The Tri City Americans were outplayed most of the night by the Spokane Chiefs. The Chiefs jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the halfway point in the game. The Americans battled back to get within 1 before completely melting in the 3rd period. Final score: 6-3 in favor of the Chiefs.
The coolest part of the game was the brief cameo by future hall of famer Carey Price. Price, who played junior hockey for the Americans, was in attendance to present a plaque to General Manager Bob Tory to celebrate his 2,000th game.
Without further ado, here are my prospect takeaways from the game…
Spokane Chiefs
Saige Weinstein: Weinstein had a pretty uneventful night which is not always a bad thing for a defenseman. I didn’t notice him at all on the offensive side, but he did lay a massive open ice hit on an Americans forward in the 2nd period. Weinstein was willing to drop the gloves after the hit but the Americans didn’t accept the challenge. I definitely liked the aggressiveness.
Connor Roulette: Roulette ended the night with a goal and an assist. A great stat line indeed, but in all honesty I was not left too impressed. The goal was a tap in on the goal line in what was essentially a wide open net. Roulette should have probably had more points on the night; he led two different 2 on 1 rushes. On the first one, he shot the puck dead center into the goalie’s chest and on the second 2 on 1 he fumbled the puck completely and didn’t even get a shot on net. The thing that really stood out is his skating. It wasn’t horrible, but not at the level needed to compete at the NHL level. Roulette has obvious skills in the offensive zone, but he will need to improve in this area to succeed at the next level.
Dawson Cowan: Cowan was good, not great. He wasn’t challenged a ton, but let in 3 goals. That being said, Cowan made a couple of clutch saves after the Americans pulled within 1. One save in particular saw Cowan push hard from side to side to make a tough kick save on an American forward who appeared to have a wide open net to shoot at.
Will McIsaac: He was playing, but nothing at all stood out to me. I really don’t have anything else to say.
Tri City Americans
Lukas Dragicevic: Dragicevic had a good night overall. He scored a nice goal skating from the blueline past a couple Chief defenders and putting the puck over the blocker from the circle. That goal brought the Americans within 1. As the quarterback on the powerplay, Dragicevic was a little too predictable. He launched one timer after one timer on the blueline. The vast majority of these shots were blocked and then cleared out of the zone. Dragicevic will need to find a way to get these shots through traffic as he continues his climb towards the NHL.
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