"I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out"

There was a little hockey being played in between the 277 penalty minutes handed out in Kennewick, Wash., on Friday. Well, it was all from one team, as the Americans hammered the Vancouver Giants 9-1. Hughesman, 19, had two goals and an assist in the game's first 22 minutes to help Tri-City put away the Giants early. Then it just got silly.  (Buzzing the Net)

Silly is right.  I don't mind a fight here or there, even a line brawl now and again, but last night was ridiculous.  Vancouver completely lost their shit in a way I have never seen a Don Hay team do before.

So yeah, that happened.  Notice not one single instigator to the Americans.  Pretty much all this madness was Ams defending themselves and their teammates.  It's probably childish to say "they started it", but it's also true.  What a mess.  It was a pretty sad move on Vancouver's part, they ended up looking like sore losers.

After the first four goals I felt bad for Giant's goalie Brendan Jensen, even with his ridiculous gorilla dancing moves.  Why Hay didn't pull the poor kid, I have no idea.  Maybe he figured the shellacking was going to happen, might as well save Segal for tonight against Spokane, maybe Segal injured, I have no idea.  I almost wanted Jensen to earn a star for sticking it out the whole game.  But then I saw him talking shit and pushing guys around and realized no.  Besides, a goalie in a 9-1 loss would never earn a star.

The score (and all the penalties) gave the kids lots of ice time, great games for Lil Mess, Max Moline, and David Conrad--not a kid, but he plays on that 4th line.  It was great to see Chris Driedger in net at home for the first time too, he was very solid.  Coach mentioned on the post-game show the Ams let their foot off the gas a little bit and Chris got a little more work than they wanted, but figured Chris was just fine with the work he got.  And it's good for him to have that time as he heads off to U-17 tournament.  Sam Grist continued to play smart, solid hockey.  He's really improved his game since the start of the season and that's fun to watch.

Big Mess got two more goals for a team-leading 20.  The WHL site doesn't list even-strength goals but I thought Westie said something about Jordan leading the league in even-strength goals and his power-play goal last night was his first of the season.  Hughie also notched 2 goals putting him at the top of the points list for the Americans.  Shinny got 1 and two assists for 2nd star honors which personally I thought should have gone to Jordan, not that Shinny didn't deserve it, but maybe there should be four stars LOL.

If we're going to talk stats, it should be noted Zachary Yuen is a team-leading +13.  That's hot.  Also, he beat the shit out of the Giant kid last night.  Like Spokant said, "Yuen and Prokop's dance partners make poor life decisions."

Paul Sohor's goal last night was absolutely gorgeous.  Nothing I love more than a sexy defenseman scoring goals on slapshots from the blueline.  Srsly, that was hot.  Not only that?  It was his first WHL goal.  Thank you Brendan Jensen and the Giants defense!

"It's hockey, anything can happen," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, who won't know until today whether he will be able to coach tonight's game in Everett. "There a lot of passion on the ice -- that's why people come to watch."

"We went toe-to-toe with them," said Sohor, who has played just three games for Tri-City after being acquired in a trade from Everett last week. "We threw pucks on net and stuck to the game plan, which is important. I'm proud of the way the guys stood up for each other. That's a big step for this team."

"Over the years, we always seem have a game like this," said Vancouver captain Craig Cunningham. "We got frustrated, and we took out those frustrations on them. It's an emotional game. We have a rule around here -- 2 hours and let it go."

"It was a good game for our team," Hughesman said. "We scored goals and stood up for each other. We made a statement to the league tonight." (Herald)

I don't really get Cunnington's rule--2 hours and let it go.  They let it go after the first period.

As Brendan Shinnimin summarized the proceedings, "We got up early on them, and when you get up on a team like that, sometimes things get out of hand as they try to find something to turn the game around. But after that first fight, things just started getting stupid."

"We started out the game right, and that was the most important thing for us," said Hiller, who earned a game misconduct with 3 1/2 minutes to play (his status for Saturday night's game at Everett was unknown after the game).

"I was happy with how we came out of the gate. We continue to build up some positive things. With the exception of the road game with Portland, we've been going good for a while. It's a sign this team is coming together and building."

"This was a stepping stone for us," Shinnimin said. "We haven't had a game like that this year. That's not our type of game. We don't like to  play that way. But when you have a situation like we did tonight, we have guys who can step up and take care of themselves. We battled through it and had to finish 60 minutes, but we stood up for ourselves."

"We threw pucks at the net, stuck with the game plan, did everything right tonight," Sohor said. "We were using our speed to our advantage, which was one of the key parts of the game. And guys were sticking up for one another and for themselves. I'm proud of our guys. This was a real step forward for this team.

"Now we need to go to Everett tonight, do our thing and go into Christmas break right."

"It comes down to what team is most focused right now," Shinnimin said. "Guys are thinking of going home for vacation. But our mindset is that these are important points, and we can't throw them away. These are two good teams we're facing, and especially playing in the division, these are two points we have to get."  (Examiner)

Ferran also notes the three players--Shinnimin, Wilgosh, and Jordan Messier earned themselves Gordie Howe hat tricks last night.  Sexy time.

Moving on to tonight, the Ams are in Everett to face the Silvertips in the last game before the Christmas break.  It'll be Sohor's first game against his former team.  'Tips coming off a 2-0 victory over the Spokane Chiefs last night.  Boys need to stay focused and get the points.  Hiller will be behind the bench tonight.  Not sure about Hay as the Giants roll into Spokane.  Just hope Giants are so pissed about last night's game they really take it to Spokane (on the scoreboard not the fists this time).

Around here, it's the final liveblog of 2010 (I'll be at the Dec 28 game in Portland so not liveblogging) so come on in, say hi.  Click on the "Read More" to join the fun.