A crowd of 2,200 fans were on hand Wednesday night to witness the Tri-City Americans defeat the Vancouver Giants 4-1 to begin a five-game home stand. Lukas Matecha showed why he’s one of the league’s rising stars in net, stopping 36 of 37 shots and earning the Jack in the Box first star award.
Wednesday night’s game began with a twenty-minute delay due to a lighting issue in the arena, and then both teams were off. Jake Sloan got the Americans on the board first just like the doctor ordered. Sloan, on the powerplay, was able to slip his stick in-between the mound Giants players gathered at the front of the net and poke the puck in to make it 1-0 ten minutes into the first period. After twenty minutes of play, shots were even at nine a side.
Right out of the starter’s gate, there was action in the second period. Two minutes into the period, Jake Gudelj of Tri-City and Matthew Edwards of Vancouver decided to brawl in front of the Americans bench. Edwards had the better hand on Gudelj, until Gudelj layed a mean left hook to knock down Edwards and earn himself a fight win.
After a good defensive play at center ice by Deagan McMillan stopping the Giant’s rush, Max Curran swooped in on the left wing, where it was just him and McMillan. Curran fed a backdoor feed to Deagan McMillan six minutes into the second period to extend Tri-City’s lead to 2. McMillan would pick up his 6th goal of the year on the play.
Following the second period of play, shots favored the Vancouver Giants with a tally of 22-17 in the shot department.
Tri-City, as usual, came out of the second intermission like a cannon. Two minutes into the third, Parker Bell and Jordan Gavin walked in on a two-on-two. Bell made his way to the slot and fed Jordan Gavin on the right wing for a one-timer. Gavin went top cheese and made it 3-0 Tri-City early into the third for his first goal of the night.
Vancouver, however, would give fans something to think about. Answering just a minute after the Gavin goal. Aaron Obobaifo got his first career WHL goal after the puck was left in the low slot with nobody to attend. That would make it a 3-1 hockey game early in the third.
However, things would not go Vancouver’s way, and after a high-action start to the third, things quieted down. Jordan Gavin was able to net an empty-netter for his second goal of the night with just under a minute left in the game and fifth of the season.
Colton Langkow had frustration built up, obviously, and let it boil over after Gavin’s empty netter. Just six seconds after the puck was dropped and a minute left in the game, Langkow launched himself into Max Curran, who would slowly skate back to the bench. Merrik Arpin did not oblige to that and went after Langkow. Langkow and Arpin had a scrap in front of the penalty box, where Langkow fired shot after shot and eventually wore down Arpin to win the fight.
With their win, Tri-City moves to 7-5-2 on the season. Their next game is Saturday, where Tri-City hosts the Spokane Chiefs for the first time this season. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 