Fadden, Americans make Blazers pay

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Bob Tory, the general manager of the Tri-City Americans, didn’t make even
one move at the WHL trade deadline a week ago.
He was so quiet, in fact, that some people said he was in danger of losing
his ‘Trader Bob’ sobriquet.
But those same people apparently forgot that Tory made his big move Nov. 5
when he acquired forward Mitch Fadden from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Well, you can bet the Kamloops Blazers won’t forget, not after Fadden
figured in four goals in the Americans’ 6-3 victory Friday night in front of
4,605 enthusiastic fans at Interior Savings Centre.
This was a game fraught with whistles, delays, goals, delays, penalties,
delays and more delays as referees Russ Berdusco and Ryan Thompson struggled
to maintain control. The result was a game without flow and without fights,
but one that still took two hours 30 minutes to play.
“It was back and forth . . . power plays and penalty kills,” Tri-City head
coach Don Nachbaur said. “I’m not sure how that happened. I could say how I
feel, but how is that going to change anything? I think you should ask the
4,000 people here at the game whether they’re happy. I know both coaches
weren’t.”
The Americans, who are 8-3 in their last 11 outings, got a huge break early
as Kamloops forward Scott Wasden was tossed for kneeing defenceman Brett
Plouffe at 4:41 of the first period. Plouffe left and didn’t return, gone
with an apparent charleyhorse.
Tri-City promptly scored twice on the power play, Fadden and Justin Feser
the triggermen, added a third with the teams playing 4-on-4 as defenceman
Mitch McColm scored, and made it 4-0 on a Jordan Messier goal.
The fourth goal sent Kamloops goaltender Jon Groenheyde, who already had
faced 15 shots, to the bench in favour of Justin Leclerc.
All this and the game wasn’t yet 13 minutes old.
The Blazers, however, were able to mount something of a comeback. They got
goals from forwards Jake Trask and Shayne Wiebe in the final minute of the
first period and got to within one when right-winger Tyler Shattock scored
his 20th goal of the season at 8:14 of the second period.
“We let up a little bit but give them credit,” Nachbaur said. “They kept to
the grindstone.”
“We did make a push,” Wiebe said, “and it was a good effort to come back.
But it was pretty disappointing that we let them score those goals that
early in the game.
“Giving up two goals on that early power play . . . that’s a little bit
much.”
Defenceman Tyler Schmidt restored the Americans’ two-goal lead at 10:57 of
the second period with another PP goal and Feser put the icing on the cake
midway through the third period.
With Plouffe gone, the Americans, down to five defencemen, got big games
from McColm and Schmidt, veterans who ate up a lot of ice time.
“Yeah, they were good,” Nachbaur said. “(Jason) Reese and Fadden were,
pretty good, too.”
Reese, a 20-year-old veteran from Gresham, Ore., only had one assist, but
was especially good on the penalty kill.
As for Fadden, well, when he was on the ice it was often his puck.
A 20-year-old from Salmon Arm, Fadden has 42 points in 36 games this season.
With the Americans, he has 37 points, 14 of them goals, in 27 games.
The Americans, who lead the U.S. Division by nine points over Spokane, are
at home to the Chiefs tonight and then play the host Seattle Thunderbirds of
Kent on Sunday.
“It’s not easy because we’re in the midst of a lot of games and it’s taking
a toll,” Nachbaur said. “That was our third in four nights and we’ll finish
this with five in six nights.”
The Blazers, meanwhile, left after the game for Portland where they play the
Winter Hawks tonight. On Sunday, Kamloops meets the Silvertips in Everett.
“We have to come hard and have good starts,” Wiebe said. “That’s going to be
key . . . to make sure we have a good start so we aren’t climbing out of a
hole.”
JUST NOTES: The Americans took 11 of 18 minors and a misconduct. The Blazers
were hit with the lone major and game misconduct. . . . The penalties
included a bench minor to each team. . . . Pickard, who finished with 18
saves as he won his 20th game of the season, was hit with delay-of-game
minor at 18:14 of the second period and talked his way into a misconduct
during the play just over a minute later. After the game, he skated up to
Thompson and shook hands with the official. . . . Trask ended a 13-game
drought with his eighth goal of the season.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca