The Score – Tri-Cities 5 – Kootenay 4
What Happened – The Ice stopped skating in the second and the Ams started. Then Ice didn’t have an answer for Brendan Shinnimin.
The Turning Point – Up 3-1 eight minutes into the third, the Ams had the Ice right where they wanted them. Four goals in 3:48 by the visitors left the place in utter shock.
The Goals – On an early power play – not the Ice forte of late coming into the game at 17th overall in the WHL – Elgin Pearce took a pass off the cycle on the left circle and fired a shot that Comrie got a piece of only to have Jesse Ismond help it into the net behind him. 1-0 Ice…. Kootenay went up by two on a neutral zone turnover that took some time to develop but eventually Brock Montgomery broke free on the 2-on-1 with Adam Rossignol. After a couple of return passes Montgomery put it behind Comrie for his second goal of the season, in his second straight game, no less…. In the second the Americans showed why they’re best team in the Western Conference and came out flying. Their hard work paid off when Joey Leach was fingered for elbowing halfway through the period. Six seconds into the power play a pretty three-way passing play off the faceoff found Shinnimin in the deep slot. He rifled his 5th of the season past Liuewen to make it 2-1… In the third, with the Ice still reeling from the Ams onslaught, Grist took an ill-advised cross-checking penalty. Some hard work by Dylen McKinlay behind the net got him the puck and then got him the assist as the feed to Ismond found the back of the net. 3-1 Ice… The Ams got that one back after Jeff Hubic took a roughing penalty. With the Ams on the rush Adam Hughesman found Jordan Messier with a great pass into the slot. He wired his 4th past Lieuwen… The onslaught finally took shape when Brendan Shinnimin just about tied when he hit the post and then a few seconds later deflected a point shot after a poor clearing attempt by Jagger Dirk… The Ams took the lead when Patrick Holland took pass in the slot and then wired the go-ahead goal past Lieuwen, stunning the crowd and the Ice… The carnage continued after Leach took another bad penalty and the Ams toyed with the Ice on the power play as Shinnimin found Hughesman with a backdoor pass and Hughesman’s 14th as well as a 5-3 lead scoring four goals in 3:48… With less than a minute left the Ice made it close as Jesse Ismond finished off the hat-trick with a carbon-copy of his second goal, making it 5-4. It would be as close as they would get
The Power Play – Coming into the night the Ice were ranked 17th in the WHL with the man-advantage. The Ams were even worse coming in at the 20th spot. The visitors scored three goals while the Ice, looking for any positive out of the collapse, scored two.
Shinnimin-Hughesman Show – The Ams two 20-year-olds were dynamite on this night, combining for 8 points.
A tale of two periods – The first showcased the home side, at times dominating the Americans that had many wondering what all the fuss was about from the U.S. Division leaders. In the second they and the Ice faithful found out, the hard way. Out-shooting the Ice 15-9, which was generous to the home side. As the summary would show, the third didn’t get any better for the Ice.
Another Comrie – This one isn’t married to Hillary Duff – he’s only 16 – as former Ice captain Mike Comrie’s younger half brother Eric got the start in the nets for the Ams. It’s the first time a Comrie has taken to the Rec Plex ice since December 6, 2000. The younger Comrie, age five at the time of his brother lighting it up for the Ice, probably doesn’t remember watching him play anyway.
The depth or lack of it – With Drew Czerwonka out with a concuss…. Err upper body injury and Luke Paulsen still not back for tonight’s game, having D Joey Leach take three undisciplined penalties which resulted in two power play goals; added up it meant the Ice didn’t have the horses to skate with the Ams on this night.
The Surprise Start – Still on Comrie, the rookie heir apparent to the Ams goaltending fortunes got the start ahead of Ty Rimmer, who is second in WHL in goals against average and save percentage to Ice netminder Nathan Lieuwen, hence the surprise. Usually the top two goaltenders in the WHL stats-wise going head-to-head is a good story line. Not on this night.
Looooo – As he is on every night he’s played this season, Lieuwen was sharp most of the night and the goals against weren’t the fault of the 20-year-old goaltender. In fact, if Lieuwen wasn’t on his game most of the night it would’ve been a blowout. The Ice couldn’t answer the Americans’ forecheck before it was too late.
The Rankings - The CHL Top Ten came out and the Ice found themselves up three spots to number 6 in the country. The Ams on this night, in at the number three spot and the top WHL club, justified why in about a four minute span. That Shinnimin is something.
The Crowd – 2583; Not a great atmosphere for two of the WHL’s top clubs.
Rec Plex Three Stars
1. F Brendan Shinnimin – two goals, two assists, almost single-handedly turned the game around
2. F Jesse Ismond – Third career hat trick lone bright spot
3. F Adam Hughesman – goal, three assists
What it means – An oddity or sign of things to come? The Ice lose two straight for the first time in a month and fall to 12-4-1-2; 27 points and now 3rd in the Eastern Conference, two back of the Tigers who occupy 1st. Only six points separate 8th (Moose Jaw with 23 points) and 1st place in the crowded Eastern Conference.
Up Next: Seattle is here Saturday with an even tougher test in the Saskatoon Blades here Sunday night.
Summary:
Americans 5 @ Ice 4
CRANBROOK, B.C. - Western Hockey League summary for regular season game between the Tri-Cities Americans and the Kootenay Ice; November 9, 2011
The Tri-City Americans exploded for four goals in a 3:48 span in the third period to erase a 3-1 deficit en route to a 5-4 win over the Kootenay Ice in WHL action Wednesday.
The Ice took a 2-0 lead on goals by Jesse Ismond and Brock Montgomery after one period.
Ams forward Brendan Shinnimin notched his 5th of the season to cut the Ice lead to 2-1 after two periods.
The Ice went up 3-1 on another power play goal goal by Ismond in the third period before the Americans mounted an assault that produced goals by Shinnimin, with his second of the night, Patrick Holland, Jordan Messier and Adam Hughesman before Ismond finished off the hat-trick to get the Ice back to within one goal.
Adam Hughesman and Brendan Shinnimin both had four point nights while Jesse Ismond got the hat-trick in a losing cause.
Eric Comrie stopped 24 of 28 shots to get the win while Nathan Lieuwen surrendered five goals on 40 shots in taking the loss.
First Period
1. Kootenay, Ismond 5 (Pearce, Antilla) 3:08 (pp)
2. Kootenay, Montgomery 2 (Rossignol, Benoit) 17:37
Penalties -- Nickles TC (hooking) 2:55, Rossignol Ktn (boarding) 3:39, TC Bench (too-many-men - served by Stromwall) 4:58, Dow TC (delay-of-game) 14:36.
Second Period
3. Tri-Cities, Shinnimin 5 (Hughesman, Feser) 10:20
Penalties -- Leach Ktn (elbowing) 10:14, Yuen (hooking) 10:45, Leach Ktn (boarding) 17:02.
Third Period
4. Kootenay, Ismond 6 (McKinlay) 6:06 (pp)
5. Tri-City, J. Messier 4 (Hughesman, Shinnimin) 8:26 (pp)
6. Tri-City, Shinnimin 6 (Hughesman) 10:23
7. Tri-City, Holland 2 (Wilgosh) 10:40
8. Tri-City, Hughesman 14 (Shinnimin, Feser) 12:14 (pp)
9. Kootenay, Ismond 7 (Antilla, Descheneau) 19:41
Penalties -- Grist TC (cross-checking) 5:52, Hubic Ktn (roughing) 7:37, Leach Ktn (high-sticking) 11:47, Plutnar Ktn (roughing) 13:44, Yuen TC (cross-checking) 17:13.
Shots on goal by
Kootenay: 10 9 9 - 28
Tri-Cities: 9 15 16 - 40
Goal -- Kootenay: Nathan Lieuwen (L, 10-3-1-2); Tri-Cities: Eric Comrie: (W, 5-2).
Power Plays -- (goals-chances)
Kootenay: 2-7
Tri-Cities: 3-5
Referee -- Andy Thiessen. Linesman -- Chris Carlson, Jim Maniago.
Attendance -- 2583 (4264)
Scratches --
Kootenay: Drew Czerwonka (upper body - one week), Luke Paulsen (upper body - day-to-day) Brendan Hurley (knee - 2-4 weeks)
Tri-City: Justin Hamonic, Riley Guenther, Lukas Walter, Nathan McMaster.
3 comments:
I feel terrible for Lieuwen. He needs some defense. Poor guy is carrying the team on his shoulders and players like dirk (-4 against red deer) are making it tough on the rest of the team. Yes, the goalie should be the backbone, but should at least have a half decent supporting staff. Dirk needs to go... Or really needs to pull it together cause he could be a solid d man. And leach needs to stay out of the box. With mcnabb gone, leach needs to quarterback the rest of the defense, needs to be the leader. If those two guys take it to the next level, and Lieuwen playing like he is, I wouldn't be shocked to see another deep playoff run
Were in the hell have our grit gone. We were way too soft in that game and the few games before. Why aren't we hitting.
Our grit is injured, you really don't relaize how important it is until it's gone.
Post a Comment