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HAF
02-25-2006, 02:29 PM
Ams rally to beat archrival Spokane
This story was published Saturday, February 25th, 2006

By the Herald staff

SPOKANE -- The Tri-City Americans moved one step closer to securing a Western Hockey League playoff spot Friday night with a win over their biggest U.S. Division rival.

Juraj Gracik scored the game-winner with 5:42 remaining, taking a two-line pass from Jason Beeman and burying the puck just inside the left post, to lead the Americans to a 6-4 victory over the Spokane Chiefs at Spokane Arena.

"This was a huge game for us," said Americans coach Don Nachbaur, whose team leads the season series 7-4. "We didn't play that well, but one thing we've done in the last couple games is get unlikely sources scoring for us when our top guns are stymied."

The Americans (27-27-4-3, 61 points) remain in third place in the division, two points behind Seattle, which beat division-leading Everett 2-1.

The 27 wins surpass Tri-Cities' total of 26 all of last season with 11 games left to play.

Spokane (21-32-5-3, 50 points), which has lost six straight, is in last place in the division, five points behind fourth-place Portland.

The Chiefs led 4-3 off a goal by Brad Erickson 6 minutes into the third period, but Tri-City rookie Jarrett Toll tied the game at 12:33 with his first-ever WHL goal.

Gracik followed with the game-winner, and Matt Schneider added an insurance goal with an empty-netter at 18:54.

Spokane opened the scoring at 1:41 of the first period as David Linsley took advantage of an Americans' turnover behind their own net and slid the puck out to Chris Bruton, who beat Carey Price in the slot.

Beeman tied the game for the Americans at 7:59 of the first, and Gracik gave them a 2-1 lead, blasting the puck past Spokane goalie Kevin Armstrong from the blue line at 18:20.

In the second, Johannes Salmonsson scored a pair of goals just 50 seconds apart to give the Chiefs a 3-2 advantage.

Beeman scored his second of the night at 3:54 of the third to tie the game, only to see Erickson put the Chiefs back out front.

Price finished with 17 saves for the Americans, who also got two assists from Alex Aldred.

The Americans will play their eighth of nine games in 12 nights today when they play host to the Kelowna Rockets at 7:05 p.m. today.

"We know we are in the midst of a real tough stretch. We have to put this behind us and focus on today," Nachbaur said.

Brad
02-27-2006, 03:24 PM
I was in Spokane on Friday and Toll's goal was a thing of beauty. He brought the puck just inside the blueline, left the puck out to draw the Spokane defender to poke check at it, when he did Toll pulled it back drove right around him and went in alone on Armstrong. He put an initial shot on Armstrong's pads looking for a rebound...he got his own rebound and slipped it past Armstrong who didn't have a chance to recover. Can't recall a sweeter first WHL goal for one of our guys.