Game Day vs. Chilliwack

"I think everyone can see the standings," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "We have a sense of urgency.  We are refocused, re-energized and are playing how we have most of the year. Our depth is showing and the scoring balance is emerging again and that's what made us successful early."

Hiller, in his first year as head coach of the Americans, has benefited from a strong core of returning players, which has taken pressure off of him.

"I don't feel it is all on my shoulders," he said. "We have a great staff with (associate coach) Terry (Virtue) and the trainers. The great thing about our leadership core is we are a battle- tested group and you can't put a price on that. They have been through the pressure. We have pushed this far together and we keep going as a group -- that has been our strength."  (Herald)

I sure hope he's right about that sense of urgency going into a 3-games-in-3-nights weekend.  Chilliwack, Portland, and Seattle are all teams that will make you work hard and earn the win.  This is where that urgency, focus and energy coach is talking about is necessary.

According to Alan Caldwell over at Small Thoughts at Large, the Americans need 4 wins or Everett losses to hang onto #1 spot in the US Division.

Blogger is a bitch and won't let me embed the freaking hilariousness of Knob Hockey, so go watch it here, I'll wait.

Ahh yes, the Braveheart speech. I hope the AMS leadership group has more to say than this--and that the other boys don't tune them out like these WhalerCanes are doing to Rod the Bod. Oh Knob Hockey, I love you.

Commenter "Jim" (not sure if it's the same Jim who referred to me as an evil, mean spirited person, oh well) left a link on Wednesday's post to Coming Down the Pipe, looking at Pittsburgh Penguins prospects, including From Russia With Glove:

Pechurskiy is so intriguing because of his road to North America. He was a 5th round pick in 2008 and has played for 3 teams in 3 different leagues this year. He started in KHL, then came across the pond to the Tri City Americans thanks to yeoman's work from Americans G.M. Bob Tory. Oddly enough while he was in North America he didn’t get picked by the Russians for their World Junior team. Shortly after his stay in Tri City began he was summoned to Vancouver as the Penguins were in town with an injured Marc Andre Fleury. Pechursky was the back up, but did get into the game, making 12 saves on 13 shots and earning 3rd star honours. As for his time in the WHL, he’s having a great year on a very good team. He has the second most shut outs in the league with 4 in 20 games, and his goals against average and save per centage are both above average. The Pens had their eye on Pechurskiy for a while, but were worried about getting him out of Russia. They were delighted that he was still available in round 5.

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