Shaun Vey Nets Game-Winner as Americans Down Cougars 4-2

[HAF]

"Oy Vey" – Shaun Vey Nets Game-Winner as Americans Down Cougars 4-2
October 20, 2006

Dan Mulhausen Tri-City Americans

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KENNEWICK, WA - Shaun Vey has found a knack for winning games.

Vey, who already has tallied two game-winners in shootouts, registered the game-winner three minutes into the third period, eventually sending Tri-City to a 4-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

It was Vey's first goal of the 2006-07 season and his first since November 12 against Spokane last season. With nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, Vey added an insurance goal, with a slap shot past Cougars goaltender Jordan White, to seal the victory for Tri-City.

Tri-City, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped in Everett last Tuesday, came out aggressively in the first period. However, with eight and a half minutes gone in the first frame, Prince George LW Eric Walker would break down the Americans power play and register a short-handed goal, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Prince George would take a short lived lead into the first intermission.

Early in the second period, Tri-City capitalized on their second power play opportunity of the night, when the Cougars' Jordie Deagle was called for checking from behind at the 2:51 mark. Michael Kaye fired a pass from Ladislav Scurko past White, knotting the game at 1-all. Nearly seven minutes later, Juraj Valach passed the puck up to Alex Aldred, who tallied his second career short-handed goal, giving Tri-City a 2-1 lead. Aldred's first career short-handed goal came on March 12, 2003 while playing for the Portland Winter Hawks.

With a little over five minutes remaining in the second period, Prince George fought back to tie the game at 2-apiece. The Cougars' Dana Tyrell scored his fifth goal of the season on the power play, the only conversion, in nine opportunities, on the man-advantage Prince George could muster. The game was tied at 2 going into the second intermission, which set the stage Vey's game-winning performance.

The Americans are now 4-0 at the Toyota Center this season and 8-2-0-0 overall. With 16 points, Tri-City remains one-point back of idle, first-place Everett in the U.S. Division. The Americans and Cougars will be right back on the ice tomorrow night at the Toyota Center for game two of the four game series. Game time is 7:05 PM, with the Budweiser Warm-up show starting at 6:45 PM, only on NewsTalk 870 AM. You can also listen live through the Americans website by visiting the Internet Radio Broadcast page under Fanzone or by visiting the individual game summary page.

Notes:
Americans goaltender Carey Price is now 5-1 on the season. Last season, Price did not pick-up his fifth win until November 17. In 6 games started, Price's 0.921 save percentage is the fifth-best in the Western Hockey League...Tri-City head coach Don Nachbaur collected is 297th career win and his 103rd at the helm of Tri-City...Tri-City has not started 4-0 at home in the past 10 seasons...After tonight's effort, D Matt Swaby is now a +9 on the season and tied for 8th-overall in the league...The Americans special teams held Prince George to 1 of 9 on the power play, increasing their penalty killing percentage at home to 0.903. It is the third best home penalty killing percentage in the league...With an assist tonight, rookie Eric Felde currently leads Tri-City in points with 11 (5 g, 6 a).

Contact: Dan Mulhausen (http://66.119.213.114/contact/contact.src?Sendto=30)

[GF71]

Good to see Vey back playing again. He was "that" close to pulling the plug wiht all his shoulder troubles. :)

[HAF]

Good to see Vey back playing again. He was "that" close to pulling the plug wiht all his shoulder troubles. :)

Honestly, after he set on the shelf most of last year with that shoulder injury (an injury that ussualy never fully heals) I figured him for being done as well. I'm glad to see him healthy again and regaining some cofidence. Skurko's knee injury tonight doesnt look good and Vey couldnt have picked a better time to start performing strong again. My hats off to the kid. There were alot of nay sayers who werent even sure he'd get a roster spot (myself included). I'm glad he's proving them all wrong. If there would have been about one less coat of paint on that cross bar tonight he would have had a natural hat trick!

[Sput]

From what I heard on the radio last night, the Cats aren't playing as a team again. Might be a time to start pulling some letters from guys and give them to someone thats going to show leadership on the ice and not just senior guys on the team. They also need to get it into their heads to just shoot the puck from where ever on the ice and not try to set up apretty or perfect play. Its frusterating to see/hear a team that has more 'talent' than most teams "on paper", but they can't get it together to play as a team on the ice. :(

[PGFlyfisher]

... Skurko's knee injury tonight doesnt look good and Vey couldnt have picked a better time to start performing strong again...

It didn' t sound good listening to it on the radio. Knees can be a bad injury. I heard he did skate off the ice though, so, hopefully it isn' t too serious.
Sounded like Walker ( I believe) was diving for the puck and connected with Scurko and that it wasn' t a deliberate hit. I sure hope that is how it went down.

[HAF]

It didn' t sound good listening to it on the radio. Knees can be a bad injury. I heard he did skate off the ice though, so, hopefully it isn' t too serious.
Sounded like Walker ( I believe) was diving for the puck and connected with Scurko and that it wasn' t a deliberate hit. I sure hope that is how it went down.

Yeah, thats pretty much what happened. I didnt see it real well but it didnt look like there was any intent to injure by Walker. Hockey is a rough sport, injuries are a part of the game. He skated off the ice but not very gracefully. He was obviously in some pretty serious pain.

[PGFlyfisher]

Glad to hear it wasn' t deliberate. :)

There' s no room for intentional injuries of any kind in Hockey IMO. Especially knees. That can be career ending. Ask Orr or Neely.

[TC Autograph Guy]

PG was in sync for most of the first period and I thought the Ams were in big trouble. They could have really taken advantage of the multitude of Ams penalties but for the most part the Ams did a great job on the PK (only one PP goal against). I didnt get a good look at the Scurko injury but I hope his recovery goes well!

Also being a Sharks fan it was exciting to see the future of my favorite NHL team out there (Wishart and Setoguchi). Time to break out the Sharks jersey for tonight's game!