-City late in the game.
Ryan Miller of Portland had two goals, including the game-tying goal. Miller’s first goal came after he dug the puck out of a puck battle right in front of the net and slipped it past Lukas Matecha’s pad just a minute into the third.
The Winterhawks added their second goal on the power play from Kyle Chyzowski. Chyzowski tipped a puck out net-front off a shot by Tyson Jugnauth, who was barreling in on the left circle following an Austin Zemlak tripping penalty.
The tying goal, as stated, came from Ryan Miller on the power play. This was Millers fifth goal of the season after Carter MacAdams of Tri-City was called for goaltender interference after running through Winterhawk netminder Marek Schlenker.
Kyle Chyzowski of Portland fired a pass right to Miller out net-front. Miller’s original shot went off the pad of Lukas Matecha and into the air; however, Miller batted it out of the air, and the game was tied at three.
Overtime came and went very quickly. Just thirty-three seconds into overtime off a faceoff, Jordan Gavin busted towards the net unmarked and whiffed on a shot that still managed to fall over the sprawled-out Schlenker. Jake Sloan rushed the net and poked the puck in as Tri-City would finish their homestand victorious.
Game Notes
Tri-City went 4-0 in a huge homestand, moving to 5-3-1 on the season. Tri-City’s biggest win streak last season, which was only three, has been ousted already.
In game one, this was Tri-City’s biggest comeback of the season and biggest win, evening out the season series between the Kelowna Rockets at one aside. This win also ended a four-game losing streak to the Kelowna Rockets that dated back to last season.
Gavin Garland, Brandon Whynott, and Carter MacAdams accounted for nine points in Saturday’s comeback win against the Rockets. Three different rookies also scored in the game for Tri-City.
Tri-City went 1/4 on the power play, while Kelowna went 0/4. Tri-City also outshot Kelowna 33/31.
As stated, on Sunday, Tri-City capped off what will be their third-biggest homestand of the season with a victory over the Portland Winterhawks.
Winning against the Winterhawks is not easy, as Tri-City went 1-4-1 against the Winterhawks last season. Tri-City will play Portland five more times throughout the season.
Shots went 35-34 in favor of Portland, as this was only the third time this season that a team has outshot the Americans. Portland went 2/4 on the power play, while Tri-City only went 1/4.
Injury Report
According to the WHL Weekly Report from 10/15, Defenseman Ismail Abogouche is still listed as day-to-day but is practicing with the Americans which is a good sign.
What’s Next
Tri-City will travel to Wenatchee on Friday, October 25th, and Spokane on Saturday, October 26th, before returning home for one of their biggest home stand of the season.
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