Ams looking to regroup | Tri-City Herald

The last time the Tri-City Americans lost four games in a row, they wound up winning the Scotty Munro trophy at the end of the 2007-08 season for the best record in the Western Hockey League.

There is no magic formula to predict if that will happen again, and team captain Kruise Reddick said there is no need to panic at this point of the season -- there are 52 games left to play.

"I think we are going through some adversity right now," said Reddick, who missed eight games with a concussion earlier this season. "We aren't scoring and we aren't playing to our ability. It's not time to press the panic button. It's time to reflect on the positive things, grit our teeth and make things happen."

The Americans (11-7-1-1, 24 points) will have a full schedule this weekend to try and get back on track.

Tri-City is at Chilliwack (10-8-2-0, 22 points) tonight, then will play host to Spokane (10-8-1-0, 21 points) on Satur-day and Everett (8-8-1-3, 20 points) on Sunday.

It's the first three-game weekend for the Americans this season, and Reddick is ready to get things going after playing just three games over the last 19 days.

"It's nice when you are playing every three nights and keeping in game form," Reddick said, "but it's also nice to have this much practice time to work out the kinks. The fans might be concerned; they want to see us do well. We are going to turn this around."

During the four-game skid, there hasn't been one area that has been lacking -- it's been everything. The Americans have scored just eight points and have given up 19.

"We are trying to keep things positive and relaxed," said Tri-City starting goalie Drew Owsley. "We have a good bunch of guys, we just need to execute better. The bounces aren't going our way and guys are gripping the sticks too tight. We just need that win to get us out of this."

Owsley, who took the WHL by storm last year with a 33-11-1-1 record as a first-year starter, has had his share of struggles this season. He is 8-6-0-1 with a 3.23 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

Owsley sought help from one of the best in the business Wednesday, working with former NHL goalie and Americans owner Olie Kolzig.

"Any time Olie can come out and help me, I appreciate it," Owsley said. "He's been through it all and I'm struggling a bit. He's helped me tune things up a bit and he's given me some advice."

The Americans also got back to the basics of skating this week with skating coach Vanessa Hettinger putting them through drills.

"She watches our games and points things out," Reddick said. "We aren't as fast as we could be beating guys to the puck and our turns need to be tighter. She knows what she's talking about. It's a nice refresher course."

Note: The Americans reassigned forward Zach McPhee to the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. In eight games this season, he had one goal and two penalty minutes.