Happy Friday Eve!

Good game last night, eh?  The Americans trailed for the first time this season but managed to come up with the win.  And it got a little ridiculous too:

hoooo boy.

All that and the Americans power play still sitting at 2 for 7 on the night.  Booo-urns.

But hey, Brock Sutherland had 3 points on the night!!  Seriously, that is awesome.  Remember last season when I was so frustrated with him because I knew he could play better?  He's showing that he really can play better.  Keep it up Brock.

Also, kudos to Connor Rankin on his first WHL goal.  This kid is going to be damn fun to watch, this season and several more.

The fracas seemed to energize the Americans. Holland's second goal of the night tied the game at 4:53 of the period, and Rankin's goal came almost two minutes later.

"We didn't show a whole lot of emotion to that point," Beattie said. "But guys stepped up and did what they needed to do. We didn't play our best tonight, but we found a way to win."

Beattie also praised LW Justin Feser, who moved to the blue line during the 10-minute stretch following the dust-up when the Ams were down to three defensemen -- Spencer Humphries and Zachary Yuen received misconduct penalties, while Drydn Dow was out with an upper-body injury suffered in the first period.

Beattie said while Dow's injury wasn't considered serious, it was 50/50 whether he would be available for Friday's rematch between the teams at Toyota Center.  (Examiner)

Feser playing some defense?  That's hot.  And LOL at the word "fracas"--totally underused word.

"It was a lesson on how tough it is to play on the road," Tri-City coach Jim Hiller said. "We tried to prepare our guys on what to expect. Kelowna played really well, but you have to give the players credit, when it was tough they came through and got the points."

Patrick Holland scored twice for the Americans, who are 3-0-0-0 to open the season. Brock Sutherland added three assists and Adam Hughesman accounted for the remaining goal.

The Rockets (0-2-0-0) led 3-2 after the second period, and both teams started the third with several players in the penalty box for 10-minute infractions following a melee with eight seconds left in the second.

"It was really challenging for us, we had a lot of guys in the box," Hiller said. "We were left with eight forwards and (Tanner) Olstad, (Nils) Moser and (Zach) McPhee gave us good minutes."  (Herald)

Everyone's favorite, Regan Bartel says "Reddick's antics" got the win for the Americans.

Instead of scoring, Reddick started a skirmish late in the second period that would eventually get his team back in the game. Reddick body checked Rockets forward Mitchell Callahan into the boards in what appeared to be a check from behind. Instead of referee Andy Thiessen making a call, he let the infraction go, resulting in a scrum which saw Rockets defenseman Colton Jobke square off with Reddick while Max Adolph danced with Americans forward Jordan Messier. While those four were fighting, 10 minute misconducts were also handed out to several players. When the dust had settled, the Rockets found themselves playing shorthanded as the visitors were granted a two minute power play. With the Rockets holding a slim 3-2 lead after 40 minutes, the Americans gained momentum off the man advantage, eventually scoring two goals in a 1:58 span for a 4-3 come-from-behind win. (Regan's Rant)

Antics.  *facedesk*

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Jim Riley over at Buzzing the Net has a bit about reviewing goals and awarding points:

Statistics are a major part of earning awards and, ultimately, can affect player's NHL draft status. While statistics are only one criteria for teams to use, when the really tough decisions are made in the late rounds and one player has 40 assists for the season and another has 15, it's an easy call.  (Buzzing the Net)

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The latest BMO CHL Mastercard ranking is out, from the WHL:

BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings – Week 2

Rank    Team (Record)    Last Week Rank    Number of Weeks Ranked
1    Drummondville Voltigeurs (6-0-0-0)    -    1
2    Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (1-0-0-0)    1    2
3    Tri-City Americans (2-0-0-0)    6    2
4    Quebec Remparts (5-0-0-1)    -    1
5    Kitchener Rangers (2-0-0-0)    4    2
6    London Knights (2-0-0-0)    5    2
7    Saskatoon Blades (2-0-0-0)    8    2
8    Saint John Sea Dogs (4-1-0-1)    2    2
9    Red Deer Rebels (2-0-0-0)    10    2
10    Acadie-Bathurst Titan (5-2-0-0)    -    1
           
    Honourable Mention:       
    Oshawa Generals (2-0-0-0)    -    0
    Brandon Wheat Kings (2-0-0-0)    -    0
    Montreal Juniors (3-1-2)    7    1

Noticeably absent are the Portland Winterhawks.  But it was nice to not have the move up in the poll jinx the boys again.

Speaking of Portland, wonder if there's any Vancouver bloggers/P-B-P guys calling out Portland's "antics" in last night's game:

Couple of Vancouver instigators in there, maybe Portland bloggers/P-B-P guys will write about Vancouver's "antics".

Thanks to everyone who came out for the liveblog last night, it's always good to talk about the game with others who are tuned in too.