"We were in a hole, no doubt," Hiller said. "We didn't sag, we pushed. We aren't going to give up, not at home." (Herald)

The first half of the game it seemed like the Ams were chasing the Royals. Like Spokant said, "Victoria has an aggressive forecheck. Jerks." Pretty much. Thankfully the boys were able to keep battling and firing away to come back from the deficit and score 6 in a row.  Full marks to the Royals, they battled hard.

Short, short bench.  It seemed like Shinny and Holly were on the ice the whole night.  I really wish the WHL would keep track of ice time.  Or if they do, that they'd post that stat somewhere.  I thought with the big lead that Dallman, Nickles, even Walter would get some more ice time, but they didn't get a ton.

With the win, the Americans did clinch a playoff spot.  Hiller got his 200th WHL win.  Oh my gosh, did you see how happy Sam was with his goal??  How exciting for the kid, he's worked hard and deserves it.  It was a hell of a shot too, I hope he keeps that up.

I'm still totally impressed with Jesse Mychan.  Also impressive?  The penalty kill, even without Mason don't get me wrong, I'd would rather have Mason killing penalties than most anyone, but they did pretty well without him.  Nate MacMaster has stepped up and at least partly filled the role left open by Mason's absence.

I miss Mason.  And Lil' Mess and Malte too.  All these guys chew up some significant minutes, especially Mason.  I guess the bright side is the injuries are now and not right before or during playoffs.  I'd rather see no injuries though, obviously.

Ok, this writing thing is feeling forced today so I'll just stop now.  OOooo, but I will share this, I saw this a while ago out by the Boise Cascade plant in Wallula, finally I had enough time to pull over and snap a pic of it.