Game One – Seattle Thunderbirds

Friday night would be the first game since the incident Tuesday night involving Terrell Goldsmith for the Americans. Tri-City looked great through the first two periods and were leading by one entering the final frame in Seattle. But in the third Tri-City stumbled off the tracks, giving up four to the Thunderbirds and losing 6-3.

Seattle got off to a quick start, scoring on the power play just 2:46 in after a Carter Savage high sticking call very early in the contest. Overager Hayden Pakkala down low, drove his way into the right circle and shot one over the blocker of Lukas Matecha. Tri-City got the game back even just a few minutes later with just their first shot of the game. Max Curran touched the puck ahead to Jake Sloan who had a beat on the puck at the left wing. Sloan on his backhand forced one into the slot where Savin Virk was able to shove the puck on the net and it bounced five-hole on Ratzlaff.

In the closing stages of the first period, Jake Sloan would give Tri-City their first lead of the night. Savin Virk entered along the left wing and found Jake Sloan just onside darting to the net. Sloan on the breakaway put it by the blocker of Ratzlaff with a very nice shot. Max Curran was able to garner a secondary assist on the Sloan goal, and with that, bringing him just one point shy of 100 career points in the WHL.

After one, Tri-City held a 2-1 lead, but were being outshot 11-5. The Thunderbirds were also 1/1 on the power play and had just a little time remaining on their second power play entering the second period.

In the second, it was Tri-City that would be launching everything to the net, landing 18 shots on Scott Ratzlaff. However, it was Seattle that would find the back of the net first in the second, just under midway through. Cumby at the left point shot one that was tipped by Brayden Schuurman right in front of the net. The puck popped up and over the shoulder of Matecha and in.

Tri-City would reclaim the lead late in the second period as Carter Savage would find the back of the net for the third time this season. It was a bit of a give-and-go play as Savage chipped the puck ahead to Jake Gudelj who entered the Thunderbird end on the right-wing side. Gudelj at the last moment spun around and found Carter Savage on the backdoor. Savage then sneaked a shot just past Ratzlaff to give Tri-City a 3-2 lead.

As two periods had come and gone, Tri-City held a 3-2 lead and were outshooting Seattle now 23-22. The Americas were 0/1 on the power play with Seattle being 1/2 at the moment. Seattle would enter the third period and drop four on the head of Tri-City, with the first coming just 37 seconds in. Coster Dunn flipped the puck to Captain Braeden Cootes on the backdoor who snuck one past an outstretched Lukas Matecha to even things up at three.

Minutes later and right off the draw, Seattle would get the lead back for the second time and a lead they would hold to the final buzzer. Braeden Cootes won the faceoff back to Nathan Pilling. Pilling quickly fired a shot outside the left circle that found its way through the five-hole of Lukas Matecha.

Late in the game, Coster Dunn would do everything himself and put the game away for Seattle. Dunn entered along the left boards and as he got in the left circle, put on the brakes, skating into the slot around Zemlak, and putting one past Matecha’s blocker making it 5-3. With just seconds remaining, Sam Charko put one into an empty Tri-City net to get the final score of 6-3. Tri-City went 0/2 on the power play in this contest and Seattle would go 1/3. Shots went the way of the Americans 34-33, and Seatttle would control faceoffs 37-31.

With the loss, Tri-City now stands 2-2 on the year against Seattle. The Americans can still take the lead in the season series with a game on Sunday at home, and a postponed game that will more than likely be made up at some point next week at home as well.

Game Two – Spokane Chiefs

Tri-City would bus to Spokane for one last time this regular season Saturday night, looking to get their second win in Spokane overall this season. The Americans were down just one goal entering the third period, with much thanks to the efforts from Ryan Grout in net, however, Spokane pulled away and would claim victory 5-1. Spokane would start the game controlling the pace of play which would be a familiar theme for most of the night, with Tri-City suffering from a very slow start.

It wouldn’t take long for the Americans to crack, giving up their first goal of the contest at 9:59. Sam Oremba would serve up a pass to Asanali Sarkenov in the slot. Sarkenov then took a shot that was originally blocked, but Sarkenov would gather his rebound and bury it past Ryan Grout’s glove. Just over a minute later, the Chiefs doubled up and made it 2-0. Berkly Catton and Andrew Cristall would enter the Americans Zone with a two-on-one.

Catton would fire a pass over to Cristall at the right wing. Grout had already slid over and bit, anticipating a quick shot from Cristall, however the shot did not come right away. Cristall held on to the puck for a few more moments and fired it by the shoulder of Grout.

Americans Head Coach Stu Barnes decided that it was time to burn their one and only timeout just twelve minutes into the contest. Barnes mentioned their dominant start being a lot behind his decision to use the timeout.

“Slow it down a little bit, I felt like they were good with momentum and starting to get on the attack. So just trying to kind of slowdown everything a little bit and give our guys a chance to catch their breath.”

Tri-City settled down a bit for the rest of the period following the timeout. It was Ryan Grout though that made a spectacular save while sprawled out and facing away from the net as players swarmed the net to keep it a 2-0 ballgame going into the second. After one period of play, Tri-City were down 2-0, and being outshot 13-8. The Americans were scoreless on their one power play opportunity in the period after a Nathan Mayes slashing penalty.

In the second, Tri-City would get an early chance on the power play and wasted little time on it, scoring 30 seconds in to bring the game down to a one-goal deficit. Brandon Whynott sauced a beautiful pass to one of the top prospects in the 2025 NHL Draft, Jackson Smith, who was entering the zone and burst by both Chiefs defensemen. In alone, Smith shot it past Cowan’s blocker and in. On the play, Max Curran was awarded the secondary assist and with that, reached 100 points in his WHL career.

Curran spoke about how glad he was to make the decision to come to North America when asked on how he’s seen himself grow over the past two seasons in the WHL.

“It’s been amazing, really happy that I made the decision to come here and play in North America this early. Happy that it’s going well, and grateful for the ice time to help my team.”

Barnes also chimed in with nothing but great things to say about Curran following the game when asked about what type of player Curran has been for the organization the past two seasons.

“He’s a good player, very talented guy, continuing to improve his game at both ends of the ice which I think is very important if any of these guys want to move on and play pro hockey. I think they have to figure out that two-way game and he’s been working on that, so it’s been positive.”

Following the first media timeout in the second, Spokane would start on the power play, their first chance of the night on it, as Jake Gudelj high-sticked a Chiefs player entering the zone. The Americans on the kill has been a deflating 69% since the start of February from what was once one of the best penalty kill teams in the league.

When asked about the struggling penalty kill recently, Barnes pointed to unnecessary penalties.

“I think a big part of it is just the number of times that we have had to kill penalties. We’ve taken a lot more penalties than we need to, and I think over time it just eventually puts you behind the eight ball.”

Tri-City would manage to see the light of day and kill off the dangerous Chiefs power play that sits at 33% when playing at home. With the rest of the period seemingly going back and forth, Grady Martin of Tri-City and Cameron Parr tried to flip the momentum, dropping the gloves along the far boards in the Spokane Chiefs end. Cameron Parr would end up dragging Martin to the ground and claim victory, causing the Chiefs faithful to go into an uproar.

That would do things for the second and after forty minutes, Tri-City were still very much in this game trailing just 2-1 while being outshot 30-12. Tri-City only managed to get 4 shots on net in the entire second period to the Chiefs 17. Tri-City were 1/2 on the power play and 1/1 on the kill at this point.

In the third, Spokane continued their relentless onslaught, and the Americans gave in quickly with Swedish Import Rasmus Ekstrom scoring just under four minutes into the final frame. Brayden Crampton at the point weaved past Savin Virk then snapped a shot that was tipped by Ekstrom and in through Grout’s five-hole. Defenseman Nathan Mayes had himself a dandy of a goal that would put the game to bed for Spokane at the 5:51 mark. Mayes along the goal line muscled his way to the net and lifted the puck over the shoulder Grout, who was hugging the post as tight as one possibly could to make it 4-1.

Spokane would put an exclamation point in with just a minute to go on the power play. Chase Harrington made a cross-ice pass to Mathis Preston sitting at the left wing. Preston then fired a powerful one timer that beat Grout on the blocker side. The final score would be as stated, 5-1, going the way of Spokane with shots being 45-17 in favor of Spokane as well. Both teams also went 1/3 on the power play.

Stu Barnes when asked about the team’s performance mentioned a lot of good things along with some bad.

“Shots were obviously lopsided, I thought for two periods we played alright, did some good things, we managed the game a little bit, and kept ourselves in it, Grout was excellent, and we just couldn’t hang on. I think once shots are just that lopsided, the longer the game goes, the less chance you have of coming out with the right result.”

Overall, Ryan Grout in start number ten of his WHL career had 40 saves on 45 shots and was brilliant, this was the most saves Grout has had out of any prior start.

The final regular season matchup between the two sides will occur next Saturday as Tri-City will be the home team. The Americans will look to split the season series as currently against Spokane the Americans hold a 4-5 record, but at home hold a 3-1 record against the Chiefs.

Game Three – Seattle Thunderbirds

The Americans would look to extinguish their four-game losing streak Sunday afternoon, and inch closer to the sixth-place Vancouver Giants who sit three points above the Americans. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the Americans fell 5-1 with Seattle Thunderbirds Coach Matt O’Dette picking up his 250th Coaching Win, and Buffalo Sabres prospect Scott Ratzlaff turning aside 40 shots. Seattle started off strong, sparking some offense early and scoring just 1:12 into the game.

After Carter MacAdams failed to clear the puck right at the blue line, Coster Dunn pickpocketed MacAdams and busted down the right-wing boards. Dunn then centered the puck to Hayden Pakkala who was unmarked net front. Pakkala went backhand and lifted it over Matecha’s pad and in. Just before the second media timeout in the first period, Seattle added their second goal of the game. Right off the draw following an icing, Pakkala won it back to Simon Lovsin who rifled a shot over the blocker of Matecha.

Seattle would hold this 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Thunderbirds would pick up where they left off in the first and added their third goal of the game just five minutes into the second period. Nathan Pilling carried the puck up the right-wing boards and was being heavily pressured by Carter MacAdams, Pilling then dropped the puck off to Kaleb Hartmann. Hartmann would then carry the puck into the right circle and fire a shot glove side on Matecha.

At the halfway point of the second period, rookie forward Cruz Pavao would get Tri-City their lone goal of the contest. Jackson Smith received a centering feed and walloped a one-timer on net from the left circle. The rebound fell to Pavao who would muscle the puck into the net with a sea of bodies in the blue paint for goal number ten on the season.

After two periods had vanished, Seattle led 3-1, and shots were even at 32-32. Seattle would put the game to rest with two goals in the last ten minutes of the third period. The first came from another costly turnover by the Americans. Charlie Elick from behind the net attempted a bank pass off the boards that was intercepted by defenseman Ashton Cumby who had pinched. Cumby quickly let a long shot go from boards that was tipped at the last moment by Nathan Pilling and in for his team-leading 34th goal of the season.

Sawyer Mayes burst into the American end and was tripped up along the goal line, losing the puck. Hayden Pakkala of Seattle recovered the puck and centered it to Sam Charko in the slot. Charko wired a one-timer right past Matecha’s outstretched blocker. Seattle would get their 27th win of the season with the 5-1 win, and gain a five-point cushion on Wenatchee, essentially clinching the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just three games to go. Seattle would outshoot the Americans 45-42 with both teams combining for 87 shots total. The power play was quiet on both ends with Tri-City going 0/5 and Seattle going 0/2.

Both sides will meet one more time next Sunday as it will be a continuation of the postponed match from last Tuesday in the final game of the regular season. The game will begin with eighteen minutes to go in the second period, and Seattle leading 2-0. Seattle also with a win today won the season series and is currently 3-1-1 against the Americans, looking to go 4-1-1 if they can hold onto the lead next Sunday.

Injury Report

Terrell Goldsmith is out for the remainder of the season following the incident Tuesday night with Ashton Cumby.

According to Stu Barnes following the Saturday night loss in Spokane, Barnes mentioned that Goldsmith seemed to be doing better which is great news.

Grady Martin was added to the injury report with an’ upper-body injury which is currently assessed as day-to-day.

Transactions

Several players had their seasons come to an end and were called up as a result since the last weekly report.

Sixteen-year-old forward Mason Mykichuk who appeared in two games at the beginning of the season, has been called up. Mykichuk spent the entire season playing for the Winnipeg Thrashers U18 AAA squad in the Manitoba U18 league. Mykichuk appeared in 33 games for the Thrashers and had 25 goals with 60 points overall.

Another Sixteen-year-old forward also joined the club, this being Carter Kingerski, the 35th overall selection in the WHL draft in 2023. Kingerski appeared in the second game of the season for the Americans and spent the rest of it with the Winnipeg Freeze and a brief stint with the Niverville Nighthawks of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. In 49 games overall in the MJHL, Kingerski recorded 30 points.

Third overall selection in the 2024 WHL draft, defenseman Aden Bouchard, has now joined the Americans after his CSSHL Playoffs came to a close. Bouchard had seven points in three games in the playoffs with the Calgary IHA U18 Prep team, but it wasn’t enough as Calgary would fall 4-3 in the shootout.

Stu Barnes had nothing but good things to say about Aden Bouchard when asked what type of player Bouchard will be for the Americans.

“He’s just a really good player, really great skating defenseman, good hands, and moves the puck well. He’s going to be a pretty good player initially I would think.”

What’s Next

Make sure you keep it locked on Area 51 Sports Network as we head into the WHL playoffs!