Barnes, Americans ready to show Tri-Cities their newest version in Saturday home opener
Stu Barnes is excited about what the Tri-City Americans have this season.
“We’re deeper than we were last year, and we have a lot of experience back,” said Barnes, who is the Ams’ head coach as well as a part owner of the club.
Local fans can get to see for themselves what Barnes and the team have this Saturday, Oct. 5, against the Kelowna Rockets. Puck drop is at 6:05 p.m. at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
He sees a lot of positives with his club. And it starts with his defense.
“We have an exciting young corps on defense,” said Barnes. “And we have some big, experienced players on defense.”
Defensively, 6-foot-3 Jackson Smith is back.
The 17-year-old helped Team Canada win a Gold Medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup earlier this summer.
“And we traded for Terrell Goldsmith,” added Barnes. “Austin Zemlak is really good.”
Both veterans were acquired through trades in the offseason.
Goldsmith came over from Prince Albert — along with center Grady Martin and goalie Nathan Preston — to the Americans in exchange for defenseman Lukas Dragicevic.
Zemlak came to the Ams in a deal with Victoria, with Tri-City sending the Royals forward Deegan McMillan.
Throw in big Merrek Arpin and Carter Savage, and Barnes believes he has a good back end to help starting goalie Lukas Matecha.
Matecha and forward Max Curran are the Ams’ two Europeans for the season consecutive season.
Both Euros also represented Team Czechia at the U20 Five Nations Tournament on Aug. 27-31 in Switzerland.
Offensively, Tri-City’s firepower begins with Jake Sloan and Jordan Gavin. They are the team’s top two goal scorers from the 2023-24 season, with Sloan scoring 31 and Gavin with 23.
In July, Sloan was also named the team’s captain for the coming season. Barnes says it was a pretty easy decision.
“We felt that he’s such a good person. He does everything right,” said Barnes. “Offensively we have some depth with Gavin and Sloan.”
Curran, Brandon Whynott and newcomer Gavin Garland should also provide some scoring.
So should 16-year-old Cruz Pavao.
The youngster was able to appear in 9 games last season for the Ams as a 15-year-old, and he scored five goals.
“Cruz Pavao is hungry to score,” said Barnes. “He’s not tall (5-foot-11). But he’s strong and he can get his shot off.”
The Americans have opened the new season with three road games. They split an opening weekend series in Victoria, losing the opener 5-4 in overtime, but winning the second game in OT by an identical 5-4 score.
“I thought we played well in a tough situation. We didn’t fold when it got tough,” said Barnes. “I’ll be happy if I can see continued improvement with this team. I’m excited to start the season, and I think the players are too.”
▪ Saturday night’s crowd will get to see a return by former Americans Terry Ryan and Jon Mirasty. Now in their 40s, the two are actors in a Canadian television series called Shoresy. They will be signing autographs after Saturday’s game.
▪ Five current Americans participated in National Hockey League rookie camps this fall. They are Max Curran (Avalanche), Goldsmith (Utah), Jake Gudelj (Blues), Lukas Matecha (Panthers) and Sloan (Bruins).
▪ Ams forward Carter McAdams played in his 200th career WHL game on opening day, Sept. 20, in Victoria.
▪ Gavin, forward Cash Koch and Smith are all eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft next summer.
Top 3 returning goal scorers: 1, Sloan, 31; 2, Gavin, 23; 3, Brandon Whynott, 16.
Top 3 returning with assists: 1, Gavin, 45; 2, Sloan, 39; 3, Max Curran, 27.
Team captain and alternate captains: Sloan was named captain this summer. The alternate captains were just recently named. They are Gavin, Goldsmith and Zemlak.
Personnel changes
New faces include Goldsmith and Zemlak, who will help with the defense. Goldsmith came over from Prince Albert — along with center Grady Martin and goalie Nathan Preston — in a trade where the Americans sent defenseman Lukas Dragicevic. Zemlak comes in from Victoria, which traded him to the Americans for forward Deagan McMillan.
Forwards Gavin Garland and Kale Margolis each scored their first WHL goals on opening weekend in Victoria. Garland was headed to NCAA Division I school Nebraska-Omaha when he changed his mind to sign with the Ams.
Center Shaun Rios is another standout like Garland: he was going to play for NCAA D-1 school Lindenwood University before changing his mind. He signed on the opening day of the WHL season.
In early June, Tri-City picked up defenseman Ismail Abougouche from the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for a future WHL draft pick.
Departing are Dragicevic and McMillan. Dragicevic is a Seattle Kraken draft pick two years ago, while McMillan can score and is fast.
Veteran forwards Drew Freer and Camerin Cardona were released in preseason camp.
Last year’s team captain, defender Alex Serraglio, is attending the University of British Columbia to play for that school’s hockey team.
In June, the Ams waived Andrew Fan, Thomas Tien and Mason Finley.
Another 20-year-old from last season, defenseman Ethan Peters, is attending
Queens University and playing hockey.
The team’s other 20-year-old, forward Parker Bell, is a former Calgary Flames draft pick in 2022 and is starting the season with the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers.
Last three Americans games
9/20 — at Victoria 5, Tri-City 4 (OT)
9/21 — Tri-City 5, at Victoria 4 (OT)
9/28 — at Spokane 4, Tri-City 1
Next five Americans games
10/5 — Kelowna at Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.
10/8 — Tri-City at Seattle, 7:05 p.m.
10/12 — Kamloops at Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.
10/13 — Kamloops at Tri-City, 4:05 p.m.
10/19 — Kelowna at Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.
This story was originally published October 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Barnes, Americans ready to show Tri-Cities their newest version in Saturday home opener."