Americans down Thunderbirds in tune-up | WHL preseason
Published 9:52 am Sunday, September 4, 2016
For the Reporter
The Tri-City Americans defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-3 Saturday afternoon in a preseason game at the Everett Silvertips Holiday Inn Preseason Classic at Xfinity Arena.
The classic concludes at 11:30 a.m. Sunday when the T-Birds (1-1) take on the Spokane Chiefs.
Tri-City went in front 1-0 at 14:58 of the first period on Juuso Valimaki’s goal. The Americans took a 2-0 lead at 8:22 of the second period on Parker AuCoin’s goal.
Nolan Volcan cut the Americans lead to one at 9:50 of the second. Volcan put a low wrist shot past Tri-City goalie Beck Warm. Ethan Bear had the only assist on the goal.
The T-Birds tied the game 2-2 at 10:46 of the second on a goal from MacKenzie Wight. Tyson Terretta found Wight all alone in front of the Tri-City goal. Wight beat Warm over the glove.
Tri-City took the lead back at 13:19 of the second on a power-play goal from Keltie Jeri-Leon.
Kurtis Rutledge put the Americans up 4-2 at 3:34 of the third period.
Seattle cut the lead back to one at 12:53 of the third on Alexander True’s first preseason goal. True beat Warm with a wrist shot from the right circle with Nick Holowko screening the goalie.
Riley Sawchuk scored an empty-net goal at 18:23 of the third to seal the win for the Americans.
Seattle outshot Tri-City 15-11 in the third period and 36-29 in the game.
Logan Flodell made 25 saves on 28 shots for the T-Birds.
Tickets
Single-game tickets for the 2016-17 season are on sale. Fans can purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office.
Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Tri-City, Lukin 1 (Leason, Roy), 14:58. Penalties – Bench, Tri (too many men-served by Rutledge), 3:17. Hamaliuk, Sea (hooking), 7:03. Rayman, Tri (tripping), 11:38. Lukin, Tri (tripping), 15:55.
Second period – 2, Tri-City, AuCoin 1 (Mutala, Yaremko), 8:22. 3, Seattle, Volcan 1 (Bear), 9:50. 4, Seattle, Wight 1 (Terretta), 10:46. 5, Tri-City, Jeri-Leon 1 (Lukin, Roy), 13:19 (pp). Penalties – Mutala, Tri (high-sticking), :45. Allbee, Sea (hooking), 12:56. Harsch, Sea (interference), 17:04.
Third period – 6, Tri-City, Rutledge 1 (Valimaki, Focht), 3:34. 7, Seattle, True 1 (Holowko), 12:53. 8, Tri-City, Sawchuk 1(Topping), 18:23 (en). Penalties – No scoring.
Shots on goal – Seattle 12-9-15 36, Tri-City 7-11-11 29. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 28 shots-25 saves (0-1-0-0); Tri-City, Warm 36-34 (1-0-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-4; Tri-City 1-3. Referees – Duncan Brow, Mark Pearce. Linesmen – Michael McGowan, Justin Nicol.
