Xavier Wendt made history Wednesday night, scoring his first career goal, becoming just the second goaltender in Tri-City Americans history—and the eleventh in WHL history—to find the back of the net, all while recording a shutout in a 4–0 win that extended Tri-City’s streak to five straight victories.

First Period

Tri-City came out flying, overwhelming Swift Current from the opening faceoff.

Just under three minutes in, Crew Martinson capitalized on a rebound from rookie defenseman Dylan LeBret, knocking in his fourth of the season to make it 1–0.

After killing off a Jaxen Adam boarding penalty, Connor Dale doubled the lead against his former club, continuing his blistering stretch with four goals in his last three games and seven points total. The play started with a misfired Broncos pass that sent the puck into neutral ice, where Dale turned on the jets, blew past Jace McFaul, and beat Aiden Eskit five-hole on the backhand.

Tri-City controlled the entire period, outshooting Swift Current 13–5 and carrying a 2–0 lead into the break.

Second Period

The pace slowed considerably in the middle frame, with few chances either way as Tri-City seemed to stoop down to the level of play that Swift Current had.

The Americans nearly extended their lead late in the period on a developing two-on-one. Gavin Garland slid a pass across to the backdoor, but Noah Kosick made a full-extension diving play to break it up and save a sure goal.

Moments later, Xavier Wendt answered with his own highlight. With under a minute left, Swift Current’s Stepan Kuryachenkov broke free on a partial breakaway and tried to slip a five-hole shot through, but Wendt shut the door.

Tri-City carried their 2–0 lead into the third, still holding the edge in shots at 21–14.

Third Period

Aiden Eskit delivered one of the best saves of the night less than a minute into the final frame, stretching into the splits to turn away a rebound chance from Cash Koch after a backhand attempt by Garland.

Tri-City nearly put the game away on a power play midway through the period, with Crew Martinson getting a look on the backdoor but not quite getting the shot off cleanly.

At the nine-minute mark, Jake Gudelj picked a defender’s pocket on the forecheck and walked in alone, but fired just wide.

The Americans finally pushed the game out of reach with a crisp passing play. Savin Virk hit Connor Dale below the left circle, who threaded a beautiful backdoor feed to Gavin Garland for an easy tap-in and a 3–0 lead.

Then came the moment everyone will remember who was at the Toyota Center on this Wednesday Night.

With Swift Current’s net empty in the final minute, the Broncos dumped the puck deep. Wendt corralled it behind the net, surveyed the ice, and took his chance—launching a long shot that rolled, skipped, and slid its way all the way down into the empty net. It was Tri-City’s first goalie goal since Olaf Kolzig scored on November 29, 1989.

After the game, Xavier Wendt went over the historic goal and he kept it simple.

“They dumped it down into our end, and well we were up 3-0, so I told myself why not go for it.”

Post Game/What’s Next

The Americans pushed their winning streak to five with the 4–0 victory, highlighted by Wendt’s historic night and Dale’s continued hot streak—now with three straight multi-point games against his former team.

Tri-City Head Coach Jody Hull went over the game afterwards and what made the game so tough.

“It was honestly a tough game for the coaches as I thought we played down to the oppositions level a little bit in the second period, but we got back to our game a little bit more in the third period and that’s the biggest thing for me is continuing to build off of our habits that has allowed us to have a five-game winning streak. But I am proud for the guys, they stuck with it, and that goal at the end there sent everyone into a frenzy, so it was pretty remarkable.”

Wendt finished with a perfect 23-save shutout plus the goal.

Wendt after the game went over what worked so well tonight as he was able to secure his first career shutout and if he was thinking about the shutout as the game went on.

“I feel like it falls on our forwards and our defense. They didn’t make it hard for me today, they took a lot of the pressure away from me. I honestly don’t like to think about cause I always seem to jinx myself. I was just trying to do my best to stop one at a time.”

Ahead of the Teddy Bear Toss game, Head Coach Jody Hull didn’t really have a favorite for who would score the Teddy Bear Toss goal when asked.

“I really don’t know, or really honestly care who scores, I want to hopefully get a goal early and get it over with, and settle down, and play the game.”

Tri-City wraps up the homestand on Friday night for the annual Teddy Bear Toss game against Everett. The Americans are 0–3 against the Silvertips this season and look to end that with a win on Friday. Puck drop is at 7:05 PM.