Game 3: Penalties hurt Seattle as they fall to Americans

Tri-City Americans 4, Seattle Thunderbirds 1

(2-0) (1-2)

The Thunderbirds ran into two big problems in this afternoon’s game against the Americans. The first being tired legs in their third game in as many days. The second being suspect officiating that gave the Americans eight straight power play opportunities. The Ams would end up with eight power play chances to the Thunderbirds three. They were able to score on two of them. One can argue at least a few of the calls but most frustrating of all was a non-call against the Ams as Chance Lund was taken down as he was about to cut through two Tri-City players and head towards the net. On the Ams second goal, Calvin Pickard went crazy, arguing interference..it was not called. If there is one thing we know about Calvin it’s that when the mild mannered goalie argues, he usually has a point. We’ve seen lopsided officiating in the Toyota Center before in favor of the home team and today was no different.

The Americans out shot the Birds 36-16 in the game, in large part due to the overwhelming amount of power play time they were allotted. If fighting the officiating wasn’t enough the Birds also had to fight their own tired legs, and by the third period even though they were only down 2-1 going into the period, they simply didn’t have enough left in the tank to generate much offense. The only shining moment in the game for Seattle was a game tying goal at 12:42 of the second off the stick of Charles Wells, it was his first of the season. The Americans really didn’t generate much offense five on five in the game, at least not until late in the third period, so one has to wonder what might have been in the Birds hadn’t been assessed so many penalties.

The Americans began the scoring at 12:45 of the first as Kruise Reddick scored on the power play to put the Ams up 1-0. After Wells’ tying goal in the second period, it was Adam Hughesman also on the power play to put the Ams back up 2-1. That was the goal that Pickard unsuccessfully complained about interference. That’s the way it would stay until the 8:22 mark of the third as Jordan Messier scored the Ams third goal of the night. Messier added another goal at the 17:03 mark to finish out the scoring.

The score could have been worse if not for another stellar performance by Calvin Pickard who made some great saves especially on the penalty kill. It was also Pickard’s third game in as many days. Luckily the Birds won’t have to play another three in three until January as they were the only team in the WHL to have to do this on opening weekend. Another effect the penalties and the empty gas tanks had on the Birds was the amount of time they had to spend in their own zone, not able to get the puck out. We saw a lot of this last season but not in the first two games of this season.

Even though the Birds dropped to 1-2 with the loss, they should be fairly happy with how they played over the weekend. I think going into the weekend the one thing they didn’t want was an 0-3 start and they avoided that. In fact they could have ended up with three or four points if not for the bad ending in Everett on Friday night. They will now get a chance to not only get four days off, but newcomers Travis Toomey and Travis Bobbee will get a full week of practice with their new team before Friday’s home game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Game Notes:

-No news yet on whether any of the Birds injured players (Troock,Ramsay,Alos) will be able to play next weekend

-Attendance is Tri-City was 4,373

– Travis Toomey wore the C in today’s game

– It was announced before the game that F Luke Walker would not be returned to the Winterhawks as he will play with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL

Scoring Summary

1st Period-1, Tri-City, Reddick 1 (Hughesman, Shinnimin), 12:45 (PP). Penalties-Conrad T.c (delay of game), 1:23; Yuen T.c (checking from behind), 2:47; Bonsor Sea (roughing), 12:18; Sutter Sea (delay of game), 18:30.

2nd Period-2, Seattle, Wells 1 (Dillon), 12:42. 3, Tri-City, Hughesman 1 (Shinnimin, Reddick), 15:49 (PP). Penalties-Dillon Sea (cross checking), 2:32; Dillon Sea (boarding), 5:21; Baecker Sea (high sticking), 8:42; Lockhart Sea (cross checking), 15:40; Toomey Sea (cross checking), 16:47.

3rd Period-4, Tri-City, Messier 2 (Yuen, Rankin), 8:22. 5, Tri-City, Messier 3 (Conrad, Reddick), 17:02. Penalties-Jacobs Sea (hooking), 5:13; Shinnimin T.c (roughing), 8:49; Jacobs Sea (roughing), 14:31; Humphries T.c (roughing), 14:31; Doty Sea (major-fighting), 17:10; Moline T.c (major-fighting), 17:10; Baecker Sea (major-fighting), 19:24; Olstad T.c (major-fighting), 19:24.

Shots on Goal-Seattle 2-6-8-16. Tri-City 13-13-10-36.

Power Play Opportunities-Seattle 0 / 3; Tri-City 2 / 8.

Goalies-Seattle, Pickard 1-1-0-0 (36 shots-32 saves). Tri-City, Pechurskiy 0-0-0-0 (16 shots-15 saves).

A-4,373

Referees-Sean Raphael (28), Shane Warschaw (86).

Linesmen-Mike Basford (107), Jason Michelbook (112).