WHL Tri-City Americans

Dailey Leads 'Tips Past Americans 6-5 In So

January 3, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release


EVERETT, WA - Zack Dailey sure knows how to end a scoring drought. The 20-year-old Everett captain, who had not recorded a point since Oct. 31 at Red Deer, a span of 24 games, came up big when his team needed him the most.

Dailey recorded two goals in regulation, then scored the game-winner in the shootout, to lift the Everett Silvertips (20-16-2-1, 43 pts) to a 6-5 win over the visiting Tri-City Americans (29-9-0-1, 59 pts) in front of 5,570 fans at Comcast Arena. With the win, Everett snapped their three-game losing to the Americans. Meanwhile, the loss ended Tri-City's seven-game winning streak. After facing off four times in the last two weeks, the two rivals will now get over a month before their next tilt vs. each other.

Dailey and the 'Tips wasted little time getting the scoring started on Saturday. Just 1:43 into the game, Dailey knocked in an Alex Theriau shot from the left point, giving Everett the early 1-0 lead. Then, less than two minutes later, Dailey struck again, this time off a Chris Langkow rebound, to notch his first multi-goal game of the season.

After going 0-for-7 on the man-advantage in their last game, the Americans went on to score four of their five goals, including three in the first period, via the power play. Their first came at the 6:30 mark of the first period, after Brooks Macek buried a shot from the sot, to cut the Tri-City deficit in half. The Americans then tied the game at the 10:22 mark of the period off the skate, then stick, of Brendan Shinnimin. Finally, Tri-City took their first lead when Sergei Drozd, with a backhander, beat Kent Simpson top shelf.

But, with 34 seconds remaining and using a power play goal of their own, Everett's Tyler Maxwell scored during a scramble in front of Alexander Pechurskiy, tying the game at 3.

After the two teams combined for 27 shots in the first period, the second frame saw only 15 total shots on goal. But, with less than a minute remaining in the period, Adam Hughesman connected on one of Tri-City's eight shots in the period to give the Americans a 4-3 lead. While on the power play, Hughesman corralled a Johnny Lazo rebound then beat Simpson up high for his 14th goal of the season.

Everett, however, came out firing in the third period, outshooting the Americans nearly 2-to-1 by the end of the period. Just 2:39 into the period and after a Tri-City turnover behind their own net, Shane Harper slammed home a Langkow rebound, tying the game at 4. Then, with 2:35 left in regulation, Everett re-took the lead when Maxwell redirected a Paul Sohor shot inside the right post.

But, just 23 seconds later and playing 4-on-4, Brett Plouffe joined the odd-man rush and slipped a backhander between Simpson's pads, tying the game at 5. After a couple of last-minute chances, the game headed to overtime. In the extra period, neither team got any great scoring opportunities until the final 30 seconds, when Pechurskiy denied Kellan Tochkin by just getting his glove on the shot and deflected it out of play. After a scoreless final seconds, the game headed into a shootout.

Everett elected to go first and scored on their first attempt, courtesy of Maxwell. Lazo then connected on his attempt in round 2, tying the shootout at 1. Everett's Byron Froese scored in round 3, setting the stage for Kruise Reddick, who proceeded to bury his shot in a must-score situation. The two teams went scoreless for the next three rounds before Dailey hit the ice in round 7. Dailey completed the 'unofficial' hat trick by beating Pechurskiy and then Simpson stopped Justin Feser to secure the win.

Simpson, who snapped a three-game losing streak, stopped 29 shots in the win. Meanwhile, Pechurskiy finished the night with 31 saves while suffering his first loss. Tri-City finished the night 4-for-4 on the power play, while Everett went 1-for-3 on the man-advantage.

Tri-City will now wrap-up the week by playing host to the East Division-leading Saskatoon Blades tomorrow, Sunday, January 3 at Toyota Center. Game time is 5:05 p.m. Sunday's match-up will pit the top teams in each conference in their lone regular season match-up. Saskatoon, which has gone 3-0 thus far into their U.S. Division swing, currently sports the second-best road record in the league (13-5-0-3). Meanwhile, the Americans, who have won their last five home games, have beaten the Blades just eight times in 33 overall meetings. However, seven of those wins have come in Kennewick. Tickets are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, including the Toyota Center box office, all Fred Meyer outlets, or online at ticketmaster.com. The game will also be broadcast live on NewsTalk 870 AM, starting with the Sterling Savings Bank Warm-up Show at 4:45 p.m.

Applebee's 3 Stars:

1, Zack Dailey, Everett

2, Adam Hughesman, Tri-City

3, Chris Langkow, Everett

Check out the Tri-City Americans Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2010


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