Game Day Preview: Americans @ Blazers
Tuesday October 8, 2013
Tri-City Americans (2-5-0-1 5 pts.) At Kamloops Blazers (2-4-0-0 4 pts.)
Interior Savings Centre, Kamloops, BC; 7:00 p.m.
Listen: NewsTalk 870; 6:45 p.m.
Watch: WHL Live
Previous Game
Tri-City: 10/06/13 at Victoria (1-2, Loss)
Kamloops: 10/05/13 vs. Prince George (0-3, Loss)
2013/14 Point Leaders
Kamloops: Tyson Ness 4G-0A-4PT, Josh Connolly 2G-2A-4PT
Tri-City: Brian Williams 8G-3A-11PT, Connor Rankin 3G-4A-7PT, Justin Gutierrez 0G-4A-4PT, Marcus Messier 0G-4A-4PT
Notes
The Tri-City Americans travel to Kamloops for the third and final game of its road trip when it takes on the Blazers for the first of four meetings this season. It’s the first game of a home and home against the Blazers with both teams traveling to Kennewick for a rematch at the Toyota Center on Friday night. Both teams are coming off of a loss in its previous game and will be hungry to get back on the winning track after slow starts to the season.
Tri-City and Kamloops split the four game series last year with each winning one game in both Kamloops and Kennewick. Historically the Americans have struggled against the Blazers with a record of 60-93-2-2. Tri-City is 21-58-1-1 in games played in Kamloops. While The Blazers may hold the upper hand historically, in recent history it is the Americans with the momentum capturing five of the last eight season series.
Players to Watch
Kamloops:
Tyson Ness- Ness has been the Blazers most dangerous player in the early stages of the 2013-14 season. With four goals he leads the offensive push for the Blazers. The 20 year old was the difference maker in the teams win over the Royals last week, registering two goals including the game winning marker.
Josh Connolly- After being held off the score sheet in the Blazers first two games Connolly seems to have found his groove of late registering two goals and two assists in the team’s last four games. The Americans will have to be on the lookout for this talented defenseman at all times tonight.
Cole Ully- Another dangerous scorer for the Blazers is Ully. The 18 year old is second in goals on the team next to only Ness with three on the season and has registered the teams only two power play goals on the season.
Tri-City:
Beau McCue- McCue registered the team’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Victoria on Sunday afternoon. The Americans would love to see McCue catch fire again after his fast start to the season where he scored three goals in the first four games.
Marcus Messier- What Messier brings to this team cannot be looked at on the stat sheet. The 19 year old has been a real unsung hero for the Americans, playing a big part on the team defensively, especially when it comes to shot blocking and penalty killing. Messier is tied for first on the team with four assists but Tri-City would love to see Messier add some goals to his stats as well.
Phil Tot- While tot hasn’t yet broken out for the Americans statistically, he is someone to be watched in tonight’s game. He has been all around the Americans scoring chances and his looks primed to break out for a big night at any moment. He would be a real shot in the arm for the American team that is desperate to find some secondary scoring.
Keys to the Game
Secondary Scoring: While the Americans have scored 18 goals in its first eight games (2.25 goals/gm), 15 of those goals have come from either Brian Williams, Beau McCue or Connor Rankin. Phil Tot and Lucas Nickles are the only other available players to register a goal for the Americans. While Tri-City has proven that it can play in the defensive battles with its defensive and goaltending abilities, it is still looking for a second line of goal scorers. Reinforcements will come for the Americans in the form of Parker Bowles and Taylor Vickerman l who are both recovering from injury but until then it will need other players to fill the void.
Penalty Killing: While the Americans discipline has been nearly perfect over the past two games, its penalty killing has been unable to hold the opposition off the score board. Giving its opposition just one power play in each of the last two games the penalty kill has given up the power play goal in both of those games. The Americans will look to get its penalty kill back on track against a team that has scored just two goals on the man advantage this season.
Against the BC Division: Tuesday’s game is the third contest against a BC opponent of the 2013-14 season. The Americans are 0-2-0-0 against opponents from the BC Division dropping 2-1 decisions to both the Prince George Cougars and the Victoria Royals. Last season the Americans fared well against the division finishing with an 11-7-0-2 record.
Next Game
Kamloops: vs. Lethbridge 10/11/13
Tri-City: at Kamlooops 10/08/13
