RECAP: Americans (6) – Cougars (4)
The Tri-City Americans rebounded after their opening night loss to the Cougars, and earned a 6-4 victory tonight in Prince George. Jake Sloan led the Americans with a four-point night and his first WHL hat trick.
Sloan set the tone for the evening and opened scoring 8:27 into the game as he tapped in a rebound off a shot from rookie defenseman Jackson Smith.
A couple minutes later, Jordan Gavin set up Pasha Bocharov in the low slot area and the defenseman scored top-shelf. Bocharov made his debut this weekend with the Americans after being acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday.’
With seconds remaining in the period, the Cougars were able to find the net with a goal from Terik Parascak and cut Tri-City’s lead to 2-1 heading into the second frame. The Ams dominated scoring 15-6 through the first 20 minutes.
A late period tripping penalty from Jackson Romeril put Prince George on the power play to start the second period. Hudson Thornton capitalized on the opportunity 56 seconds into the frame to tie the game.
Seconds later, Tyson Buczkowski took a hooking penalty giving Tri-City a power play opportunity. Jordan Gavin put the Americans back in front as he scored from the low slot area off a feed from Jake Sloan.
The back-and-forth scoring continued as Oren Shtrom even the score for Prince George midway through the period.
With five seconds remaining in the period, Bocharov added his second goal of the night with a quick shot from the top of the tight circle. It was the first multi-goal game of his career.
Prince George led shots on goal 8-5 through the middle frame.
1:28 into the final period, Jake Sloan added his second goal of the night, the eventual game winner, as he tapped in a behind-the-net feed from Deagan McMillan.
Viliam Kmec added one last goal for the Cougars with 2:30 remaining to put them back with one.
Jake Sloan went on to seal Tri-City’s victory with an empty net goal, recording his first WHL hat trick.
Score: 6-4 TC
Shots: 32-29
