[{"id":39860,"date":"2026-04-07T19:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39860"},"modified":"2026-04-07T19:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:07:44","slug":"graduation-connor-dale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/graduation-connor-dale","title":{"rendered":"Graduation: Connor Dale"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Connor Dale\u2019s family doesn\u2019t have a history in hockey. Unlike a lot of young Canadians whose love for the game is carefully crafted by their parents from the time their children can walk, Dale\u2019s introduction to the sport came through his friends at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in my family played hockey,\u201d he said. \u201cI was in school and some of my friends played and I thought I had to give it a try. I loved it as soon as I stepped on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says in the early days he was drawn more to the skating aspect than the actual hockey but quickly became driven to be the best he could be.<\/p>\n

Before he was 10-years-old Dale was already putting in extra work to improve his game, shooting pucks in his family\u2019s garage and working out to get stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put in a lot of hours at a young age,\u201d he said. \u201cI took it very seriously; I had a trainer and everything. It quickly became very serious for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born and raised in St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton, Dale says the Edmonton Oil King were a team he looked up to as a young kid.<\/p>\n

Not only did he attend their games, but Oil Kings players also joined his minor hockey teams for practice from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a young kid you look at those players and just think they\u2019re so cool,\u201d he said. \u201cThey feel like superstars. It makes you want to be in that position and definitely spiked my interest in the WHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says Curtis Lazar was his favorite Oil King.<\/p>\n

After playing his first year of U15 at home for the St. Albert Raiders, Dale elected to head to the CSSHL ranks for his WHL Draft year in 2019-20.<\/p>\n

He says the decision was largely based on the exposure to the WHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like there was more exposure to the WHL playing in the CSSHL,\u201d he said. \u201cI think at that time the academies were still a little bit new, and a lot of guys were going to them and getting drafted. It was a really good experience and a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bonus was that Dale was still able to live at home while playing at Okanagan Hockey Academy\u2019s Edmonton program.<\/p>\n

After 22 points (8-14-22) in 29 games during the regular season, Dale was only able to play one playoff game before the CSSHL Championships were cancelled due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually forgot about that,\u201d he laughed when reminded of his four-point performance in the lone playoff game. \u201cThat was definitely a good way to go out in my last game. It was really weird, obviously it sucked being told we couldn\u2019t play. I remember we drove home, and the roads were so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he couldn\u2019t finish out his playoffs that year, his attention could now turn to the WHL Draft in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Dale says he had mixed feelings about what would happen when the day came.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a possibility,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really sure about it. As it got later in the draft I started to lose faith, but then I saw my name get picked and I was so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale was drafted in the ninth round, 190th<\/sup> overall, by the now-defunct Winnipeg ICE, who relocated to Wenatchee for the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

With minor hockey essentially shut down for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, Dale had to wait until the Fall of 2021 to get back into competitive game action. This time in British Columbia as he went to Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford.<\/p>\n

\"\"“It was a really good experience, that was my first year living away from home,\u201d he said. \u201cI was able to kind of get that under my belt before playing in the WHL. The program there is great, there\u2019s so much development and the school was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale had a fine 2021-22 season with Yale\u2019s U18 team, posting 27 points (13-14-27) in 36 games.<\/p>\n

Once his season was over, Winnipeg came calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some good conversations with (Winnipeg general manager) Jake Heisinger,\u201d he said. \u201cHe liked me as a player and it was my dream to play in the WHL, so I was happy to sign with them. There was never a thought or yes or no, it was always yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he made his way to Winnipeg for training camp in the Fall of 2022, Dale wasn\u2019t sure about his chances of making the team.<\/p>\n

The ICE were coming off a 2021-22 season in which they posted a 53-10-3-2 record and were littered with NHL talent.<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to Dale, his spot on the team was already locked up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember Heisinger telling my family that I was already going to be on the team,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThey just kind of expected me to be on the team. I was so confused thinking \u2018wait, I\u2019m already on the team?\u2019 I really did have a great camp though. I was playing on a line with Conor Geekie and Connor McClennon, so they made it pretty easy for me to show my skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geekie had just been drafted 11th<\/sup> overall in the 2022 NHL Draft a few months earlier while McClennon finished his WHL career with 284 points (138-146-284) in 243 games.<\/p>\n

The 2022-23 Winnipeg ICE roster had four players on the roster who were, or eventually became, first-round NHL picks with Geekie, Matthew Savoie, Carson Lambos and Zach Benson.<\/p>\n

Dale said it was the first time he had been around players of that caliber regularly, and there were times he questioned his ability to keep up with them.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI just remember thinking to myself \u2018how are these guys so confident?\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cHow do they show up every single night and do the same thing? They had so much poise with the puck. There were times where I thought \u2018Am I supposed to be here?\u2019 But I learned quickly from those guys, they all carried themselves like professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

September 24, 2022 Dale made his WHL debut on the road against the Brandon Wheat Kings, a memorable night for every player who reaches the major junior ranks.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there were two not-so-memorable moments that really come to mind when he thinks of that game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually didn\u2019t get a rookie lap, I think they forgot,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI was definitely nervous going into that game. The only thing I really remember from that game was there was a rebound right in front of the net, and I had a wide-open net, and ripped the puck off the post. I was so embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game two went much better for Dale as he recorded three primary assists in a 6-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders.<\/p>\n

In and out of the lineup through the first half of the season, Dale\u2019s tenure in Winnipeg didn\u2019t last long as he was moved at the trade deadline to the Vancouver Giants.<\/p>\n

He says it didn\u2019t take much for him to clue in about what was happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called me and Skyler Bruce in, and he was already in there talking to the GM,\u201d he said. \u201cI was sitting in the parking lot thinking \u2018Am I about to get traded? Are you serious?\u2019 They had a lot of nice things to say though, and I was excited to go to Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale, Bruce, two prospects and three first-round picks (2024, 2025, 2026) were sent to the Giants in exchange for Zack Ostapchuk.<\/p>\n

While he enjoyed his time with the Giants, Dale says he was hoping for more playing time there, which didn\u2019t materialize. He ended his rookie WHL season with 13 points (6-7-13) in 49 games between the ICE and Giants.<\/p>\n

\"\"The following year was more of the same, so Dale asked to be traded and was moved to the Calgary Hitmen. In 64 games with the Giants and Hitmen he recorded 16 points (5-11-16).<\/p>\n

Hoping for a bigger role as a 19-year-old, Dale was on the move again ahead of the 2024-25 season, though this time unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat trade caught me by surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was still kind of the same thing though, not a lot of playing time in Swift Current.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just before the regular season began Dale was trade to the Swift Current Broncos where he scored 17 points (4-13-17) in 49 games.<\/p>\n

Now entering his final season in the WHL, Dale was determined to become the impact player he always thought he could be.<\/p>\n

He got off to a strong start with five points in five games with the Broncos, before being put on waivers by the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was caught by surprise for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI was very frustrated and sad. I think there was only an hour left before the deadline was coming. I had heard Tri-City was looking for a 20, and sure enough Bob called me and picked me up. I figured I had some life left in my career, so it was time to do something with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"It was announced on October 11 the Americans claimed Dale off waivers from the Broncos.<\/p>\n

At long last given consistent playing time in a top 6 role, Dale flourished with the Americans by posting 10 points in his first nine games.<\/p>\n

The production was a relief for Dale, who admits he put pressure on himself to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really excited, but also nervous,\u201d he said. \u201cI put a lot of pressure on myself. I thought \u2018this is it; I have to do well.\u2019 I always wanted to play for a team in the U.S. Division.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strong start to his Americans tenure did wonders for Dale\u2019s confidence, something he had been missing for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of just learned to be consistent,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it kind of just happened. I was playing with Garland and Virk, and we were really doing well together for a while. It did a ton for my confidence going through the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

That confidence carried throughout the lineup for the next few months as the Americans were sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference on January 23.<\/p>\n

As Americans fans well know, things went south from there as the team dropped 20 of their final 21 games of the season, ultimately missing the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Dale believes injuries were a key contributor to the slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey start taking a toll on everybody and it completely messes up the lines,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re playing with new guys, which isn\u2019t a bad thing, but it changes up the flow and the chemistry. It was really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the middle of the slide, Dale had a nice moment as he announced his commitment to play NCAA Division 1 Hockey at Merrimack College for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

He said there was a clear desire from Merrimack to have him join their program.<\/p>\n

\"\"

KENNEWICK, Washington – March
20: Tri-City Americans
Photo credit: Tyler Adams\/Rattlesnake Mountain Photography<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI had a lot of good talks with them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said a lot of good things, and they have the right people over there to help develop my game. It wasn\u2019t a very hard decision to go with them; they made it pretty straight forward for me and easy to make that decision. I\u2019m really excited to get going with them next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

March 21 Dale suited up for his final WHL game in Spokane. With the past four years and previous 226 games having flown by, Dale tried his past to enjoy his last time on the ice as a WHL player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just trying to soak it all in and enjoy the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents were in the crowd, just like they were for my first game. I was just enjoying being the guys. It was nice to connect with Virky and Gar for one last goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the buzzer sounded and the season was officially over, Dale says he couldn\u2019t help but wonder how the team might have looked had injuries not ravaged the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely upsetting after that game, more so thinking about what could have been,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were so good earlier in the season, what if we didn\u2019t have those injuries. Maybe we end up as the fourth seed and play Kamloops in the first round, who knows what we could have done. It was sad it was my last game, but the hardest part was just wondering \u2018what if?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a disappointing end to his WHL career, Dale says playing in front of the Tri-City Americans fans is something he won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven during our losing streak, they were so supportive of us,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember we lost a game and I saw a few fans afterwards and they just told me to keep my head up, that really stuck with me. Those Tri-City fans are definitely the loudest group of fans and definitely the most involved. I hope they keep doing that next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as he won\u2019t forget them, Americans fans won\u2019t forget Dale\u2019s breakaway speed on the Toyota Center ice anytime soon.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Connor Dale\u2019s family doesn\u2019t have a history in hockey. Unlike a lot of young Canadians whose love for the game is carefully crafted by their parents from the time their children can walk, Dale\u2019s introduction to the sport came through his friends at school. \u201cNo one in my family played hockey,\u201d he said. \u201cI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":623,"name":"connor dale","slug":"connor-dale","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":623,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1"}],"class_list":["post-39860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-connor-dale","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/04\/07190629\/D75_9560-scaled.jpg",2560,1709,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39856,"date":"2026-04-06T19:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39856"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:52:24","slug":"prospect-profile-ben-oliverio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/prospect-profile-ben-oliverio","title":{"rendered":"Prospect Profile: Ben Oliverio"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Ben Oliverio never had to look far from home to grow his love of hockey.<\/p>\n

Buoyed by his father\u2019s coaching and the Calgary Flames, Oliverio quickly discovered his passion in life at a young age. Although, there are rumors of his first experience at an outdoor rink going sour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a story where I went to the outdoor rink for the first time ever when I was a kid and I refused to get on the ice,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt sounds crazy because I always thought I loved hockey right from day one, but I guess it took a little bit of time. I couldn\u2019t live without it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalls being at the Scotiabank Saddledome with his mom during Game Seven of the Calgary Flames opening-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars on May 15, 2022 when Johnny Gaudreau scored the overtime winner, sending the Flames to round two.<\/p>\n

While citing current Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan as his favorite player, he says watching Ben Kindel with the Calgary Hitmen last season was a highlight for him.<\/p>\n

Having the WHL in his backyard was always an inspiration for what Oliverio wanted to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone always wants to play professional hockey,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the WHL is one of the biggest steps to getting there, so that was always the goal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two seasons of U15 at the Edge Academy in Calgary, Oliverio and his family decided it would be better for him to switch to the Alberta-based U15 league for the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n

He says it was a decision that couldn\u2019t have gone better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely more of a family decision,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was quite a drive playing at Edge Academy every day, so playing for the Northstars just made it a lot easier for my family. Everything was closer to home, and I think it turned out to be one of the best decisions my family has ever made for my hockey career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliverio\u2019s game went to new heights during that season, piling up 77 points (37-40-77) in just 28 games, good for third in the Alberta U15 League in scoring. Not only that, but he also tied for the league lead with 88 penalty minutes.<\/p>\n

He says he tries to impact the game in a multitude of ways each night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m a player that\u2019s really annoying to play against,\u201d he stated. \u201cI like to be a guy who\u2019s not afraid of anyone on the ice. Someone who\u2019s a competitor and is willing to go to the dirty areas, but also someone who can produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Produce he did, especially come playoff time as he racked up 31 points (11-20-31) in just 10 post season games, leading the league by a 10-point margin.<\/p>\n

Despite the offensive explosion, the Northstars fell short in the provincial final to the Red Deer Rebels.<\/p>\n

With his incredible draft year behind him, Oliverio\u2019s attention could now turn to the WHL Prospects Draft. When the day finally arrived, he did everything he could to take his mind off the Draft until it finally started.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI went to school and you\u2019re trying not to think about it, which was very hard,\u201d he said. \u201cI came home and the draft was a little bit later, so I went outside and shot some pucks to try and calm myself down. My family was there watching with me, so it was a pretty cool experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considered a top prospect for the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft, there was an assumption Oliverio wouldn\u2019t have to wait long once the draft began to hear his name called.<\/p>\n

As the old saying goes, you know what happens when you assume.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no clue where I was going to end up,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI was just excited to go anywhere at that point, and it was just a big weight-off-your-shoulders moment when Tri-City called my name.”<\/p>\n

The Americans selected Oliverio with the ninth overall pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really special because I\u2019ve known a lot of people who have played for that organization,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt was amazing to know that a goal of mine, getting drafted into the WHL, was accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those people is Cruz Pavao, who Oliverio says reached out to him immediately after the draft and has kept in close contact ever since.<\/p>\n

Heading to his first WHL training camp last fall, Oliverio says he and his family made their way South early, catching a Seattle Mariners game on their way to the Tri-Cities.<\/p>\n

Once camp got underway, Oliverio quickly had to adjust to playing against older, stronger competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was the last week I was there we were doing a battle drill in the corner, and I just got absolutely killed by Carter Savage,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt gives you a sense of who you\u2019re around and a bit of a reality check that you\u2019re on the ice with some big boys. It was a wakeup call for me for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before returning to Calgary, Oliverio skated in three pre-season games with the Americans. A self-described gear nerd, he says being able to put on the full Americans equipment was a highlight for him.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI loved putting on all that stuff, it was so cool to me to be able to wear all of that equipment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a big step up, going from the U15 playoffs to pre-season WHL games in a matter of months, but I thought I fit in pretty well out there. It was another wakeup call just seeing what it takes to play in that league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he says his U18 season started off a bit slow, Oliverio showed no signs of struggling against older competition in 2025-26. With the U18 Northstars he scored 47 points (23-24-47) in 36 games, the most among all 2010-born players in the league.<\/p>\n

Once again, he also didn\u2019t shy away from confrontation by racking up 114 penalty minutes, second in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to pick fights with the wrong guys at the wrong times,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you want to be fearless out there. I feel like that\u2019s the kind of player I am. I\u2019m a bit of an agitator, whatever puts guys off their game puts me on mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Northstars finished with a 25-10-2-1 record and swept their opening round playoff series in two games to advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Round two didn\u2019t start off well as the Northstars dropped games one and two by 6-4 and 6-3 scores, getting put on the brink of elimination in the best-of-five series against the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

With their margin for error gone, Oliverio says his team was able to refocus and begin a comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a little bit of doubt that starts to creep in after game two,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut the boys went out in game three and left nothing in the tank. When we got that win in game three, it was a belief that \u2018we can do this\u2019 and we just kept winning from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Northstars won game three in overtime 5-4, with Oliverio assisting on the game winner, before 2-1 and 5-2 wins in games four and five to advance to the league final.<\/p>\n

It was the same story in the final against the Edmonton Oilers Blue team as Oliverio\u2019s squad found themselves down 2-0 after the first two games.<\/p>\n

Once again, they battled back to force a deciding game five, with Oliverio recording five points in the two wins.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, they couldn\u2019t complete the comeback this time, falling 2-1 in the final game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that game five didn\u2019t go our way, but I was really proud of that group,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was obviously tough watching them hoist the trophy, but I think you just have to use that as motivation. Someday it\u2019s going to be my turn is how I look at it. You hang up that second-place medal and use it as motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hungry to improve after coming up one game short, Oliverio is already preparing for making the jump to the WHL as a full-time player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to stick to what I\u2019ve done over the last couple summers,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to get stronger every day; that\u2019s basically the goal. That way if I do play in Tri-City next year I can hang with the bigger guys and not get pushed around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being just 16 years old, Oliverio believes he can be an impact player for the Americans in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m someone can be relied on at both ends of the ice,\u201d he said. “I think I could produce and be someone who can play special teams, which is a lot for a rookie, but I think my game can go into those areas.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Ben Oliverio never had to look far from home to grow his love of hockey. Buoyed by his father\u2019s coaching and the Calgary Flames, Oliverio quickly discovered his passion in life at a young age. Although, there are rumors of his first experience at an outdoor rink going sour. \u201cI have a story where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":619,"name":"ben oliverio","slug":"ben-oliverio","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":619,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"5"}],"class_list":["post-39856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-ben-oliverio","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/04\/06193809\/540463455_1409845743938134_2702965850826643297_n.jpg",2000,1333,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39831,"date":"2026-04-02T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39831"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:00:36","slug":"americans-sign-goaltender-karter-gibson-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/americans-sign-goaltender-karter-gibson-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","title":{"rendered":"Americans sign goaltender Karter Gibson to Scholarship and Development Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013<\/strong> Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2010-born goaltender Karter Gibson to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. He was drafted by the Americans with the 65th<\/sup> overall pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re excited to welcome Karter and his family to our organization as he begins preparing for his WHL career,” said Americans general manager Bob Tory.<\/p>\n

Gibson, from Airdrie, Alberta, was drafted by the Americans after a sensational 2024-25 season in which he posted a 17-1 record with a 1.30 goals against average, .936 save percentage and six shutouts with the Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 team.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-4 goaltender joined NAX\u2019s U18 team this past season, going 8-5 with an .883 save percentage and 3.25 goals against average. He helped NAX U18 reach the championship game of the U18 division at the CSSHL Championships, ultimately falling 6-3 to Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna.<\/p>\n

While he didn\u2019t get into game action Gibson joined the Americans for the final week of the regular season, serving as Xavier Wendt\u2019s back up for the last two games of the season.<\/p>\n

Gibson is the second member of the Americans 2025 draft class to sign with the team, joining first-round pick Ben Oliverio.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013 Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2010-born goaltender Karter Gibson to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. He was drafted by the Americans with the 65th overall pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft. \u201cWe’re excited to welcome Karter and his family to our organization as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-39831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/23153427\/Artboard-1Gibson.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39846,"date":"2026-04-01T16:58:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39846"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:58:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:58:37","slug":"gavin-garland-commits-to-ferris-state-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/gavin-garland-commits-to-ferris-state-university","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Garland commits to Ferris State University"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The Tri-City Americans are proud to announce that 2006-born forward Gavin Garland has committed to play NCAA Division 1 Hockey at Ferris State University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garland, from Calgary, Alberta, played the past two seasons with the Americans after originally being drafted by the team in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 122 games with the Americans Garland posted 89 points (37-52-89). He, along with Dylan LeBret, were the only two players to dress for all 68 games during the 2025-26 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to joining the Americans, Garland won an Alberta Junior Hockey League championship with the Calgary Canucks in the 2023-24 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

He becomes the fourth Americans player to secure an NCAA commitment this season, joining Jake Gudelj (Princeton), Cash Koch (New Hampshire) and Connor Dale (Merrimack).<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA \u2013\u00a0The Tri-City Americans are proud to announce that 2006-born forward Gavin Garland has committed to play NCAA Division 1 Hockey at Ferris State University. Garland, from Calgary, Alberta, played the past two seasons with the Americans after originally being drafted by the team in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft. In 122 games…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":12,"name":"press releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":74,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":555,"filter":"raw","term_order":"422"}],"class_list":["post-39846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-press-releases","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/04\/01165819\/horozontalNCAA.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39837,"date":"2026-03-31T14:57:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39837"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:57:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:57:36","slug":"americans-sign-forward-seth-garofalo-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/americans-sign-forward-seth-garofalo-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","title":{"rendered":"Americans sign forward Seth Garofalo to Scholarship and Development Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA –\u00a0<\/strong>Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2009-born forward Seth Garofalo to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. He was drafted by the Americans in the seventh round, 135th overall, in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/p>\n

“Seth had an excellent season and joined the Americans at the end of our season,” said Americans general manager Bob Tory. “He earned this through hard work and dedication. We welcome Seth and his family to our organization.”<\/p>\n

Garofalo, from Calgary, Alberta, has spent the past two seasons with the Calgary Buffaloes of the Alberta Elite U18 Hockey League. In 2024-25 he played in 22 games recording 12 points (5-7-12), before adding five points (1-4-5) in nine playoff games.<\/p>\n

This past season Garofalo was able to get into 30 games with the Buffaloes, nearly tripling his goal total while posting 21 points (13-8-21). Limited to just three playoff games, Garofalo saved his best for the post season by scoring three goals and adding three assists in those three games.<\/p>\n

Once his U18 season was over, Garofalo joined the Americans and made his WHL debut March 14 against the Spokane Chiefs.<\/p>\n

He becomes the seventh member of the Americans 2024 draft class to sign with the team, joining Aden Bouchard, Crew Martinson, Lukasz McIsaac, Trae Peterson, Carter Bylycia and Alexander Laing.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA –\u00a0Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2009-born forward Seth Garofalo to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. He was drafted by the Americans in the seventh round, 135th overall, in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft. “Seth had an excellent season and joined the Americans at the end…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":12,"name":"press releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":74,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":555,"filter":"raw","term_order":"422"}],"class_list":["post-39837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-press-releases","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/24130225\/Artboard-1Garofalo.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39833,"date":"2026-03-27T12:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T16:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39833"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T16:29:36","slug":"americans-sign-forward-ryan-sadovia-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/americans-sign-forward-ryan-sadovia-to-scholarship-and-development-agreement","title":{"rendered":"Americans sign forward Ryan Sadovia to Scholarship and Development Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013<\/strong> Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2009-born forward Ryan Sadovia to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. Originally drafted by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft, Sadovia was dropped from Edmonton’s protected list and added by the Americans on January 2.<\/p>\n

“Ryan had a great season with RHA Kelowna’s U18 team this season and then joined the Americans for our final two games,” said Tory. “We welcome Ryan and his family to our team.”<\/p>\n

Sadovia, from Kelowna, British Columbia, spent the 2025-26 season playing at home with Kelowna’s Rink Hockey Academy U18 program. Playing in 29 games Sadovia recorded 33 points (14-19-33) during the regular season before adding seven points (3-4-7) in six playoff games, helping RHA Kelowna win the CSSHL U18 Championship.<\/p>\n

He also had a strong showing at the Circle K Classic, posting 10 points (3-7-10) in six games.<\/p>\n

Sadovia joined the Americans for the final week of the regular season, making his WHL debut March 20 against the Portland Winterhawks and making an excellent first impression, generating multiple high-quality scoring chances throughout the game.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013 Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory today announced the team has signed 2009-born forward Ryan Sadovia to a Scholarship and Development Agreement. Originally drafted by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft, Sadovia was dropped from Edmonton’s protected list and added by the Americans on January 2. “Ryan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":12,"name":"press releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":74,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":555,"filter":"raw","term_order":"422"}],"class_list":["post-39833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-press-releases","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/23190507\/Artboard-1Sadovia.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39830,"date":"2026-03-26T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39830"},"modified":"2026-03-26T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:50:08","slug":"americans-to-select-sixth-overall-in-2026-whl-prospects-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/americans-to-select-sixth-overall-in-2026-whl-prospects-draft","title":{"rendered":"Americans to select sixth overall in 2026 WHL Prospects Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA –\u00a0<\/strong>The Western Hockey League unveiled the results of the 2026 WHL Draft Lottery Thursday evening, and the Tri-City Americans will select sixth overall in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft. The Draft is set for May 6 and 7, with the first round taking place on May 6 and the rest the following day.<\/p>\n

The Wenatchee Wild won the lottery, with their pick being held by the Vancouver Giants. As such, the top seven of the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft is as follows:<\/p>\n

1 – Kelowna Rockets (Via Lethbridge)
\n2 – Vancouver Giants (Via Wenatchee)
\n3 – Wenatchee Wild (Via Swift Current)
\n4 – Vancouver Giants
\n5 – Victoria Royals (Via Moose Jaw)
\n6 – Tri-City Americans
\n7 – Victoria Royals<\/p>\n

Players born in the United States will be eligible for the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft. Previously, U.S. born players have been selected by WHL Clubs primarily through the WHL U.S. Priority Draft. The WHL will only host the WHL Prospects Draft in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Americans also hold Edmonton’s 2026 first-round pick, acquired last offseason in the trade that saw Max Curran moved to the Oil Kings, which will be 19th overall.<\/p>\n

The last time the Americans selected sixth overall was 10 years ago when they drafted Sasha Mutala, who went on to play five full seasons with the Americans from 2017-2022, skating in 266 games and recording 196 points (84-112-196). He was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 NHL Draft and recently wrapped up a four-year stint at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

It has been 25 years since the Americans had multiple first-round picks in the same draft, dating back to 2001 when the team selected Brett Festerling and Logan Stephenson with back-to-back picks at fifth and sixth overall.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA –\u00a0The Western Hockey League unveiled the results of the 2026 WHL Draft Lottery Thursday evening, and the Tri-City Americans will select sixth overall in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft. The Draft is set for May 6 and 7, with the first round taking place on May 6 and the rest the following…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":12,"name":"press releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":74,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":555,"filter":"raw","term_order":"422"}],"class_list":["post-39830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-press-releases","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/26171708\/Horizontal.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39835,"date":"2026-03-25T12:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39835"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:32:41","slug":"charlie-elick-reassigned-to-ahls-cleveland-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/charlie-elick-reassigned-to-ahls-cleveland-monsters","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Elick reassigned to AHL’s Cleveland Monsters"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013<\/strong> The American Hockey League\u2019s Cleveland Monsters announced today that Tri-City Americans defenseman Charlie Elick has joined them for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. The Monsters are the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n

Elick, from Calgary, Alberta, signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets March 25, 2025 after being drafted 36th<\/sup> overall by Columbus in the 2024 NHL Draft. He joined the Monsters at the end of the 2024-25 season but did not get into any game action.<\/p>\n

Originally drafted third overall by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft, Elick was acquired by the Americans near the trade deadline last season. Skating in 33 games with Tri-City after the trade Elick posted eight points (2-6-8) before adding a pair of assists in five playoff games.<\/p>\n

This season Elick set a career high in goals with six while posting 14 assists for 20 points in 63 games. He regularly led the Americans in ice time while playing in all situations during games. His thunderous open-ice hits brought fans to their feet at the Toyota Center on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n

The Monsters have 10 games remaining on their regular season schedule and are poised to make the AHL playoffs, currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Being a 2006-born skater, Elick is eligible to play in the AHL full-time for the 2026-27 season.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Kennewick, WA. \u2013 The American Hockey League\u2019s Cleveland Monsters announced today that Tri-City Americans defenseman Charlie Elick has joined them for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. The Monsters are the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Elick, from Calgary, Alberta, signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets March 25, 2025…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":617,"name":"charlie elick","slug":"charlie-elick","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":617,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","term_order":"7"},{"term_id":12,"name":"press releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":74,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":555,"filter":"raw","term_order":"422"}],"class_list":["post-39835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-charlie-elick","tag-press-releases","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/24121734\/D85_9469-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39828,"date":"2026-03-21T23:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T03:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39828"},"modified":"2026-03-21T23:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T03:50:05","slug":"recap-americans-season-ends-with-6-1-loss-in-spokane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/recap-americans-season-ends-with-6-1-loss-in-spokane","title":{"rendered":"RECAP: Americans season ends with 6-1 loss in Spokane"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Spokane, WA. \u2013<\/strong> The Tri-City Americans (26-36-5-1) wrapped up the 2025-26 season with a 6-1 loss Saturday night on the road against the Spokane Chiefs (36-29-2-0).<\/p>\n

The game was scoreless until over halfway through the period despite some great chances for Spokane. Xavier Wendt made a save on a shorthanded breakaway for Logan Wormald to keep the Chiefs off the board early.<\/p>\n

Defenseman Marek Howell opened the scoring for Spokane by rushing into the Tri-City end, recovering the puck in the left faceoff circle and firing a shot past the glove of Wendt 13:30 into the game.<\/p>\n

Just under four minutes later the Chiefs pushed their lead to 2-0 as Ethan Hughes had a centering pass from behind the net go off his skate and in, sending the Chiefs to the intermission with a 2-0 advantage. Shots were 11-6 Spokane.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs added a pair of quick goals in the second period, scoring twice just 2:20 apart to jump ahead 4-0.<\/p>\n

Late in the middle frame the Americans got on the scoreboard with a nice passing play. Connor Dale worked the puck toward the slot in the Chiefs zone for Gavin Garland, who had a lane to skate right toward the net.<\/p>\n

Instead, he fed the puck to Savin Virk on left wing who dropped to a knee and fired home a one timer for his 27th<\/sup> of the season. Tri-City trailed 4-1 heading into the final 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Spokane added two more quick goals in the late stages of the third period with Will McIsaac scoring a power play goal at 14:40 before Coco Armstrong rounded out the scoring at 17:20.<\/p>\n

The buzzer sounded as the Americans season ended with the 6-1 final score.<\/p>\n

The end of the year marks the end of the WHL careers for Connor Dale, Jake Gudelj and Carter Savage as they graduate from the Americans as overage players. The Americans would like to thank them for their many contributions to the Americans organization during their time in the Tri-Cities.<\/p>\n

The Americans now prepare for the offseason events, including the WHL Prospects Draft in May, NHL Draft in June and CHL Import Draft.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Spokane, WA. \u2013 The Tri-City Americans (26-36-5-1) wrapped up the 2025-26 season with a 6-1 loss Saturday night on the road against the Spokane Chiefs (36-29-2-0). The game was scoreless until over halfway through the period despite some great chances for Spokane. Xavier Wendt made a save on a shorthanded breakaway for Logan Wormald…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[{"term_id":81,"name":"Game Recaps","slug":"game-recaps","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":82,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":624,"filter":"raw","term_order":"235"}],"class_list":["post-39828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-game-recaps","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/21234940\/2026_03_21-2-30-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":39826,"date":"2026-03-21T10:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/?p=39826"},"modified":"2026-03-21T10:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:36:22","slug":"preview-americans-chiefs-march-21-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/article\/preview-americans-chiefs-march-21-2026","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW: Americans @ Chiefs – March 21, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

LAST GAME:<\/b> The Americans battled back from a 2-0 deficit after one period, and took the lead with 47.8 seconds to go, but the Portland Winterhawks responded by tying the game with three seconds left before finishing the job in overtime last night. The Americans bench was left stunned and fuming with numerous non calls throughout the night, ultimately allowing the Winterhawks to come back and win the game.<\/p>\n

VS SPOKANE:<\/b> Tonight is the eighth and final meeting between the Americans and Chiefs. Spokane has taken six of the first seven, including the last four by comfortable margins. The Americans lone win in the season series came on New Year\u2019s Eve at the Toyota Center.<\/p>\n

Team Comparison<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

TRI-CITY AMERICANS<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

SPOKANE CHIEFS<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Record: 26-35-5-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Record: 34-29-2-0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Conference Ranking: 10th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Conference Ranking: 6th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Goals For: 181<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Goals For: 217<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Goals Against: 243<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Goals Against: 204<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Power Play: 17.1%\u00a0 <\/span>(35\/205)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Power Play: 16.8% (39\/232)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Penalty Kill: 75.1% (148\/197)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Penalty Kill: 79.3% (210\/265)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Leading Scorers<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Leading Scorers<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Savin Virk (26-38-64)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Tyus Sparks (28-37-65)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Connor Dale (25-34-59)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Logan Wormald (22-41-63)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Gavin Garland (16-30-46)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Chase Harrington (27-28-55)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to Tune In:
\n<\/em>Webcast:<\/strong>\u00a0Victory+ \u2013\u00a0Sign Up & Watch Here<\/a>
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] LAST GAME: The Americans battled back from a 2-0 deficit after one period, and took the lead with 47.8 seconds to go, but the Portland Winterhawks responded by tying the game with three seconds left before finishing the job in overtime last night. The Americans bench was left stunned and fuming with numerous…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":39827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-39826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-409","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/21103615\/horizontalGD0321.jpg",2200,1256,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-americans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]