Game One – Prince George Cougars

The Tri-City Americans played host to the Prince George Cougars Tuesday night. It was their third game in a row against the Cougars. Tri-City would hold off the Cougars late surge in regulation and get their first win of the season over Prince George 4-3 in overtime following a hat trick effort from Savin Virk.

American fans were still filing into their seats as Tri-City opened scoring 20 seconds into the contest.

Following a great forecheck, Charlie Elick ended up behind the net and made a centering feed to Virk who was streaking toward the net from the far boards. Virk then backhanded the puck past Michaluk from close range.

The Americans continued to put on the pressure and were awarded with a second goal at 3:06, forcing Prince George to use their timeout.

Brandon Whynott skated into the high slot off the draw and fired an off-balanced shot that Cruz Pavao tipped. This caught Michaluk by surprise and the puck went by his blocker and in.

Prince George settled in after the timeout, and got a goal themselves just a few minutes following Pavao’s goal.

Carson Carels winded up and let a missile go from the point after the puck was redirected to him after a shot. Matecha through traffic did not see the puck as it slipped by him.

Both teams kept chucking shots at each other, however, the Americans would take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. A total of 33 shots were spread out between the two sides in just the first period as the Americans were superior with 18 shots to the Cougars 15.

Prince George seemed to take a slight edge over Tri-City in the second and would get rewarded for their efforts late in the dying minutes of the second period.

Koehn Ziemmer aside the net flipped a puck net front. Matteo Danis barrelled in and jammed the puck into the net while shoving Matecha to tie the game.

Virk would get his second goal of the game shortly after the Danis goal to regain the lead for Tri-City.

Carter MacAdams with the puck in the trap made a beautiful feed to Virk who fired a one-timer from the edge of the right circle and past the blocker of Michaluk.

After two periods, Tri-City held onto the lead by a score of 3-2 thanks to Savin Virk. Prince George now had the lead in shots 31-29.

Prince George had a boost starting the third as Carter MacAdams was charged with interference on the goaltender after the second period.

If the Cougars weren’t controlling the second, they had the game in their hands in the third period.

Prince George equalized the game just before the nine-minute marker in the final frame.

Bauer Dumanski gathered the puck off the draw from beyond the left circle and fired a wrist shot, going high blocker on Matecha.

The Cougars outshot the Americans 11-6 in the third period, but Tri-City held on to get at least a point as the game was headed to overtime.

Overtime was short-lived as the Americans bagged the win 37 seconds in.

Koehn Ziemmer on the breakout coughed the puck up, leading to the Americans walking into the Cougar zone with a two-on-one opportunity. Captain Jake Sloan slid it over to Savin Virk and Virk placed the puck perfectly below Michaluk’s glove to claim victory.

Game One Notes

The Americans claimed victory over the Cougars for the first time this season in the last game of the season against the Cougars, barring a playoff bout. Tri-City went 1-2-1 overall against Prince George.

2023 third-round pick Jesse McKinnon made his WHL Debut for Tri-City and recorded no points.

Savin Virk’s hat trick was the first of his career. His previous single-game goal high was against the Kelowna Rockets on December 13th where he had two.

Tri-City held themselves to just one penalty kill the entire game which they killed. The power play had three opportunities that went nowhere, finishing 0/3 on it.

Lukas Matecha was brilliant, making 39 saves and keeping the game tied in the third. While 200 feet down the ice, Cooper Michaluk had a solid 32-save night for the Cougars.

Carson Carel’s goal was his first of 2025, and his first goal in just under two months.

Matteo Danis of Prince George was awarded third star for tying the game late in the second period. Lukas Matecha picked up second star with 39 saves and Rookie Savin Virk with his first career hat trick came home with first star.

Game Two – Victoria Royals

With the Americans short several key forwards and top defenseman Terrell Goldsmith absent, it would be an uphill battle all night that the Americans lost. Victoria came into Kennewick and ran through the Americans Friday night by a frightening score of 9-1.

It took the Royals only 30 seconds to get the scoring started.

Teydon Trembecky broke into the American zone and dropped the puck off to Cole Reschny atop the Right Circle. Reschny then placed a beautiful shot just below Ryan Grout’s glove.

The Victoria Power Play was at work all night as they would get their first of what would be three power-play goals at 14:02 in the first.

Brayden Boehm in the slot spun around and passed to Finland import Markus Loponen. Loponen closed in slowly before firing a wrist shot that beat Ryan Grout’s glove on the far post.

After a period, the score was manageable for the moment with the Royals leading 2-0. However, Victoria had limited Tri-City to just 2 shots on net in the first.

Tri-City then fell off the train tracks, conceding four goals in the second period.

The first came five minutes into the second after former Wenatchee Wild forward Kenta Isogai rushed in along the right wing and tucked it five-hole on Grout.

At the halfway marker on a Victoria Royals breakout, Brayden Boehm received a headman feed and cut through both American defenseman on a breakaway. Boehm slipped it five-hole as well on Grout.

Victoria would add another goal scorer to the stat sheet after Escalus Burlock came up with the pock as they battled for at the right circle. Burlock span around and fired that again, went five-hole on Grout.

The final Victoria tally of the period came with just three minutes left.

On the power play, Cole Reschny slid the puck over to Teydon Trembecky waiting at the top of the left circle. Trembecky quickly let a wrist shot go that beat Grout to the far post as he was way out of position.

After two periods, Victoria was in full control, leading 6-0, and in shots 20-12.

The Royals added three more in the third period. Justin Kipkie added his name to the stat sheet, while Escalus Burlock and Cole Reschny picked up their second goals of the game each.

Tri-City would get their lone goal of the night on the power play late in regulation.

Austin Zemlak was pressured at the blue line and fired a bullet of a pass over to Elick at the top of the right circle. Elick wound up and fired one blocker side on Johnny Hicks, getting his much-deserved first goal of the season.

Game Two Notes

The Americans slide to 1-2-1 against the Royals this season, this marks the American’s second straight loss to the Royals as well. This was the final regular season matchup between both clubs as well.

Charlie Elick’s goal was not only his first of the season, but his first goal since January 20th of 2024.

Pavao with the assist on the Elick goal gets him points in back-to-back games.

Victoria overall had seven different goal scorers in the game.

Victoria on the power play went 3/4, while Tri-City was held to 1/3.

Tonight was the second time this season that Ismail Abogouche had to play out of position as a forward. The first came way back against the Calgary Hitmen in November where he got his first career goal.

The Americans on the night had two defensemen playing forward and had only dressed 16 skaters.

Ryan Grout stayed in net all night and would love to erase this game from his memory as he only stopped 18 shots while giving up nine goals.

Johnny Hicks in his sixth career WHL start produced the least amount of saves in his young WHL career, stopping 23 for the win.

Teydon Trembecky was selected as the third star for the four-point night. Just Kipkie, the second star with three points, and Johnny Hicks would take home the first star nomination with the 23-save night.

Game Three – Kelowna Rockets

The Americans drove up to Kelowna the same night of the 9-1 defeat to the Victoria Royals. Tri-City however seemed unphased from the loss and would take down the last-place team in the Western Conference 4-2 to close out the week powered by a dominant four-goal game from Captain Jake Sloan.

Jake Sloan ripped the first of his four goals early into the game.

A sharp angled shot from Savin Virk deflected off the stick of Jake Pilon right to Jake Sloan in the slot who went bar down on Pilon.

Tri-City got the only power play marker by both teams that evening at 13:23 in the first.

Sloan was in the right place at the right time once again. Jackson Smith closed in from the high slot and snapped a wrist shot that snuck through traffic and was saved by Pilon. However, the puck bounced right to Jake Sloan who backhanded it in.

The Americans led 2-0 after a period and were making the most of what was given to them with only six shots on net in the first period.

Kelowna would get their first goal of the game in the late minutes of the second period.

Defenseman Gabriel Guilbault along the far boards started the chaos by chucking a puck to the net that was saved by Matecha. Michael Cicek gathered the rebound and made a no-look backhanded pass towards the net. The puck bounced off an Americans player and lay in the slot. Hiroki Gojsic barreled in and let a one-timer go as it sailed past the sprawled-out Lukas Matecha and in.

Tri-City was leading by just a whisker heading into the final frame and being outshot 22-12.

Jake Sloan would complete his third career hat trick just before the six-minute mark in the third.

Curran in the corner made a pass over to Virk behind the net who then made a centering feed to Jake Sloan who would go bar down at the left circle.

Kelowna was not going down without a fight and made it a one-goal game halfway through the third period.

Carter Kowalyk made a cross-ice feed to Kalder Varga who launched a one-timer from the left dot. The initial shot was saved by Matecha but cleaned up by Kayden Longely.

Jake Sloan would complete his first career four-goal game after tapping the puck into an empty net just before the final minute of regulation.

Game Three Notes

Tri-City with the win on Saturday night clinch the season series against the Rockets, moving to 3-1 on the year against them. The Americans still have another game to play Kelowna. That will take place on Family Day in Canada, which is Monday, February 17th.

For Tri-City, the Virk-Sloan-Curran line produced three of the four American goals in the game.

Savin Virk had a career night with four assists, his previous best was two.

Terrell Goldsmith returned to the lineup after missing the Friday game against Victoria.

Forward Crew Martinson, the 2024 WHL Bantam Draft second-round pick of the Americans made his WHL debut.

Kelowna would go 0/3 on the power play with the Americans going 1/3.

Tri-City did not reach double digits in shots in a single period. The Americans were held to six shots in the first and second period, while cracking eight in the third.

With Matecha in net Saturday, he passes his previous 35-game appearance mark from last season, a best for him. Matecha logged 34 stops in the win against Kelowna of the possible 36.

Jake Pilon of the Rockets faced nearly the bare minimum of only 19 shots and made just 16 saves.

Hiroki Gojsic would come down with the third star after getting Kelownas first goal. Savin Virk with an impressive four assist night would get the second star. Theres only one person that could possibly have been awarded the first star and that is Jake Sloan with four goals.

Transactions

Forward Jesse McKinnon was removed from the Americans roster after making his WHL Debut Tuesday against the Cougars. The sixteen-year-old now returns to the St. Albert Raiders U18 AAA squad.

Forward Crew Martinson also made his WHL debut on Saturday night in Kelowna. Martinson was reassigned after the game back to the Red Deer Chiefs U18 AAA team. Martinson has 46 points in 31 games this season with the Chiefs.

2007-born Forward Clayton Gillmore was added to the roster following those moves above. Gillmore has made ten appearances in the WHL for Tri-City since last season and recorded no points.

Injury Report

Cash Koch returned to practice but remains day-to-day with a shoulder injury.

Gavin Garland is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Garland so far missed the past four games due to this injury.

What’s Next