Three in a row

The opening line of Ferran's article says it all:

The Tri-City Americans played with a hint of desperation in the third period of Tuesday night's game against the Everett Silvertips.

A hint. And that's all it was, and it certainly was not enough.

"The last couple of nights, we've had chances to score. The puck is just not going in," said Brendan Shinnimin. "I had an empty net last night, and the puck bounced off my stick. It's frustrating.

"The last couple of months, it seemed like everything was going in. We'd get six goals a game, and maybe sometimes we didn't deserve it. Now, it's the opposite. We're getting chances, but they're not going in. It's disappointing, but we'll get out of it, and this will make us a better team."

Tri-City coach Jim Hiller echoed those sentiments.

"We've scored five or six goals in games with less chances than this," Hiller said. "We hit a couple posts, missed a couple of empty nets. We put those in, and everyone says, 'Great game.'

"The puck's just got to find its way in the net. It's not going to come back easily. We've got to work at it, earn it back. The hard part is we've got to believe in ourselves. We've got great players, a great team." (Examiner)

Cam Gorchynski was very solid in net, only looked slightly shaky on penalty shot, can't really blame a goalie for that, it has to be a pretty intense moment, one is bound to be nervous.  Unfortunately for everyone, that ended up being the game-winning goal.

It was good to see Little Mess getting some shifts, especially in the 3rd.  Noticeably absent in the 3rd was Moline who saw regular time in the 1st and some of the 2nd then I don't think he even got one shift in the 3rd (could be totally wrong about that, but if he did get playing time, it was only a shift or two).

They've got a few days here to rest and recouperate before getting back out there for a 3-in-3 weekend.  With all the banged up bodies the Americans signed prospect Lucas Nickles:

Nickles, a 6’0 175 lb. left wing from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, is currently playing with the Golden Rockets of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Nickles wrapped up his rookie season in the KIJHL by appearing in 47 games and collecting 17 goals, 29 points and 61 penalty minutes. Nickles also played in all six of Golden’s first round playoff games vs. Creston Valley, notching one goal and four penalty minutes, before the Rockets were ousted 4 games to 2.

“Lucas had a tremendous training camp this past fall, followed by a solid rookie season with the Golden Rockets of the KIJHL as a 16-year-old,” explained Tory. “We look forward to him joining our club next season and continuing his development in the Western Hockey League.”

Nickles, who was listed by Tri-City in July of 2009, has been recalled by Tri-City and will join the club this week. (Americans)

Young Dylan Fluter (aka Fluter Flakes) was on the bench last night, but didn't have a single shift.   Looks like this Nickles kid is much bigger than Fluter, that's for sure.  Without Prokop or Big Mess, a big body could be quite useful.