Tri-City Americans finish season with win over Spokane
The Tri-City Americans may have missed out on a playoff spot, but they finished the regular season on a winning note with a 5-3 victory over rival Spokane.
Brandon Carlo, Parker Bowles and Morgan Geekie each had a goal and an assist as the Americans (35-34-2-1, 73 points) scored two goals in the third period to secure the win Saturday before a crowd of 4,960 at Toyota Center.
The Chiefs (33-30-5-4, 75 points) won the season series 7-5.
Carlo opened the scoring just 56 seconds into the game to give the Americans a 1-0 lead. Geekie followed at 4:24 for 2-0 lead.
The Chiefs got one goal back at 7:24 as Tri-City held a 2-1 lead after first period.
The teams traded goals in the second and were tied 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Nolan Yaremko scored on the power play 11:09 into the third to run his point streak to four games, and Mackenze Stewart finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:22 remaining.
Rookie goalie Nick Sanders finished with 27 saves in picking up his ninth win of the season.
With two points on the night, Bowles finished with 96 on the season to lead the Americans. He finished sixth in the league in scoring.
Tri-City Americans Award Winners
MVP: Parker Bowles. Offensive Player of the Year: Parker Bowles. Defensive Player of the Year: Parker Wotherspoon. Rookie of the Year: Michael Rasmussen. Most Sportsmanlike Player: Juuso Välimäki. Todd Klassen Humanitarian of the Year: Brandon Carlo. Scholastic Player of the Year: Nolan Yaremko. Hardest Working Player of the Year: Beau McCue. Three Stars Award: Parker Bowles. Corporate Sponsor of the Year: Kadlec Regional Medical Center. Volunteer of the Year: Brian Banner.
Americans 5, Chiefs 3
Spokane | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 5 |
First — 1, TC, Carlo 5, :56. 2, TC, Geekie 12 (Jordan, Bowles), 4:24. 3, Spo, Cardiff 9 (Bechtold, Kopeck), 7:24. Penalties — None.
Second — 4, Spo, Fram, 2:38. 5, TC, Bowles 39, 5:44 (pp). 6, Spo, Bechtold 17 (Ka.Yamamoto, Kopeck), 19:57 (pp). Penalties — Bowles, TC (holding0, :33; Hamaliuk, Spo (boarding), 5:38; Bowles, TC (cross-checking), 19:28.
Third — 7, TC, Yaremko 8 (Coghlan, Carlo), 11:09 (pp). 8, Stewart 5 (Geekie, Välimäki), 18:28 (en). Penalties — Toporowski, Spo (interference), 8:03; Helgesen, Spo (hooking), 9:49; Välimäki, TC 9kneeing), 15:05.
Shots — Spo 10-12-8 —30. TC 11-7-10 — 28. Power plays — Spo 1-4. TC 2-3. Goalies — Spo, Petersen 9-5-1-0 (27 shots-23 saves). TC Sanders 9-6-0-1 (30-27). Referees — Chris Crich and Jeff Ingram. A — 4,960.
This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans finish season with win over Spokane."