Tri-City Americans Weekly Report (11/11 – 11/17)

Game One – Calgary

The Monday Night tilt at home against Calgary ended the Americans’ second-longest homestand of the season. The Americans also honored Veterans, wearing special military-themed jerseys in front of 3,100 fans.

Tri-City would add another win to the streak, making it twelve in a row and one away from tying a Franchise Record.

The Americans wasted no time getting going as Carter MacAdams scored just 48 seconds into the game.

Following a great forecheck, Brandon Whynott ended up with the puck and came streaking down towards the net from the left wing. Whynott snapped a shot that was originally saved by Hitmen goalie Eric Tu. However, MacAdams, who was planted out in front of the net, jammed the puck five-hole against his former team.

Calgary seemed to get a wake-up call from that opening goal and dominated play for the next fifteen minutes. The Hitmen scored three straight unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead with three different goal scorers.

However, just 40 seconds after the Calgary Hitmen added their third goal at 14:05, Carter MacAdams notched his second goal of the night and was on hat-trick watch. MacAdams worked through three Calgary defenders to the net and buried the puck five-hole again on Eric Tu.

Calgary would get the goal back a minute later and take a 4-2 lead into the intermission.

Ismail Abogouche, who was playing wing instead of defense due to a forward shortage for Tri-City Monday evening, nabbed his first career WHL goal in a big surprise six minutes into the second. Abogouche, stationed net front, tipped the puck off a Zemlak shot from the point.

Top NHL Draft Prospect Jordan Gavin tied the game up for Tri-City with just a minute left in the second period after burying a breakaway following a stellar backhand pass from Jake Sloan.

The game went back and forth in the third, as both teams added a goal to force overtime.

The hero would be the red-hot Jake Gudelj in overtime. Gudelj came barreling in on the left wing on a two-on-one after an incredible stop from Lukas Matecha. Gudelj picked his spot on the low blocker side.

Game One Notes

The Americans went a perfect 6-0 on the homestand. Tri-City will have one more six-game homestand this season, beginning at the end of December.

Jake Gudelj’s overtime winner would extend his goal streak to six games.

Tri-City continued to do an excellent job of moving the puck. Five different Americans found the net against the Hitmen.

The second line of defense had an incredible night. Both Austin Zemlak and Merrek Arpin recorded a jaw-dropping +5. This was a career-best single-game performance for both in that category.

Eric Tu, the Hitmen netminder who won his way to the starting job at only an impressive sixteen-year-old over an overage goaltender, had 25 saves on 31 shots.

Lukas Matecha made 28 stops on 33 shots. Although the night was not great statistically, Matecha made several key saves that kept Tri-City in it toward the end of regulation and overtime.

Tri-City improved to 10-1 at home on the season. Their only home loss was the home opener to the Kelowna Rockets, which they lost 2-1.

Carter MacAdams earned the first star, Oliver Tulk of Calgary received the second star, and Jake Sloan received the third star.

Game Two – Prince Albert

All good things must come to an end, and the Americans’ twelve-game winning streak did indeed end Friday night against the Prince Albert Raiders in a very physical and hard-fought contest. This was the first game of their Eastern Conference Road trip, which included six straight-away games.

Prince Albert scored on their first shot of the game just 43 seconds in. Tomas Mrsic was the man behind the goal. Music carried the puck into the American zone alone and fired a harmless wrist shot from the blue line to the net. Preston whiffed on the puck with his glove, and just like that, it was 1-0.

The Raiders would get a second at the fifteen-minute mark. Dayce Derktach carried the puck from the far boards into the slot and snapped a wrister. Ethan Bibeau deflected the shot at the last second, and the Raiders would take a 2-0 lead into the break.

In the second, there was no shortage of opportunities for both sides as Tri-City had a few Grade A Scoring chances but came up empty.

Prince Albert had absolutely no puck luck in the second, as many shots rebounded and ended up loose out in front of the net. However, no Raiders were able to smack the puck home in the second, and it was a 2-0 game heading into the third. Tri-City had yet to be shutout this season and would look to bring something else in the third.

For the first 10 minutes of the third, it looked like the resilient squad had shown up. Tri-City scored three straight goals from three different players. The first came just 25 seconds into the third from Captain Jake Sloan.

Nick Anisimovicz got his third goal of the season. Anisimovicz fired a shot from close quarters that deflected up over Raiders goalie Max Hildebrand and in to make it a tie game.

Brandon Whynott would cap off scoring for the Americans in the game after sniping Hildebrand from a sharp angle to take a 3-2 lead eleven minutes into the third.

After the Whynott goal, it all went downhill for the Americans due to some horrendous decision-making.

Terrell Goldsmith did not agree with a Raider player running into Nathan Preston after the whistle. Goldsmith picked up a four-minute double minor instead of a two-minute minor because he would not stop cross-checking the Raider player. Tri-City killed the first half of the double minor, but the Raiders ended up tying it at the 14:11 mark.

Cash Koch of Tri-City would then double down and make an even worse decision with five minutes left in the game. Koch’s stick broke as the puck trickled toward the boards, and he was obviously frustrated.

Koch, however, took his anger out on Raider’s defenseman Tyrone Sobry. Sobry came to hold up Koch on the boards but received a hard shoulder to the face instead. Koch was given a five-minute major and game misconduct.

Due to the nonstop pressure, Prince Albert eventually capitalized with just three minutes left in the game to take the lead and essentially win the game, as they would be on the power play for the rest of the game.

Tomas Mrsic got his second goal after it deflected off a player, over Nathan Preston, and in. It was a fortunate bounce, but it was due, as the Raiders did not seem to get any luck all night up to that point.

Mrsic would add an empty netter to complete the hat trick, and the final score would be 5-3 Raiders.

Game Two Notes

This was the longest winning streak that Tri-City had been on since the 2011/12 season.

Shots were 41-30 in favor of Tri-City, partly due to the dominant first half of the third period.

The Americans’ last Eastern Conference road swing did not go to plan either, as they went 1-5. Their only win from that trip was the first game, a 3-0 win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, in which Kyle Kelsey got a shutout.

This game also saw the end of Jake Gudeljs’s goal streak; it would end at six games.

Brandon Whynott, however, continued a very impressive streak of his own, extending his point streak to thirteen games.

Terrell Goldsmith of Tri-City played in his 200th career WHL game on Friday against the Prince Albert Raiders.

Tri-City was awful at the dot; Prince Albert won 44 to the Americans 22 faceoffs.

All three stars belonged to Prince Albert. Tomas Mrsic, with the hat trick, got the first star, Lukas Dragicevic, the former American, got the second star with three assists, and Aiding Oiring got the third star.

The Ams went 0/3 on the power play, and Prince Albert went 3/7 on the power play.

Game Three – Saskatoon

The final game of the week, a Saturday night tilt against the Saskatoon Blades, would yet again be another frustrating loss for the Americans by a score of 2-1 in an evenly matched contest.

Saskatoon opened scoring late in the first period at 17:23.

After Terrell Goldsmith backtracked to the puck, he fell on his own and gave the puck away to Blades forward David Lewandoski. Lewandoski fed Cooper Williams, who was unmarked on the back door, to open scoring in the game.

Early on in the second, Tri-City would tie the game.

Jake Gudelj would get his ninth goal of the season. In his debut WHL game, Savin Virk was able to win a puck battle out net front following a shot by Kainoah Brankovic. Virk tapped the puck to Gudelj on the backdoor, who buried the puck to make it 1-1. That would conclude scoring in the second.

With just over five minutes left in regulation, William James of the Saskatoon Blades would snap a twelve-game pointless streak and get the eventual game-winning goal. After a rebound off a shot, no American player could make up their mind to pick up the puck and clear it. James decided to take it himself since nobody else wanted it in front of the net and put it past Lukas Matecha to make it 2-1.

Game Three Notes

Tri-City lost their second game in a row and sixth straight game to the Saskatoon Blades. The last time Tri-City beat the Blades was in January 2017.

On the bright side, Savin Virk made his WHL Debut and picked up an assist.

Jake Gudelj has now scored a goal in seven of his last eight games. This goal puts him at nine on the season and is already a season-high in goals for Gudelj.

Lukas Matecha had won ten games in a row in net, but that streak came to a close tonight. Matecha did have another great game, with 30 saves on 32 shots.

Both teams did not score on the power play. Tri-City went 0/3, while Saskatoon went 0/4. On two of the Americans’ power plays, they did not even register a shot on the net.

Tri-City were able to outshoot the Blades 34-32.

Evan Gardner got first-star honors, which was the real reason that Saskatoon held on to take home two points. Gardner made multiple saves that could be deemed the night’s save in the WHL. Gardner made 33 saves on 34 shots.

Lukas Matecha got second-star honors for keeping Tri-City in the game all the way until the end.

William James of Saskatoon nabbed up third star honors for the game-winning goal.

Transactions

As mentioned earlier, one signing made this week was 2007-born forward Savin Virk. Virk is committed to playing for Michigan State next season and was playing for the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL. Virk was a third-round pick of Tri-City in 2022 and signed following the CHL/NCAA agreement.

Standings

What’s Next

Tri-City are busy bees next week with four games.

On Tuesday, Tri-City plays the Swift Current Broncos, who are second in the Eastern Conference. Then, on Wednesday, the Americans play the Regina Pats. Friday, the Americans play the Brandon Wheat Kings. On Saturday, the Americans will conclude the treacherous Eastern Conference swing against the Moose Jaw Warriors, who sit dead last in the WHL.

Make sure you keep coming back here every week for the weekly report.