Tri-City Americans Weekly Report (12/2 – 12/8)

Game One – Vancouver

In the lone game of the week, Tri-City took on the Vancouver Giants in the annual teddy bear toss game. Tri-City fell by a score of 3-2 in overtime in a very scrappy game with the largest crowd of the season on hand.

At 12:25 in the first, Vancouver got the opening goal after a nice shot from Tyson Zimmer. Zimmer carried the puck into the American’s zone along the left circle and fired away a wrist shot, which went by Nathan Preston’s glove to open the scoring.

The teddy bears would reign down shortly after, though. Just two minutes after the Zimmer goal, Rookie Gavin Garland would bring the bears onto the ice at 14:15.

Brandon Whynott and Gavin Garland barreled in on a two-on-one. Whynott took an initial shot that Burke Hood saved. However, Hood did not corral the rebound, and Garland smacked it home as a result.

Following a period, Tri-City and Vancouver were even at one apiece, with shots being 12-11 in favor of Tri-City. The Americans would get the second period’s only goal and take the lead seven minutes in.

Gavin Garland got his second goal after Brandon Whynott worked the puck loose along the boards and backhanded a centering feed to Gavin Garland. Garland essentially slammed dunked the puck home with a one-timer from close quarters, which went over Hood’s shoulder.

Tri-City would carry this lead into the second intermission, leading 2-1, holding onto the shot advantage with it being 26-24 Americans.

After a lousy turnover halfway through the third period, the Giants would tie the game up at 2-2.

Austin Zemlak, behind his own net, backhanded the puck right to Jaden Lipinski of the Giants. Lipinski said thank you very much and snapped a wrist shot in the slot, which went five-hole on Preston.

Nobody could break the deadlock, and this game would head to overtime.

The Giants would play the role of the Grinch and steal a game from Tri-City in overtime.

Jaden Lipinski would pick up his second goal of the game & the game-winning goal. Lipinski skated into the slot and slid a pass over to Ty Halaburda alone on the far post. Halaburda then fired it back to Lipinski and had a wide-open net as Preston was fully committed to Halaburda to end the game.

The final shot tally went the way of Vancouver, 38-32.

Game One Notes

This concluded the first of four meetings between the two sides. Tri-City next takes on Vancouver on December 15th in Vancouver.

Tonight’s teddy bear game loss ends a three-game teddy bear toss winning streak. Last season, Tri-City won 9-3 against the Wenatchee Wild, and the teddy bear toss goalscorer was Lukas Dragicevic.

Tri-City now falls at home for the second straight time and third time overall this season.

The announced attendance was 5,559, a season-high for Tri-City.

Tri-City had an excellent penalty kill, killing off all four penalties, including one in the dying minutes of the third period, which ended in overtime to secure a point.

Nathan Preston of Tri-City was solid in net, making 35 saves to give Tri-City a chance. On the other end, Burke Hood had one of his best starts of the season, making 30 saves on 32 shots for Vancouver.

Brandon Whynott is on yet another point streak for Tri-City. Whynott’s assists against Vancouver extended his streak to seven games, and he has had at least a point in 20 of his last 21 games. Whynott’s career-best point streak is currently 13 games, which he achieved earlier this season.

For the stars, Gavin Garland got the first star with two goals. Whynott was the second star with two assists, and Jaden Lipinski was the third star for his two-goal performance for Vancouver.

Injuries

Jake Sloan returned to the lineup after missing both games last weekend with a lower-body injury.

Transactions

Tri-City announced a big signing on Thursday, December 5th. Goaltender Ryan Grout, a current New Hampshire NCAA Commit, signed for the Americans. In his junior hockey career, which was spent with the Silver Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL, Grout has gone 19-7-2, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.30 GAA. This now puts a question mark in the air regarding Nathan Preston’s future with Tri-City.

What’s Next

Tri-City is back to business with four games in five days next week. Tonight, the Americans take on another top Western Conference team in the Prince George Cougars: the Kelowna Rockets at home on Friday. Then, on Saturday, travel to Everett to take on the best team in the WHL. Finally, the flurry of games ends with a stop in Vancouver on Sunday.

Make sure you keep it locked on Area 51 for more WHL coverage!