Tri-City @ Chilliwack Glog

Thanks to FSN, six WHL games are being broadcast throughout the second half of the regular season. Tonight, thanks to my empty social schedule, I can blog the Americans-Bruins game.

Tri should win this game... they have many things Chilliwack doesn't...a good team, a first-place standing... and a team full of kids nobody likes.

Chilliwack, meanwhile, is out of a playoff spot at the moment. They are terrible scoring goals. Fortunately, they should be able to hang around in this game because... uh... well, they're probably screwed. Hopefully Chet Pickard's return doesn't go well because his feelings are hurt he rode the pine behind Spokane Chiefs' starter Dustin Tokarski on Team Canada. Too bad Toko is better than Pickard... anyway, onto the game. Go Bruins!

A minute in and Tri is putting on good pressure on the Bruins... absolutely nothing resembling an offense to start the contest, as their is a lot of fresh ice in front of Pickard to start the game.

A minute and a half in and the first Colton Yellow Horn reference has been dropped. What a douche.

Chilliwack is awful... no shots on goal yet, a 3-on-2 which results in an odd man rush the other way and a rebound of a Jason Reese shot gives Justin Feser a wide open backhanded goal. 1-0 Ams. Finally, Pickard gets tested for the first time, but nothing doing for the home team.

Speaking of awful on ice, I played ice hockey on Friday for the first time ever... fell six times and had two shots on goal in an hour of play. If I was age-eligible, Chilliwack would have my number on speed dial.

The Bruins are slowly applying more pressure, with little success. They're only a few 5-on-3's away from making a game of this, as a Tri skater finds a punck amid three Bruins.

Chilliwack's goalie Lucas Gore makes three saves about five feet in front of his crease... good form. No penalties thus far in the game, though with Kirk and Smith doing the officiating, that's only because there are no Chiefs on the ice to call for something that never happened.

If I wanted to watch a game where one team lost possession to the other team nearly every time they were on offense, I'd see if I could get a copy of the Miami-Baltimore playoff game. Chilliwack has iced the puck three times, can't clear their own zone and on their last trip to the Tri zone and straight up gave the puck to Ams forward Taylor Procyshen. I don't know who is quarterbacking the Bruin offense, but when I find out, he's going to be called Chad Pennington for the rest of the game.

I just heard "Oh-ffensive zone"...it's officially a Canadian broadcast!

Ryan Howse, the Bruins' best player, just had a breakaway, but couldn't finish and Tri walked out with the rebound. Meanwhile, Chilliwack is surrendering more offensive rebounds than the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Should be 2-0 Tri shortly...

As Chilliwack ices the puck again, the stands appear very empty. If that's not an indication of how bad this team is, I don't know what is. What else is there to do in Chilliwack? Ice fish? Meanwhile, Tri just took that 2-0 lead...I made the comment with roughly 5:15 left in the period... the goal came with 3:19 left.

The Bruins are on the first man-advantage of the game. AND A GOAL! Jesse Craige! Finally some semblance of an offense, thanks to the visitors having one less player on the ice. 2-1 bad guys with a couple minutes left in the first.

Tri will get their first power play of the game with just over a minute left in the period... be nice if the Bruins can kill most of it and get into the break down only one.

The Chiefs were 4-for-5 on the power play last week against Chilliwack, if you're wondering how effective their kill is. The Ams have put a lot of pressure on, but no results yet.

After one, Tri leads 2-1. Chilliwack is being outshot at roughly a 3:1 clip, but have hung in thanks to their special teams.

The Ams are still on the power play for a few seconds as the second stanza starts. Nothing doing, however, and the Bruins are not at full strength... which hasn't done them much good thus far.

Great scoring chance for the Bruins goes by the wayside. Chilliwack keeps the pressure on, though, as Tri is on their heels a bit to start the period. Really boring hockey to start the period...little pressure on either end and a lot of neutral zone play.

Petr Stoklasa screws up a 2-on-1 chance for the Ams. Love it. Stoklasa is far from my most hated Tri skater, but only because he isn't that good, so you don't notice him much. Johnny Lazo and Pickard are my two least favorite, but only because Yellow Horn is gone. I hated Colton Yellow Horn, often comparing him to A-Rod. Both were among the best in the league and had very punchable faces.

The announcers are lauding Tri as the 10th-ranked team in the CHL and ask why nobody is talking about them. How about because they were in virtually the exact same position last year and couldn't knock off the Chiefs in Game 7 at home? Scotty Munro champs, but couldn't get the job done. It's the same story as their writing this year, except they won't win the Munro trophy.

The Bruins have their second power play of the game after scoring on their first. A 2-on-1 chance fails, as Howse can't squeeze the puck past Pickard for the second time. Face off in the offensive zone though, which doesn't do them any good, as Tri clears.

Matthew Ius is on his third team this season (Chilliwack) because of a lack of opportunity. The announcer says "I think his best hockey is still ahead of him." Well I would hope so... the WHL Web site won't connect, but I promise you he hasn't played any good hockey. He's been traded twice in like a 12-game stretch. So yeah, I'd say his best hockey is still ahead of him. By the way, nothing happened while I was trying to research that. Seven minutes left in the period, more pressure by the Ams, but still 2-1.

It's working now. Ius has played 100 games, scored seven goals, 10 assists and is a minus-12. I'm not a liar.

Ams almost blow it in their own zone, but the puck trickles wide. Ams mystique, I tell ya. And you wonder why I hate this team...

Mitch Fadden basically plays 1-on-5 with Chilliwack before finishing around the net to make the score 3-1. That was simply terrible defense... three Bruins had a chance to knock the puck away. Zero did. And there's your difference between a first-place team and a last-place team.

A Chilliwack breakaway results in a blown call with a trip missed... the Bruins get robbed of a potential man advantage with just under two minutes remaining in the second.

3-1 Tri after two...the shot discrepancy is sick... 33-13. Meanwhile, Jason Reese just blinked hard about 461 times during a quick intermission interview. They asked him and Pickard about the rivalry with Spokane, with both of them saying they were so close. Well Mrs. Rieken would say that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. How's that near Memorial Cup looking in the Toyota Center, Ams fans?

The third starts with the league's worst offense needing two goals to tie the game. Tri is 23-1-0-1 when leading after two, while the Bruins are 2-23-1-1 when trailing. This isn't good...

I hate these announcers... I'm pretty sure one was born in Pasco and one in Richland. You couldn't have lost anything by switching Pickard with Tokarski in the World Juniors? How about a gold medal? That's what Canada got with Tokarski in the last two games. You couldn't have done better than that. But worse? The possibility exists... idiots.

The Americans are going to the box because Taylor Procyshen is a hooker. Questionable call? Yeah, but whatever... he might actually be a hooker, so it works out.

Another dumb penalty by Tri gives Chilliwack a 5-on-3 as Tyler Schmidt high sticks around the net. If the Bruins are going to have a chance, they better score here.

The Ams clear twice before Chilliwack is offsides. Really? This is the worst offense in the league. Only by stats apparently... sigh.

Howse misses a third time against Pickard before a shorthanded goal by Procyshen blows the game open, 4-1. I'm so glad I'm not a Bruins fan...this is brutal. Please let it be fight night...

Tri is going on another power play after a crystal clear kneeing penalty. The odds of it being 5-1 within the next two minutes is good... find a WHL bookie if you can.

Told you...5-1, thanks to Brett Plouffe. I hate Tri-City.

Holding on Chilliwack... this isn't good. With the game in hand, I'm trying to figure out if there are more people in the seats since the game started or less people. It was pretty empty when the game started, and with the score 5-1, there are probably a few more open seats, but I wouldn't be surprised if a high school curling match ended and a few fans came to catch the end of the blowout...

Nothing has happened over the last few minutes... no real pressure on either side... no fights. Just over two minutes remaining and I don't see Chilliwack getting to two.

A little scrum at the end of the game, followed by no further fighting wraps up the 5-1 victory for the bad guys. Nothing surprising in this one...44-20 advantage in shots tells the tale.

Spokane @ Tri-City on Saturday. GO CHIEFS GO!