Game Day vs. Everett and Statstravaganza

Must be mid-season, eh?  Both teams with injuries, for Everett the biggest loss is Landon Ferraro, their captain, with a sports hernia that may require surgery.  For the Americans they will go into the weekend without Prokop, Big Mess, and Sam Grist.

Am I worried?  Not one bit.  This team has depth and will be able to still ice a great team.  Sure, those guys leave big holes, but I have confidence in the other guys to step up.  With the Ams outscoring their opponents at home 69-20  in the past 12 games at home, Hiller has been able to give big minutes to guys like Max Moline, Little Mess, and Drydn Dow.  Not only will that be a benefit this weekend with guys out, but down the road towards playoffs those kids will have more experience than they might normally have because of the scoring ability of the top 3 lines.

"They have all improved," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller of his rookies. "They don't play as much as they would like, but we really rely on them. They have to help, they have to develop and we believe in them."

"Those guys deserve as much, if not more credit than the rest of us," said veteran defenseman Paul Sohor, who came over in a trade from Everett on Dec. 7. "When we need a boost or a break, they are there. Those are the guys you need to win championships." (Herald)

Since we're talking about Marcus Messier, Rene Ferran's latest installment of "Meet the Ams" gets to know Lil Mess a bit more:

Hiller praised Messier's ability "to make plays in tight spaces. He sees the ice well and has a good head for the game offensively. I think he has to improve on his shot. That's one specific part of his game he needs to work on."

This is also the first time that Messier has gotten to play with his big brother, Jordan, who is almost two years older.

"Because he's a bigger guy, he's always played up, and when I would play up, he'd be in a higher league," Marcus said. "It's cool being on a team with him. It's not every day you get to be on the bench with your brother."

And Marcus credited Jordan with helping ease the transition to the WHL.

"He's helped me in a lot of different ways," Marcus said. "Driving home from every game, he's giving me pointers on what I did well and what I need to work on. If I'm on the ice, all worked up and nervous, he settles me down. His body language, too, just watching him play, learning how he moves on the ice, how he picks his spots, has helped."

If there's any sibling rivalry between the two, it stems from Jordan mirroring their father, Mitch, a former pro hockey player who like Jordan stands 6-foot-2, while Marcus at 5-9 takes after their mother, Lisa.

"It's too bad my dad couldn't give me some of his height," Marcus said with a smile. (Examiner)

As for filling in any gaps because of injuries the Ams Twitter announced:

Americans recall 19-year-old defenseman Clinton Atkinson from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL. Will spend the weekend with Tri-City.  (@TCAmericans)
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Remember how I love stats, especially when someone else does the hard work in compiling them?   Once again Alan Caldwell and one of my dear readers has come through.

Over at Small At Large, Caldwell takes a look at what he calls "stretch records".  Basically, what each team needs to do to make the playoffs.  It's interesting stuff (some of the numbers may have changed a bit after last night's games).  The numbers for the Americans?

Tri-City Americans 28-12-3 (0.686)            4-24-1 (0.155)

First set of numbers is their current record, second set is what kind of hockey they would need to play down the stretch to reach 68 points (Caldwell's calculation of the minimum number of points needed in the Western Conference to reach the playoffs). I encourage you to take a look at all the numbers, it is easy to see that the Western Conference, especially the US Division is a tight race this year (as if you didn't know that already). Click here for the rest.

Some more stats arrived in my inbox from reader Marissa (aka "Riss") with the following goddamn sexy numbers:

I love numbers, and I love spreadsheets, so after seeing the post with numbers by SectionH, I made my own spreadsheet to over-analyze. 

The overall numbers from the current 12 game home winning streak:
Outscoring: 69 - 20
Outshooting: 489 - 349
Combined Goalie GAA: 1.67 - 5.83
Combined Goalie SV%: 94.3% - 85.7%

FYI - shoot out stats are recorded oddly.  I'd have to do a lot of digging to get those right.  The win streak is at the bottom. "Score %" is (1-SV%), and makes our offense look even better.  I have the numbers for Away games and all games, but those aren't as good.

Numbers by period

Home Games, All (20 games)
Goals by Period:
1st: Ams 32, Opp 8
2nd: Ams 37, Opp 15
3rd: Ams 30, Opp 17
OT: none
Total: Ams 99, Opp 410

Shots by Period:
1st: Ams 278, Opp 167
2nd: Ams 235, Opp 219
3rd: Ams 227, Opp 183
OT: Ams 4, Opp 2
Total: Ams 744, Opp 571

Score % by Period (shots/goals):
1st: Ams 11.5%, Opp 4.8%
2nd: Ams 15.7%, Opp 6.8%
3rd: Ams 13.2%, Opp 9.3%
OT:  0
Total: Ams 13.4%, Opp 7.2%

GAA by Period
1st: Ams 0.40, Opp 1.60
2nd: Ams 0.75, Opp 1.85
3rd: Ams 0.85, Opp 1.50
OT: NA
Total: Ams 2.05, Opp 5.00

SV% by Period (aka We have awesome goalies)
1st: Ams 95.2%, Opp 88.5%
2nd: Ams 93.2%, Opp 84.3%
3rd: Ams 90.7%, Opp 86.8%
OT: Ams 100%, Opp 100%
Total: Ams 92.8%, Opp 86.6%

Home Games, The Hot Win Streak (12 games)
Goals by Period:
1st: Ams 21, Opp 4
2nd: Ams 28, Opp 6
3rd: Ams 20, Opp 10
OT: none
Total: Ams 69, Opp 19

Shots by Period:
1st: Ams 178, Opp 101
2nd: Ams 155, Opp 135
3rd: Ams 154, Opp 112
OT: Ams 2, Opp 1
Total: Ams 489, Opp 349

Score % by Period (shots/goals):
1st: Ams 11.8%, Opp 4.0% <-- that's right, we score on almost 3 times as many shots
2nd: Ams 18.1%, Opp 4.4% <-- oh wait, that's 4 times
3rd: Ams 13.0%, Opp 8.9%
OT: NA
Total: Ams 14.3%, Opp 5.7%

GAA by Period
1st: Ams 0.33, Opp 1.75
2nd: Ams 0.50, Opp 2.33
3rd: Ams 0.83, Opp 1.67
Total: Ams 1.67, Opp 5.83 Ed Mulhausen, fire up the grill!

SV% by Period
1st: Ams 96.0%, Opp 88.2%
2nd: Ams 95.6%, Opp 81.9%
3rd: Ams 91.1%, Opp 87.0%
OT: NA
Total: Ams 94.3%, Opp 85.7% I believe in our goalies.