Americans start slow, fall 5-1 to Thunderbirds
March 16, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release
Kennewick, WA - The Tri-City Americans (31-27-6-1) had a long stretch of being the better team Sunday night, but a slow start proved costly in a 5-1 loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds (26-33-4-1) at the Toyota Center.
Just over a minute into the game the Thunderbirds capitalized on a turnover to open the scoring. Carter MacAdams double clutched on a pass near his own blueline and then got poke checked by Coster Dunn.
Dunn skated down the right wing on a two-on-one rush before feeding Hayden Pakkala who faked a shot, pulled the puck to his backhand and lifted it over the left pad of Lukas Matecha 1:12 into the game.
Just over 10 minutes later Seattle added to their lead off a faceoff in the Americans zone. Pakkala won the draw to Simon Lovsin who took a few strides toward the middle of the ice before snapping a shot past Matecha to push the lead to 2-0.
Jake Sloan received a penalty shot late in the first period after getting upended on a breakaway. Sloan skated out to the left wing before drifting back towards the middle of the ice and tried to slide the puck around Scott Ratzlaff, but the Seattle goaltender stayed right with him and made a calm save to preserve the 2-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Early in period two Seattle pushed their lead even further. Nathan Pilling chipped the puck down the right-wing boards in the Americans zone and defenseman Kaleb Hartmann jumped up to find it.
He skated into the right circle and wired a low shot past the glove of Matecha to give Seattle a 3-0 lead 5:30 into the second period.
Tri-City finally got the jolt they needed halfway through the period. Jackson Smith let a one timer go that hit the skate of Max Curran in front of the net and deflected into the crease.
Cruz Pavao had multiple whacks at the puck while falling over and was able to get it over the goal line for his 10th of the season, cutting the Seattle lead to 3-1.
Shortly after the goal Jaxen Adam and Sawyer Mayes dropped the gloves, sparking the crowd to continue cheering Tri-City on.
The goal and scrap clearly gave the Americans a boost as they controlled most of the play for the remainder of the period, but Ratzlaff held the fort and got his team into the intermission still leading 3-1.
Tri-City carried their strong play through the intermission and into the third but still couldn't solve Ratzlaff to cut the lead even further. His strong play allowed the Thunderbirds to pull away on the scoreboard.
Another turnover in the Americans zone ended up in the back of the net as Charlie Elick banked the puck up the boards in his own zone, but none of his teammates were there to take the pass.
Ashton Cumby gathered it near the left point and floated a shot on net that was tipped by Pilling to give Seattle a 4-1 lead with 8:45 remaining.
Seattle rounded out the scoring with Sam Charko firing home a centering feed in the final minute as the Americans dropped their fifth straight game, 5-1.
The Americans loss, combined with Portland's win over Vancouver, means Tri-City cannot catch the Winterhawks for fifth in the Western Conference. They now sit three points behind the Vancouver Giants in seventh place.
Tri-City's next scheduled game is Friday when they hit the road to meet the Portland Winterhawks (36-26-3-1).
Announced attendance was 4,250.
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