30 years in the making. Tri-City Americans face Spokane in annual New Year’s Eve game

The Tri-City Americans headed into the Western Hockey League holiday break Dec. 18, but there was little to celebrate as the team suffered a 4-3 loss to Everett — its sixth loss in as many games.

“The season has been a funny one,” Tri-City general manager Bob Tory said. “We started well on the road, (Kyle) Olson and (Krystof) Hrabik were away, but when they came back, we had an overage situation. We played well on our Central swing (3-0-0-0), but November was a disappointment.”

The numbers show that.

The Americans earned 10 of 24 possible points in 12 games in November, and have lost all six games to start December. In their past games, they are 1-7-2-0.

The team sits at 12-15-3-1 (28 points) in the Western Conference standings, and is fourth in the U.S. Division, just one point ahead of Seattle (27).

Everett leads the U.S. Division with 50 points, followed by Portland (48) and Spokane (42).

“We’ve been outshot and outworked consistently,” Tory said. “We aren’t happy where we are at. We may have to look at making some changes.”

The trade deadline is Jan. 10, and Tory has never been one to sit on his hands when the team needs help.

Sasha Mutala leads Tri-City in points (34) and goals (10). Connor Bouchard follows 23 points, while rookie Edge Lambert, Nick Bowman and Hrabik each have 15.

Team captain Kyle Olson, who had 70 points last season, currently has 14 in 16 games. He has not played since Nov. 23 because of a lower-body injury.

Also on the injured list for an undetermined amount of time is defenseman Mitchell Brown.

“It might be early January before he is back,” Tory said of Olson. “From a leadership standpoint in the room, that is critical. It makes a difference. We need guys like Sasha and Hrabik to pick up the scoring.”

With Brown on the shelf, the Americans’ defense is not at full strength, which has resulted in pucks in their own net.

Starting goalie Beck Warm is 8-14-2-1 with a 3.31 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

Backup Talyn Boyko is 4-1-1-0 with a 3.23 goals against average and a .927 save percentage.

Tr-City’s penalty kill is fifth in the WHL at 83.2 percent, but the power play is anemic at 19.6 percent (14th in WHL).

“Our penalty kill is very good, but we need to tighten up our D-zone,” Tory said. “We are taking too many penalties — we need to cut down on those to have success. We just have to keep getting better and have a stronger work ethic. Our biggest challenge is to play a more disciplined game and be better in the defensive zone.”

The Americans will host Portland on Dec. 27, then play at Spokane on Dec. 28.

New Year’s Eve

The Americans and Spokane Chiefs will celebrate their 30th annual New Year’s Eve Game next week.

The series began in 1990 — a 6-5 Spokane victory. The Americans have won the past three games. Tri-City leads the series 18-9-0-1 with 1 tie.

“It’s nice they (WHL) allow us to have that,” Tory said of the game. “It’s a packed building and a tradition in the Tri-Cities. The special nights are important. As disappointing as our season has been, we are developing fine young men and supporting our community. We need the support of our fans to do that.”

On the bright side

The Americans’ Teddy Bear Toss Game on Dec. 14 brought in a record 4,920 stuffed animals, which will be distributed to charities in the Mid-Columbia for children in need. The previous record of 4,168 was set last year.

“It’s a great cause, and the community steps up to help others,” Tory said. “I’m glad we were able to score early. I’m proud of the way the fans come out and supported the cause.”

Hrabik scored the Teddy Bear goal at 11:55 of the second period. The Americans lost the game 8-1 to the Portland Winterhawks.

This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 12:57 PM.